Sacramento Regional Transit Board Meeting - August 19, 2019
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Sacramento Regional Transit Board Meeting - August 19, 2019
Note: The raw transcript indicates the meeting was held on August 12, 2019, but the provided instructions specify August 19, 2019. This summary uses the specified date.
The Sacramento Regional Transit Board convened on August 19, 2019, with a quorum of 100 votes. The meeting covered consent calendar approvals, public comments, a general manager's report highlighting ridership gains and service improvements, a marketing presentation for the upcoming SACRT Forward launch, and closed session items.
Consent Calendar
- Items 1–5: Approved unanimously with a motion and second. No discussion from board members. Public comment was taken on consent items: Jeffrey Tardigia suggested using bus stop sign disposal to gauge stop popularity and requested clarification on distribution of free passes for promotional days. The general manager offered to respond offline.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Mike Barnbaum (transit advocate): Requested that the board consider (1) moving future board meeting start times to 6:00 p.m. (from 5:30 p.m.) to accommodate workers, and (2) adding an information item on the Yolo County Transportation District’s UCD campus shuttle discussion to the next board meeting.
- Jeffrey Tardigia (transit advocate): Announced a demonstration of a modular bus shelter at the customer service center. Urged the board to obtain specifications and configuration layouts for new buses and light rail vehicles. Noted that 26 people attended a transit academy; final meeting this Thursday. Also encouraged reconfiguring end seats on refurbished CBT buses to improve wheelchair access.
- Ronnie Miranda (disabled rider): Expressed dissatisfaction with bus service reliability (routes 62, 67, 68) and rude driver/inspector behavior. Requested better on-time performance and respect. The chair asked for specific routes to follow up; Mr. Miranda stated he had filed multiple complaints without resolution.
- Barbara Stanton (Ridership for the Masses): Presented the “top banana award” to Mike Barnbaum and Jeffrey Tardigia for their persistent advocacy. Also noted that her group distributed information about SACRT Forward to about 3,000 tenants through a tenant focus newspaper.
Discussion Items
- General Manager's Report (Henry Lee): Reported that July 2019 ridership increased 10% over July 2018 (light rail up 18%, bus up 2–3%). Announced that FY19 ridership exceeded FY18 for the first time in five years. Provided update on in-house El Grove service: cancellations reduced by 80–90%, ridership up 20% in first month, and no accidents. Also announced receipt of the FY20 Government Finance Officers Association Outstanding Budget Award. Welcomed Captain Nisa Hands back as VP for security, safety, and customer satisfaction.
- Marketing Presentation (Jessica Gonzalez, Director of Marketing): Presented the outreach campaign for SACRT Forward (bus network redesign launching September 8, 2019). Highlights included: 15 static/digital billboards with mobile targeting (nearly 1 million impressions, 4,000+ website clicks), 19 street team members reaching 10,000+ riders since June, social media reaching 50,000 people, 30-second TV ads on multiple stations, upcoming radio ads on ~16 stations, newspaper/magazine ads, and chalk signage near bus stops.
- Board Member Comments: Director (unidentified) invited members to test the Ollie autonomous shuttle in Rancho Cordova.
- Closed Session Announcement: Two items: (1) public employee performance evaluation (General Manager/CEO), and (2) conference – item two canceled.
Key Outcomes
- Consent calendar approved unanimously.
- Board directed staff to follow up on Ronnie Miranda’s service complaints regarding routes 62, 67, and 68.
- Board took no action on public requests (meeting start time change and adding agenda item) but acknowledged them.
- The board recessed to closed session to discuss the general manager’s performance evaluation.
- No other formal votes or resolutions were taken.
Discrepancy Note
- The raw transcript dates the meeting as August 12, 2019; however, the provided instructions specify August 19, 2019. This summary uses the later date as instructed.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, welcome to this meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit Board, August 12th, 2019, with the clerk, please call the roll. Director Budge? Yes. Director Hansen. Director Harris is marked as being absent. Director Howe? Here. Director Hume. Here. Director Jennings. Director Miller. Present. Director Natoli. Director Shane. Director Cerna. Here. Chair Kennedy. Here. 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. Tonight's meeting will air on August 14th at 2 o'clock PM and will be webcast at WWWSAC 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. Please speak into the microphone and state your name for the record. We would appreciate everyone turning off their cell phones. Thank you. Thank you. Would you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and we have consent calendar items one through five, noting it. Okay. Okay, uh, let's start with uh number three, Jeffrey Tardi Gia. Jeffrey Tardiya. Um beyond asking for the Route 51 number 222 bus stop through here is this the question is uh would it not be better for the 30 or is it 3,000 plus signs that are going to be coming down, being exchanged whatever, that whether it's a one cent or one dollar, so you have some clue as far as is where somebody um you know uses a stop to how familiar they are. I'm pretty sure nobody knows what uh 222 stands for, but it's the one by the county administration and the one that's right across from the county jail for route number 51. Um I just bring that up as a comment is this consent item is here about how you dispose of things, and I'm just wondering whether it would be a good tool to find out how popular um the information and in a sense who requests what bus stops. This is just a suggestion, you know, because you probably will find where some very popular stops are and some that never get used. Okay, thank you. Number four, Jeffrey Tardiya. Um I'm looking for clarification from the general manager about exactly what is going to be the use, because I know that in a previous meeting you held one where uh you had some uh we'll call it uh um contributions and you that that the general manager at his discretion could distribute certain passes and tickets. I'm wondering now since we're trying to eliminate, and I don't think we're gonna be able to really to eliminate the uh um shall we say paper passes, but I'm presuming that these are these type of passes are going to be uh a printout like you have used sometime of this year, and the other looking for is this if you've done this in the past in this last year or two. Where did they get utilized? Was it for senior day? Was it for Veterans Day? What where it was utilized? I'm just looking for some clarification and did I miss that in the uh report about explaining what days that those were going to be used for. Maybe the board knows, um, but uh I just wondered where those seven days were going to be designated and utilized for Mr. Lee. You want to answer that offline or right now? Oh uh honestly have an old nine.
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