Or regional transit Board of Directors.

Tabapa, if you will, do the roll call and then read the Metro Cable replay statement, please.

Director Brewer?

Here.

Director Budge?

Yeah.

Director Dickinson.

Director Hume is absent.

Director Kennedy is absent.

Director Maple is absent.

Director Rorba here.

Director Schaefer.

Here.

Director Cerna is absent.

Director Sing Allen.

Here.

And Chair Jennings.

Here.

With that, we have a quorum of seven votes, and this meeting of the Sacramento Regional Transit District is recorded with closed captioning.

The recording will be cable cast on Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government affairs channel on the Comcast and Direct TV Uverse Cable Systems.

The recording will also be video streamed at Metro14 Live.sackCounty.gov.

Today's meeting replays Thursday, October 30th at 2 p.m.

and Saturday, November 1st at 2 p.m.

on Metro Cable Channel 14.

Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand 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.

Once the item has been called, additional speaker cards will not be accepted.

The time allowed for public comment is at the chair's discretion.

The timer will chime when you have 20 seconds and then again when your time is up.

There was one written public comment received and provided to the board from Rick Hodgkins regarding item 7.2, the Mac meeting summary and on time service.

That's it.

Okay, great.

With that said, we will, if you're able to please stand while we do the pledge of allegiance.

Director Schaefer will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Follow me on the Pledge.

Liberty of Just go.

All right.

We will then take the consent calendar items 2.1 to 2.6.

I move consent.

Consent has been moved and second.

Any additional comments?

Hearing none, seeing none, all in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Chair Jennings, we do have public comment.

Okay.

Let's take the public comment before we take the book.

Okay, so we have Helen O'Connell for item two point two.

Nice to be here.

Thank you for holding this meeting.

It's been a long time.

Um First Amendment to the FY26 budget, capital budget.

I understood that this was to take money from the old connect card and to put it on the new connect card or new system to replace the connect card.

Um I just would like to bring out that all the um new materials that may be needed to do this change should be brought in front of the mobility advisory council before implementation before signing any contracts.

Um it's easier to save money by not spending it and have to fix it later.

So that would be my comment.

Thank you.

And next we have Helen O'Connell on chant on item 2.3.

I'm sorry.

Um 2.3 is the uh operation budget for this security service.

I am very glad to see that um security is upmost on people's minds.

Um I'm hoping that all the people that are in line for securities positions and things will be um paid proficiently so that everyone will have an equal time for equal jobs.

Um, it is a priority, but we also have to uh take into account that sometimes people be intimidated by officers that are on the trains.

Um there could be different ways to do it than to hire officers to be all over the place.

It's good that they're there, but some people are intimidated by them.

So just a heads up.

And next on item 2.3, Crystal McGee Lee.

Uh let me push the button.

Good afternoon, Chairman Gennings, ladies and gentlemen of the board, the public and ATU Local 256.

My name is Crystal McGee Lee, um, President Business Agent 256.

I want to thank uh RT for uh helping promote SB616, I mean SB that we passed in regards to banning a passenger.

We just recently had a passenger who had been abusing, mentally, physically abusing uh regional transit drivers, and he is no longer on the bus system for three years.

So I want to applaud a um RT for helping facilitate that.

And the reason I was calling it um coming in before you is believe in regards to this, I do believe that we do need additional funding in regards to security police services.

My concern though is that we need to know how it's being allocated.

So when I looked through, I didn't see how it was out being allocated specifically.

And I do I'm here speaking on behalf of my ATU transit ambassadors, and they're gonna be here to speak to you and tell you how they feel that they they deserve something a lot of that money as well.

So I just want the board to know to be aware of, you know, right now currently your transit ambassadors are starting out at twenty-three nineteen and at twenty-four thirty-seven.

So as Ms.

Helen pointed out, if we take a lot of that money and put it towards police officers, then we're doing a disservice to the people who are on the ground floor at the beginning.

So I just want to bring that to your attention.

So I appreciate you once again.

And um, you'll be hearing from the drivers to tell you how they earn that money and how that this is needed, and that it is a safe system and that the drivers and the transit ambassadors, they are the eyes and ears as well as the police officers, but nine times out of ten, quiet as it's kept.

The people see the public see these transit ambassadors and transit officers before they see the police officers.

So I'll be back before you to speak in regards to agenda three point one, and I want to thank you kindly.

Next on item 2.3, Tamika Atterbury Scrivens.

Good afternoon.

I am Tamika Attiberry Scribens, and I am Fear Inspector 31, and I am speaking on behalf of the transit ambassadors.

We deserve more money.

Um not only do we do customer service, we are our TPS, um, we are an extension of the SOC.

Um, we assist the operators, we have to count the passengers, we have to count stack state students, we have to count the Los Rios students.

We have to count everybody that we kick off of the um the kick that everyone that we kick off the train, people that are on the coal line have to count the bikes as well as the problems that go along with the bikes.

We are often alone 20, 30, 40 minutes with the uncooperatives that we are told to kick off the trains that are spitting on us, they are throwing stuff on us, they are put throwing food on us.

Their dogs are barking at us.

They are seeking their dogs on us, they're coming at us with knives.

I've seen machetes, I've seen guns since I've been here.

We deserve more money because we don't a lot of us don't feel safe.

And next we have Brandon Gibson on item 2.3.

Hello, my name is Brandon Gibson.

I've been sack RT for nine years now.

Started moving as transit Asians with more enforced.

Now we're back into ambassadors, more customer service.

But with the funding, I feel as we should go hire more TAs.

Years ago we had TA's platform.

We had TAs on the train too.

Because the TAs were able to enforce more.

So they got riders that's on the platform with no fare.

We can, you know, leave the board.

I mean, leave the platform.

It doesn't have valid fare, you know, on the train as well.

We have more trains covered because we have trains that's not covered due to lack of staff.

And also when it comes to the deserving more money, we're compared to like Oakland or the other TAs programs.

We're in a lower percentile pay.

You know, we have TAs and then left and became drivers, but say they love the job that they do.

They stay, but they can't live off of it.

So then we got a hot job.

Sorry.

We have a high turnover rate because people come, they finish their six months, then they leave.

So then we gotta train new people, they gotta learn the system, and for us what in force.

So it's just you know, I love my job, but like I said, I've been doing this for nine years.

You know, I'm one of the original second class.

I've seen people come and go, you know, people's situations are different when it comes to finances, but I know we deserve more because like to make it say, me personally, I've been assaulted, spit on, had to protect myself, defend myself on this train from 16th to 13th streets.

You know, it's a tough jobs because when they see us, they see a badge.

So it's not like we're just checking fare, somebody can have a bad day.

So now they're having a bad day, they don't have valid fare.

Now they see us.

Now they see us and upset.

So instead of cooperating with us, they upset because we're costing them a ticket, you know.

They got a fine because of us, but that's it.

Thank you.

That's all the public comment on the consent calendar.

Okay, item has been moved and seconded.

Are there any comments from our board members?

All right, all in favor for the consent calendar items 2.1 to 2.6.

Say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, abstain, we are unanimous.

Okay, we will now move on to the next item.

The next item is 3.1 customer service response to feedback and comments, and Lisa Heinz will present this item.

Chair Jennings, members of the board.

I'm Lisa Heinz, VP of Security, Safety, and Customer Satisfaction.

I'm presenting customer satisfaction strategies in responses to public concerns and comments.

So let's start with a public comment.

What happens when a bus router fails?

When a router fails, the bus is still operating, but its location is not transmitting.

This means the vehicle does not appear on our computer dispatch system.

Dispatchers and passengers cannot see the location of the bus.

We are actively upgrading routers to a new 5G version.

These new routers are much more reliable as you can imagine.

We expect all routers will be upgraded in six months to a year.

Next is also a public comment.

Does the bus software tell the difference for holiday service?

No, our software has not been telling the difference between holiday and regular service.

Our software is causing the holiday service issues.

We have met with the software provider who are researching why this happened.

We continue to work with them to ensure that this does not happen again in the future and on holidays.

Transit ambassadors.

At the last board meeting, a few people mentioned that they observed our transit ambassadors are only checking for fare about half of the time.

I met with the transit ambassadors and discussed the customers' feedback and their perception.

I've also had the chance to speak with Crystal uh McGee Lee, the ATU president.

I recognize that perception is reality and own the fact that this this happened possibly.

As we investigate the comments, we have made some changes to help us improve performance.

We've added a new alert on Alert SAC RT, our app, asking for feedback on how our TAs are performing.

This will help us in researching complaints while the video is still available.

We want all feedback.

We want to be clear.

We want both the good and areas that need improvement.

We have increased supervision on of the transit ambassadors as well.

Um supervisors are now riding the trains more often and using cameras to observe transit ambassador behavior.

The thing that I've noticed as we research this issue is that we have many outstanding transit ambassadors who are performing their duties fully.

We will continue to work on quality assurance and are asking riders to help us by providing feedback in real time.

In addition to the app, you can always a writer can always contact our customer advocacy team and share any feedback they have regarding their writing experience.

Here is a great video from our marketing team which highlights what a transit ambassador does on a daily basis.

I love my job but the reason why is because I'm outboard person I like to speak to everybody.

I like that it's outsized fresh air and you and you get to deal with new people every day.

I've been here seven years.

When we first started it was more enforced of you know of ticketing you know of if you have fare it was a citation it wasn't as many chances to de board to purchase fare.

Then now when they switch to transit ambassadors it's more customer service friendly it's more okay this is the reason okay you don't have ballot fare okay this let's get you ballot fare.

We're here to make families all riders feel safe when they board the train one of our jobs we do it for us to make sure everybody has fare but we're also here from customer service to help riders to get to their destination we make contact with somebody don't have fare as the reason if some say I'm rushing I was unable to buy it because the train was coming we ask them do you have debit card because we have the little pay on the train where you can run a tap and that purchase fare.

Then we also have like I said the zip has app that they can download the app and purchase it we also have an app on our phone that you can purchase on our phone.

The best part about being a transit ambassador for regional transit is making people feel safe and comfortable while while riding the light rail train.

This is a public comment have transit ambassadors proactively engage with passengers about good behavior where to put bicycles and help with priority seating transit ambassadors have many responsibilities besides checking fare they help passengers with wayfinding inspect trains report issues such as messes on trains biohazards and lights out.

While working at a light rail station TAs are inspecting the FVMs connect card terminals and digital display signs they assist passengers by advising them which is the next train coming a new S700 an older legacy fleet they enforce rules for loitering drinking and smoking I think they do they just told you about their experience with that they assist in locating missing persons for the police department they call the police department through the security operations center and the fire department anytime that there's emergency they help riders download the app any of our apps when the train delay when there's a train delay and there's a bus bridge is enacted due to a disruption on the system the TAs are dispatched immediately to the spots where there's going to be a bus bridge they assist passengers in that mode by providing directions to bus pickup locations and providing information information they assist with bicycles on the new S700 trains making sure that they are properly stored away and not blocking ingress or egress of the train doors they will ask passengers to clear ADA designated seats for passengers that require its use they also count every bicycle they encounter on the S700s logging if it's an e-bike or what type of bicycle and where they where they see it at an additional public comment regarding transit ambassadors is why are there times when they do not check fare hosts a wider range of free ride days across our system preventing TAs from checking fare for example there were 50 events last year where you could print a flighter and ride for free.

There were an additional 80 events that were as a system-wide free fare day.

So when it's a system-wide free fare, you can't check for fare.

Also, when there's a bus bridge or an emergency, TAs go into customer service mode.

So their whole focus at that time is to help passengers get to where they need to go in in the situation that the trains no longer running.

At that time, when we're in customer service mode, we do not check fare.

Our whole focus is the customer during that time.

TAs encounter all types of riders and are equipped to enforce rules and ordinances.

They cite and remove passengers who don't want to pay a fare, follow the rules, or are disruptive, all while trying to remain standing on a moving train.

This video was created by marketing to share with the community a plea for cooperation when riding our trains or frequenting our light rail stations.

It's a plea to how to treat our transit ambassadors because all the things they just shared with you are uh not ideal for our employees.

So, with that said, Adam.

