Boards and Committees

The Council of Officials meets a minimum of three times each year to set policy, structure agency programs, receive pertinent information and discuss matters of mutual concern to its membership. Members work closely with other local decision-makers to identify issues of regional significance and to consider resolution through coordinated planning.

The MAPA Board of Directors meets on the last Thursday of each month at 1:30 p.m. in the Board Room of the MAPA offices.

• Clare Duda, Douglas County
• Tom Hanafan, City Of Council Bluffs
• Rusty Hike, Sarpy County
• Melvyn Houser, Pottawattamie County
• Kathleen Kelley, Secretary/Treasurer
• Doug Kindig, NE Small Communities/Counties
• Ron Kohn, IA Small Communities/Counties
• Rita Sanders, City Of Bellevue
• Jean Stothert, Omaha City Council
• Jim Suttle, City Of Omaha

The Board of Directors' meeting agendas can be found here.

The MAPA Foundation is the 501(C)(3) corporation organized for charitable and educational purposes allowing MAPA to receive tax deductible donations (for programs such as Metro Area Motorist Assist).

• Robert Blair, UNO
• Clare Duda, Douglas County
• Tim Gay, American National Bank
• Tom Hanafan, City of Council Bluffs
• Rusty Hike, Sarpy County
• Melvyn Houser, Pottawattamie County
• Kathy Kelley, Secretary/Treasurer
• Doug Kindig, NE Small Comm/Counties
• Ron Kohn, IA Small Comm/Counties
• Rita Sanders, City of Bellevue
• Rod Moseman, Greater Omaha COC
• Dan Park, HDR Engineering Inc.
• Jean Stothert, Omaha City Council
• Jim Suttle, City of Omaha
• Ron Tekippe, HGM Associates Inc.
• Linda Washburn, Glenwood Area COC

The MAPA Foundation's meeting agendas can be found here.

The purpose of this board is to plan for, coordinate, and implement regional strategies that assist member jurisdictions with plans and projects that will create jobs, foster more diversified and stable economies, and improve living conditions while protecting the environment; and to develop, approve, and maintain the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), the EDD work program, other economic development-related items, and assist in gathering public comment and discussion on these economic development issues in accordance with 13 CFR Chapter III, the Economic Development Administration Reauthorization Act of 2004, Final Rule, a comprehensive amendment of the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, as Amended (PWEDA). This board shall serve as the official governing body of the Economic Development District. Actions taken by the MAPA EDD Governing Board shall be reported to the MAPA Board of Directors.

• Robert Blair, UNO
• Clare Duda, Douglas County
• Tim Gay, American National Bank
• Tom Hanafan, City of Council Bluffs
• Rusty Hike, Sarpy County
• Melvyn Houser, Pottawattamie County
• Kathy Kelley, Secretary/Treasurer
• Doug Kindig, NE Small Comm/Counties
• Ron Kohn, IA Small Comm/Counties
• Rita Sanders, City of Bellevue
• Rod Moseman, Greater Omaha COC
• Dan Park, HDR Engineering Inc.
• Jean Stothert, Omaha City Council
• Jim Suttle, City of Omaha
• Ron Tekippe, HGM Associates Inc.
• Linda Washburn, Glenwood Area COC

The Finance Committee serves as an administrative committee to the Board of Directors for MAPA. The Finance Committee monitors the financial status and operation of the agency as directed by the Board, reviews monetary expenditures, presents and recommends the annual budget, and recommends approval of line item expenditures, contracts, allocation of local funds, and reviews personnel actions. The Finance Committee meets monthly except for November.

• Ron Kohn, Mills County Board of Supervisors
• Rusty Hike, Sarpy County Commissioner
• Clare Duda, Douglas County Commissioner
• Melvyn Houser, Pottawattamie County Supervisor
• Ernest Abariotes, Washington County Commissioner
• Kathleen Kelley (Secretary/Treasurer), Douglas County, Chief Administrative Officer

The purpose of the Transportation Technical Advisory Committee (TTAC) is to provide for continuing, comprehensive and coordinated transportation planning. The committee also maintains correspondence and coordination with participating agencies, and provides other technical support necessary to the transportation planning program. TTAC meets approximately six times a year to discuss multimodal transportation issues in the MAPA region and to forward recommendations to the MAPA Board of Directors. TTAC meets bi-monthly on the third Friday of each month starting in January of the calendar year. Meetings are open to the public and are held at the MAPA offices. Archived and upcoming meeting agendas can be found here.

The purpose of the Project Review Committee is to provide a voluntary intergovernmental review and comment process for federal and state aid applications that impact the MAPA area. The applications are submitted to MAPA in accordance with Executive Order 12372 (intergovernmental review of Federal programs).

