Good morning. It's my pleasure to call the meeting of Metro link board of directors to order this morning and
Thank you all for joining us
We've been with our safety briefing. So Hillary comes all our chief safety security and compliance officer
Will you please give us a safety briefing? Sure. Good morning chair chairman Shafee and board members
in the event of a fire
Fire alarm evacuation. I'm sorry. We'll
Exit the building downstairs. We'll walk out the entrance of the building turn to your right and we'll gather right in front of
Metro's customer service, and we'll wait for further instructions
In the event of an earthquake we will seek cover under desks
tables if we can and wait for the rumbling to stop and we'll
Take an assessment and see if further evacuation is necessary
Just be aware of some hazards as you're exiting the room if we do evacuate
chairs backpacks
Briefcases that sort of thing in the event of a medical emergency or first aid situation
we do have our emergency responders in the room and there is an aid of a ed device at the
Security desk right outside the doors here that we will retrieve and they will dial 911 as well in the event of an active
shooter we will deploy the run hide fight tactic and thank you have a good
great meeting thank you for the briefing now if you'd all rise and director
appreciate Oh would you lead us in a pledge well madam clerk we need to call
the roll we certainly have a quorum present certainly director Nguyen
director go yeah Vice Chair Bergson director Spiegel director Vargas
Present.
Director Molina, seconded by Chair Tremblay.
Director Engler?
Here.
Director Barger?
Director Najarian?
Here.
Director Sandoval?
Here.
Director Solis?
Director Olson?
Director Allen?
Here.
Director O'Connor?
Here.
Director Presiado?
Here.
Director McAllen?
Here.
Director Wapner, director Dutray, director Marquez,
chair Chafee, present.
We do have a quorum present.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
I'd like to introduce one of our new participants,
director William Goh, who sits on the Irvine council, sir,
would you introduce yourself and tell us as much
as you care to about yourself.
Thank you, chair.
My name is William Goh.
I currently serve on the board of OCTA
on behalf of the city of Irvine.
I'm currently the Irvine city council member
for the second district of Irvine,
which happens to be the host of one of the stations, Irvine
Station, for both Amtrak and Metrolink.
I'm very happy to be here.
Frequent rider of the rail system, Metrolink and Amtrak.
Been riding it almost the last few decades,
and very happy customer as well.
I also sit currently on the TCA, Full Hill Eastern
Transportation Corridor Agency in the San Joaquin toll road and as well as
representing the city of Irvine district 14 for Skag and Okog thank you so much
and it's a pleasure to be here today thank you thank you for joining us we
come to a public comment as we understand that we have a number of
speakers who like to present this morning yes we have I will go down the
We have seven public comments written regarding the electrification of the
system that will be emailed to the board after the meeting. We have one public
comment requesting that we partner with the State of California to negotiate the
acquisition of the Santa Barbara subdivision from Moorpark to Gallita,
half the Los Angeles subdivision riverside line from L.A. to Riverside and
and half the Yuma subdivision Palm Springs line
from Colton to Indio from Union Pacific.
So that public comment will also be emailed
to the board after the meeting.
We have one written public comment for item 6F
that has been printed out
and put at each of the board member seats
so they can review it.
And then we do have some requests to speak.
Would you please call the speakers?
Certainly.
Raul Naranjo.
Hey, good morning, my name is Rohan, and I arrived 20 minutes
late this morning due to train M307.
I was trying to think of a ride that
reminds me of the San Bernardino line.
And Raiders of the Lost Ark at Disneyland
reminds me of that train ride, because every time
I went to that park, that ride was down, it was broken.
So I never got to ride it.
But if you ever get the chance to ride the San Bernardino
line you're in for quite an adventure. First of all you don't know if your
train will arrive you don't know if it'll be canceled or not. If it does you
don't know if you're gonna get to your destination which has happened to me a
lot too and if it does get to your destination you know it's going to be
late because that's what my everyday experience has been. Even though there
hasn't been any stations added to the line the line seems to take a longer and
longer every month to go end-to-end. It's been over a year now that they've
tried to do schedule changes, a new schedule change with the San Martin line,
and it still hasn't worked. And I think that the reason it hasn't worked is
because nobody's getting fired. And I wanted you guys to know that you guys
are losing money now because there's nobody being held accountable for
these changes. I'm not talking about the guys that are on the lines trying to get
the trains to run and all that. I'm talking about the people who are
responsible for these decisions. I submitted a comment on the web page to
talk to somebody regarding these schedule changes and all I got was just
a form letter that CEO had already sent out to all the ridership apologizing
for the delays so that's why I came here in person today to let you guys hear
what what you nobody's telling you guys what's happening out there thank you
thank you for taking the time to share with us your concerns at the next
speaker please Pete sluice eight years ago the Metro board brought up the
potential elimination of the Claremont Metro link station to save 40 million
dollars on a 400 million dollar project light rail project as well as saving six
months of construction time. The City of Claremont rallied against this with an
organized campaign led by a former mayor with a pre-printed SOS flyers to save
their station and Metro back down. MetroLink did not actively support that
elimination as it should have and if we ever have a second chance to correct
that it is now with the future of a complete A-line connecting the IE with
the LA County in doubt and solid reasons to overcome any local resistance. By not
eliminating the station our transportation infrastructure will be
hobbled by three consecutive stations, a total of three miles apart, serving both light and
heavy rail, a condition not found anywhere else in America, if not in the world, in the
middle of a line.
