Sacramento Regional Transit Board Meeting: FY24 Budget and GM Evaluation Approved — June 22, 2023
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Sacramento Regional Transit Board Meeting — June 22, 2023
The Sacramento Regional Transit (SACRT) Board of Directors met in a hybrid public session on June 22, 2023, with a quorum of eight directors. The board adopted the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) operating and capital budget, approved a 4% merit increase for General Manager Henry Lee, and disposed of the consent calendar. The meeting also included substantial public comment, a transit-oriented development update from SACOG, and the General Manager's report. Note: The raw transcript references the meeting date as June 12th, but the recorded date of June 22, 2023, is used here.
Consent Calendar (Items 2.1–2.10)
- The consent calendar was approved by an 8-vote roll call. Item 2.8 was pulled by Director Valenzuela and continued to a future meeting because staff discussions were not complete.
- Public comment on pulled items included Roman, who objected to the $100,000 mobile-fare app and advocated free fares for unhoused, disabled, and elderly riders; Nick Bryant suggested adding Connect Card machines to library vehicles; Rick Hodgkins said the consent calendar contained too many items but supported certain engineering/repair contracts and the Watt/I-80 light rail station rebuild.
- After public comment, the board revoted; the consent calendar with the exception of item 2.8 passed again with eight votes.
FY2024 Operating and Capital Budget (Item 5.1)
- CFO Jason Johnson presented the final balanced FY24 budget. He noted the bottom line was unchanged from the May 8th draft, but recent union negotiations added a 1% salary increase atop previously negotiated 3% merit increases for certain employee groups, offset by later determinations of new hiring.
- Public comment included Roman urging fare policy reforms; Jeffrey Tarteriese called for a more user-friendly budget document and clearer explanation of public hearings; Rick Hodgkins supported property sales to fund system expansion; and another member of the public argued against a free-fare toggle.
- Director Cerna noted the difference between Washington, D.C.'s municipal free-fare program and SACRT's independent transit district, referencing D.C.'s security holes. GM Henry stated that meaning-like free rides are funded by cities, county, and school districts for 265,000 youth, and that similar community based funding would be needed for systemwide free fares.
- The board moved motion to adopt the FY24 budget, and it passes with eight votes.
Public Comments on Non‑Agenda Items
- Robert Copeland shared that the long transit hours forced his sister to take $20 Uber rides; he supported a half‑cent sales tax with half for street repairs and half for SACRT, and asked for longer service and open restrooms.
- Jeffrey Taggiese spoke about the Watt/I‑80 elevator being down for weeks, and he asked for better communication and maintenance checklists across the system.
- Roman narrated negative experiences with fare ambassadors and a declared scooter policy, noting buses were late or failed to come in about 30% of the 30–40 rides he has taken.
- Rick Hodgkins complained that paratransit drivers repeatedly drop him off at the wrong UC Davis building and requested that dispatch be updated on allowable drop‑off locations.
- Nick Bryant requested clean up of trash and graffiti at the Watt/El Camino Library stations and suggested a future plan but needed the lower platform reroute for buses for better ADA access.
General Manager's Performance Evaluation (Item 7.1)
- Deputy GM Shelley Vladen presented the FY2023 GM evaluation, citing the performance score of 95.54 out of 100 from the agency's five‑year strategic plan (up from 91.4 the previous year). The proposal was to raise the GM's go repeated measurement by 4%.
- Public comment was divided: Roman opposed the increase as unjustified, and Jeffrey asked the board to highlight previously missed items and communicate what the GM still needs.
- Directors respsense: Director Cerna and Vice Chair Singh Allen (among others) spoke strongly in favour of the raise; the resolution was moved and seconded.
- The resolution #2023–06066 passed on a roll call vote, citing “Instead of $1, HL let mark and aye shots,” with seven votes in favour (two absent).