Behind every uniform is a person, someone who shows up every day to help keep our system running and our riders moving.

SACRT's transit ambassadors are more than just fair checkers.

They're the friendly faces on board, helping, listening, looking out for your safety, and helping everyone to respect the ride.

I gave uh a chance to a passenger.

He was uh didn't have fare that day.

He was on to uh uh a job interview, and the next day he told me he had a job because of it, and he would have missed the job interview.

And ever since then, he's been showing me his ticket every day.

Louise is part of the reason the rider got hired and stays on track.

We're actually more customer service, so we try to do customer service first.

Helping people, being more visible to the people so that they can feel safer on the train.

For Shavanda, good customer service means clear communication and mutual respect.

We're there to help them, not be negative towards them.

At the end of the day, helping people, it's a rewarding cough.

I love my job.

I love helping people, I love talking to people.

I love all my customers.

It's small gestures like this that make a big impact on someone's day, building connections and trust with SAC RT customers.

Respect the ride isn't just a campaign.

It's a call for kindness, courtesy, and care.

Our transit ambassadors are here for you.

Let's be there for them too.

Okay, the next is a public comment.

Why do we have to cross the wrong wrong direction at Watten I 80?

If I need to go southbound, why do I have to go northbound?

When will the construction be completed?

Pedestrian circulation at the Watani 80 construction site is part of the traffic control plan to maintain safe circulation around the construction.

Southbound at Watt80 is still closed.

It's anticipated that it will reopen mid-November, early November, probably within a few days of after November.

And unfortunately, we have to do detours where we have this massive construction progress happening.

The tentative reopening date for the whole station will be November of 2026.

Public comment.

Why is there not a bike share program at SACRT?

Why are there no bicycle charging hubs?

Our three, our three pilot mobile hub locations, it's called SAC Hub, will be at Marconi Globe and Alpali Flat.

We are considered providing charging options on site for e-mobility devices so those vendors can operate more sustainably.

To offset the first and last mile costs to the rider, we've applied to SACOG to fund a subsidy program for scooter rentals to and from light rail stations.

We have reached out to Bike Link Bike Link, who already works in with the city of Sacramento and Folsom and probably many others.

And we're researching options to consider contracting to add more secure bike lockers through Bike Link or a similar provider.

And these lockers have the ability to actually charge your e-devun while you rent the locker.

This is also public comment.

When will there be light rail or BRT to the airport?

SACRT is always looking at ways to improve transit connectivity to the airport and the Thomas area.

This includes the possibility of improving Route 11, frequency to every 15 minutes, lengthen it to connect to the airport, and ultimately advancing its dedicated operation into a BRT.

These improvements will require additional, excuse me, funding for capital and operation improvements.

This next one is also a public comment.

Is SACRT working on light rail or BRT to Elk Grove?

Improving bus service more efficient and higher frequency and improving bus service before jumping to BRT or light rail.

We currently have 30 minute bus frequencies in El Grove, and BRT requires at least 15 minute bus frequencies to operate.

Before we move to any fixed guideway solutions, such as light rail, BRT and BRT, SACRT needs to identify resources to improve frequency and identify spot treatments such as transit signal priority.

So Crystal McGee just spoke of this.

We worked on this a very long time.

We had a problem subject at SAC RT that was harassing all of our employees, whether it was operators, customer service, transit ambassadors, you name it.

He harassed and bullied everybody.

And I'm thankful for our attorney, RTAC, who pursued a temporary restraining order on October 3rd, and we got our permanent uh restraining order last Friday.

And this is a huge win.

This is this is us teaming up with the union to make some really strong safety and security improvements for all employees and customers too, because he unfortunately was not nice to everybody as well.

And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you very much.

I will go to uh director questions and comments before we go to the public.

Councilmember Maple.

Thank you, Chair.

Just a couple questions.

First of all, thank you for I really appreciate this segment of the meetings now where we're able to actually respond directly to folks who have asked questions.

And I think it's really unique.

I don't actually experience this on any of the other boards that I sit on.

So I think it's great, and it really shows that RT is has a very customer service focused mindset.

So one of the questions I have is around some of the comments that were made earlier for transit ambassadors and officers.

So what I heard was that there's like a time delay sometime at times between when there's a problem passenger and an ambassador might be you know dealing with that to when it sounds like law enforcement showed up.

So I guess number one, does that happen?

Do we know the extent of it?

And then two, um, would this contract that we just approved related to the sheriff's department help alleviate that?

Yes, that happens, and actually, um, the lieutenant's sending out an email later today to pull all of the remaining police resources we have to solely support the transit ambassadors because I had the chance to meet with them, like I mentioned, and um in talking to their supervisors weekly, sometimes they have up to 20 uncooperatives a day.

And so we're tracking that daily, and that's completely unacceptable.

So, as things transition, as SAC PD pulls out of the contract, it's an opportunity.

It's an opportunity for us to do things different for us to do things better.

And so I think this is a great move for us to support our employees.

Well, our main two priorities are going to be to support transit ambassadors, and the calls for service are gonna be dispatched to the local police agencies, the sheriff department, the police department, and local law enforcement.

In our contracts, that's what it says that we will not handle calls for service, regional transit police service.

And through the years and the evolution, and sometimes when I was a lieutenant here, we had up to 26 people, and so now that we're dwindling our numbers, it makes sense that we pull our resources and have them readily available to to help with these situations.

And I forgot the second part of the question.

No, I think you answered most of it.

Um, and and I appreciate that because we know that safety is one of the key concerns of our writers, uh the employees, um, and so it's really important that we continue to do that.

And I recognize too that you know, City of Sacramento is having our own challenges in terms of having the staffing that we need in our police department, and that's required us to pull back from RT and from school resource officers among other things.

And so I think appreciate your creativity and trying to backfill and make that work.

Uh, and the other comment I have is just around is just a comment.

Um, so recognize, you know, I get a lot of questions from constituents and writers in general about the airport, and how do we get there faster?

And this has been an ongoing saga, as Supervisor Kennedy and others can tell you long before my time here.

Um, but I do support the eventual, hopefully one day light rail or other such um more permanent option to the airport.

But also I'm wondering, and I'm sure we have we've looked into other ways that we can increase frequency on on the bus line, and that's this Route 11.

Um, and I know that's gonna take that's gonna take funding.

Um, and so you know, these are all things that that I know that we think about all the time, but just for the public to understand is we're not the only uh trans agency that's looking at a fiscal cliff we have challenges like a lot of other places in the state and I just really appreciate us continuing to be creative and be nimble and we do recognize that this is a key concern to folks thanks.

But the directors Director Brewer.

So Lisa thank you for the overview and I also want to thank Crystal for being here and for the safety inspectors for being here today too to share this because uh one of the things that in part of my discussions with folks in the public safety on the on the rails and on and on the buses have been a key issue and people have been seeing more and more incidents involving bus drivers in conflict and as well as our our train drivers and our safety inspectors with the restraining orders are starting to be issued or was issued recently are we seeing more episodes where we will require um temporary restraining orders for drivers against riders and against drivers and against our inspectors what sort of measures are we doing to try and curtail that simultaneously where we pursued the temporary restraining order that all ultimately led to the permanent restraining order I've been working with Olga and her team to um under the California public utility code and they they regulate our rail we're already in their code that we can have a banning process it's it's quite a lift but with that said I've been working with Crystal and and Olga on that and I think within a couple months we met today actually we will have a banning policy that we'll bring to you and so I think it'll be in tandem so we have frequent um ferryvaders and people that don't follow the rules speaking the obvious that the transit ambassador shared so right now transit ambassadors can only cite for four things so we are looking at the giving them a raise and we what what we would like in return is that they could cite for more bad behavior things that are under this code there's a whole whole host of things and it's in the hands of labor relations right now so um they're working to do both of those things um so you're gonna see banning of passengers more and it'll be like a 30 a 60 a 90 day ban after they've had three occurrences the other part of the the equation is we pay for a district attorney a deputy district attorney and so regarding the subject that we just got the restraining order on when before we went even went to court I made a phone call to him gave him the gentleman's information and said be on the lookout any any violations of the temporary restraining order or I'll have to let notify him now of the permanent restraining order please prosecute those on behalf of SEC RT so it's gonna be kind of a trifecta.

I appreciate that because in the days where I do work here downtown um I normally walk K Street or R Street and and notice that that people are definitely they they like riding the rails but they're definitely in fear of conflict because the conflict is not only verbal it's also emotional but it's also physical and a lot of folks want to like really not have that and I've appreciated it's taking steps and then working with ATU to try to meet that point because um safety is definitely high paramount for all of us but definitely paramount for all of you who ride the who ride the rails who ride the buses but also do the day to day to make sure that everybody has a pleasant experience and so I want to thank you for that.

Sure and I think it's important to note that we have over you know almost approaching two thousand cameras throughout our system and they they get better and better and our security operations center can live you into any train so anybody ever has any problem on a train use the alert sac RT app let us know we're gonna dispatch police resources and we're gonna watch while it what what while it occurs and and provide that detailed information to the responding officers.

Yeah.

Uh thank you, Lisa.

First, I want to start off.

I really appreciated how you um are asking if for even more feedback, especially on the app and that kind of instantaneous feedback.

I mean, not a lot of people, let alone entities um will do that um kind of create that kind of transparency and accountability.

So thank you for continuing to do that.

Um you made a comment in an answer um to our director.

Um you said calls for service will be dispatched to the local PDs.

Can you tell me what that looks like and what you mean by calls for service in those particular say there's a a fight or an argument at a light rail station?

So we're gonna have to divert those to the local police law enforcement agencies.

Like I said, in our MOUs, we were never designed to answer calls for service, we just took it on because we had so many officers.

So we're going to if say a call comes in from a passenger riding a train or somebody that's at a light rail station.

We're going to our security operations center is gonna have which they already do, direct contact with the different local jurisdictions, and they're gonna ask the local jurisdictions to respond because we're gonna focus on our employees.

Okay, so how are you?

Are you you're communicating with the local jurisdictions on maybe that increase?

Completely.

Yeah, I just had that conversation with the lieutenant today to make sure that we communicate with the local jurisdictions that there's gonna be an increase.

This is why and be completely transparent.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Going twice.

Let's go to the public public comment on this item.

Yes, we have seven public comments on this item, starting with Helen O'Connell, and then we'll have Crystal McGee and Tamika Atterbury Scribbins.

But we'll take Helen first.

Hello, board.

It's me again.

Um I am very happy that this item is on the agenda.

It's been a long time coming.

Um I've made extensive comments on matters not on the agenda and never knew what happened to it.

So this is a very good thing.

And I would like to uh thank the ambassadors that are on the trains and that are um at the bus stops and the the light rails and the service center.

Um it is very um reassuring because if I have difficulty pushing the button to get on the low floor car, someone is more likely than not to be there to help get me on the train or get me off the train.

Um several times I've had to miss my stop because the priorities on the doors wasn't set properly, and that's being addressed.

So the ambassadors have been very um cordial and helpful to make it easier for those of us that have challenges to be able to ride the low floor cars uh more efficiently.

Um I am also thankful that um we're looking at the airport buses.

Um I believe the airport buses are important because they are more flexible than putting out uh rail.

Um rapid trans rapid transit buses are more efficient, and I think we can um change the formats on those buses so that they can take more passengers with more luggage, which may be helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Crystal Lee McGee.

I'm back because Crystal McGee don't get me in trouble, so I'm gonna pronounce that correctly.

Anyway, I appreciate you.

So I'm back again in regards to this agenda and and we have Lisa and I have worked in Tyrus Lee in regards to trying to have that person, and I'm not happy to have any time having somebody banned off the system, but there's times and moments you have to have, you have to do what you have to do.

And speaking of that, um Lisa, um, I didn't hear as an actual number of how many offer officers we are getting.

I do know how many we are losing, and I do know that we're trying to do uh a three-pong the armed guards and train guards and security and who have the ability to have handcuffs, whereas we don't have the ability to have handcuffs.

So I'm looking forward to seeing uh ATUN in the and RT actually hunkering down and fixing this problem because we can fix this problem with the people that we have currently as well, adding some more.