If the high speed rail is built to Las Vegas, it will connect to a very slow heavy rail
segment due to these three consecutive dual stations, and will likely be mocked forever
when people become aware and experience this.
Costs have ballooned since 2017, and that $40 million is now likely to have risen to
60 or 80 million dollars. Ridership from that station has fallen dramatically and
the parking lot sits over 80% empty. While residents were rallied to a
populist cause, the city has not validated the need for the station with
actual ridership. In fact, it is the opposite and we will very likely fall
further with light rail competition. If the A-line is completed to the I.A. Transit
Hub in Montclair, it will still provide Claremont with an easy connection to
Metrolink on either side of the city with the two nearby Metrolink stations
or a simple transfer from the new light rail.
Spending so much for undesirable results by moving and retaining a station is foolhardy for agencies that complain for lack of funds.
Without getting a light rail extension of the A-line,
ridership will never reach its potential for both L.I. County and Inland Empire, and
both of those will be hurt by not having a critical integrated transportation system for both residents and businesses.
If the savings of the elimination of the station is used, towards finishing the A-line, it will benefit everyone, including MetroLink riders, and even Claremont.
Not doing so in retaining a blemished MetroLink infrastructure, we will be in albatross on ever having a world-class transportation system in Southern California and limits the potential benefit of our transportation system overall.
Someone here please take a leadership role and take steps to eliminate the Claremont Metro link station and have Metro provide those allocated funds
To complete the a-line as it was intended
Again, I'd like to submit my comments for the record and I urge you to take action on this extremely important issue
While we have the opportunity doing nothing shall not be acceptable nor should anybody want that for their legacy
Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank speaker
Kevin Daddy, Victoria
Good morning. Um, I'm
It's my first time speaking at this board meeting
personally, I'm
Advocating for electrification specifically on the Antelope Valley line. I know that the demand exists for that specific line and Metro owns
more or less the right of way along that specific line and
Also, I'm advocating personally for the Pocoima Metro Link Station that Metro is considering
I know that also the demand exists and that can be used as a pilot for electrification along that specific line
But my fellow members along at the Transit Coalition
has done research and is considered the freight
schedules as well.
And I believe that if done and pursued with the funding
properly that we can time the schedules to make it
15 to 30 minutes and align it with the schedule,
align with not just the ridership demands
and bring more passengers along the Valley line,
then we can also produce the costs
and subsidies along that particular line
and make electrification worth a return on investment
and worth pursuing electrification
along the Metrolink system wherever feasible
and eventually towards the line,
because I know that Metrolink definitely has the potential
electrification and you can eventually nudge Union Pacific and BNSF to agree
with us. Thank you so much. Thank you sir. Next speaker please. Bert Reed. Good
morning. Good morning board and staff. I am Bart Reed, the executive director of the
Transit Coalition. I'm first going to make a statement in taking the Antelope
Valley line on a Saturday morning, the first train arrives at Silmar Station at 7 43 a.m.
I've noticed a lot of people on the platform, and all of a sudden I noticed that when we
were leaving, 75 people were still on the platform. What does that tell me as a transit
user? That people are waiting for the first train to go to Palmdale and the Antelope Valley,
And instead of the first train going northbound at 815,
it should be going northbound at 615.
Somebody needs to go management while walking around
and fix the earlier trains to Palmdale
because there's a demand out there.
I mean, I can see it if there's 75 people on the station
when our train leaves with we boarded 50 people
to go to Los Angeles.
Something's not right with people not figuring out
the weekend schedules.
I'm gonna segue over to electrification.
This is a battery.
powers my phone. Same kind of batteries can be used, besides cantonary, these batteries
can be used in trains and we could electrify the Antelope Valley line. Those states, the
trains make noise and they're in the Sylmar Metrolink station. With electrification, you
ratchet up the train and you're up to speed in 20, 30 seconds or 10 seconds and that's
what happens with cow trains. That's why they can get more trains in with the same amount
equipment you can get more than one trips because you can go faster you can
accelerate faster we should have a pilot project in Los Angeles County electrified
the 75 mile in it 75 miles of the Antelope Valley line some of it can be
electrified some of it can use batteries to power it where you don't put the
electricity in but we have the whole corridor along San Fernando Road in the
valley it would be adequate for a pilot project to electrify so want the
Metrolink board to consider telling staff to start researching electrification.
