AATA Approves Routine MDOT Processes

As it typically does each year, the board of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority has authorized its chief executive officer to sign and execute contracts with the Michigan Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) without seeking a separate board resolution – as long as the contracts are less than $1 million. The board gave the blanket authorization at its Sept. 27, 2012 meeting.

According to the staff memo accompanying the resolution, there are 10-15 separate agreements between MDOT and AATA. A staff analysis of the resolution allows that there’s a risk to the practice – that the board might not be aware of the contracts that the CEO is executing. That risk is meant to be mitigated by a new practice of reporting all such contracts to the board’s performance monitoring and external relations committee.

Also approved by the board at its Sept. 27 meeting was a grant agreement with MDOT for a contract of over $1 million. MDOT is providing the local match, which totals $2,414,000 for AATA’s FY 2012 federal Section 5307 grant. [.pdf of FY 2012 expenditures for Section 5307 program]

This brief was filed from the downtown location of the Ann Arbor District Library, where the AATA board holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]