You're gonna hear from them.

They're gonna come back and talk to you and tell you they're the first line of the fence.

So as far as I'm concerned, they should be the first line to get compensated for their for their hard work and also quiet as it's kept.

If we have officers that we're dispatching, that means that those transit ambassadors are gonna still be on their own.

That means those bus operators are still gonna be on our own.

So if we take a whole bunch of money and give it to those well-deserving officers, I'm not saying, but if they're still gonna be late, we're still in the same situation we are.

So train up those train up those um transit ambassadors, the operators from them, they're gonna talk about how they assist, and then let's continue to work together.

So thank you for your time and I appreciate you.

And next we have Tamika Atterbury Scribbins.

No, I only have two minutes, so I'm gonna try to go fast.

Um, the first point that um I'm bringing up is for the transit ambassadors that are starting at 5 30 and 5 45.

We need the units to be able to respond at 5 30 and 5 45 because the majority of the people that we are making contact with first and second trips out are sleepers.

They are uncooperatives, they are people that absolutely positively do not want to get off the train.

And if I am telling you that I am at Arden Del Paso and you are telling me that you're gonna help me at 13th Street, or if I'm telling you that I am at Franklin and then you are telling me that you are going to stop the train at 47th, that is entirely too long.

Um, the next point that I have is uh maybe the operator is having a more of an understanding of what our positions are and being able to assist us nine times out of 10 on a lot of my trains.

If the operator tells the person to get off the train, they get off the train.

But there are a lot of operators who are more on their time that they have to stay on their time so they don't get in trouble and they're telling us to close the door, and we need to get the passenger off, especially when they're having kayaks and toilets and garbage cans and shopping carts and TV carts, and they are getting on with 12 bags of recyclables, and that we are telling them to get off, and they're saying that we have to keep the train coming.

We can't keep the train going.

We have to get them off so that everyone else is safe.

How can I keep everyone safe when there's a kayak in the middle of the light rail, or there's a toilet seat in the shopping cart in the middle of the light rail, and besides the one person that got banned?

They're every last one of the uh transit ambassadors.

We can name at least 20 people.

We know their ex-references, their birthdays that get three tickets every single day, and nothing happens to them.

Our team is Moy.

Good afternoon, operator number 3481.

I've been here for 13 and a half years.

I love a good TA.

I love my TAs that get on my training that assist me.

They help me and I help them.

That's it.

That's all.

I'm gonna keep that door open so they can tap a person's connect car real quick so they can help them out because they don't need to get left for the next train because they're gonna be late for their job interview or what have you.

Um, speaking on 3.1, the other, I'm gonna say about three weeks ago.

You guys can find the audio, you can find the video.

I had a person get on the train at Arden Del Paso with a hammer.

My TA did not see the hammer.

He got on at Arden Del Paso too.

He asked for fare, the guy starts yelling.

It's about 10 o'clock in the morning, Arden Del Paso, inbound.

I'm not gonna get off until 16th.

You're gonna make me get off.

You're gonna call the police, you're gonna do this, you're gonna do it.

I said I'm not getting off a hammer, train full of people.

Yo, kids going to school because it's late start, my my state passengers going to work.

Everybody's on the train, and he has a hammer.

My TA calls in, oh, we don't have anybody to respond.

Then somebody responds.

Oh, we're on our way to Sack Valley because there's a sleeper.

What's more important?

Somebody on your full train with a hammer or a sleeper or a trespasser at 19th.

Pull the audio, you have the audio.

It's ridiculous at this point.

What's more important?

We need to figure it out, but I'm gonna help my TA and my TA is gonna help me.

These are the front line.

This is everyday blue shirts, and they're dealing with alcoholics.

They're dealing with unhoused, they're dealing with people that want to do whatever it is that they want to do, and max pay is $23.

They need the money.

They're up front before the police get there.

If the police respond at all, so I need more TAs.

I'd be happy to see a TA get on my train.

Come ride with me every day.

4 31 and 1222, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

Those are my trains.

Thank you.

And Brandon Gibson.

Oh, well again.

Uh Brandon Gibson.

Well, at least it hit all the uh what I was gonna talk about on the projector about the TA job.

Cause you know, at first it was this like all we do is check fare.

We do a lot more than that.

Like I said, customer service, bus bridges, you know, the free ride passes with kids, even the zip pass.

You know, those are great ideas, it's great.

But when it twinkled down to us, we deal with people with the zip passes.

Now people are screenshoting it.

So when we check it, we gotta make sure it's legit.

They pass it on, they're doing screen recordings.

If we catch them, they get mad about that.

Like you said, the connect cards.

You know, the connect cards are difficult because so many boxes are out.

You borrowed at Franklin.

Example right now, Roseville, Roseville, there's no power, so the connect boxes can't be tapped.

So the so riders get on there with that.

We can't enforce nothing.

So then riders get on at, let's go with Swanson.

So now we gotta kick this rider off because they don't have valid fare.

But now people see that the people at Roseville don't have valid fare.

So now it's like we're kicking them off, but oh, you letting them ride.

So now they upset and upset with us about that.

Get complaints from that, but you said we do a lot more than just check fare, basically.

That's what I'm saying.

And then, you know, frontline, like when the weather's down, bus bridges, you know.

I still remember one.

It was two years ago when the whole system was down.

The drivers was put up.

I mean, they I mean, the system's down, but the TAs, we were out there in the cold when it's stormed.

I forgot how many years ago, but I remember this because it was pouring down.

That's where the whole system was out.

But we're out there, but that's it.

And Mike Barnbom.

Good day, uh, Inspector 11.

Uh, thank you for giving me the opportunity to uh address you this uh board meeting.

Uh, and I won't want to piggyback on a lot of stuff that has been said that uh we are out there and doing a lot more than just checking fare.

Um we're helping do things across other departments.

Uh last Tuesday was uh customer appreciation day, and I was given the daily assignment last Tuesday uh not to go out to my normal stations, but to ride the blue line and focus on the north blue line, so that as you could see here, we assisted the marketing and communications department with these business size cards passing out to every rider in the affected area that in the first half of November, there is not gonna be any train service due to some important work that has to come about.

We tell them the dates, the section of the train that's gonna be affected, and on the back the reason why, and if we're uh available for any questions that they have if they have any follow-ups.

When we're at stations, people will ask us, how do you use this?

And people are not familiar with uh this card.

This is a prepaid fare media.

If you got on the train without going through a process of it, it could be uh citable as not having valid fare.

So I would be in the station and good example.

I was at a station today and assisted a couple of passengers, show and tell how to validate and get this daily prepaid into valid fare, and they were good then till one o'clock in the morning.

Uh and then last I do want to say uh in closing, I am on the Capital Transit Alliance.

I've heard the comments uh about the airport service.

Uh Route 11 is a focus.

Uh it is one I can remember because it's my inspector number, and champ, it's one I can remember because that was the Super Bowl that you played in.

And I'll always remember that.

Thank you.

That's all the public comment on that item.

Okay.

Any more comments from uh please.

Just a quick comment.

Um, really appreciate all of our transit ambassadors coming and speaking and sharing um some of the concerns.

I hear you, and I look forward to navigating this with our leadership here, but it was really important hearing from you directly.

So I really appreciate you all coming out making the time.

Thank you.

Director Hume.

Thank you, Chair.

I want to echo that and uh echo what was said about you guys being the frontline face of the organization.

Uh, you know, originally when the transit ambassador program was created, it was more of an enforcement.

Uh, let me check fares and let me make sure that everybody's on the train is paid to be here, and it morphed into more of let me improve your experience and sometimes improving that person's experience is getting that person off the train.

So if somebody's on there with a hammer, I'd like to see that person get a TRO like tomorrow.

Um, we need to stop messing around, stop coddling people.

I mean, there are people that want to be on the train and people who give up their right to be on that train.

Let's focus on the people that gave up that right so that we get more of the people that want to be there.

Safeness, cleanliness, punctuality, those are the important things that we need to focus on.

Thank you.

So I'll close this out uh because this is an information item, so it doesn't need to be voted on, but I heard a whole lot.

And um, Brandon, I'm confident that if you want to meet Denzel Washington and and try to go for a part on the screen, you uh think you have a great opportunity to do so.

Um you yeah, you can give them a round of applause on that one, yeah.

Um, what I heard from all of you is um you're the face, you're the front line, you provide a safer train.

You're an educator, you're helping all those who get on there in order to be able to find their way.

You're a help person, you're not a hurt person.

Uh, you provide customer service, and you want to make sure the customer has an experience that they'll remember for the rest of their life.

And so uh there's more that I could say, but uh we all appreciate what you do and the difference that you make, and we know that more customers are riding now because of the work that you do.

So, on behalf of all of us, we're gonna give you a round of applause.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

Next item 3.2 resolution 2025-10-114 approving the amended and restated joint powers agreement for the Sacramento Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Authority and the amended and restated continuing agreement to advance funds for the Sacramento Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Authority, and Chris Flores is here to present this item.

That's a mouthful.

Um, thank you, Tabitha.

Uh, good evening, board.

I'm Chris Flores, Chief of Staff and VP of Real Estate SEC RT.

Um, this item was continued from the last meeting, and we're back tonight with uh more information and a vote.

Um, the Sacramento Placerville uh Transportation Corridor JPA was formed in 1991 for the purpose of acquiring and preserving the rail corridor for future purposes from 65th Street in Sacramento to Missouri Flat in Placerville, El Dorado County.

The member agencies of the JPA include SACRT, Sacramento County, the City of Folsom, and El Dorado County.

In 2000, the JPA adopted a policy for its continued role.

These include administration, including engineering and legal counsel, corridor maintenance and weed abatement, access and use permitting, property management, facilitating development of transportation uses on the corridor, and preserving the continuity of the corridor by administering the um reciprocal reciprocal use um funding agreement.

In 2024, the city of Rancho Cordova requested to become a member of the JPA in order to have a permanent seat on the board and to advance trail projects.

Rancho Cordova was not in yet in the incorporated city when the JPA was formed in 1991.

The JPA has also facilitated excursion trains and trail projects throughout its history.

And finally, the role of the JPA has been reviewed and slightly amended over the years, including in 1996, following the um property acquisitions in 2000, 2013, and 2022.

Approval of action tonight will continue SAC RT's membership in the JPA and the uh and the addition of Rancho Cordova as a member agency.

I turn it back to the board.

Thank you.

Any public comment on this item?

We have one public comment, Jeffrey Tartagia.

Welcome, Jeffrey.

Good evening, board.

Um I tried to read through and figure out what it started out at.

It was now $35,000 as an annual and two percent.

What did it start out at?

And I know that's not a direct question that could be answered, but I just flag it in the whether it's there, I have difficulty seeing the original amount and agreement through there.

But I believe that you RT participated in the very beginning.

I hope you board members know.

Thank you.

There's no more public comment.

Directors?

Chair, I'd like to move this motion forward for approval.

Second.

We have a comment from Director Dickinson.

Thanks, Chair.

Uh, and Chris, thank you for the uh augmented information.

Uh that that certainly was helpful to me, and I hope to to others.

Uh my question is at this stage, what is the value to regional transit of membership in this in this JPA?

Um, I would say that there's long-term institutional knowledge that the JPA holds.

Um, their legal counsel has been there for many years.

Um, and so we lean on him for for questions on corridor history and and processing.

I think there's um an aspect of regional planning across the multiple counties and along the many miles of the corridor that the JPA um provides.

Um, and probably if we if the JPA was to dissolve, so to speak, um, it would take significant staff time to maybe um amend those agreements, kind of retrack everything, acquire the property or have the property transferred from the JPA to SAC RT as the owner.

Um, so there would be some issue.

Well, those are some of the things to consider with resolving it.

The and thank you for that.

The uh the one stretch of the corridor that is not occupied and filled uh and operational is essentially the section going up uh up into the foothills, is that right?

Correct.

And they run excursion trains from El Dorado and then also from Folsom out.

Uh and regional transit has no uh direct uh or indirect involvement in in uh either the planning for that portion of the corridor or operation uh of that portion of the corridor, is that correct?