High-speed rail is coming between Burbank Airport and Los Angeles down to
Arctic, so we should be electrified there. We should also be looking into electrifying
the San Bernardino line to release Rancho Cucamonga, which means we have
electrification in Los Angeles County and those miles in San Bernardino County
to take care of the new coming Right Line.
So I thank you very much for considering getting staff
to start working on electrification
and getting the grants that are necessary to do it.
It's Union Pacific runs the train, the freight,
but Metrolink owns the host 75 miles
in the Antelope Valley Line,
and there's no obstacles to electrifying the line.
So thank you very much.
Thank you for your comments.
Next speaker, please.
That is the last of the speaker cards I've received for general public comment and I have two more for item six F
That I will call up during that item
Okay, so that's the end of the general public comments
All right. Thank you and
Staff has been taking note of the comments are made so
At this time we'll go to our regular calendar
The first item is an action item the proof for our minutes of our last meeting which was July 25th
Any corrections additions changes?
approval McCallum
Who did there move by director McCallum is there a second?
To second directors beagle all right any objection?
motion carries minutes are approved
We've had a request that we move
Item 6s to the head of the calendar. We do have a couple of speakers on that item
And I think staff has a presentation we might make I would say
preliminary it's
Necessary need we decided today. We have more time if you want to be of some consideration to the schedule changes
I think there's some ideas. I've heard since this came out
We can discuss it and then decide what we want to do
so
chief of staff noella
Like one of the speakers had just mentioned who had not been here before and spoke for the first time
I feel like this is my first time speaking before the board as for an official item. So please be kind
Thank you I
Will say that I hope you all had a nice summer break
I know that we did as a staff and certainly from the board office. We spent some time
putting together this board item for your consideration and as you may recall at the end of the last meeting in July the board chair
Mentioned that this item was being considered because we're entering that time of year when we're discussing the calendar for the following year
So here we are and so I'm happy to be here to present a proposal for your consideration
And at the end of which we will have as a board the opportunity to discuss this among yourselves and ask questions
We are here to serve the board. So next slide, please
So, for background, since 2020, the directors have convened with committee meetings on the
second Friday of the month and the full board on the fourth Friday of the month and, of
course, August is dark.
And we don't have committee meetings in September, November, and December for practice.
Next slide, please.
And from the safety briefing to adjournment, the average duration of the committee meetings
This year has been about 25 minutes, so you'll see 22 for ECOMP, 30 for AFCOMP, and 25 for
COMS.
And then as part of the committee meetings, because they are virtual, they have to have
roll call votes for every single action item, just as an aside in case some folks didn't
know that.
Next slide, please.
And then this year, we will have met six times as committees on the second Friday of the
month.
because we are traditionally dark in August as I mentioned September and
November and December because of meetings or holidays we don't meet as
committees and this year turned out to be a bit of an anomaly because in
January we didn't have committees as a result of the fires in Los Angeles
County and some board members were focused on that and just for obvious
reasons we bypassed the meetings that month and then in June because of the
civil unrest in Los Angeles and surrounding areas we also bypass
committee meetings that that month so for half of 2025 the board will have met
eleven times and had been able to govern effectively and efficiently
efficiently so rather without the committee meetings. Next slide please. So
for consideration and this is something that the chair and we have discussed you
recall last year at the end of the year when the committee meeting schedule was
resequenced the chair mentioned that he would be taking a look at this midpoint
of the year to see how things are going well life got in the way and all of the
things that I just previously discussed came into play with the actual meeting
schedule so for your consideration and then conversation the idea is to have a
a single in-person monthly board meeting on the fourth Friday of the month which
allows for full participation of all of the board members on items. Discussion
discourse on the action items creates robust dialogue and increases camaraderie
in contrast to virtual committee meetings and also enables staff to provide the most
up-to-date operational and financial status reports for directors
consideration. You may recall that in previous times some of the information
we get asked for the latest and because of the scheduling of producing board items sometimes
that we have a lag in up-to-date information.
This format would also avoid last-minute scrambles to secure a quorum.
Twice this year we literally had the morning of scrambling to fulfill a quorum for a committee
because of last-minute changes and schedules of committee members.
also the once a month meeting format will eliminate long board member commute time for the short
committee meetings. Next slide please. So it's recommended that the board adopt a meeting schedule
that eliminates committee meetings and holds one regular full board meeting on the fourth Friday
of the month, the second Friday in November and December due to holidays and adopt the proposed
2026 board meeting calendar which will be effective January 1. Also note that any changes to the
schedule would require a provision to bylaws which we would bring forward to
the board at a future meeting so this concludes the presentation and really
that we'd like now for a dialogue among the board members about this proposal
and any other ideas that the chair and other members might have so thank you for your time
and happy to answer your questions before you begin. Thank you for that. Do we have a couple of
speakers on this? I do not have any request to speak on this item. Okay. I had
asked at an earlier board meeting that staff look at the data and see what
could be an improvement for the next year. So anything that we do with this
item would not be effective until January. So there's time to even come
back, think about hybrids, differences that anyone might have. I note that
that generally our board meetings have had excellent attendance.
