MY TURN: The pros and cons of a Citylink joint powers agreement

“The issue is people look at me because I cast the deciding vote and so, therefore, I’m either the good guy or the bad guy,” — BOCC chair Bruce Mattare.

Nobody said that politics is an easy business. There are times when you gotta suck it up and make a decision for the people, so let’s consider his Joint Powers Agreement, and first off, I cannot find any explanation since the JPA was mentioned by Commissioner Mattare last year — that’s a problem.  

Essentially a JPA is described as an agreement between individual stakeholders, e.g. the cities, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Kootenai Health and the county. Currently, operation matters are assigned to the county, which represents all parties involved. County commissioners, for some reason, no longer want to support management of Citylink, and while I can only speculate, I suspect the interest in a JPA has to do with politics rather than in doing what’s right for the community.  

Measuring the pros and cons of a JPA is pretty straightforward. Pros might include giving stakeholders more influence over the budget, including acting on the need for new equipment. More equitable cost sharing, however, with much of Citylink funding coming from two stakeholders, might this result in squabbles between them? A JPA could qualify for additional state or federal funding that may not be available to a county-run transit system, and schedule flexibility might be improved under a JPA. 

The negatives on the other hand could significantly damage the operation. Increased bureaucracy and complexity will result in additional administrative expenses, including legal fees, oversight boards and coordination efforts. Conflicts between stakeholders could increase because while JPA parties technically have equal stakes, entities who contribute more capital will likely expect greater say over operations. Bureaucracy and conflicts could also result in schedule disruptions because without adequate planning and proper execution transit services may be impacted, at least at the beginning.  

Ultimately, the cities are satisfied with the status quo, therefore there are no incentives to change how the transit service is structured. While a JPA could provide greater local control and distribute costs more fairly, it also introduces complexity and potential political friction. The BOCC needs to do what’s right for the community because Citylink does, in fact, impact all the cities in our county. Shoving a JPA down the throats of stakeholders might seem politically safe, but it does not serve best interest of most of the population.

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Reid Harlocker is a Coeur d'Alene resident.