That is correct.

I mean besides being uh having a membership on the board, but each party is responsible for their corridor as written in the the REFCA.

And for that portion of the corridor, the regional transit uses and operates in regional transit, takes on all the expense of operation uh and maintenance.

Is that is that correct?

That is correct.

So uh Chair, I uh I'm gonna support this this the this evening, and I note especially that unless three members of the JPA agree to dissolution that the uh property right reverts to the JPA, but I do think that there's a uh significant question of whether RT continues to receive uh value for the for its contribution to this JPA.

And uh whether or not uh there ought to be uh conversation about uh some reformulation of the uh of the JPA to recognize that uh that reality, whether that whether that might be an amendment to the JPA, uh reforming the JPA, uh whatever that there are a number of different options, whatever they that might be, but um with an agency that is pressed for every dollar that it has, uh I I think uh we can't uh afford to uh exclude examination of of these kinds of uh agreement of all of everything in the budget, frankly, to see whether whether there's uh uh commensurate value with the with it with the contribution, and um this isn't a commentary I'm making on the on the JPA.

This is simply an observation that insofar as RT's interest is concerned, this JPA may have outlived its its uh usefulness and value to this to this agency.

So there may be legacy reasons uh that have some merit, and that's part of the reason I'm willing to support this is this evening, but I I would at least encourage as one member of this board a reexamination of uh RT's role in this in this JPA for the um uh for the future.

And I'm mindful that this question's been looked at from from time time to time, but uh it seems to me it it's relevant now.

Thanks.

Okay, so we do have a motion on the floor and it's been seconded, and I would like to just make sure there's no further comment before we move to the vote.

Seeing none, I will ask the question.

All in favor?

Say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Oppose, abstain, but directorship, we are unanimous.

Okay.

Okay, we are at an I at the area where uh is now the public's opportunity to address us on matters that are not on the agenda.

So I would uh like to have uh any any public comment on items not on the agenda?

First we have Margie Donovan.

Margie, welcome.

Thank you.

Am I audible?

Yes, I am.

Good evening.

Um I'm sorry.

Um chair and committee meeters, board members, I should say.

Um I want to start by saying it's pretty obvious I'm blind.

What's not obvious is that I have a traumatic brain injury, which has put me as a dependent transit user.

I live in Folsom.

I used to walk all over my town until my head injury.

I am absolutely 100% dependent on paratransit.

I use that as a generic term.

I should remember it, SACRT go.

And I'm here tonight to talk about Userv.

I know in the not too distant future, you guys will be looking at augmenting SAC Artigo services.

I would estimate that one out of 20 user of drivers are excellent.

The rest shouldn't be driving.

Um I don't have time tonight to get into the examples, but customer service knows, um accessible services know, I write commendations, I write complaints.

And um, I'm gonna express my number one concern, and then my number two, my number one concern is I don't believe half of these drivers who on board with user are doing it themselves.

I don't know how user verifies that.

When a driver tells me they do not speak English, and I file a complaint because they drop me off at the wrong place, and I'm trying to tell them this isn't the place, no English, no English, that's problematic.

And then user comes back with they talk to the driver, the driver speaks English.

There's a barrier there for us as passengers.

Just a week ago, I had to walk home from the nail salon.

The driver was nowhere to be found.

No one in the salon could find the driver.

As I was walking home, I get a call back, I hear the beeper.

I got a call back from RT, and I said, I'm walking home.

I can't wait any longer.

I know my time is up.

I would really encourage you guys to take a serious look at who your contractor is going to be.

A lot of people like user because you get a direct ride.

I don't use user anymore because it's too problematic.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Helen O'Connell.

Hello, board members and members of the public.

Thank you for giving us an opportunity to be heard and for the matters on the not on the agenda to be addressed in a timely manner.

Um I am going to preface this by saying I support any kind of device adaptation to protect our drivers.

Um there is a new security door that has been um installed.

Um, primarily, I think the 2200 series.

That's been the one that I've encountered it most on.

It has a protrusion at the top of the door.

If and it it closes the um driver's area off.

When you enter the entered the bus, you need to turn to the left.

If my wheelchair is not in the most compact position, all the way up, all the way down to the ground.

My controller will not clear the bottom part that is rescinded.

Um, it has to be underneath the protrusion or you cannot turn.

Not all people can um readjust their chairs in that manner.

If your controller does not clear the bottom, you cannot enter the bus.

The doors were the doors were put in place without being um vetted in front of the Macboard.

Um this, I believe, is against um policy.

Um we had policy that said if you change anything, adding taking away or amending, it needs to be put in front of the Mac board first before you purchase.

We've bought 170 of these doors.

I was informed that they cost like $30,000.

Um time is up.

Okay, but what I'm saying is save money by not having to do it twice.

If they would have brought it to the Mac board, we may not have had this issue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Krum.

And then Trill Troy Wilkinson.

Hi, I'm Kay Crum.

I'm a member of Strong Sack Town and a big transit advocate, but I wanted to share several instances where the scheduled bus 81 never showed up over the past month.

Um, so on Saturday, September 27th, there were two consecutive no shows in the morning for inbound 65th, Sunday, September 28th, there was one no show in the evening for inbound 65th.

Saturday, October 11th, there was a no-show in the afternoon for outbound 65th.

Thursday, October 23rd, there was one no show in the early morning for inbound 65th.

So this isn't unique to the last month, and it's not to pick on bus eighty-one.

I love bus eighty-one.

But over years of riding, you learn that transit is unreliable.

Uh, y'all understand that a 30-minute headway barely meets customer needs.

So when buses don't show up, it's even worse.

And what happens when I step away and there was a bus that was 10 minutes late, but it wasn't canceled.

No shows with 30-minute headways lead to nearly an hour of waiting.

And when it takes me almost 50 minutes to get to my destination with the bus is on time, that's a burden that you can't expect customers to bear.

The SACRT bus tracker app has helped, but it doesn't inform users if a bus is canceled.

And I'm not the only one affected.

My friends, my co-workers who take transit, they all experience similar issues.

Your customers deserve better.

So if you've never felt this sort of pain before, just imagine that you're leaving for work in the morning.

And when you get in your car, you realize your battery's dead.

You can find a way around it, maybe jump your car, get a new battery, but it dies a few days later when you're parked at work.

You fix it again, but then it happens again and again.

And every month your battery dies four to five times.

Would you want to take your car anywhere?

Would you feel like your transportation was reliable?

This isn't imagining though.

Riders have to deal with this level of service provided because many of us have no other option.

No shows aren't a problem that you can fix overnight.

I get that, but please commit to informing customers so that they don't wait for a bus that will never show up.

Thank you for your time.

Troy Wilkinson and then Aaron Jefferson.

Hello everyone.

Yeah, thank you for providing this opportunity to uh talk to you all as the council.

Um I just want to talk about the streetcar uh plan, and I'm referencing a SACRT document that kind of goes over the stats.

And you know, I know we've heard a lot about uh needing funds for uh the TAs and also for um SAC Flex or SACGO, as well as bus services to the airport and just across the board to make them more frequent.

But the streetcar, well, I know it's quite a ways uh down the road in terms of development.

Um three new stations and uh four streetcars, one hundred sixty-four million dollars in cost.

I don't think it makes sense necessarily to break ground and really uh essentially make another green line uh that doesn't go very far for a hundred sixty million dollars.

I think there are plenty of needs, just general frequency, general system improvements that uh could really use that type of money, and I don't want to get into a spot where I see another tiny line, uh, bold on the transit map that just goes out a little bit, half of it's reductive.

Uh just the blue and yellow line already take care of that.

So I urge the council and anyone working closely on the streetcar project to uh really consider whether or not it's the best uh development going forward and whether or not it's better to take that 160 million, probably more, depending on how the construction goes, um, and try and use it in a more incremental way instead of plunging us into construction we can't get back out of.

Thank you.

Aaron Jefferson, and then we have Dan Allison.

Uh thank you, board of directors and RT for what you do.

I am just I'm new to the city of Sacramento.

I got a couple of grandkids that need to get to school.

And we go to the school and they give us this card and say call the number on the back, and we did.

Then we rolled up all the buses, it's only two buses to go to James Rutler Sch uh middle school.

And they've just moved into a new development that's pretty much opening up, so there's no buses that run on Elk Grove and Florin and Gerber that goes to the middle school.

And so we have a group of four or five neighborhood neighbors.

We're all carpooling, trying to figure out right now because there's no bus that goes to and from school.

And with that, I went to the school, and when the kids have after school activities, football, basketball, baseball, I guess the same bus or the same, it's the city bus picks them up and also brings them home for after school stuff.

I'm not sure about the 100% on my wording, but um, so I'm just trying to get that started.

I need to reach out and I talk called everyone.

I called the customer advocacy, and they told me to come to this meeting and ask for help.

And that's what I'm here for.

Any questions for me?

No.

We'll have somebody reach out to you before you leave.

If you don't leave before the end of the meeting, all right.

Okay, Dan Allison and then Jenny Meidel.

Good afternoon, Dan Allison representing Sacramento Transit Advocates and Writers.

Um it's about board cancellations and governance.

Um board meetings continue to get canceled throughout the year, and that is a direct offense to transportation advocates.

Um there's no reason to cancel board meetings.

The board meeting schedule is set at the beginning of the year, it should be followed.

If you only want to meet once a month, fine.

Be honest with the public, we're only meeting once a month.

When board meetings are canceled, one of the reasons often given is insufficient uh board agenda items.

That's ridiculous.

Your job as a board is to govern the agency.

One of the things you do is hire and evaluate the general manager, but you need to provide direction to the agency.

There is always something to talk about on the board.

Where is the agency going?

What are the issues?

How do we address them?

Do not simply respond to staff agenda items.

That's not governance, and you know it's not governance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jenny Meidel and then Jeffrey Tardiya.

Welcome.

Hi, my name is Jenny Meitel.

I'm also a member of Strong Sack Town, and I'd like to echo um what Troy and Kay brought up and say that in general, we have a lot of known issues um where ways the ways that the system can be improved, such as paying our transit ambassadors more for the great work that they do and increasing the frequency and reliability of routes.

Um so before big projects are taken uh underway, such as potential future um tram in midtown, or a potential green line to the airport, I'd like the agency to look at how they're going to fix the known issues that are currently affecting your riders.

Um, because I feel that while people want big new shiny things, if we don't take care of the things that we have right now, how are we going to be able to take care of maintenance for the new things as well?

And um, if we are looking at new projects, I would ask the board to look at serving underserved areas such as South Sacramento and the community colleges such as American River that currently don't have transit lines um adequately addressing their needs.

So that's all.

Thank you all.

Okay, we have Jeffrey Tartigia and then Michael Bevins.

Well, I'm gonna try it from this position to see how it works.

Oh dear, uh first thing I will go back to what I heard about.

Thank you.

Um first one I'm going to uh uh ask about and address is my understanding of the new guard uh devices for the operators.

I have been on there and seen them, and I've heard that two or three operators have had where something on there cuts them.

So I'm wondering is this you know how how this was approved through OSHA for the uh these devices being on there.

Um there are some other issues that you know that I think you're trusting for for safety and security.

Uh the other thing I'm going to talk to you about is really um have you figured out when the new low floor vehicles are going to be improved to the point where they will have for the entire fleet the um proper uh signage when you hit the buttons that they do come back and do the deployment of the uh doors in the correct manner.

The other thing I know is tomorrow you're going to be having a um meeting at the uh central library dealing with the homeless.

How are you dressing the homeless?

I know you had an individual.

I don't know whether you still have an individual that's working with the homeless um issues in part.

And I know that last year asked the question about how many devices were down through there.

I'm just wondering, have we in any way figured out how much of our homeless population I heard mentioned earlier about sleepers and things going on in the other trains through there?

And with that, I think that's enough things to you, board needs to ask some questions and learn some better information about what is going on and happening.

And I thank you, board.

You Michael Bevins.

Hello board.

Um, Michael Evans, another member of Strong Sac Town or the National Organization of Strong Towns.

Um I got so many things I want to throw out here, but I don't know how to narrow it down, so I'm gonna pick one, and or maybe I'll scatter all over the place like I usually do.