We've had good discussion.
We have committee meetings that sometimes struggle for a quorum
and people that come in to do so from the remote option.
So we do have those meetings, but they tend to be short.
And anything we do in the committees always comes back
to the board anyway for decision.
committees do have the usefulness in the sense
that they vet things for the board.
We can look at things, discuss it,
and give an additional opportunity for some discussion.
So I think the idea is that we have our board meetings,
but are the committee meetings necessary?
Maybe they'll need to be as frequent.
And there's maybe some other options.
I was thinking, you know, we have five counties
that support Metrolink.
maybe at some point we should have a board meeting
in each of those counties.
And who the director is can buy lunch, that type of thing.
I don't know if that's something that is palatable or not.
But the more we learn about the system, the better.
And I think it has a good sense of building our commodity
as we continue to work together.
So directors, comments?
Is this something you'd just like to mull over and take
on in the next meeting?
It can be continued.
not urgent today but I look we're looking for feedback staff is looking
for feedback I do not see any lights on there you're trying you've succeeded
all right my my opinion and and in listening to our board briefing
yesterday for our CTC I think we all are aligned with the theory that we are not
really supporting going to one meeting a month there's a lot of things that were
brought out and I'll mention a couple. One of the things that I find important
and all of my colleagues as well, when we have these committee meetings, we can
get into the details of issues. Not only that, but the number of times I've heard
members, directors asking for information that then can be brought back before we get to the final vote.
One thing we will have an issue with is if you're asking for information while
we're trying to vote on something.
Staff didn't compare that exhibit
or doesn't have that information.
Well, then we have to wait a whole nother month.
But with a committee meeting,
at least we're able to ask for that information.
It's divided where the board meeting
will be able to digest it.
So that is a critical path for me.
The, turn it back over to Karen.
I see your light on.
I got a blank now okay dr. Spiegel so I know that when it was said is that
there's a liked to get updated information I don't think that's going
to change whether you have one or two meetings whether you have the committee
because I agree with Brian that if there's additional information then we'd
have a like anyway because we'd have to come back to the next board meeting I
I find value in that to have it and then to regurgitate it and bring it back and you have
a different thought process with additional information added.
My first response on our call yesterday was the fact that we're an organization with a
very large budget, a lot of responsibility, covering five counties and to go down to one
meeting a month.
We are all busy folks and we know who attends.
Those of us who attend regularly are here right now.
We have names on those that haven't attended at all.
It's up to the individual counties.
And if we can't get a quorum, then maybe we've got to look at who you have your representatives.
I'm really bold about that one.
The last minute scramble is going to happen, whether we have one or two meetings.
People's schedules won't commit, whatever it is.
I'm a true believer.
I am as busy as you.
We all have the same 24 hours in a day.
How we utilize that and our commitment to what we commit to is up to us individually.
And I think the most important thing that would sway me one way or the other was what
you said about staff.
I mean, I do believe that sometimes we make you work extra hard for silly things that
shouldn't have to happen.
And I apologize for all of us, but if we look at the wholeness of this organization, we
need to make sure we make educated, informed decisions.
And that is the end result that when we have public speakers, you know, we don't have time
to tell them where we're coming from and some of those decisions, why we're not doing things,
but that's our job is to make those decisions.
As representatives from each of our agencies, it's critically important
that we do a thorough thought process.
I find if I only attend something once a month, you have less of a mental investment
because then you've got to remember everything without having a secondary meeting,
a call coming in, so there's three touches during the month
that we don't lose sight of our focus as an organization
and as a representative.
I find it healthy, I find it,
I've been on Metrony for so many years.
I think I just breathed it, but for somebody who had no idea
they were getting into transportation,
I'm in every transportation organization,
but I just, I think we have to balance
on what's best for the organization.
I do, as I said, the one thing that would hold me back
agree would be the fact of the circles. For those of you who didn't have that
conversation, when we may be on Zoom on those committee meetings, staff still all
comes in for the meetings and they're not all located in the same office. They
have different locations and so I do understand that as being an advantage if
we don't meet as a committee but I just think sometimes that extra discussion
because then when it comes back to the board you'll hear things out of any of
us that wasn't brought up on our calls because we've had time to talk to our
staff we've had time to reread it regurgitate it I just think we have to
be very careful and calculated under decision-making thank you for comments
director McCallum. Thank you very much Karen. You and I have gone back on this
issue many times over the over the years. We used to have committee meetings the
same day as a board meeting. Remember those days? And then we've gone back and
forth on this a couple of times. The data shows that we've only had meeting
times of, you know, like 30 minutes or so, we started out having, in this go around,
we started out having meetings scheduled for an hour. We found out we weren't filling
all of that time, so we moved it for 45 minutes. And we're still not all filling out that time.
