1. Local Public Agencies ACEC of ARIZONA SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
BREAKING THROUGH with
Local Public Agencies
ACEC of ARIZONA
SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

2. Breaking through Story
Why do we communicate with local public agencies?
How do we do it?
How do we meet (or not meet) expectation?

3. How Does the Message get home?
Arizona established a new communication initiative to loop information to and from our partners “on the range”
It came from Every Day Counts: Stakeholder Partnering
What do our partners do?

4. What is ‘Every Day Counts’?
“The Every Day Counts is a finite set of initiatives that are designed to identify and deploy innovation aimed at reducing the time it takes to deliver highway projects, enhance safety, and protect the environment.”1
Initiated by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
There are multiple initiatives under the umbrella.

5. for starting the Council?
What was the impetus
for starting the Council?
To pursue enhanced communication through the establishment of a Stakeholder Council for the Local Public Agency (LPA) Program in Arizona
Open up the communication dialogue on topics important to LPAs per FHWA funded projects

6. How and when did the Stakeholder Council get started?
Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) chose this initiative at the a session of a November 2012 Every Day Counts (EDC) ll Summit
Preliminary planning started after the Summit
FHWA and ADOT deployment team was formed to mount the initiative in Arizona
Peer to peer conversation took place between Nebraska and Arizona
Survey was sent out to LPAs

7. Who participates? How are they selected?
Members
Representatives from local public agencies, FHWA, Councils of Government (COGs), Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), and ADOT
COGs and MPOs were asked to identify appropriate representation within their region
Selection criteria included:
Region
Rural and Urban
Varied sizes of communities

8. How often does the Council meet?
The AZ LPA Stakeholder Council was launched together with our federal partners and local public agencies on Dec. 5, 2013
Expectation to meet quarterly
Central location chosen at a partner agency for those traveling

9. What is the Council focusing on?
Five Categories
Finance
Environmental
Right-of-Way
Administration
Other
Topics identified from the survey and more added by the LPA Stakeholder Council
Educate/learn from each other
Share information: disseminate information to and from their “network” for topic brainstorming
Where is the opportunity for change?
Where does the law not allow us? (constraint)
Facilitate continuous improvement

10. What is the Council
focusing on?

11. The Every Day Counts ii Local Public Agency Stakeholder Council
Some things we have found out thus far:
Various levels of experience pertaining to federal-aid process
Continuous education needed (revolving door of staff)
Frustration: over fees and reimbursement of local funds; environmental; consultant procurement process—on call contract; cost of project when using federal $$ compared to local $$
“Just tell me what you want.”
They want to swap federal $$ for state $$
They have responded well (for the most part) when we take the time to explain
We learn from our partners to work on solutions
Would this type of communication initiative be effective with your partners on the range?

12. How can you get more information? Thank you
Stakeholder Partnering Resource Library
ADOT LPA Stakeholder Council Web Page
Thank you
Jodi Rooney, ADOT Local Public Agency Section