But incremental development.

Uh, congratulations.

Uh, was that SB 79 Transorder Development got passed, and I assume the board or the staff has a relodex of every single light rail station of what you could do.

You can just pull it out and start going right now.

If not, maybe I suggest you reach out to the public, those who live in those communities.

What would you like to see in this certain neighborhood in terms of community development next to transit?

Um, I can I think of two, and Mr.

Dickinson knows about this in my our area.

Um, Marconi RK.

There's some talk about mobilization, but there's a lot of space there.

You can do so much.

So when you get off the train, you're not just running to your car or in our most of our cases walking across the way.

You have a reason to get off the train just for that, right there at the Marconi station is someplace to eat.

Maybe you pick your favorite fast food restaurant, and you can go there, have a little cafe.

You can have whatever the every city needs is uh maybe there's a clinic just for whether it's private or public, whatever, but it's a clinic that you can go there if you sprain your ankle, you have a cold, and you don't can't walk to it, you can take the train, get to a clinic that's more accessible.

Maybe, like your local gas station.

This case we work with smugs so much.

You go there, you're talking about the mobile mobility, you have a place to charge your car, exchange your batteries, uh, charge uh exchange of batteries for your bicycle, other transit.

You can make it a whole shopping mall just for maybe bike accessible priority.

So you can ride your bike into this big area and shop.

Cars can park in the far back.

And all these all these other stations are all similar.

You don't have to take away the whole redevelop the whole area.

Leave half of it for parking, which is what it was there for.

The other half, again, ask the public, develop what they think would be best.

So anyway, thank you.

That's all the public comment.

Okay.

Thank you, public, for your time and energy to come to the meeting and give us your opinion on what you think we should do.

We're all of us up here with two ears are listening very clearly, and uh, I think there's some great ideas I heard out there.

So let's move to the next item, 5.1.

So 5.1 information items RT educational outreach and funding strategy update.

Deborah Salinas will present this item.

Welcome, Deborah.

Today I'm presenting an update on SACRT's outreach and funding strategies progress.

We started this initiative almost a year ago when we entered into a sole source contract with Meraki Public Affairs to assist SACRT in expanding outreach and education to improve and enhance the public's understanding of our achievements and challenges with respect to funding.

Delivery of service, service expansion, and benefits of public transit.

This level of experience is not something we possess in-house, and therefore we needed to onboard a consultant who could help guide us.

With over two decades of experience in public affairs, strategic education, and leading ballot measures, Meraki Public Affairs, led by Cherry Sprigs is uniquely qualified to provide the institutional knowledge SACRT needs to seek a long-term funding source that will positively resonate with the diverse communities established in the Sacramento region.

Cherry most recently led Plaster County's Measure B effort in 2024, which received close to 64% approval, just 2,000 votes shy of passing in one of our region's most conservative areas.

Over the next several months, SACRT and Meraki worked on and implemented a phase one outreach plan in an effort to connect with as many Sacramento County residents as possible.

During this first phase, SACRT participated in a series of one-on-one stakeholder meetings, hosted seven transit idea exchanges within Sacramento, Elk Rove, Carmichael, Citruside, South Sacramento, and two virtual workshops, and tabled over 30 festivals and community events during the summer throughout Sacramento County.

Through these efforts, SACRT connected with hundreds of residents and transit users to better understand foresee value of SACRT assets and services.

And this is what we heard.

Over the six-month period at the community events, we recorded over 300 responses to a three question survey taken at our outreach booth.

The primary question was related to transportation priorities.

We asked participants, both riders and non-riders, to rate rank the top five priorities on a scale of one to five, with one being the most important.

And here's what we heard.

And funny, it kind of resonates with what you heard tonight as well.

Number one, improve the frequency and reliability of SACRT bus and light rail service.

Number two, keep senior disabled veteran and student transit fares affordable and free.

Three, expand SACRT's service, bus and light rail throughout the county, for example, possibly the airport, possibly Elk Grove.

Four, improve air quality.

Five, improve access to jobs and services by having more housing, including affordable housing built along main bus corridors and around light rail stations.

As I mentioned, SACRT hosted five in-person transit ID exchanges as well as two virtual workshops, one in the morning and one in the evening to accommodate those mixed schedules.

During each workshop, we asked attendees to apply a dollar amount to which transit priorities they are willing to pay for.

No surprise that the top five priorities again are as follows.

Number one, late night bus and rail service, two, upgrade bus stops and shelters, three, maintain existing service, four, state of good repair as it relates to system and facility maintenance, and five, keep student fares free.

As you heard us share before, industry-wide, there are many transit agencies that are facing a fiscal cliff and having to reduce their service and increase fares.

In an effort to get an early jump on a potential $60 million shortfall that SAC RT anticipates could occur in 2029, we have started research and analysis of how a potential two-thirds measure, ballot measure, would be received by the Sacramento community.

The Sacramento Transportation Authority and SACRT jointly funded research efforts conducted in early September 2025 to test the temperature of SAC County support of a government agency-led measure related to roads and transit.

The process took about three months between hiring a research company discussing what to test and finally surveying over 1,000 residents, both on the phone and online.

Throughout the process, SACRT and STA's chair, Vice Chair, and Funding Subcommittee Chair, worked and continued to work collaboratively.

The polling conducted by research group FM3 showed that while support for a new tax measure has been consistent in the last three polls, ranging from around 55% to 56% for transportation funding, which includes roads, transit, and other infrastructure projects.

The poll found that 68% of people countywide believe there is some or great need for transportation funding.

The research shows the greatest support is in the city of Sacramento for transportation for transportation funding at 61%.

As you will hear, these results closely align with what we heard in the community survey as well as the transit idea exchanges.

And at this time, I'd like to bring Cherry Sprigs up to the podium for Meraki Public Affairs to walk you through the Sacramento County voter reviews on transportation results in more detail.

Chair, Vice Chair, thank you, board, for having me here today.

I'm very excited to be here with you.

I think this is the first time that I'm getting to be in front of you all in this setting since I've been working with your team, and I've loved every minute of it.

I really love working with you guys and doing this.

So to set the stage a little bit here, Deborah mentioned it, right?

I've heard tonight I've jot down some notes, right?

We're respecting the ride, kindness and care.

Jenny and a few other folks who did um made some public comment, right?

They focused on fix what you have before you add anything new.

Remember that as we go through this presentation, okay?

Um, you know, I'm really grateful to SAC RT because I approach these uh public outreach efforts with the potential funding measure at the end.

Um, a little bit different.

Um I don't uh well it no, you're fine.

Um I like to hear from the community first because my my position is um right, and this is what makes your jobs all so difficult, right?

Because you have to walk this delicate balance of, you know, you know what the infrastructure needs are, but then what is a community member actually willing to pay for and tax themselves and open up their wallet for, right?

And sometimes those don't align, right?

Um, but we don't really get anywhere if we're leading with this is what we need and we're not listening to the community.

So this um work that we did as Deborah presented, we led with the qualitative part.

We we went out and listened to the community.

What are some things that you want?

What are you thinking?

What would make your life happier, better, easier?

Those were like three questions that we were looking at.

Like, how do we improve someone's life?

And then we use that qualitative part to inform this quantitative part that I'm gonna go through with you.

So essentially, you can think of that phase one that we did, took that information, and then we actually put it to our survey here.

Um, there we go, okay.

So we're getting started here.

So just quickly on survey methodology.

This was conducted between August 26th and September 7th.

It was a dual mode voter survey, which means there were phone and um email internet that you could do.

Um, we went to likely November 2026 Sacramento County voters.

Now, this is really important as I walk you all through this.

As a public agency, right?

This is a uh a collab research project with STA.

As public agencies, the only measure that you're looking at at this point is a one that has a potential two-thirds, right?

Like that is the threshold that you need if you all were to put a measure on the ballot, right?

So please think of that in your mind as we go through this um presentation today.

Um, to make sure that we had the sample areas correct and that that quant was was appropriate.

We did a thousand interviews with over sampling in Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Folsom and Rancho Cordova.

And we did um on the full countywide sample, there's a plus or minus 4% margin of error, which means these numbers could go 4% higher or lower.

On anything that was a half county sample, we it was 5.7%, but both are 95 competence levels.

Okay, getting into perceptions of life in Sacramento County.

So this is that question that is um, you know, usually the first question of any survey, right?

Um, things going good on this track, wrong track, right track, I'm not sure which track, right?

But at this point, we in 2021, we saw folks in Sacramento County thought things were 33% right track.

Um 2025, we're at 20% right track, 47% wrong track here in 25, 43% and 21 wrong track, but really the difference to the don't know part, right?

Like that's grown.

Um, but what's really important um is that as we go through these surveys that SACRT continues to be seen as good stewards of taxpayer funds.

They have an honorable reputation, they can be trusted, and that is obviously the leadership team, but then that's also the board as well.

So there is some some good news there.

Um, okay, then we start to talk about, you know, what are those most important issues facing people?

Because again, getting back to what I said, if somebody doesn't feel like the perceived value is gonna make their lives better, easier, or happier, they're not going to honestly end up voting for whatever it is.

They're just not.

So we look at this, and if you look to the let's see, I'm trying to think of okay.

My side, it's the left-hand side, right?

Like you can see the issues there, but the homelessness come is at the top, right?

That is at 89%.

That is top of mind for everyone.

Cost of housing followed by inflation.

Those three get you in your in your 80s, right?

But then what do we have next, right?

Traffic congestion on local freeways and highways, local um potholes, local streets on local streets and roads.

Um, those are in your 60s there, right?

So again, out the gate, we're just shy of that two-thirds um right out the gate when we're when we're going and looking at this.

Um, you know, traffic congestion, Joe is ranked as a growing concern, but it's not that top third, that top concern there.

So then we move on because there's a whole laundry list of things that we go through and ask.

Um again, right?

We go through number of traffic accidents leading on local streets and roads, but then I'm gonna call out the bottom half here, where you get to the 35, 34, right?

Lack of adequate bus service, quality of our air, lack of state bicycle routes, these just aren't seen as pressing issues.

It's not a bad thing, it's because they're just not top of mind for people because SACRT is doing the job it's supposed to be doing.

And so we see that again across the county countywide.

So, one thing I do want to point out, and we have some tracks on this um survey now, since we have 2019 data, 2021, and now 2025.

The researchers put this slide together to give you an idea of some of these issues over time.

So, if you look at um the the number one thing reduction in state and federal funding for transportation, that has grown by 14% since 2019.

So, people are really thinking about that, right?

Lack of safe pedestrian routes, that's grown, the amount you pay in local taxes, all of these different things that we can see are continuing to gain um uh just gain momentum over the years, and then we also see some things that um actually fall off this fall off the the radar for folks.

And I do want to call out the quality of our air because this is something that, you know, it it looks like oh my gosh, this has fallen by nearly 30% since 2019.

But the fact of the matter is when the economy is tough and it's hard for people to make um decisions about rent or food or gas or whatever it is, that tends to be the last thing people are thinking about.

So that's not it's not crazy, like it's not alarming, even though it seems alarming.

Um so, as Deborah said though, what is very positive about this is that 68%, now again, we're county wide, 68% of folks did see some need for funding, great, or some need for funding, and so that is actually very good as you're looking at where folks are something else that was very good is one in five voters, so essentially 20% of the surveyed here, take transit.

This is up from your past surveys.

That's pretty interesting.

That's very cool.

I think you guys are doing your job, right?

And this is another thing to think about too.

When we were doing that phase one outreach, we wanted to talk to everybody, not just transit riders, because there's a lot of folks out there who don't ride transit, but they think, oh my gosh, if all of these people are riding transit, that is getting people off the freeway that I love to drive on, right?

So there is that part of it that's really important to really understand both the transit writer and those who don't ride transit.

Okay, initial reactions to um a potential sales tax ballot measure.

Now, again, two-thirds required, okay.

The language that we tested is pretty much identical to what you had tested in in the past in 20, I think it was 23.

Um this is nearly identical to what appeared on the ballot in 22.

Now, again, you all didn't put anything on the ballot.

