Sacramento Regional Transit Board Meeting - December 9, 2016
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Sacramento Regional Transit Board Meeting - December 9, 2016
The Sacramento Regional Transit Board of Directors met on December 9, 2016, with Chair Shine presiding. A quorum was present (Directors Budge, Hansen, Harris, Hume, McGlashin, Miller, Natoly, Cerna; Director Jennings absent). The meeting was televised on Metro Cable 14 and streamed online. The consent calendar (items 1-9) was approved after a public speaker request to pull item 5 regarding the G4S contract was redirected to public comment. The board also heard public comments on various issues and received updates on board member requests.
Consent Calendar
- Approved items 1-9 by a vote of 100 (motion carried). A speaker attempted to pull item 5 (related to G4S contract) but was informed it was not agendized for that meeting; the speaker was directed to public comment.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Multiple speakers (Michael Manowski, Maggie Coulter, Gaith Hassan, others) urged the board not to renew the contract with G4S, citing human rights concerns and poor business practices. Speakers suggested hiring local youth for security and cleaning jobs instead.
- Fran Eldridge raised safety issues at 29th Street light rail station (emergency entrance, bus stop signage).
- Lori Jones noted a recurring pothole at 65th Street Light Rail, criticized the fare increase (discount pass rising from $50 to $65, a 30% increase rather than 40%), and opposed elimination of the paratransit monthly pass.
- Jamar Jefferson mentioned homeless issues and urged passing fare costs to the business community.
- Several speakers presented endorsements from Democratic clubs and organizations supporting a G4S contract cancellation.
Discussion Items
- General Manager's Report: Chair Shine noted that Mr. Spangler and Mr. Wiley were absent; an update on contracting policies (including the committee created six weeks prior) was requested for the next meeting. Board member Director Cerna requested a future report on art on buses.
- Director Budge noted the meeting had been canceled? (Later clarified that item 16 was affected but meeting proceeded.)
Key Outcomes
- Consent calendar approved.
- Board directed staff to provide an update on contracting policies (including G4S-related committee) at the next general manager's report.
- Board requested a report on potential art on buses.
- No action taken on G4S contract renewal as it was not on the agenda.
- Meeting adjourned after public comment.
Meeting Transcript
All right, we're going to uh get this meeting started. This is uh Sacramento Regional Transit Board of Directors. Ms. Brooks, would you like to call the roll, please? Director Budge? Director Hansen. Director Harris. Director Hume. Director Jennings is marked as being absent. Director McGlashin. Director Miller. Director Natoly. Director Cerna? Chair Shine. With that, we have a quorum at 100 votes. This meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit District will be cable cast without interruption on Metro Cable 14, the local government affairs channel, and will be streamed live on RT's website. Tonight's meeting will air on Wednesday, February 24th at 9 a.m. and replayed on Sunday, February 28th at noon on Channel 14 and webcast at WWW SAC Metro Cable.tv. It is also closed caption. Members of the audience wishing to address the board should fill out a speaker card located at the rear of the room and provide it to me or Adam. You will be given two minutes. Please speak into the microphone and state your name for the record. We would appreciate everyone turning off their cell phones. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Miller, you want to lead us in the pledge tonight? Certainly. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under this whole with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Moving on, consent calendar items one through nine, noting that you have a speaker on item number five. Okay, Michael Manowski. Is that correct? I'm going to ask everybody to squeeze in together because we do have people standing. So if you've got an empty seat next to you, please squeeze in. I've asked that the board pull this item from the consent calendar because it's especially I'm especially concerned about the way in which Sacramento RT is doing the people's business and how it's saving money to perform certain police duties. According to the fiscal impact statement of the staff report, any ongoing maintenance and support costs for the transfer of police services from RT Security Operations Center to the Sacramento City Real-time crime center will be a portion to RT and will be covered through savings from the Security Services contract. I propose that SAC State SAC RT should uh avoid uh contracting with a vendor whose human rights record is filthier than a severely neglected light rail car. The a the 90 contract So if I could ask you to wrap up, please. The 90 contract security guards mentioned on page two of item five of the staff report should come from our community, not an international scoff law. I suggest that the that local youth be hired at $15 an hour to keep cars and buses clean and monitored for safety. They could be recruited and trained with any one of a number of other public agencies, such as the welfare department's one stop offices. I need just need your final thought on this. Yeah, I'm reading it. No, I know, but your time is up. My apologies on that. So we have your letter and we can make copies for all of the board members. Yeah, but you're going to decide on this right now, and it's just it's essentially a rubber stamp consent item. So I just want to make this point that the American No, but actually we have a lot of speakers tonight. There's a two-minute time limit.
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