Here’s a bureaucratic brain-buster: What exactly is the Napa Valley Transportation Authority?

Sure, it’s a joint-powers authority involving Napa County and its five cities. Yes, it deals with transportation, as the name makes clear.

But that still leaves plenty of room for confusion.

Here is the Napa Valley Register’s answer – “The NVTA runs the buses and tries to make it easier for people to drive, bike and walk to their destinations. Recent projects include Soscol Junction and the St. Helena/Calistoga Napa Valley Vine Trail segment.”

Yet readers might still be shaking their heads.

On Sept. 16, the NVTA's board of directors held a retreat at the Redwood Credit Union Community Room to work on a strategic plan. A consultant gave the local elected officials on the board a challenge.

Imagine, the consultant told them, that someone stops them at the grocery store and asks what the NVTA is. Answer the question in one or two sentences – using plain language.

So pretend you’re in the produce aisle checking out the tomatoes and lettuce. You see a local elected official and ask them what the NVTA is all about.

Napa Mayor Scott Sedgley and Calistoga City Councilmember Kevin Eisenberg teamed up on one answer.

“NVTA is a countywide government agency to plan, facilitate and implement effective transportation in the Napa Valley, including bus, automobile, bicycle and pedestrian modes,” they said.

St. Helena Mayor Paul Dohring and county Supervisor Amber Manfree worked together on another response.

“NVTA is a collaborative countywide transportation planning organization that prioritizes and advocates regionally for transportation projects and assures essential transit services to all residents and visitors,” they said.

American Canyon City Councilmember Mark Joseph and Calistoga Mayor Donald Williams gave still another reply.

“NVTA is a countywide organization charged with facilitating public transportation services, including public transit, planning, coordination and project delivery in a way that is safe, efficient and pleasurable,” they said.

With a smile, Danielle Schmitz said she was proud of the board members because they used more wonky language than staff did. Schmitz is the NVTA executive director.

Here is NVTA staff’s description of the agency:

“NVTA is a countywide transportation agency that partners with local communities to plan, fund, deliver and operate public transit services and transportation projects to advance safety and quality of life for all.”

Schmitz added context by describing how the agency began in 1991 to come up with a state-mandated congestion management plan. She spoke of how its role has changed over the years.

Having discussed what the NVTA is, board members turned to what they want the agency to accomplish over the next five years in big-picture language.

One priority is to make transportation safer and more reliable. Another is to have more people use buses, carpools and other forms of shared transportation.

Among the agency’s projects are helping to plan improvements at the congested Highway 29/Highway 12/ Airport Avenue intersection in south Napa, as well as a roundabout Upvalley at Highway 29 and Oakville Cross Road.

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