That was a citizen's measure that went on the ballot, but nevertheless, pretty similar.

So I feel confident in in the tracks here.

So if people just here just read that ballot question, out the gate, they were at 49%.

But don't focus too much on this 49% number, but that's where they were.

But then we asked a series of follow-up questions.

So what that was.

Are you a definite yes?

Are you a probably yes?

Are you a definite no?

Are you a probably no?

That is what gives us one more time.

Our what I call our floor and our ceiling.

Okay.

Once you look at that, we're a total yes, 56%, a total no, 39%.

56% is a good number, but it's a lot, it's it's it's very far away from the two-thirds that you all would need to go if you you put a measure on the ballot in the traditional way.

So what's interesting about that though is that it really hasn't changed much since your August 23 survey.

And going back to 22, which is typically I like to the surveys are great, but the the tell the telltale is the ballot, right?

And in this case, there's a 22 measure that you can look at.

And in 22, right, you get the that measure got yes, 44%, no, 55%.

So it's very interesting when you look at all of these things and where we're at.

Now, why do people feel this way?

This question was we asked people in their own words why they either supported or they didn't support.

Okay.

So road repair, safer roads, 31%, and only one third of folks saw that, right?

But then mass transit, safe public transportation coming in, number two, 21%.

Um, right, and then it goes down from their infrastructure repairs, all of these other things, right?

Um, so that's why people would support a measure.

Now, why would people not support a measure?

Let's see.

Same thing, open-ended questions, no more taxes.

I don't want to raise my taxes, management misuse funds, unnecessary, already funded, use existing funds.

Now, this is a key thing I want you all to think about here, though.

Yes, we did this research with STA.

And yes, right now, you get some of a shared funding source.

That is true.

But what you all need to realize in going through this, and as we're talking and telling stories about you know where we are and what that need is, you all do not at this point in time have a dedicated so funding source for transit.

You don't.

You have a shared funding source, but you do not have an existing funding source that's dedicated to transit.

That's really important when you're out and about talking to folks saying, I already pay for that.

Well, actually, not in the same way that they're thinking, right?

And it's it's quite remarkable to look at everything you all have done not having that.

I mean, it's really crazy to to think, and in our transit idea exchanges, one of the questions that we asked people, um, we wanted them to talk about areas that they traveled to that had great transit systems, like tell us about that.

What does it look like?

Guess what?

Every single one that people mentioned, they have a dedicated transit funding source.

That is a clear distinction between Sacramento and these other places that you guys don't have.

Um, but again, quite remarkable because you have done so much.

Okay, so now getting into some of these things that uh some of these like uh breaking it down a little bit for you.

So a lot of support from the those that group 18 to 29, but quite frankly, we know that that group doesn't always turn out to vote, right?

So you gotta think about that.

And again, remember that two-thirds thresholds and this is countywide data, right?

Because remember, this is a countywide survey.

Um, and then also as you see, um, have good support in 30 to 39 demographic, but then right um we start to fall off, but then interestingly enough, you pick back up with 65 and over.

So that's something to really pay attention to is as um we're going along here.

Breaking it down even further, you've got a difference between men and women, and then when you look at Democrats, and I and I do want to point this out, independence in this instance does not mean American Independent Party, that means no party preference, it's very important.

Um, I don't know why the researcher does that, but they do, and I always have to give that disclaimer.

Independence is no party preference and Republicans.

So again, at this point, we're talking county-wide.

So, what does that mean?

It means that for to get to a two-thirds threshold, you are going to have to have um some of those Republicans in there uh supporting this, you're gonna have to have some of those no party preferences in there because you're not gonna get all of those Democrats.

So it really is important to think about it like that.

Now, this I think is interesting.

I think you guys will be into this slide.

I am.

If you look down, um, the left-hand part of the slide, it has the district, district, uh supervisorial districts, districts one through five.

Right hand side is the total yes, no for those districts.

So, support in supervisorial districts one, two, and three are the highest.

Um, three getting 66 percent, one at 59%, and two at 60%.

Really no surprise to me at four and five, that those aren't even at 50% because that's your um more of the conservative voters are out there.

That's not shocking to me uh whatsoever.

Now we got it uh breaking down broken down by city.

As Deborah said in the city of Sacramento, we get uh the highest support at 61%, but then again, we break it, and then the second I should say, um, right there, Rancho Cordova, but then it really does drop, and then if you are thinking about this in context of needing two-thirds to pass, um, you know, it there's some areas that will pull this way, way down.

Okay, impact of supportive and critical statements.

So, this is the most important.

Well, this next slide, not this slide, this is not the most important slide, but the next slide is the most important slide, and I'm gonna give you a little insider tip here.

Because this strategy can be employed for any issue on any type of ballot measure program.

You look for vote consistency, you always want to look at vote consistency.

Okay, so in this instance, you have 46% that are always gonna vote yes, you have 33% that are always going to vote no.

That gives you a group of undecided that 21%.

What this undecided group is, those are people that need a little bit more information, they need more education, they need to be met where they're at.

They we really need to listen in and listen to them hard, right?

So if we need, let's say 67% for two-thirds, it really is just a matter of basic math, right?

If you take the yes plus the swing, or excuse me, the undecided a hundred percent of them, but you would that's you would never get that, but that gives you 67% right there.

The likelihood that you would get that is just it doesn't exist.

Like if you're looking at an uh undecided, it's anywhere maybe from 10% to 50%, but guess what?

If you do the 50% on the the undecided there, that puts you at 56%, which was the original number that we saw in the first place, right?

So that uh that's just a little trick that you can evaluate any ballot measure going forward.

Always yes, always no, and what that undecided looks like.

Okay, now this is the part that I'm really um very excited to go through with you guys because it's the investment priorities, and this is where you will see that phase one qualitative outreach that we did show up here, and this is you know, in that phase one, like aside from any sort of funding measure, people wanted to hear about the safety record, people wanted to hear about the community value, people want to hear that you're good stewards of taxpayer funds, right?

That is something that we heard time and time again that people want to know about, but it's just um in an interesting way that it completely aligns with where we're going with this with this research.

So looking at the top investment priorities, so this is where um in our transit ID exchange, we asked people to vote for their dollars, like we equated a dollar amount to each of these things, those things that Deborah talked about that had a dollar amount for folks.

That's how they wanted to spend their money.

So we added those here, and so interestingly enough, a lot of this aligns.

Um, number one thing repairing excuse me, repairing streets and roads, worst condition, that's 87%, right?

Then we have um the potholes, repairing streets and roads that are used the most, helping 911 emergency responders and traffic, reducing traffic-related fatalities, keeping senior disabled veteran student transit fares affordable, that's at 77%, providing safe routes to school.

Well, guess what, you guys?

SACRT is already doing these things.

SACRT is already part of this solution, and that's why it's so important to get out there and tell your story.

Because with an actual dedicated funding source, at some point in time, you can be doing so much more for the community because you are doing this already, right?

SACRT, you guys are you actually are part of the solution on many of these things, and I think that's very, very interesting.

Um there's some great storytelling imagery I know that Deborah's team has where it's like a bus equates to this many cars.

I've encouraged them to continue to use that just to get that message out and that story out.

So then moving to the next here, and I'm gonna go through all of these top to bottom because I do think it's really important for the public to see this because again, this is a weighted quantitative survey, appropriately across the the entire county.

So we'll go through this.

I'll go through it quickly though.

One of the things I do want to note is that you might be sitting there thinking, wow, that sounds a lot like how you asked this question, and there's a reason for that, which I will get to here in a few slides.

Um, but with you all not having a dedicated transit source or local transit fund, it's pretty remarkable, like I said, what you all are doing in that phase when outreach is tracking.

Continuing to move on here, right?

We've got the clean bus stops at the light rail, connecting light rail to the airport, all of these things, and then again, when I'm looking at what type of public outreach program to do, this tells me what people are most interested in, what those things are that could make their lives better, happier, easier, right?

So we continue to go through the list here, and then now you're starting to see these things fall below 50% in terms of importance and support.

But I'd like I said, I do think it's important that the public have this information.

Um this was the end here.

So you can see you start at 89%, and you go all the way down to 20% in terms of potential investment priorities and where people would be um, you know, feeling that connection.

Yes, this makes my life happy, better, easier.

Now, some of these things I want to show you a little bit, um, how we do this, and I really kind of like turn into a little bit of a geek around this stuff, but I think it's so cool.

Um, because you can look at these things and you can see how they have the same concept, but they're maybe just said in a different way, right?

Um, and what that difference is, right?

Connecting light rail to the airport 60%, but connecting rapid bus lines to the airport 46%.

But going back to the very beginning, people want to see you all improve upon, maintain what you already have.

They don't really actually want you to build anything new, right?

So that's important.

Um, the next one here, addressing the craft traffic congestion for first responders.

I think this is really important, it's a very important way to tell the story because you could say, Oh, we're you know, we're SACRT, we reduce traffic congestion on freeways.

Okay, well, that gets you 68% support when you talk about it like that.

But when you actually connect that to emergency responders, being able to avoid getting stuck in traffic.

Well, guess what?

That speaks to somebody in a different way, and that gets you to 82%, right?

So I really like geek out on all the different ways in which you can like talk about these things and really like make that that honest connection with folks.

Um, another one just quickly is road repairs and preventative maintenance and the way in which we talk about those two, right?

There's a difference between 60% and 87%, right?

Saying repairing the streets and roads in worst condition, 87%.

Modernizing outdated roadways only get you 60%.

Lastly, this one too, I think is pretty remarkable.

Um, providing more security for people riding buses and light rail.

That gets you 67%, right?

Like that support, that's that connection because people feel that versus just saying, Oh, we're gonna improve stops and light rail stations.

Well, that doesn't connect with people in the right way.

That only gets you 43%, right?

It's just a way to you can talk about these and connect with people in a place that meets them.

Um, this is the last one, and then I'm almost done.

But I just think these are so cool.

Uh, this one, um, keeping senior disabled veteran and student transit fares affordable.

I've already mentioned that 77%.

Versus just saying providing free bus and light rail fares to students, that only connects with people at 50%, right?

So there really is a way in which we can talk about these things to really help um bridge that that gap with our community.

So, conclusions here.

Um, and I really try I could I love this stuff.

I could have talked to you guys for like 42 hours about all of this.

Like, I just love it so much, and I that's why I said I was so grateful to work with you all.

But um, here's where we're at.

You are not anywhere close to being able to be successful at two thirds, like you just can't, like you're not not in a 26, I don't even know for a 28, quite frankly.

Like, right, you have this fiscal situation you have to worry about and address, but at this point in time, I don't believe a two-thirds for you will be successful.

Now, that being said, there's so much great information that's happened in phase one and that's now been confirmed in the quantitative data.

And we heard in phase one that people just want general public outreach to continue around these key points that I think that's important for you all to continue to invest in whenever you decide to go, because it does show the leadership of this board and of SACRT and being part of the solution.

And I think that's an important, an important story to get out there.

So, with that, I am going to be done now, and I'm gonna turn it back over to Deborah.

Right, thank you, Chair.

You did such a good job that I actually had somebody come up and approach me and say, You need your own talk show on AM radio.

Okay.

Um, I think we're going to be slide 45.

Oh, okay, path word.

Upon completion of this research, the SACRT and STA leadership committee chair, vice chair, and subcommittee chair from both boards met on October 6th to review the key findings of the transportation survey that we just shared.

Consensus among the committee members concluded that the current support levels may be insufficient for passage of a measure placed on the ballot by a local government at two-thirds voter threshold, and that a countywide measure would not be successful.

However, some members of the city of Sacramento expressed additional interest in exploring a potential city of Sacramento only 2026 transportation measure that includes roads and transit since the data demonstrates potential viability and voter interests.

Separately on October 17th, the chairs and a couple of members of the SACRT and STA funding subcommittees met to take a deeper dive into the potential of a city-only transportation measure.

Their survey showed support for a measure ranging from 58 to 66 percent within the city of Sacramento.

A lack of adequate bus service was also seen as a serious or very serious problem by 49% of voters within the city compared to 35% countywide.