I'm a proponent of in-person meetings. You know, I don't like Zoom meetings. And, you
You know, unfortunately, the committee meetings are on Zoom,
and I think part of that is causing the meeting
to go even longer because you have all of the votes
have to be done by, we've always saw it individually.
The argument that it allows us to have more time to discuss
the issues well, we're not taking more time
because 30 minutes we're getting all of our questions
and answers on the phone call before the meetings.
So as a result, the meetings don't go as long as they could
because we're getting our answers ahead of time.
So I'm a proponent of going to one meeting a month.
In the past, we did have two board meetings a month.
Those which gave us lots of time to talk about issues, but it was a it was a real drag on the on the staff
to support that and
even supporting the committee meetings, I think is
a lot of work for the staff so
I'm in favor of the proposal, and I would urge my colleagues to also support it
Dr.. Marquez
Thank you, sir. I appreciate that
I'm an alternate, but I do get to sit on comms of meeting. I think it's pretty valuable a lot of times our
Conversations that we have that the information might not be in our packet
But we have the ability of talking to Darren and staff to basically clarify
So this one when he does come to a board meeting the package is a little bit stronger
So we can discuss it the second thing I like about it too is the public. It's open to the public
If they have issues or concerns about specific committees they can attend and give some some information or feedback
So again, I do support keep it at the way it was so those are my comments. Thank you
Thank you director Marcus. I think we had
Yes, I'll be incredibly brief I agree I agree with Larry
Are these videotaped I
I love a special moment between us, Director Spiegel.
No, no, I'll just keep it brief.
I mean, I think that the one could
argue that there's no question about the value of discussion,
questions, but to Larry's point, it
doesn't bear out in the minutes that we spend in the meeting.
And there's not just one item or two items.
There's multiple items.
And so I think in terms of being efficient and effective,
I think having the one meeting a month.
And like anything else, you evaluate.
I mean, it sounds like this has been an issue
that has come up before.
You had two board meetings.
You had committee meetings before board meetings.
I know in Skag we have committee meetings
and then we come to the regional council
if we're on the regional council.
So while I can certainly appreciate
and respect the views of my colleagues,
I would recommend and support the effort of the chair
to bring this to one meeting.
Thank you, Karen.
Dr. Prociado.
Yeah, I wanted to ask some questions,
and maybe Kettle can help me out, or whoever can.
I know that you're bringing it forth.
I think what I would not like to see
is that, as we've talked about before,
not bringing items in where it's the only time you
can make a decision.
So making sure that we bring them in advance,
so that if, in case there is a last minute question,
I've always been a big proponent of if we want to discuss issues most of the time it's
not inner director conversations we're asking stuff of staff of which you know we make sure
that email questions in advance to try to get in preparation and then answers and responses
to those questions please be disseminated to the to the board because it's I think I've
found most of the time it's informational questions to staff or we want more information
that wasn't in the staff report.
And that to me leads to the efficiency
of even these meetings is I would hate for these meetings
to balloon up to 50 items
because we just keep sending them back,
keep sending them back, keep sending them back.
So, even is there a potential to,
do you, well, I'll start off with that.
Do you foresee any issues that maybe we will just balloon
to 50 items because we can never make a decision?
I wouldn't suggest that this board couldn't
make a decision ever.
Um, no, uh, Director Preciado, the, uh, you know,
I think one of the things that as this conversation has taken
place and what we've done over the course of the last several
years is I think we've really tightened up our staff work and
do things, get things done in advance so that should there be
a reason why a, um, an item has to be postponed, um, for further
discussion and debate that we do, we have that information
well enough in advance that it doesn't impact our business.
So I think we have that ability to do, we've certainly proven it out just this year that
we can show that we can do that.
So I think we have that ability to be nimble and again it's going to be incumbent on chief
of staff and your CEO to make sure we're making sure our staff is getting stuff done and well
enough in advance so we don't run into that situation where it's a late in the
game. I'm glad that you're seeing that it'd be a fall in and dependent on you to
make sure. Absolutely. But even a one item that we had a couple of I think it was two
meetings ago if we can also group items like items that are maybe just filing
items so we can just pass them with a motion I think that would help you
efficiency of meetings and I don't know if there's any issues with those. I know that
consent isn't usually an item we use, but how would that look? So if the
board were to make this decision consistent with what's been presented
today, we would come back with a bylaw adjustment that would recognize a use of
a consent calendar where the chair and I would go over the items and say these
are items that are non-controversial, receive and file, so that we would create
a consent calendar and then an action, a full discussion calendar. And not to get ahead
of ourselves, I'll be suggesting later after these items, several items that could be grouped
together that are received and filed that are non-controversial are normal quarterly
updates that could be considered by the board and the chair to be received and filed as
a group. So we did that a couple months ago, as you said Victor, and because of the length
of today's, just a list of items, I have a recommendation along those lines as well.
