Overview

The Energy Board is a subcommittee of the BRCPC. The Energy Board manages a portfolio of electric and natural gas requirements from participating entities. These decisions are guided by an energy management consultant and managed with a Chair.

Purpose and Mission

• Manage price risk for both electric and natural gas portfolios through an 80/20 hedging strategy.
• Ensure that participants meet their renewable energy requirements.
• Inform participants of industry innovations and news.

Membership

Presently, there are 24 local entities participating in the Energy Board.  The voting members of the Board include Anne Arundel County, Anne Arundel County Public Schools, City of Baltimore, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County and Howard County.

Chair: Matthew Carpenter, Baltimore County Government, mcarpenter@baltimorecountymd.gov or 410-887-3880.

Energy Management Consultant: Noel Chesser, enelX, 443-524-2887.

Overview

In furtherance of the 2005 Reservoir Watershed Management Agreement and Action Strategy, the group meets monthly to: address emerging reservoir issues, coordinate program work efforts, review technical work, and prepare reports called for in the Action Strategy.

Purpose and Mission

• To prepare progress reports of the Action Strategy items.
• To prepare technical reports relating to items that may include reservoir and tributary water quality, trends in land use and land cover, pollutants of concern in the watersheds, or critical land and water management issues in the reservoir watersheds.

Membership

Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County, Howard County, Baltimore County Soil Conservation District, Carroll County Soil Conservation District, Maryland Department of the Environment and Maryland Department of Agriculture

Overview

This committee was formed to provide oversight and guidance for reservoir watershed protection in the Baltimore region.

Purpose and Mission

• To develop and adopt policies that achieve the goals of the Reservoir Watershed Management Program, addressing the three Baltimore region reservoirs and their watersheds.

Membership

Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County, Howard County, Baltimore County Soil Conservation District, Carroll County Soil Conservation District, Maryland Department of the Environment and Maryland Department of Agriculture

Overview

The Traffic Incident Management for the Baltimore Region (TIMBR) Committee brings together regional stakeholders to address safety and mobility issues related to traffic incidents. The committee provides a forum for first responders to identify and discuss issues of common concern and work on regional TIM projects.

Meetings are held quarterly.

Purpose and Mission

• To enhance communication, cooperation, and coordination across jurisdictions, agencies, and modes to improve responder and motorist safety, enhance mobility, and ultimately, improve traffic incident management

Membership

Committee members include local, state, federal, and private sector representatives from police, fire, transportation, emergency management, environment, and towing stakeholders working in the Baltimore region.

Overview

Since 1996, local governments in the Baltimore metropolitan area have coordinated in carrying out their duty to affirmatively further fair housing under the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. Most recently they have worked with the Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) and local public housing agencies (PHAs) to create a new 2020 Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI), analyzing fair-housing-related disparities in opportunity and creating action plans to address them over the coming five years. From 2012 to 2020 , also with assistance from BMC, the jurisdictions PHAs implemented the Regional Fair Housing Action Plan from their 2012 Regional AI, including establishing a Regional Rental Housing Affordability Preservation Policy and a Regional Project-Based Voucher Program.

Purpose and Mission

To provide a forum where local governments and public housing authorities (PHAs) in the Baltimore area can carry out coordinated planning and implementation of their duty to affirmatively further fair housing.

Membership

The Fair Housing Group includes housing and community development officials from the cities of Annapolis and Baltimore, as well as Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, and Howard Counties. It also includes representatives from those jurisdictions' human relations or civil rights agencies as well as leaders from public housing authorities in each of the jurisdictions. The chair and vice chair positions rotate annually among the members.

Overview

The Baltimore Regional Fair Housing Group created the Regional AI Stakeholder Work Group to provide thoughtful and continuous advice as the Fair Housing Group carries out its 2020 Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI). Coordinating this Regional AI is part of BMC’s Regional Fair Housing Planning work. The Stakeholder Work Group met 11 times between October 2018 and March 2020 to review key data related to fair housing and to make suggestions, shape the analysis and resulting goals and priorities, and review the draft AI document.

The Work Group brought together representatives of racial, ethnic, and religious groups protected under the Fair Housing Act, organizations working for people with disabilities, State agencies, policy experts, and civic and community representatives. Participants were drawn from jurisdictions participating in the analysis: the Cities of Annapolis and Baltimore and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, and Howard Counties. Its work has helped to shape the Baltimore Regional AI scheduled to be completed in May 2020.

