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Property Acquisition/Condemnation Authority New additions to the JEPA will provide LAVTA with the express authority to lease property and to utilize the power of eminent domain in the event it needs to acquire property from an unwilling seller. The current JEPA authorizes LAVTA to undertake property acquisitions, but it is not clearly stated that LAVTA has the power to use eminent domain. Any condemnation action would need to contain a specific reference to the agency's legal authority to undertake such an action In order to protect the interests of the individual member jurisdictions. The restated JEPA requires that before a condemnation action can be filed within a particular jurisdiction the action must first be approved by that jurisdiction and supported by the LAVTA Board of Directors (4/5ths required by State law to approve the filing of such an action). It is anticipated that this power would only be used as a last resort and would be used consistent with the recently adopted changes to the State Constitution (Proposition 99). uorum It is proposed that the quorum requirement be changed from five votes (which can currently be exercised by as few as three members due to the provision that each local agency has 2 votes and both votes may be cast by one representative if the second member is not present) to four members who exercise at least five votes which would be a true numerical majority of the Board. This change will help avoid any confusion about whether a typical "less than a quorum" committee of three Board members might constitute an actual quorum of the Board and therefore potentially violate the Brown Act. It will also ensure that at least three of the four jurisdictions are represented at Board meetings before any official action can occur. Service Levels Under the current JEPA, LAVTA is limited in its ability to vary, by more than 10%, from the allocation of service to each city based strictly on its population. This formula was derived from the fact that initial LAVTA operations were almost entirely funded by Transit Development Act (TDA) funds which are allocated to each member agency on a population basis. TDA funds now make up less than 70 percent of the LAVTA's operating funds. With several routes receiving dedicated funding from other sources it has become increasingly difficult to precisely allocate service funding based on TDA levels. During LAVTA's recent strategic planning process this restriction was noted as a potential obstacle to undertaking new projects such as the proposed Bus Rapid Transit projects which will initially focus spending on certain target areas. In order to provide LAVTA with flexibility to vary from this allocation formula the restated JEPA would allow a 15 percent deviation from the strict population based allocation and allows that limit to be exceeded by an action of the LAVTA Board that receives both votes from any city that will fall more than 15% below the population based allocation. In addition specific routes or projects may be exempted from the allocation calculation provided the LAVTA Board takes action to do so at two separate meetings at least 14 days apart and notifies member jurisdictions of the proposed Page 3 of 4