And lastly, you know, I do want to thank always staff for all the work that they do,
but I even would say that in an efficient sense, this allows them to continue doing their work
and their everyday work where I know it's creating the staff report,
creating the presentation every single time is not necessarily needed.
And if we ever do need to meet on an emergency basis,
we could do an emergency meeting, I'm assuming.
That is also available to us.
Thank you very much for the information.
I think with all that said,
I also am inclined to support the item.
Thank you, Chair.
Just a couple of points.
As a relatively new member of the committee
and also just an acting person here,
I value the committee meetings that I've been on.
I'm on the comms committee.
It gives a smaller venue for me to learn more
about how things work at MetroLink.
Allows me to be able to ask questions in a smaller venue,
which is important to me.
However, I also realize that staff needs to prepare
for all of these committee meetings and this main meeting.
And I'm not sure whether the value to me
of being on a small committee is worth the amount of staff
time that staff uses to prepare for these meetings.
When I was working and was a director of the fire department,
I would say we used to talk about work a lot
and talk about how we were going to get things done.
But those meetings take away from actually getting things
done.
So I'm sensitive to the fact of staff's commitment
to serving the board, which may cut into time
actually performing duties that help move us forward.
Like Victor, I think I'm leaning towards
supporting the proposal.
Thank you.
All right, are there any others who haven't spoken yet?
I'm gonna go back, and I think Director Bergson,
you wanna fill a little blank if I understood you.
Yeah, I did.
I came to my census.
Before we did these committee and board meeting scenario,
we had just one board meeting a month for a bit.
And we brought back the committee,
or it was brought back, re-energized.
Now we have these committee meetings where
before I don't think we did.
Recently, I don't think we've had just one board meeting.
There were two board meetings a month previous.
Bringing back the committees. Yes, and then we switched to committee meetings because there was issues. I think with
Not being able to get the details or I can't remember why the suggestion came for committees. Maybe Larry you're shaking
You may have remembered I'd like some help
with that
her with me
When when Karen rejoin the board blame me now Larry keep going
She brought up since she was here before that we did have committee meetings and when she rejoined she
brought up the fact that we we didn't have committee meetings and she'd like to have them back so
we brought them back on. We'll see how wise Supervisor Spiegel is. She brought back something
that actually I thought was very helpful. Now I have to apologize for being super efficient on
the AFCOM meetings and getting them done so timely, but I can guarantee you that there
are questions that have brought us to that 45-minute window many, many times, so we get
the lengthy meetings, especially in my opinion on the AFCOM.
The exec meeting is usually pretty quick, but I don't know about comms.
I'm not here for that, but I'm just concerned that if we don't have a second meeting, we
We are going to start asking a lot more questions and we are going to be sitting here for six
hours instead of two hours on a board meeting because we are going to go through things
and we are going to take our time and do it right just like we do today.
Today we have two options so I'm concerned about that.
The other thing I'm also concerned with is we are approaching 2028, 2027, 2026 all have
major venues coming, and I'm concerned we're jipping the public and ourselves if we eliminate
that second meeting as things are really going to start compiling quickly as things unwind
and start getting done.
So, you know, it's not that I'm opposed to this, but I guess I really am opposed to this,
so that's just my opinion.
Not that I like to drive out to L.A. twice a month, but I do it because I care, and I
I know everybody here, everybody's face that I see
are the same faces I see all the time.
So all of you are the ones that are here.
We all must care as we're showing up.
So I'm done with my soap box.
Thank you for filling in the blank.
I'm before you.
And now we're gonna go back to Director Spiegel.
Mr. Sandoval.
You would go on order here.
The idea of the consent calendar,
I think it's good because we can always pull an item
off the consent to have discussion,
so that wouldn't be a problem.
I would say, since it's looking like we're the minority,
Brian, that I guess there's no challenge
to make a change to see how it works,
and we can evaluate.
My one thing is I'd like a commitment from everybody
is the leaving early.
When we have just board meetings,
By noon, some of you are gone.
I'm sorry, I just kind of call things as they are.
We need to make that.
Do you want to name names?
I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.
But it is, it's gonna be a little bit more
of a commitment until we get used to the timeframe
and look at the agenda, but you know, it happens,
because you gotta catch the train, you know, this and that.
To be frank, that's why I drive in,
because we cut my train line off.
And if I'm gonna have to drive to San Bernardino,
I might as well drive all the way to LA.
So that was my only choice to drive
because we had a mid-day train
and we cut that because of the ridership.
And I agree.
So I have a little choice having the driving.
But so with that one, the time is,
I will even make the motion that we try this out
and see how it goes.
I know you wanna talk.
but I think that we just have to be very conscientious
of our responsibilities to the board
because we're not just the board and each other
and our agencies, but we keep bringing up staff
because I think their time is just as valuable.
We wanna get the best use of it,
and so I'm willing to make that attempt, Brian.
Please go ahead.
There are just two things.
