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Introduction
The Council of Mayors was created and authorized by the CATS Policy Committee to:
provide input into the region’s transportation policy decisions
facilitate communication between local governments and the regional transportation agencies
establish the priorities for the local STP program and to implement programmed projects
When it was first formed in October of 1965, the Council of Mayors was only a little larger than Cook and DuPage counties. Since then, the Council of Mayors has expanded to the boundaries of the “seven plus” county MPO region and includes 274 suburban municipalities. These cities and villages are organized into 11 subregional Councils of Mayors, which meet on locally determined schedules. Each of these subregional councils appoints two mayors to serve on the regional Council of Mayors policy board called The Council of Mayors Executive Committee.
The Council of Mayors is generally thought of as the suburban component of the MPO. Indeed, it was originally formed for the purpose of gaining suburban input to complement that of the City of Chicago, the counties, and the other transportation providers and implementers that sit on the CATS’ Policy and Work Program Committees (the MPO’s highest decision-making bodies). The mayor of Chicago is encouraged to be involved with the Council of Mayors Executive Committee, and Executive Committee agendas are sent to the City of Chicago. Their participation is an essential component of a successful program benefiting local governments in northeastern Illinois. Both city and suburban officials are keenly aware of each other’s importance in the economic, social and functional quality of life in the seven-county region.
The Executive Committee
The Council of Mayors Executive Committee is made up of two mayors from each of the 11 suburban councils. Three officers are elected from their membership: chairman, first vice chairman and second vice chairman. The chairman appoints members to sit on several MPO committees and task forces.
The Executive Committee meets as issues require, approximately quarterly. They generally meet at the CATS offices in Chicago, but hold an annual meeting each spring at varying suburban locations.
The Committee deals with issues of a regional nature such as:
How FAU/STP funding should be distributed
State and federal legislation
The Planning Liaison program
Input on the region’s long-range transportation plan and other regional plans and programs
Various clean air initiatives
Establishing procedures for borrowing and lending of STP (FAU) funds between councils (called advance funding) in order to assure that projects of high priority throughout the region are implemented in a timely fashion
Reviewing individual council requests for advance funding
Establishing standing and ad hoc committees for specific issues
Reports from their representatives on various MPO committees and task forces and giving feedback to their representatives
The Eleven Subregional Councils
The Subregional Councils are defined by specific geographic boundaries – six in suburban Cook County and one for each of the collar counties. As of June 9, 2005, the Kane Council of Mayors also takes in Kendall County. The Will Council takes in urbanized portions of Grundy County. At one time, the Council of Mayors was comprised only of communities defined as urban or urbanized areas by the US Census Bureau. With the passage of ISTEA (the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act) in 1991, however, all incorporated communities, urban or rural, are eligible to receive federal transportation funds and to participate in the councils. By agreement of the affected communities, however, only Kendall’s urbanized communities adjacent to Kane County program federal STP funds through the Kane Council.
The individual councils range in membership from 12 to 47 municipalities. The mayors and municipal presidents or their designees are voting members. The organization and structure of the individual councils varies greatly from area to area, and in many parts of the region Council of Mayors boundaries often coincide with and/or are organized though a standing municipal conference.
The councils meet regularly for cooperative decision-making. Likely topics are the programming of STP funds and issues needing a subregional consensus before being brought to the Executive Committee for a regional debate. Each council appoints two mayors from their membership to serve on the regional Council of Mayors Executive Committee.
The subregional councils are free to establish their own meeting schedules, bylaws, structure and policies. Their meetings are open to the public. These meetings provide a useful forum for regional transportation and planning agencies (such as Pace, Metra, CATS, NIPC) to report to the local governments and to get local input.
Each council receives an annual allocation of STP funds and is responsible for programming those funds. They verify the federal eligibility of the projects and assure that council policies are adhered to. The council’s member communities sponsor the individual STP projects and manage the preliminary and final design and rights-of-way acquisition, etc. for implementation. The Illinois Department of Transportation conducts the bid lettings for construction of the local STP projects.
Certain caveats are placed on the councils as the managers of federal transportation funds. The councils must include all local governments eligible for STP funding and must establish and utilize a ranking methodology to evaluate potential STP projects for programming.
