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This is a copy and pasted version of TransLink’s latest press release: 

Mayors’ Council meets – TransLink’s governance transition begins 

The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation is meeting for the first time today, following the passage of the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Act yesterday in the legislature. In its first act, the Council, which is comprised of all 21 mayors in the Metro Vancouver region, has selected Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts as its first Chair.

TransLink will officially adopt the governance model prescribed in the Act on Jan. 1, 2008 when the new Board of Directors assumes its duties. But the Act constituted the Mayors’ Council effective today so that it can immediately perform some of its key functions including selecting the new TransLink Board and starting a process to recruit the Regional Transportation Commissioner.

Governance Transition

The new Act will change TransLink’s governance structure in a number of key areas:

Directors and terms: 

Currently, TransLink has 12 directors who are either mayors or who are municipal councilors serving as directors on the Metro Vancouver Board. These directors, some of whom represent more than one municipality, serve one-year terms and are selected by the Metro Vancouver Board.

The new, nine-member Board of Directors will be appointed by the Mayors’ Council on the basis of their qualifications to oversee the organization. Directors will serve three-year terms to provide greater continuity of governance.

Because the structure calls for terms to end for one-third of the directors each year, three of the directors on the first Board will be appointed for one year, three will be appointed for two years and the remaining three will be appointed for three years. Subsequent directors will be appointed for three-year terms.

Regional Oversight:

Under the current structure, the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors has the authority to ratify or reject TransLink’s strategic transportation and financial plans.

In the new structure, instead of having 12 elected municipal officials on the TransLink Board, all 21 mayors in the region will sit on the Mayors’ Council and will have the authority to ratify or reject transportation and related funding plans and increased on TransLink’s borrowing limits.

The new structure will also include a Regional Transportation Commissioner whose focus will be to monitor and advise TransLink and the Mayors’ Council on customer service and satisfaction processes, the appropriateness of any cash transit fare increases above inflation and any sale of major TransLink facilities or assets.

An Expanded Service Area:

To date, TransLink has focused its attention on the road and transit system in Metro Vancouver, formerly known as the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

The new Act allows TransLink to expand to communities in the Fraser Valley or Squamish-Lillooet regional districts that opt to join its service area.

A “Shared Agenda”:

In its current form, TransLink has planned and funded Metro Vancouver’s transit system, major arterial roads and programs that provide commuters with travel options, all in support of the Livable Region Strategic Plan.

The new structure requires TransLink’s long-term strategy and its rolling ten-year plan to support both Metro Vancouver’s growth management strategy as well as the provincial government’s vision for the region’s transportation network.