Every authority has the following powers:

     (1) To acquire by purchase, condemnation, gift, or grant and to lease, construct, add to, improve, replace, repair, maintain, operate, and regulate the use of public monorail transportation facilities, including passenger terminal and parking facilities and properties, and other facilities and properties as may be necessary for passenger and vehicular access to and from public monorail transportation facilities, together with all lands, rights-of-way, and property within or outside the authority area, and together with equipment and accessories necessary or appropriate for these facilities, except that property, including but not limited to other types of public transportation facilities, that is owned by any city, county, county transportation authority, public transportation benefit area, metropolitan municipal corporation, or regional transit authority may be acquired or used by an authority only with the consent of the public entity owning the property. The entities are authorized to convey or lease property to an authority or to contract for their joint use on terms fixed by agreement between the entity and the authority;

     (2) To fix rates, tolls, fares, and charges for the use of facilities and to establish various routes and classes of service. Rates, tolls, fares, or charges may be adjusted or eliminated for any distinguishable class of users including, but not limited to, senior citizens and handicapped persons;

     (3) To contract with the United States or any of its agencies, any state or any of its agencies, any metropolitan municipal corporation, and other country, city, other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality, or governmental agency, or any private person, firm, or corporation for the purpose of receiving any gifts or grants or securing loans or advances for preliminary planning and feasibility studies, or for the design, construction, operation, or maintenance of public monorail transportation facilities as follows:

     (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, and in addition to any other authority provided by law, the governing body of a city transportation authority may contract with one or more vendors for the design, construction, operation, or maintenance, or other service related to the development of a monorail public transportation system including, but not limited to, monorail trains, operating systems and control equipment, guideways, and pylons, together with the necessary passenger stations, terminals, parking facilities, and other related facilities necessary and appropriate for passenger and vehicular access to and from the monorail train.

     (b) If the governing body of the city transportation authority decides to proceed with the consideration of qualifications or proposals for services from qualified vendors, the authority must publish notice of its requirements and request submission of qualifications statements or proposals. The notice must be published in the official newspaper of the city creating the authority at least once a week for two weeks, not less than sixty days before the final date for the submission of qualifications statements or proposals. The notice must state in summary form: (i) The general scope and nature of the design, construction, operation, maintenance, or other services being sought related to the development of the proposed monorail, tram, or trolley public transportation system; (ii) the name and address of a representative of the city transportation authority who can provide further details; (iii) the final date for the submission of qualifications statements or proposals; (iv) an estimated schedule for the consideration of qualifications statements or proposals, the selection of vendors, and the negotiation of a contract or contracts for services; (v) the location of which a copy of any requests for qualifications statements or requests for proposals will be made available; and (vi) the criteria established by the governing body of the authority to select a vendor or vendors, which may include, but is not limited to, the vendor's prior experience, including design, construction, operation, or maintenance of other similar public transportation facilities, respondent's management capabilities, proposed project schedule, availability and financial resources, costs of the services to be provided, nature of facility design proposed by the vendors, system reliability, performance standards required for the facilities, compatibility with existing public transportation facilities operated by the authority or any other public body or other providers of similar services to the public, project performance guarantees, penalties, and other enforcement provisions, environmental protection measures to be used by the vendor, consistency with the applicable regional transportation plans, and the proposed allocation of project risks.

     (c) If the governing body of the city transportation authority decides to proceed with the consideration of qualifications statements or proposals submitted by vendors, it may designate a representative to evaluate the vendors who submitted qualifications statements or proposals and conduct discussions regarding qualifications or proposals with one or more vendors. The governing body or its representative may request submission of qualifications statements and may later request more detailed proposals from one or more vendors who have submitted qualifications statements, or may request detailed proposals without having first received and evaluated qualifications statements. The governing body or its representative will evaluate the qualifications or proposals, as applicable. If two or more vendors submit qualifications or proposals that meet the criteria established by the governing body of the authority, discussions and interviews must be held with at least two vendors. Any revisions to a request for qualifications or request for proposals must be made available to all vendors then under consideration by the governing body of the authority and must be made available to any other person who has requested receipt of that information.

     (d) Based on the criteria established by the governing body of the authority, the representative will recommend to the governing body a vendor or vendors that are initially determined to be the best qualified to provide one or more of the design, construction, operation or maintenance, or other service related to the development of the proposed monorail public transportation system.