Improving the frequency and reliability of bus service in the city scored 71% as extremely or very important compared to 55% countywide.

Improving sidewalk access is 68%, seen as extremely or very important in the city compared to 58% countywide.

And after discussion, the chairs concluded that based on the survey results, it may be viable to do a combined half cent sales tax within the city with 50% for transit and 50% for roads.

With those numbers close to the two-thirds voter threshold, they discussed an additional survey in the city of Sacramento, only focused on transportation projects.

Again, roads and transit.

Following the outcome of that data analysis, the city in SACRT would craft a city-only expenditure plan that clearly identifies transportation projects within the city.

I know we've shared a lot of information tonight, however, I do want to provide a quick overview of SACRT's phase two public outreach that was born from the extensive qualitative and quantitative data.

All the analysis we gathered over the last six plus months has set the stage for an educational program that acts as a guideway to increased awareness and understanding of SACRT in a meaningful and authentic way.

With that said, we want to start start with the tremendous work that the SACRT team has done over the last decade.

And so I will now present a preview of our decade of transformation and growth program.

I'm sorry, growth campaign, which once completed will include a dedicated webpage, podcast session, PowerPoint presentation, and short video, which I would like to now play for you.

What a difference a decade makes.

In just 10 years, SACRT has transformed into a highly efficient, innovative, and customer-focused transit system, earning national recognition, delivering quality services, and driving economic growth for the capital region.

We started with the fundamentals, making our system safe, clean, and convenient.

Today, SACRT has one of the lowest crime rates in the industry, award-winning safety programs, and reliable and accessible service writers can count on.

We promised to put customers first, and we have delivered.

Today, all bosses and the trans are cleaner, safer, and more reliable than ever before.

We launched the nation's most comprehensive fare-free program for students, fueling ridership and opportunity.

We invested one billion dollars in a rail modernization and expansion project and advanced a two billion dollar capital program with over 100 projects on time and on budget.

And we partnered with regional developers to bring thousands of new affordable homes close to transit.

From investing in our youth to progressing transit oriented development, SAC RT is a critical fabric of our community.

The last 10 years have demonstrated the perseverance and the strength that define us as an indomitable region.

By regaining the trust of our communities, SACRT successfully built strong partnerships with political, civic, and business spheres, as well as integrated multiple transit systems into a seamless regional network.

From major sporting events to large festivals, we've moved millions of attendees safely and efficiently, serving as an essential economic driver for the region.

Collaborative partnership building has been the cornerstone of our mission and success.

SACRT services are a lifeline for so many in our community, connecting them to people, places, and possibilities.

We're leading with technology, pioneering innovations like AI technology, contactless spare payments, and real-time service information, keeping SAC RT ahead of the curve.

And this is just the beginning.

Over the next decade, with additional funding, SAC RT will introduce six bus rapid transit corridors, extend BRT or rail to Elk Grove and the airport, launch new mobility hubs while continuously improving the safety, efficiency, and accessibility.

We have come a long way, but we're allowed to slow you down.

We are major focused on continuously enhancing service quality to deliver a world-class transit system that connects and up-lifs the entire capital region.

A decade of historic transformation and growth, a future of opportunity.

Together, we're moving the Sacramento region forward.

And so you look at that video and you realize I've been here over 20 years.

You realize how much we we do with just a little bit of funding.

Imagine what we could do with a little bit more, right?

Anyway, as we consider local funding for a more sustainable future, whether in 2026 or 2028 or a future date, it's vital that SACRT continue our educational efforts to build trust with community members, riders, advocates, businesses, and key stakeholders.

With that goal, SACRT is preparing to implement a comprehensive integrated educational outreach strategy that combines community engagement, earned owned, and paid media to continue to build upon the tremendous work we've been done so far, and that will be focused on four key pillars.

And that's safety and security, fiscal responsibility and trust, needs and community value.

Assets will be created by using our existing materials and recent research data that will be shared through various channels to ensure that we reach the broadest audience possible.

And with that, that concludes my presentation, and I'll open it up to the board for comments and questions.

Alright, board.

Great job, by the way.

Great presentation.

Okay.

Oh, Director May.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for um the presentation and and thank you to Chair Jennings for giving me the opportunity to serve as the um funding measure subcommittee chair.

The last several months, and it's been really interesting to learn.

Um, especially what Cherry's brought to the table, looking over the uh looking over the the data results and the surveys, and I just think it's so important that we hear directly from the public.

Uh, we can make all kinds of assumptions.

I can think, you know, based on my uh personal experiences in my interactions with my constituents or other writers uh what I think is true, but the best way to find out what's actually what true and what people believe is to ask them because they will tell you.

Um, and of course, ultimately if something uh makes it on the ballot, that's that's the best way is having people vote uh show you what they believe through their votes.

Um I think what's really clear through everything that you've presented is that there's really not a path forward uh anytime soon for a countywide measure.

There's just not.

Um that public the public support isn't there, and I think we've seen in the last several years that when it's been attempted, either through a citizen's measure um countywide, uh as in the last time in 2022, and one that was put on the ballot by STA, which I also serve on the board, uh, they were not successful.

Um, and ultimately that came that's a challenge for a lot of reasons.

Um, first and foremost that it's taxpayer dollars, cost money to put things on the ballot.

Uh so we need to be extra certain and sure that it has a high likelihood of passing in order to take that next step forward.

And so I just really appreciated the process of being able to look through the data results, the survey results.

I mean, um, talk about it and then come to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of the taxpayers and of our um communities that we not move forward at this time on a uh measure that's being put on the ballot by an entity like STA or RT.

Um, however, uh, you know, it will be seen whether or not there's something um that the public, this uh citizens measure may come forward, and I think that's something for us all to keep an eye on.

But it's been it's been a great process um doing this, and I think this is what the public would expect of us is to look at all these things critically and to decide whether or not it's in the in our best interest.

Um, and some really interesting uh data points on here, especially related to um, you know, the county as a whole versus the city.

Um, and I think it was it was very interesting to me to see specifically how things are different.

You know, I think a lot of our I think it's 60 percent-ish of our writers for RT are in the city of Sacramento, and I think you see a little bit different of an attitude towards certain things like rail and bus.

Um, one one thing that really stuck out to me that completely aligned with what I've heard from my own constituents is this idea of something to the airport, something better to the airport, whether that be a light rail or BRT or something else.

Um, and that very much aligns with conversations that I have in my communities.

People um often wonder when when we will have something better.

And that brings me to my last and final point, which is we're not alone as a transit agency.

We are struggling.

In fact, we struggle a little bit more because we do not have um quite the same dedicated funding source that other transit agencies of our size do.

Uh, many other agencies have a full set.

Um we share um with uh the current funding source that that we have, and so I think it's incumbent on all of us to start thinking about what can we do, what is what is a good path forward politically and otherwise to ensure that we can get more dedicated funding because the very things that we hear in here every single time that we're here from the public is we want more, we want better.

We want safer, cleaner, we want to go more places more often, we want to go to the places that we want to go and want to work for us.

We want that too.

And that is going to require us to identify ways that we can get more funding because money is what pays for that at the end of the day.

We can be we and we have been more efficient over time and constantly taking a look at what can we improve, what can we do better?

But at the end of the day, we're not that's not gonna solve all of our problems.

You know, we need to ultimately have the money to be able to pay people to do the jobs that we want them to do, to build the things that we want them to build, um, and to have consistent service.

And so this has been super helpful and informative.

I want to thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity and looking forward.

Uh I know we have may have some public speakers too, looking forward to hear what they have to say.

Thank you.

Vice Chair.

We'll go there, I'll go last.

Okay.

I've got the director Brewer, and then you, and then Vice Chair.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, I want to thank Deborah and Jerry for sharing the the results with us from the from the polling.

Because we had two workshops in Elk Grove.

One that was done with SAC RT, one that was done through the city.

The results of what the priorities of what Elk Grovians are asking for, or what they're looking to see, um, are were pretty similar in both workshops.

It was very and that was a eye-opening for myself because I was under the the assumption that we all wanted light roll extension down to Elk Grove.

We wanted uh bus rapid transit uh coming down the old grove.

We even have like the route of where we desire for it to be.

But at the end of the day, people were giving us very bread and butter responses.

It's like they want uh safe stops, they want uh bus stops with seats with with lighting, with covers, um the very basic things and and it's something that was very that was very eye-opening as we look at the information that is provided in the polls in the polling, um, and knowing that the the when you read through the tea leaves, there's the the prospects of doing something in 26 are not here, maybe 28.

How can you develop the narrative or went over the hearts and minds of those in uh in helping um understand that these are part of the infrastructure or bread and butter things that can help develop a bigger, better, brighter RT, uh whether you're talking about extension to El Grove or going out to the airport um as the city continues to grow so we're not playing catch up.

The city's grown, now we're gonna build a line.

How do we do that to help um help uh voters understand that so we can develop something that can really create a dedicated transit funds funding source to enable us to do not just eight things but 16 things.

Sorry, Deborah and I were coordinating our response.

Um no, I I I definitely hear you.

So I want to address actually before I get to your question, which I will, um director, but I um you know, and you came to our El Grove one, thank you for being there.

And and you're right, and I will tell you, I'm working on a few different issues this um for 26, which honestly most of them are now going to 28, um uh fire school districts, transportation transit, and what's interesting is across the board, people want state of good repair, maintain, fix.

Like people really aren't into build new, right?

Because in a voter's mind, you're thinking, oh my gosh, like later on down the line I'm gonna have be asked to like help pay for even more, right?

So that's something that's tracking across the across the map for me and in the work that I'm doing.

But getting back to your actual question, which is like how do we do this, right?

If we're not looking at 26 or 28, I think it's just constant storytelling.

Um I think that's really the thing, and I think having to understand that it's not going to be easy because you cannot do a one-size fits-all approach.

The things that are important to Elk Grove, quite frankly, are not going to be important to Orangeville.

Um, the things that are important to Natomas are not probably gonna be important to Carmichael and Sacramento is a big place, and I think it takes it will take time and energy and investment to really connect with people and meet people where they're at and recognize that everybody's unique and it's not a one-size-fits-all approach.

No, I appreciate that because um, because I was always under the belief that uh Folsom, Elk Grove, Antelope, no matter where you are, we're all in this together, but each area is its own different village with its own different responsibilities with their own different um perspectives.

Correct, and that's exactly right.

And like what and in one isn't better than the other, right?

It's not it's not a situation like that.

It's in one isn't better than the other, it's just different, and respecting those differences in that storytelling is I think the path forward.

We do.

But not in 26.

Not in 26, but at least it gives us a little bit more time to start doing some sort of build up.

Yeah, and it's all through our educational efforts.

We'll do that as well.

Definitely.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Um first thing I wanna say is I'm incredibly proud of this organization.

Really real well run.

Uh I think the fiscal responsibility is pretty um pretty amazing in this in this room.

And I I attribute that to for our senior staff.

Um, but truth be told, I am the president of Sacramento Taxpayers Association.

Um, and certainly I think a big piece of what we what if uh if a tax measure would go to for go forward would be we are facing a lot of voter fatigue for tax measures.

Every single election, there is a tax measure.

It is just we're beating these people to death with tax measures.

And that's the that's I'd say that's probably the biggest challenge you're facing more than anything is if you maybe this I think this is a really smart move.

Number one, I think I think I would love to see SAC RT have our own.

Um we do need a dedicated funding um channel.

Um and so uh that's but you know that's kind of down the road.

I do think we need to sing our praises.

I really think that we need to really get out there and tell people what we're doing.

One of the things that uh when I first got elected in Citrus Heights, uh everybody said, Oh, we got to do this with we got to get the roads done, we gotta get the roads done.

The first thing I I told my council was we gotta show that we're being good stewards with the people's money.

We gotta m we gotta pave ro whatever roads we can do, whatever we can do right now, that's what we need to pave.

We even if I and I said this is that if I put a hundred and twenty million dollar pot of money in front of you, how long is it gonna take you to pay the roads?

15 years.

Okay, it's not an emergency.

Okay, the point is that the money will come, but we gotta show people that hey, we're being responsible with your with the tax that we have.

