Contact: Laura Van Wert, 410-732-9564  

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE BYLAWS  

OF THE BALTIMORE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION BOARD  

OPEN FOR PUBLIC COMMENT

BALTIMORE, MD (August 8, 2014) - The Baltimore Regional Transportation Board (BRTB) will accept public comments on the proposed amendments to its bylaws no later than Monday, September 8. The BRTB is scheduled to vote on the changes at the September 23 meeting.

All written comments should be sent by email to: comments@baltometro.org; by fax to: 410-732-9488; on Twitter @BaltoMetroCo or @bmoreinvolved using #BRTBlistens; or by mail to:   

The Baltimore Regional Transportation Board

Offices @McHenry Row

1500 Whetstone Way, Suite 300

Baltimore MD, 21230

Public comments also will be accepted at the BRTB meeting on Tuesday, September 23 at 9 a.m. at the Baltimore Metropolitan Council's office, located that the address above.

The full text of the bylaws, including the proposed amendments, can be viewed by visiting www.baltometro.org. Primary proposed changes include:

1. Article III, Sections I & II - Add a representative of public transportation as a voting member and describe their role - This change would meet the requirement of Public Law 112-141: Moving Ahead For Progress In The 21st Century (MAP-21) to select and include a representative from one of the organizations that provides public transportation as a voting member of the Baltimore region's metropolitan planning organization( MPO).
    
2. Article IV - Change the name of the Citizens Advisory Committee - This change would address the guidance related to MAP-21 to refrain from the use of the word "citizen." This change is proposed in order to promote inclusion and participation and avoid confusion of the term "citizens" with U.S. Citizenship, which is not a requirement of participation in the BRTB committees or the metropolitan planning process.
    
3. Article V, section I - Maintain a minimum of 11 meetings per year, given there are sufficient action items to warrant a meeting - Theproposed change would update the language to allow for the cancellation of meetings should there not be sufficient action items to warrant a meeting.

There are other proposed changes to the following bylaw sections: the Technical Committee, Citizens Advisory Committee, mission of the BRTB and several other various corrections or revisions.

The BRTB is an 11 member board representing the cities of Annapolis and Baltimore, and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties, as well as the Maryland Department of Transportation, the Maryland Department of Environment, the Maryland Department of Planning and the Maryland Transit Administration.

The BRTB, as the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the Baltimore region, is directly responsible for making sure that any money spent on existing and future transportation projects and programs is based on a continuing, cooperative and comprehensive (3-C) planning process. All transportation projects and programs that receive federal funding in our region go through this planning process. The Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) staffs and coordinates the BRTB.

For more information on the proposed amendments to the BRTB bylaws, contact Todd Lang, transportation planning director, at tlang@baltometro.org.

Laura Van Wert
Communications Officer     
410-732-9564
lvanwert@baltometro.org