Transit‑Oriented Development (Item 7.2)
- Jamie Ayleman, VP of Procurement Real Estate, reported updated TOD after sales of eight properties over five years, highlighting Salvatore Apartments (120 affordable units) at Arden Way, the 65th Street mixed‑use project, the Aurora Apartments (162 units) near Sunrise Boulevard, and the pending Meadow View Light Rail Station master plan ($300,001 SACOG planning grant).
- James warning: Added a presentation on Representative climate partnership on Green Miles Go, a $34 million infrastructure program to help develop housing along transit corridors. He cited Stockton/Cordo, the Sailor's Motel project, the Sunrise Mall effort in Citrus Heights, and the North Watt corridor (potential 10,000 units). He stressed that every local jurisdiction’s land‑use decisions are needed to make transit‐oriented housing a reality.
- Public comment majority: support for additional housing and transit infrastructure, with one speaker noting that the Sacramento region’s majority had grown but inclusionary housing could be blocked by the Costa‑Hawkins Housing Act.
General Manager’s Report (Item 8)
- GM Henry Lee announced that the California Transportation Commission recommended two 2023 grants to SACRT: a combined $35 million toward the Sacramento Valley Station and the Gold line of the Blue line platform improvements. It would make plumbers on all manual centres.
- He invited the board to attend the POWER of public display of SACRT's first‑in‑nation public EV charging hub at PowerInn Light Rail Station on Wednesday, June 21, with 10 level‑3 chargers, space for practically providing fleet/bus/EV charging, and a revenue share arrangement for the agency.
- He recognised the fourth consecutive year of the free fare programme for 265,000 students; the youth ridership share has increased from ~8% pre‑pandemic to 25% of Sauros. He also thanked the board for its adopted budget and closed with a moment of silence for bus operator Dean Lucas, who passed away on May 28.
Key Outcomes
- Adopted the FY2024 operating and capital budget (8 votes).
- Approved the consent calendar with leave of item 2.8 later larger (8 votes).
- Approved the General Manager’s FY2023 evaluation and 4% merit increase (7 votes).
- Directors directed further staff follow‑up on the Watt/I‑80 elevator, restroom accessibility, station cleanliness, and the Extra for disability access.
- No report was announced from closed session.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everyone. Progress. Good evening and welcome to the June 12th meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit Board of Directors. This is a hybrid meeting meeting, meaning that members of the public can participate in the meeting either person in person or virtually. This meeting is being live streamed, and the slide on the screen shows the information of how you can join the webinar via Zoom. You can also call into the meeting at Area Code 253. And the webinar access code is 837 9338162. Tabitha, if you'll do a roll call for us and then read the Metro Cable replay statement. Of course. Director Budge? Yeah. Director Daniels. Here. Director Hume is absent. Director Kozlowski? Here. Director Lowy is absent. Director Maple? Here. Director Cerna? Here. Director Singh Allen? Here. Director of Alanzuela? Here. Chair Kennedy is absent. And Vice Chair Jennings. Here. With that, we have a quorum at eight votes, and this meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit District will be cable cast on Metro Cable 14, the local government affairs channel on Comcast Consolidated Communications and ATT Uverse Cable Systems. This meeting is closed caption and webcast at Metro14Live.SatCounty.gov. Today's meeting replays Saturday, June 17th at 1 p.m. and Sunday, June 18th at 12 p.m. on Channel 14. This meeting can also be viewed at YouTube.com forward slash Metro Cable 14. 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 myself or Adam. If you are participating by phone, please push star nine to indicate a desire to comment. And if you're joining us through Zoom, please push the raise hand button. Be sure to unmute yourself when it is your turn to speak and voluntarily state your name for the record. Thank you very much. All right. It is now time for our pledge of allegiance. For everyone with Stan, I've asked Director Maple to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. And to the Republic for which we can of justice for this point in time, we will take our first item, which is the consent calendar. This is item uh two, which is two point one all the way to two point ten. Uh there any directors that have questions. Okay. I will go all the way down to the end to Director Valenzuela. Thank you, Chair. Um, I'd like to request that we pull item 2.8 for a future meeting. We're having some conversations with staff that are not done, and we and they concur that there's no timeliness, so we can pull that without any issue.
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