ABOUT THE BFCG

The Benton-Franklin Governmental Conference was established as a voluntary association of the units of local government in the two-county region in 1966. The official name was changed to Benton-Franklin Regional Council (BFRC) in May 1991 and to the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments (BFCG) in 1998. The organization is structured under state law as a regional planning commission (RCW 36.70.060), a council of governments (RCW 36.64.080), and a Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO) (RCW 47.80.020). The Council of Governments presently claims 16 regular members, 1 associate member, 2 affiliate members, and 6 private sector members which represent the region's 242,000 population. As the RTPO, we add 7 public jurisdictions in Walla Walla County, increasing the population to 301,200.  Click Here for a detailed population breakdown of the region. 

As is the case elsewhere across the country, the problems facing this region's local communities cannot be effectively solved within a single city or county. Such problems require cooperative action by all local governments within a region. The function of the BFCG is to facilitate a cooperative approach to regional problem solving. Activities of the BFCG are:

• Provides a regional forum and planning entity for the development of multi-jurisdictional programs and decision-making,

• Serves as the Economic Development District for the region,

• Serves as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO),

• Provides a lead agency capability for the provision of multi-jurisdictional programs.

As a regional council of governments, the BFCG provides a forum for regional governmental cooperation; it initiates programs of a regional nature; and provides review and coordination for local applications for state and federal financial assistance.

As a regional planning agency, the BFCG provides a planning capability to address regional problems; it serves as a regional coordinating body for public agencies; and provides a regional planning framework within which local physical and social plans can be developed.

As a "lead agency" (utilizing the Interlocal Cooperation Act), the BFCG can serve as the implementing agency of virtually any multi-jurisdictional public program or service.

The financial support for these endeavors comes through annual contributions by member agencies, charges for services, and specific, project-oriented federal and state grants.

While the concept of councils of government is over forty years old, such organizations did not become prevalent until the federal government offered grant-in-aid incentives for metropolitan area planning. With the increasing multi-jurisdictional complexity of local government, councils of government across the country have seen significant increases in responsibility and a shift to greater regional decision-making. Nationally, there are over 670 COG's or regional councils. Most of the 361 "metropolitan areas," such as Benton-Franklin counties, have established councils, and most non-metropolitan areas have similar organizations. Of the 39,000 local general-purpose governments in the United States (counties, cities, towns, villages, boroughs), approximately 35,000 are served by regional councils.

Benton-Franklin Council of Governments is able to provide a wide range of services and programs upon request. The programs and activities adopted in the present Work Program include:

• Regional Community Development Planning
• Transportation Planning
• Technical Assistance and Interlocal Services
• Program Evaluation Review and Comment
• Economic Development District

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP?

• A seat at the table and a voice in key regional decisions

• Opportunities to resolve growth, economic development, and transportation issues that cross jurisdictional boundaries

• Information and technical assistance for obtaining federal and state transportation funds

• Workshops, training, and other educational opportunities to learn about important issues for local jurisdictions

• Employment, population and travel data needed to meet special requirements of the Growth Management Act and other laws, and for day-to-day planning needs

• Free standard and secondary data products and working data sets; large custom requests at a discount

• Access to an extensive range of technical expertise in areas such as transit and transportation planning, economics and economic development, growth management, demographics and use of geographic information systems

• Highest priority when requesting data and information

Regular voting members of the Council of Governments in 2010 include the following:

In addition, the following maintain associate or affiliate (non-voting) member status:

For RTPO issues, the following Walla Walla County Jurisdictions are voting members:

The United States Department of Energy maintains an Ex-Officio membership on the Council of Governments.

BFCOG Title VI Notice to Public

BFCOG hereby gives public notice that it is the policy of the agency to assure full compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice, and related statutes and regulations in all programs and activities. Title VI requires that no person in the United States of America shall, on the grounds of race, color, sex, or national origin, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity for which BFCOG receives federal financial assistance. Any person who believes they have been aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory practice under Title VI has a right to file a formal complaint with BFCOG.

Any such complaint must be in writing and filed with the BFCOG Title VI Coordinator within one hundred eighty (180) days following the date of the alleged discriminatory occurrence.