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Testimony by Lyle Wray, Executive Director, Capital Region Council of Governments
Good morning and thank you, Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Shelby and distinguished members of the Committee. I am honored to be before you to testify on the vital role the Livable Communities Act would have within communities and regions of all sizes and make ups nationwide, focusing on my region, the Greater Hartford, Connecticut region as one local perspective boasting great opportunity for implementation of the Livable Communities Act.
My name is Lyle Wray and I serve as Executive Director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) in Hartford, Connecticut, and also serve on the Executive Directors Council of the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC). Today, on behalf of NARC, I am here to demonstrate the need for and stress the importance of authorizing the Livable Communities Act to meet the growing demands of communities and regions nationwide.
The National Association of Regional Councils is a non-profit trade organization that serves as the national voice for regionalism, advocating for multi-jurisdictional cooperation as the most effective way to address community planning and development opportunities and challenges. NARC is governed by local elected officials and represents member regional planning organizations composed of multiple local governments that work together to improve America's communities -large and small, urban and rural. Through advocacy and assistance, NARC's mission is to increase funding and authority for all regional councils (RCs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), regardless of their size or location, and to strengthen American regions and communities in transportation, economic and community development, homeland security, and the environment - integrating fundamental planning and implementation functions within these core areas.
Regional councils deliver an array of federal, state and local programs that provide planning support and technical assistance to local governments. The national network of regional councils includes organizations such as Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO), Councils of Government (COG), Rural Planning Organizations (RPO), Economic Development Districts (EDD) and Local Development Districts (LDD). Regional councils are either created by compact and/or enabling legislation or as voluntary consortia of local governments. Our mission is the delivery of services and programs for economic development, first responder and 911, health care, infrastructure development, aging services, air and water quality,...