In 2001, the MTA Board of Directors adopted a new form of board governance – the Carver model of Policy Governance®. One of the most difficult issues faced by boards is how to define their relationship to both management, and the planning and execution of the day-to-day operational activities of the business. The Carver model simplifies these concerns by applying the following main themes:

• The Board’s only employee is the CEO

• The Board’s only link to the activities of the business comes through their governance policies. The Board creates policies with broad and specific values, and then turns the business over to the CEO to manage

Under the Carver model, there are several types of policies. One example is the Executive Limitations policies (EL). Your Board has created nine broad ELs. Basically, they set out what a CEO cannot do in his or her day-to-day and strategic management of the business. One of these has to do with Treatment of Consumers, which is identified as EL Policy 1.2.

Each EL has one broad provision, and may have many further provisions which are more specific in nature. In general, the policies are applied by the CEO and his/her performance is evaluated by the Board, in part through the policy monitoring process, which works as follows:

• The Board creates its policy provisions
• The CEO is required to interpret the policy provisions
• The Board determines whether or not the CEO's interpretations meet a reasonable interpretation test
• The CEO provides annual monitoring reports to the Board, including evidence to support his/her compliance with his interpretation of the policies, during that reporting period
• The Board determines whether or not the CEO has demonstrated compliance, via their review, and in some cases, an independent third party review, of the monitoring report

In the MTA Board's EL, Treatment of Consumers, there is 1 broad provision, and 7 further policy statements. Further provision #5 requires the CEO to in-part, “…inform the consumers of this policy or to provide a communication channel for persons who believe they have not been accorded a reasonable interpretation of their protections under this policy.”

The following is the Board’s policy on “Treatment of Consumers” in its entirety. Please take the opportunity to review the Board Policy, as it clearly defines the expectations you should have regarding how you will be treated by MTA as a consumer of our products and services.

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding your protections as a MTA consumer under this policy, please contact Jackie Kenshalo, MTA’s Manager of Public Relations at (907) 761-2424, or CEO Greg Berberich at (907) 761-2410.

With respect to interactions with consumers or those applying to be consumers, the CEO shall not cause or allow conditions, procedures, communications, or decisions that are unclear, unnecessarily intrusive, or lack dignity.

Further, without limiting the scope of the foregoing by this enumeration, he or she shall not:

Adopted: December 12, 2001
Amended: August 6, 2003
Amended: November 14, 2007

			Attested by:
						Corporate Seal
			Mike Combs Chief Governance Officer of MTA Board