One, I just wanted to make sure that we note on the record
that I did agree with Larry McKeown.
Thank you.
And then two, I will second that motion.
OK, thank you for that.
I might just add that we have a thing called an ad hoc committee
that we can't have.
We have specialized things, particularly like the Olympics.
I don't think that's a regular committee business.
That's a special that can meet even week to weeks
if it needs to be, whatever it is.
And those people, I think, can dig in more than the committee
and stuff outside.
You don't need to worry about the Brown Act
when you have a committee, and the Olympics are something
that is, I don't know where that's going,
where the money's coming from,
and we have now President Trump supposedly taking charge
to make it the best and greatest ever, I guess,
but, so there's a lot happening there,
but I think that's a specialized thing, so.
And I think, yeah.
Oh, sorry, I couldn't see you back there, I'm sorry.
My red light's on, but you can't see it.
Yeah, okay, please go ahead.
I'm the majority, obviously, but I am part of Riverside,
and I guess we do things differently there
than everybody else.
You know, that's the purpose,
it's one of the purposes of our committees,
and is to hash and vet new items.
As a mayor, and I sit on several committees and chair,
we have our subcommittees,
and that's an effective tool to have.
You know, as an alternate here for MetroLink,
I have been here more than certain members
I've never even seen it at the dais yet.
I don't even know who they are.
And the other issue, the comment I like to make is,
I hear a lot about struggling to get a quorum.
Well, what are the committees?
Six people, seven people?
Is there any committees that are more than seven?
Comms is, I believe, more than seven, whenever.
But again, the quorum requirement is based on
each of the five counties.
So we have to have, at a meeting,
to have a quorum three counties in attendance.
Where we've struggled as an occasion,
as Ms. Rodriguez mentioned,
is that we had a 11th hour cancellation the night before,
and we had to scurry to find someone from that county.
So as elected, and you join a commission,
sign up, you get appointed, whatever,
I mean, that's your commitment.
And perhaps we have the wrong people
sitting on certain committees then,
you can't make the form.
That's one of my piece that I have.
And hybrid meetings, Larry, I understand your concerns,
but for subcommittee, hybrids work very effectively.
Some of us have higher roles than others,
and a quick briefing could be a lot more effective
than having to come in twice a month.
And then my final comment, I'm just curious.
So if this goes the way it sounds like it's going,
Does this eliminate the briefings completely as well?
It would not.
We would conduct the briefings as we did this month,
where we would continue to have the briefings earlier.
I would at least appreciate those.
And the purpose of briefings, folks, to remind everybody,
is to hash out on issues that we're not spending 30 minutes
at a regular meeting, because you didn't ask questions
before the meeting.
Get your packet before the meeting, study it,
look through it.
And that was beneficial, these committees.
It also gives the staff time to respond to those questions
that we hear so we can have those answers ready
for the meeting or in advance of the meeting.
Yeah, I get it.
But the thing about staff, well, that's part of your job.
You have to prepare for me, whether it's four subcommittees
plus a regular meeting.
I'm sorry.
That's also doing business for your job.
Be rude or harsh, but you have to run effectiveness.
And this is a multi-billion dollar agency.
I mean, we're dealing with some big bucks here.
And I think to bring it down to just one meeting a month
to make those kind of decisions, that's going to be tough.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for that.
I might note the committees are not.
They are standing committees, subject to the Brown Act.
And so there is some effort to conduct them.
Notices have to go out.
And agendas have to be prepared.
it's not just necessarily simple. Your ad hocs are different. I see another hand
way over there. Okay. Good morning. This I'm an alternate. I'm a mayor of my city
as well and I apologize for being late. It's the first time I've been late and
and I don't miss meetings but I agree. I think we need the extra time. I know it's
commitment, but I make the commitment as well, and I missed an earlier train, so I
was late, but I see the effectiveness in having that extra time, and I, you know,
I don't know if staff, if it's a harder on staff to do that to keep the
committees going, but I'm also in favor of keeping the committees and keep the
status quo. Thank you. Thank you. And I saw another hand up here. Pam, go ahead.
My question is about that the timing so how many days before the board meeting will the packet be released?
And then how many days before the board meeting will the briefings be will they be just two days before the board meeting?
Or will they be earlier?
So we will we will still maintain the schedule of sending the packets out a week before the board meeting
and so you'll have the time and then in between
is when we will have the briefings
so that you have fresh information
and we have the ability to respond
not just at the briefing but also maybe adjust
our presentations to the board for the action meeting.
Right, because right now the briefing for this one
was two days beforehand.
That's right.
Which is, you know, I guess.
It'll be the same, the plan is to have the same schedule,
assuming this was going to pass today.
So instead of having the briefings on the second week
for the briefings as we do, we would have them just before.
So you'll have two days ends of respond?
I'm sorry?
So if the briefings are two days beforehand
and we're asking the questions,
staff will have two days to respond.
