Many of the topics and questions I ask on this show relate to the question of regionalism and regional cooperation. The Ohio Kentucky Indiana Regional Council of Governments, OKI, is the regional planning agency for an eight county area.
OKI is run by a board of 117 people including 65 elected officials.
OKI is federally mandated, but not a federal agency, and has the final say over any transportation spending that uses any federal funding.
The agency oversees a long range transportation plan of over $7 billion dollars which results in about $40 million annually being invested into local planning and construction projects.
Currently, OKI is involved with the reauthorization of the Federal Transportation Planning bill.
To explore the work of OKI, I am joined this morning by Mark Policinski, the agency's executive director.
Before assuming that position in 2003, Mr. Policinski held senior level postitions in private industry and worked as a senior economist for the joint economic committee on Capital Hill advising members of Congress on economic matters.