Staffing (CATS, PL Program)
CATS provides staff support to the Executive Committee, its subcommittees and its members when they are conducting regional Council of Mayors business. CATS staff also oversees the Planning Liaison program.
The subregional councils are staffed primarily by the Planning Liaisons (PLs), professional transportation planners. Federal planning funds and local funds have supported the Planning Liaisons since the program was initiated in 1977. The primary reason the PL program was established was to assure the appropriate programming and implementation of the councils’ FAU (STP) funds. The key responsibilities of the PLs are:
A. The development of the council's STP program, including:
The solicitation of project proposals
Ranking the proposed projects by an approved methodology
Establishing or verifying estimates of timing to complete the projects
Assuring that the annual element of the multiyear program is fiscally constrained
Maintaining the currency of that program within the region’s TIP
B. The facilitation of timely implementation of the Councils’ STP projects and monitoring of progress on them, including:
Calling the project sponsors and/or consultants
Participating in semi–annual progress meetings with CATS and IDOT
Submitting updates and corrections to the IDOT Local Roads status sheets
Informing the responsible parties of potential problems and delays
Informing appropriate parties of the application and implementation processes
Clarifying likely time frames to affected parties
C. Staffing the local Council of Mayors meetings and handling council correspondence.
D. Assuring that the opinions, concerns and priorities of the mayors are communicated in appropriate forums.
E. Providing information and assistance to the mayors on the regional, state and federal programs and processes including:
The CMAQ funding program
The Transportation Enhancement program (ITEP)
The Unified Work Program
The state (IDOT) transportation program
Programs of the RTA, Pace and Metra
The regional transportation planning process
The strategic regional arterial planning process
F. Providing information and assistance to local officials on state and federal legislative initiatives.
Significant Historical Events
It was during the first long-range planning process in the early sixties that the relationship between the region's mayors and CATS began. It was thought that if the plan were to become reality, endorsement by locally elected officials would be necessary.
The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1962 required that local governmental units cooperate in the planning process. In northeast Illinois, the relationship between the mayors and CATS as described above had already begun during CATS original long-range planning process. The federal legislation mandating continuous, cooperative and comprehensive transportation planning was modeled after the CATS regional example. Chicago was the first region to receive certification for meeting the federally mandated "3C" requirement.
In the fall of 1964, CATS held a meeting with all the northeastern Illinois' mayors and presidents, Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission representatives and other state officials. This was the first organizational meeting of the Council of Mayors. Formal recognition of the Council of Mayors came in October 1965 when the Policy Committee asked the Council of Mayors to endorse an agreement for a cooperative arrangement between CATS and NIPC. The agreement described the responsibilities of each and participation by each in support of the regional councils.
In 1969 all the municipalities in the six-county area were grouped together geographically and 12 regional councils were established. The regional councils were comprised of the City of Chicago and six suburban councils in Cook County and one council for each of the five collar counties; DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will. Representatives from the transportation planning and implementing agencies participate in the regional council meetings.
In 1970, the Council of Mayors received Policy Committee voting membership. The Council of Mayors also has representatives on the CATS Work Program Committee, as well as numerous other CATS committees and task forces.
As the mayors became a recognized force in transportation, the range of issues with which they dealt expanded. Some of these issues required more intensive scrutiny than could be accomplished by the monthly regional council meetings and the annual meeting of all of the mayors that were held in the 1960s and 1970s.
An Executive Committee of the Council of Mayors was formed in 1981 to provide a link among the councils and also between the councils and CATS. It is comprised of two representatives selected by each of the eleven suburban regional councils. The mayor of the city of Chicago is always invited to participate.
In response to the ISTEA, the Executive Committee refined the council boundaries and ensured that every municipality would be eligible for funding, a departure from the past when only those within the urbanized boundary were eligible. The Executive Committee and its officers have been involved in the implementation of ISTEA beyond the programming of funds. They have sponsored numerous studies exploring the potential for increased transit service in the region; produced and distributed a video for junior and senior high schools describing the ozone problem and what can be done to prevent its formation; and developed bicycle and pedestrian plans for each of the councils.
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