State chief to guide traffic planners

Chris Van Ormer
Staff Writer
The group charged with keeping vehicles moving in Citrus County will host a workshop Thursday that should affect its direction.

Don Skelton, District 7 Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), will lead a roundtable discussion for the Citrus County Transportation Planning Organization (TPO).

Members of the TPO want to address the issue of whether to take the next step toward becoming a metropolitan planning organization (MPO), and, if so, when to move and how to do it. Transition to an MPO has been under consideration since November.

At the TPO’s January meeting, John Siefert, executive director of the Citrus County Economic Development Council, a nonvoting member of the TPO, said when the group was created four years ago its ultimate objective was to become an MPO. Siefert said the group would carry more authority in gaining funding for transportation projects as an MPO.

The group is considering making the move now because upcoming census data may designate more urbanized areas in the county.
At the group’s December meeting, Dr. Tim Pitts, vice president of an economic development consulting company based in Beverly Hills, said the group should become an MPO quickly to get in ahead of national legislation raising requirements for designation as an urbanized area.

Pitts made a presentation to the TPO board offering five options: dissolve the TPO; remain an advisory group to FDOT District 7; become a pseudo-MPO funded by member governments; merge with an MPO in a neighboring county; or become an independent MPO.
Lee Royal, a nonvoting member representing FDOT, said at the January meeting if the county were to become an urbanized area, that designation would not guarantee transition to an MPO. The decision would result from analysis of urbanized planning and maps. Royal supported discussing the transition with Skelton.

Following the workshop, the TPO will conduct its regular meeting. It will include an update on the request for qualifications for firms or individuals interested in providing transportation planning and related management services to the board, which also will decide its selection process.

The board also will adopt its goals, objectives and
policies.

Chronicle reporter Chris Van Ormer can be reached at cvanormer@chronicle
online.com or 352-564-2916.

WHAT: Roundtable discussion of the Citrus County Transportation Planning Organization with Don Skelton, FDOT District 7 Secretary.
WHEN: 5:15 p.m. today (Thursday).
WHERE: Inverness Government Center, City Council Chambers, 212 W. Main St., Inverness.