     (e) The governing body of the authority or its representative may attempt to negotiate a contract with the vendor or vendors selected for one or more of the design, construction, operation or maintenance, or other service related to the development of the proposed monorail public transportation system on terms that the governing body of the authority determines to be fair and reasonable and in the best interest of the authority. If the governing body, or its representative, is unable to negotiate a contract with any one or more of the vendors first selected on terms that it determines to be fair and reasonable and in the best interest of the authority, negotiations with any one or more of the vendors must be terminated or suspended and another qualified vendor or vendors may be selected in accordance with the procedures set forth in this section. If the governing body decides to continue the process of selection, negotiations will continue with a qualified vendor or vendors in accordance with this section at the sole discretion of the governing body of the authority until an agreement is reached with one or more qualified vendors, or the process is terminated by the governing body. The process may be repeated until an agreement is reached.

     (f) Prior to entering into a contract with a vendor, the governing body of the authority must make written findings, after holding a public hearing on the proposal, that it is in the public interest to enter into the contract, that the contract is financially sound, and that it is advantageous for the governing body of the authority to use this method for awarding contracts for one or more of the design, construction, or operation or maintenance of the proposed monorail public transportation system as compared to all other methods of awarding such contracts.

     (g) Each contract must include a project performance bond or bonds or other security by the vendor.

     (h) The provisions of chapters 39.12 and 39.19 RCW apply to a contract entered into under this section as if the public transportation systems and facilities were owned by a public body.

     (i) The vendor selection process permitted by this section is supplemental to and is not construed as a repeal of or limitation on any other authority granted by law.

     (j) Contracts for the construction of facilities, other than contracts for facilities to be provided by the selected vendor, with an estimated cost greater than two hundred thousand dollars must be awarded after a competitive bid process consistent with chapter 39.04 RCW or awarded through an alternative public works contracting procedure consistent with chapter 39.10 RCW;

     (4) To contract with the United States or any of its agencies, any state or any of its agencies, any metropolitan municipal corporation, any other county, city, other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality, any governmental agency, or any private person, firm, or corporation for the use by either contracting party of all or any part of the facilities, structures, lands, interests in lands, air rights over lands, and rights-of-way of all kinds which are owned, leased, or held by the other party and for the purpose of planning, designing, constructing, operating any public transportation facility, or performing any service related to transportation which the authority is authorized to operate or perform, on terms as may be agreed upon by the contracting parties;

     (5) To acquire any existing public transportation facility by conveyance, sale, or lease. In any acquisition from a county, city, or other political subdivision of the state, the authority will receive credit from the county or city or other political subdivision for any federal assistance and state matching assistance used by the county or city or other political subdivision in acquiring any portion of the public transportation facility. Upon acquisition, the authority must assume and observe all existing labor contracts relating to the public transportation facility and, to the extent necessary for operation of the public transportation facility, all of the employees of the public transportation facility whose duties are necessary to efficiently operate the public transportation facility must be appointed to comparable positions to those which they held at the time of the transfer, and no employee or retired or pensioned employee of the public transportation facility will be placed in any worse position with respect to pension seniority, wages, sick leave, vacation, or other benefits than he or she enjoyed as an employee of the public transportation facility prior to the acquisition. Furthermore, the authority must engage in collective bargaining with the duly appointed representatives of any employee labor organization having existing contracts with the acquired facility and may enter into labor contracts with the employee labor organization;

     (6) To contract for, participate in, and support research, demonstration, testing, and development of public monorail transportation facilities, equipment, and use incentives, and have all powers necessary to comply with any criteria, standards, and regulations which may be adopted under state and federal law, and to take all actions necessary to meet the requirements of those laws. The authority has, in addition to these powers, the authority to prepare, adopt, and carry out a comprehensive public monorail plan and to make other plans and studies and to perform programs as the authority deems necessary to implement and comply with those laws;

     (7) To establish local improvement districts within the authority area to finance public monorail transportation facilities, to levy special assessments on property specially benefited by those facilities, and to issue local improvement bonds to be repaid by the collection of local improvement assessments. The method of establishment, levying, collection, enforcement, and all other matters relating to the local improvement districts, assessments, collection, and bonds are as provided in the statutes governing local improvement districts of cities and towns. The duties devolving upon the city treasurer in those statutes are imposed on the treasurer of the authority;

     (8) To exercise all other powers necessary and appropriate to carry out its responsibilities, including without limitation the power to sue and be sued, to own, construct, purchase, lease, add to, and maintain any real and personal property or property rights necessary for the conduct of the affairs of the authority, to enter into contracts, and to employ the persons as the authority deems appropriate. An authority may also sell, lease, convey, or otherwise dispose of any real or personal property no longer necessary for the conduct of the affairs of the authority.

[2002 c 248 § 5.]