Purpose and Mission

• To help the Fair Housing Group review and interpret data provided by HUD for the 2020 Regional AI
• To suggest readily available local data that will enhance the AI
• To provide further input into analysis and significance of data and development of goals and priorities

Membership

The Work Group includes stakeholders around the region who are diverse geographically, demographically, and in terms of constituency, interest, and policy area. It seeks to represent classes protected by the Fair Housing Act, related State agencies, civic and community interests, residents of subsidized housing, local civil rights agencies, and also policy experts in areas related to fair housing, such as education, public health, and transportation.

Overview

The region’s 2012 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI) identified the loss of existing affordable rental units regionally as an impediment to fair housing. As a result, in 2016 the region's housing agencies in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, and Howard Counties established a policy to address this impediment. The policy created the Regional Rental Home Affordability Preservation Task Force to be the key vehicle for coordinated public- and private-sector strategy and action toward a goal of zero net loss of rental home affordability at 50% of the Baltimore area median income (AMI) and below. The Task Force meets periodically to review properties potentially at risk of losing their affordability, learn about potentially useful preservation strategies, and chart a course forward.

Purpose and Mission

• To preserve current affordable rental home resources where possible and develop strategies to create new affordability when existing resources are lost.
• To promote coordination among local and state government and interested private sector parties to achieve that goal.

Membership

The Task Force includes local housing agency staff, state and federal housing officials, private sector housing and community development representatives, affordable housing developers, public and private sector disability experts, and fair housing advocates. The membership is generally described in the regional policy and includes officials who can strategize and potentially bring resources to assist in addressing the challenge.

Overview

BMC’s Housing Committee serves as the primary forum for cooperative dialogue among local jurisdictions, housing authorities, and stakeholders regarding implementation of the Regional Fair Housing Action Plan in the Baltimore Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI).

The Housing Committee annually reviews and provides input into the AI Implementation Plan prepared by the Baltimore Regional Fair Housing Group. The Housing Committee also serves as a key forum for discussing the allocation of State affordable housing resources as well as other key related topics such as transportation infrastructure and health and equity initiatives.

Purpose and Mission

• To facilitate routine interaction and cooperation among the Regional Fair Housing Group, BMC, and diverse public- and private-sector stakeholders regarding the implementation of the Regional AI.
• To provide a forum to discuss issues related to housing in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

Membership

The Housing Committee includes representatives from local housing agencies, state agencies on housing and disabilities, fair housing advocates, affordable housing and community development organizations, multifamily housing representatives, and other stakeholders. The chair and vice chair positions rotate annually among members of the Baltimore Regional Fair Housing Group.

Overview

The Transportation & Public Works Committee was created to provide input and recommendations to both the BRTB and the Baltimore Urban Area Homeland Security Work Group (UAWG). The committee identifies and addresses transportation and public works issues to enhance emergency preparedness, response, and recovery as well as provide a forum for members to discuss and resolve transportation and public works issues. The committee meets quarterly.

Purpose and Mission

• To provide a forum for local and state staff to identify and discuss transportation and public works issues related to "day to day" operations as well as emergency operations
• To provide input and project recommendations to BRTB and UAWG

Membership

Members of the committee include transportation or public works staff from local jurisdictions, transportation and transit staff from the state, and emergency management representation from local jurisdictions and the state.

Overview

The Traffic Signal Subcommittee is a forum of the region’s traffic signal engineers, managers, and technicians to discuss issues of common concern and to identify and undertake projects that improve the operation and coordination of the region’s traffic signals.

The signal subcommittee holds a regional signal forum that attracts over 200 people from across the region and neighboring states - there have been 10 such forums dating back to 2004.

Meetings are held on an as-needed basis - usually two to three times a year.

Purpose and Mission

• To promote regional cooperation and collaboration among state and local agencies towards maximizing traffic signal operations for safety and efficiency.

Membership

The committee consists of traffic signal engineers/managers/technicians from each of the regional jurisdictions, State Highway Administration (SHA) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The committee also includes representatives from several local consulting firms and signal equipment vendors.