By Paul Gable
The Coast RTA board will hold a special meeting today to consider ways to expand board membership.
Horry County Council requested over a year ago to have its membership on the Coast RTA board increased from the present one member to three members because of the amount of overall funding it provides the agency.
Horry County provides approximately 20 percent of Coast RTA funding, the largest amount after the federal government.
However, an attorney general’s opinion earlier this year said funding is not a consideration for board membership allotted to individual local governments.
State law governs the makeup of board members for all of the transportation authorities throughout the state.
Coast RTA board chairman Bernie Silverman said the agency had contacted other transportation authorities throughout the state and discovered that each had a little different way of determining board makeup under the overall guidelines of state law.
“Population and where it is located throughout the area served by the transportation authority is the real key,” Silverman said. “A large portion of the population we serve is located in unincorporated Horry County.”
Silverman said today’s meeting will look at state law and Coast RTA bylaws with a view to adding two more board members appointed by Horry County Council, but no votes will be taken.
“We think we’ve found a way, within the guidelines of state law, to meet Horry County Council’s request for additional board membership,” Silverman said. “If so, the next step will be to see if a majority of the board will support it.”
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