• Chair, currently vacant
• Tom Baker, Citizen At Large (CAL)
• Doug Clark, Douglas County Health Department
• Kent Holm, Douglas County Environmental Services
• Heather Tippey-Pierce, Omaha Public Works Department
• Gayle Malmquist, Council Buffs Planning Department
• Kay Mocha, Pottawattamie County
• Gerald Bowen, Papio-Missouri River NRD
• Vacant, Sarpy County

The Coordinated Public Transit & Human Services Transportation Committee oversees efforts in the Council Bluffs/Omaha Metro Area to make all public transportation more accessible, efficient and available. The Committee meets quarterly at MAPA. A sub-committee on Mobility Management in the Metro Area meets monthly to coordinate all efforts under a federal mandate to work for transportation coordination across the traditional boundaries of funding and operations. Archived and upcoming meeting agendas can be found here.

The SWIFT (Southwest Iowa Freeway Team) has been replaced by the TIM (Traffic Incident Management) team.  This network of transportation, enforcement, and incident response professionals are working in cooperation with IDOT, NDOR, MAPA, and various local jurisdictions to create an incident response guidelines manual that will help to inventory and standardize responses to various transportation incidents on the region's freeway and interstate system. The TIM guidelines manual is being written by HWS (now Benesch) with assistance from Telvent and Olsson Associates.

The MAPA Economic Development District has appointed the RLF Loan Review Committee to provide recommendations on action regarding loan applications received from businesses wishing to utilize the MAPA EDD Revolving Loan Fund. Applications will be reviewed and financing recommendations will be made by an eight-member loan review committee that will receive staff support from MAPA. This body is representative of lending, real estate, public sector, and economic development entities throughout the MAPA region and satisfies the committee requirements set forth in the RLF Administrative Plan. The RLF Loan Review Committee meets once a month as needed to review loan applications and to provide recommendations on open loan projects requiring board action.

• Greg Halverson, Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce
• Paula Hazlewood, Gateway Development Corp.
• David Dunn, Century 21 Hansen Realty
• Courtney Dunbar, Olsson Associates
• Brent VonEssen, Glenwood State Bank
• Tim Gay, American National Bank
• Gilbert Thomas, Liberty Bank
• Patrick Bloomingdale, Douglas County Administration

The MAPA EDD Strategy Committee was appointed by the MAPA EDD Governing Board in 2007 after the agency and its member counties received Economic Development District designation. The committee is responsible for reviewing the CEDS document and establishing goals and objectives, and will be charged with submitting annual CEDS updates to the EDD Governing Board. The 2008 MAPA Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) was developed with leadership from the committee. This core planning committee satisfies federal requirements through its broad representation of the economic interests of the region, involvement of private sector representatives, and inclusion of key delegates representing workforce, education, and minority interests. As required by EDA, at least 51 percent private sector stakeholders and no more than 49 percent of other stakeholders represent the CEDS committee.

• Ron Tekippe (Chair), Vice President, HGM Associates
• Jeff Beals, President, Caldwell Banker World Group
• Deborah Keating, Vice President-Community Development, First National Bank
• Scott Keep, Vice-President, Metropolitan Utilities District
• Randy Lenhoff, President, Seldin Company
• Norman Nelson, Private Citizen
• Larry Winum, President, Glenwood State Bank
• Steve Oltmans, Mayor's Chief of Staff, City of Omaha
• Ann Birch, Community Development Director, City of LaVista, Nebraska
• Jerry Deichert, Director, Center for Public Affairs and Research, University of Nebraska-Omaha
• Winsley Durand, Minority Economic Development Director, Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce
• Karen Goehring, Job Training Partnership Coordinator, Iowa Western Community College
• Joy Tillema, Director of Research, United Way of the Midlands

On a quarterly basis, the MAPA Economic Development District hosts an informational forum bringing together key community development and planning professionals in the region to discuss development-related issues and strategies, to identify potential technical assistance needs in the region, and to discuss opportunities for collaborative approaches to planning and development in the area. Information gathered at these forums is used in annual updates to MAPA's Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) document.

The Data Resources Committee is maintained for the purpose of discussing issues and sharing information related to census data, local geography computer applications, data availability and other appropriate topics. The data resources committee meets approximately six times per year.

This committee is maintained for the purpose of helping direct stakeholders in the Community Based Planning Process and to assist with voluntary ozone reductions for the MAPA region. The committee meets when necessary to provide proper guidance in terms of the implications of reduction efforts to community stakeholders. Committee members typically have a technical expertise in the realm of air quality and ozone.

The RPA-18 has separate Policy and Technical Committees to address the transportation issues of the region. Each county (Harrison, Mills, Pottawattamie and Shelby) and each city with a population of 5,000 or more has a representative to each of these committees. The Technical Committee is further supplemented by representatives from the Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA) and the Iowa DOT.