So I think that sharing our praises is a really good thing.

I think we should probably consider uh a point where we we do uh we do offer our own uh the SAC RT has its own uh funding measure, um, and I'm not sure what that looks like right now, but I think that that's uh I think that there's air other parts of this um county that uh have a have a have a much bigger struggle than SAC RT does.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Sing Allen.

Thank you.

I really appreciate um all of the comments for my colleagues and particularly uh Director Maple, thank you for highlighting really the needs of the city of Sacramento.

Um as it relates to SACRT, thank you for a fabulous presentation.

The information is invaluable.

And for the city of Alk Grove, for the in terms of the public, I wanna make sure that you're all aware of why those numbers were lower in the city.

The city of Alkgrove passed a 1% sales tax in two and uh 2022, and as a result, we are in enjoying thir around 33 million dollars extra per year, and so we are able to address the roads, the potholes and those quality of life issues that rate very highly.

And so going to Director Schaefer's point on fatigue, that is why those numbers are there.

We we we did our part for our city, but you know, we understand the need that is countywide, regionally, and this is a regional board, but as of today's snapshot of what can happen and get us to the finish line, it's um, you know, I'm looking to my colleagues here to the left um for the city of Sacramento for a citizens led initiative.

I think that's thoughtful and something that is being responsive to your constituency, and then let's see what 2028 holds when you have a presidential election, you have greater voter turnout, and sort of those formulas are a little bit different for those kinds of elections, but as it relates to 2026, um the city of Elk Grove, I don't want to say we're doing great, but we're doing great.

Um we are able to address a lot of those quality of life issues, and it's made a real big difference in our city.

We don't get those um complaints, if you will, when it comes to road work, you know, road repair and potholes and those basic quality of life issues, we are able to address those in real time.

And so really proud of our residents, our city for stepping up to address the needs that we have in our city, but just as we all have to be responsive to our constituencies, but also with the framework of a regional board and that necessity for um, you know, target specific funding as it relates to SAC RT because the entire region is gonna grow, and so will those needs.

It is inevitable, but I think what's in front of us right now is really addressing what what is um to address the needs for for the city of Sacramento, and to that extent, at least I'm here to be helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let's go to the uh public.

Uh we have public comment.

Yes, we have Steve Cohn.

Now, for those who don't know, uh, we have a legend among us.

Um I ran for city council because I saw Steve Cohn on television one day, and he was so eloquent in presenting his his position that I said I need to be able to do that as well.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I present to some and introduce the other, Mr.

Steve Cohn.

All right.

Well, that's uh that's gonna be a hard standard to live up to since I I don't do a whole lot of public speaking anymore.

But uh I am joined here by uh, well, more than half of uh the smart board that of which I'm president uh we we advocate for rail and transit.

Um so could you stand up all the board members?

And we also are yeah, thank you.

We're also part of um uh broad coalition of of labor business community leaders, and you know, I'll be brief here because of time, but um, you know, we've we try to improve transit in our community uh as best we can, but we really, you know, the old saying we're the government and we're here to help, and nobody believes you, but we we are the community and we're here to help you, um, help us.

And what I mean by that is that we we agree with the conclusions uh that you've heard from your staff and and from the board members that um a two-thirds vote in 26 is is not gonna be in the cards, certainly not counting wide.

It'd be very difficult even in the city, it's closer, but you heard about Sherry telling you how close Placer was, no cigar.

We were close in 2016, no cigar.

2022, we should have learned some lessons.

Sure.

Umri's trying to do my talk for me here.

Um, you know, 2022, we couldn't even get a majority, um, although the city of Sacramento, I might add, did uh vote for that measure.

I think if city residents have an opportunity to vote on a half road maintenance, half road repair, half transit uh in the city of Sacramento, I think they would support that again.

The big catch is um in order to do a citizen's measure, you need to have 30,000 qualified or valid signatures all by next summer.

And that while that can be grassroots, grassroots isn't free, and so that that means raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, recruiting a lot of volunteers.

But I'm here to tell you we're willing to go out and see if the financial support and volunteer support is there to do it, and I think we'll know by the end of this year, we'll be knocking on a lot of doors, making a lot of calls.

So we'll keep you posted.

All right, thank you.

Helen O'Connell.

Hello, Boyd.

One more time.

Um I believe that you need to stick to what you know, do the best you can at what you have.

But you also need to keep it small, make promises that you can keep, not we're going to build a train all the way down to Los Angeles when you can only make it to Elk Grove.

Um you need to be realistic, you need to keep it local, um, keep the money where it's coming from to be Pacific, don't promise anything you can't keep.

Make sure that what you're going for is actually what people need and want.

Um, it is difficult to get people to pour more money in because sometimes people's other groups get more of the pot than you do, so that you can't do what you promise to do because there's too many people grabbing in the pot.

We need a specific topic, we need a specific um description of what we're going to accomplish.

We need to know a specific funding source so that we can say this is what we're gonna do with what we get, and then we need to deliver.

Thank you, Robert Copeland.

Okay, I've done uh citizen-led ballot major in the past, it is not very easy to do, especially in secondary where you get a signature from milk group or the unincorporated or you gotta just include those people.

Also, we need uh oversight committee that's strong, and basically what the ballot business does, that's the only thing of funds.

If it goes for potholes or public transit, it goes for that.

No, the others, people that want the mic and tickets.

Also, you need to educate the people first, get the undecided and no leading towards a yes, and that's gonna take a lot of work, a lot of time, and a lot of people.

You gotta get other organizations involved, and not every organization here in Sacramento is going to support uh transit ballot measure, whether it's by STA or a citizens-led, and uh my demographic is the worst one, the 50 to 64, they were uh that survey was the worst for my demographic area.

Thank you, and Dan Allison.

Good evening, Dan Allison again for Sacramento Transit Advocates and Writers.

Um I'm really not addressing the board or the staff.

I'm addressing the public, um, with views that that star holds.

Um, one is if there's a ballot measure that includes fixing roads, it needs to include fixing sidewalks.

I was in Hagenwood neighborhood this morning, and as bad as the roads there are, the sidewalks are worse, and they don't exist in a lot of places at all.

Um, don't just talk about potholes, talk about people using sidewalks and not tripping and falling, being able to get to transit.

Um star doesn't think two-thirds will ever be possible again.

This is not the county for two-thirds.

Um, so that leaves us to think that now is the time for a measure that includes transit.

We need to move on it forward.

Uh, we recognize the challenge of doing that in just a year, um, but that's what we think should happen.

Um the funding split 50 50 uh is acceptable, not optimal.

We'd like to see more for transit, obviously, but uh it is okay, and if that's what it takes to create a citizen initiative, great.

Um, we believe that most of the funding for transit should go to operations, not to projects.

That's not what we need for the future.

We don't need any big projects that are gonna gobble up all the income from it, and that includes we're not doing light rail or BRT to the airport.

We're improving bus service to the airport, and our priorities are um higher frequency for more bus routes, longer span of service, reduced fares for youth, seniors, disabled, and low income, which is so far not been addressed, and bus stop amenities.

Thank you.

And then Jeffrey Tartagia.

And then Glenda Marsh.

Hi, uh, I want to echo Steve's comments.

I thought you did a fantastic job.

Um, and I think ballot measure or no, we should push for 2026 if we're gonna be doing this, but whether or not there is a ballot measure, we need um some information from SACRT because we have a lot of excited people in Sacramento who are transit advocates who want to get out there and spread the word of how riding the light rail in the bus is wonderful and it can build community.

Um, so we want to see more SACRT advertising for the safety of their riders, how SACRT makes it safer for pedestrians and cyclists, and even for drivers, getting some people off the roads.

We want to see how uh SACRT is more secure than driving, it's much safer than driving.

Um, and then how they'll help with housing with TOD.

Specifically, uh, what SACRT is going to need to do, if they're gonna be working on this ballot measure or if you're gonna be uh having a citizens initiative for this ballot measure is you need to tell us what money is being spent where, what projects you're spending it on if you get that money, and uh the other thing is that SACRT is gonna offset um other costs within the city by providing these services.

I think it's important to highlight all the things that SACRT does well, because um you guys do a lot of things and you're just kind of you're quiet about it.

You're very humble, and so we want to see you brag so that we can brag about you too.

Thank you.

Jeffrey Tartigia.

Well, with so little of the board left here, I'm going to uh offer this comment is that uh I'm glad to hear what we have that are of interest, um, and the people that are that know what we need to be looking for and at what I think is something to consider is something that it's been a long time since anything has been addressed about property tax, and that was something that was done before for the libraries for our higher education.

This is a basic need that we need to start with of how do we get a dedicated funding for transportation.

I think for RT, we need to be reaching out, whether we use our academy graduates, but we need to be reaching out there and talking about the story of what regional transit has done in the past and we've managed to accomplish for the future.

And that's my comment for this part of the uh session today.

Thank you so much.

And Glenda Marsh.

Hi, it's my first time at your new digs here.

I love it.

It's really great.

You guys deserve this, deserve a great place to work and work out of.

Jeffrey, Amel, Frank, Austin, anybody else that I miss?

They are um many of these folks are on the smart board now, and they are out in the community talking about the work that SACRT does.

And I was so um uh one of the things that I just wanted to share uh with Transit Academy, uh, one of the best things about it was when we talked about what SACRT had been doing, has been doing, and everybody, you guys can remember this, we're shocked.

All the participants are like, really?

All the things I've been talking about and complaining about and wanting SACRT to do, they're actually working on it.

And I think that that that continues to be something that people in the community are always surprised about it because they don't follow along that closely.

There's like lots of things to do you know you can't you can't keep track of everything but I'm really I'm glad to hear that SACRT will be continuing and with this new wonderful video that um Deborah shared I just thought wow even more people can hear about over the last 10 years SAC RT has been doing a lot of things that people want and I it always always that was the highlight of SAC of Transit Academy other than going to tour the Siemens society factory um was when people just got so excited about everything that was going on because it's what they wanted to see going on in the first place.

So thanks thank you that's all the public comment great great great so I know you're concerned about the size of the uh the board up here um and it may get smaller as we go um but I want you to know that the next items are just information only so there's nothing that we're gonna be voting on so we're okay so next item okay the next item is the general manager's report 6.1 good evening uh chair uh I just want to thank uh the old guidance and the comments from the board members and also thank all community needers constructive you know uh criticisms or to feedback and uh all this type of feedback and the comments and the guidance are very inspirational to all of us we're gonna continue to do our best thank you for the president of Sacramento Textpayer Association for watching us and for telling us when we do good you know or when we do bad thank you very much that's it great great great um we have uh next item number seven there are two public comments on the manager's report we have Helen O'Connell and then Robert Copeland okay did you still want to speak yeah to the uh to the general manager's report Helen it's your turn thank you board um again I'm I'm very um proud and respect the the board of directors and all of RT's employees because they are working hard to address issues as they come up and they're making great great strides with um getting different ways to communicate with the public that may need certain issues addressed quickly um I'm glad that um people are focusing on customer advocacy customer service getting um issues handled expediently um that also proves to the public it's that RT is actually spending money where it needs to be spent and listening to people that's been a a very important part and we've made great strides so thank you very much thank you.

And Robert Copeland Okay Rob.

Okay so the next item under seven I'll just read them all and we'll treat them as one big item.

So under reports ideas and questions from directors and communication we have 7.1 the capital corridor joint powers authority meeting summary of September 17 2025 7.2 mobility advisory council meeting summary September 18th 2025 and then we have 7.3 San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority meeting summary of September 19 2025.

Okay and I have no public comment on this public comment and uh those items are in the in the packet.

All the reports are in the packet.

Okay.

So all the reports are in the package, so you can get those if you'd like.

Uh any more comments from my colleagues?

Nope.

And we have uh listened to the public and I wanna thank each one of you who stayed here all this time to be with us to the end.

I wanna thank the staff for their incredible work in putting this together and want to thank you for also being here till the end.

And with that, I'm gonna take this gavel and I'm gonna adjourn this meeting right now.

Thank you.

I didn't have a two minutes, but I'm not making it all right now.

And if you stayed with me