Exactly, just as we do now.
We have the briefings on Wednesdays and Thursday mornings.
So we'll have that time to respond either on time,
timely during the briefing
or in the two days before the meeting.
So now the briefings are before the committee meeting,
aren't they?
Yes.
Yeah, so before you had the briefing, the committee meeting,
and then a period of time, and the board meeting.
Right, so.
Now you would have release of the packet on a Friday,
you'd have on a Wednesday the briefing,
and then less than 48 hours later,
you'd have the board meeting.
Right, just as we did this month.
We didn't have briefings this,
we didn't have committees this month,
so we had the board meeting today.
Two days ago, we started the briefings.
I want you to point out that's a very compressed time.
if you all think you could respond to questions that are raised on the
Wednesday that you know less than 48 hours that's great I just wanted to point that out and get clear what the timing would be.
And I think Michelle wants to piggyback on this as well.
If I may clarify, currently we do the briefings two days one day before the
committee meeting and the staff responds at the committee meeting and the items
That end up on the agenda for the board meeting are directly rolled over from the committee meetings
So there really isn't any change between the items from the committee meetings to the board meetings
So it would still follow the same flow as we have now. It would just be the board meeting replacing the committees
Thank you. I would like to compliment staff on answering questions in between meetings. It doesn't have to wait for a board briefing
And so and you can get that information any time you have a question
All right. We have some different opinions. Is this something we want to handle this time or do you want to think about it?
No, I okay want to second. Okay. What was our motion? Let's go back to our motion
My motion was to move forward on this on a trial basis to make sure that it works
So maybe come back in six months and we evaluate. Yeah. Okay. Is there a second somewhere and a second?
Alright, I suggest a split vote. Maybe maybe we should do a roll call on this
Director go yes
Vice chair Bergson
director Spiegel
Yes
director Vargas
director Molina
Director Engler. Yes. I'm sorry. I'm doing this wrong because it's just supposed to be
my first. I'm sorry. I'm not used to doing a roll call at the board meetings. Let me
start over. It's okay. I think we should get everybody's vote. All right, all the votes
are canceled. Let's start over. I'm so sorry. Director Goh. Yes. Okay. Vice chair
bergsen director Spiegel yes director angler yes director najarian yes
director Sandoval director presciado yes director McCallen yes I want to thank
Tim Sandoval for agreeing with me director Marquez chair chafee aye yes
That motion passed
All right. I think all of you and I appreciate
Can we just know what the alternates wanted to since they do step up? I'm just curious
Well abnormal, but they're here all down. I would be a yes
Appreciate it that you do a report back to as appropriate
So I just like to say that I like the spirit in which we discussed this there's a lot of good humor
And we will this a trial we can look at it again. And so thank all of you for your thoughtful consideration
All right. Now, let's go on to our
Item 6b, which is an operating agreement for the Santa Barbara temporary service
Lisa
Cola Chio, would you please present us the item? Sure. I just point of order. I know that
CEO gettles gonna say his recommendations for what might be consent like items
Are you gonna do that after this? Are you gonna do it before just just for point of order?
I was gonna do it after the next couple of items will be discussion that I thought was were warranted that were actually
Okay. Yeah, just wanted to bring it
Please so please go ahead. Thank you. Good morning chair members of the board
We're really pleased to bring this item before you today because it's actually been in the planning stages for a couple years now
now. An early morning round-trip train from Ventura to Galita was previously operated
by Lo San, but during the pandemic, due to a sharp decline in commuter use, the service
was terminated. According to a recent study, as many as 11,000 commuters are driving to
Santa Barbara from Ventura County daily. SB CAG and VCTC have been negotiating with
Losan for SCRA to provide one additional round trip service from Moorpark to
Galita on a temporary basis until Losan can receive their expected equipment and
begin to operate this permanently again. It's anticipated this new service would
start January 26, 2026. Next slide please. SB CAG and VCTC are the funding
agencies and have agreed to reimburse SCRRA operating expenses to operate the
service. They will remit payment in advance and there will be no budget
impact and specifically there's no impact to member agencies. I do need to
make a verbal clarification in the written board report. Losan is drafting a
separate agreement with Union Pacific which will has not yet been finalized
and this will provide temporary authorization for SCRRA to operate on this train slot and
LOSAN, VCTC, and SB CAG will each bring this item before the respective boards in the very near future.
So the action item today is it is recommended that the board authorize the chief executive officer
to execute a subcontract agreement with LOSAN to operate this temporary service. And that concludes my report.
I'm happy to answer any questions questions directors
See director go you have your light on oh?
No, you didn't mean to okay
If there are no questions may have a motion would you approve?
In a second any objection from anyone seeing none motion carries. Thank you your presentation
And we have a track and signal infrastructure
maintenance and support services
That's item 6C and we have an option and increase the contract authority for on-call work directories. Louise Carrasquero
morning chair members of the board next slide, please on
February 26 2021 the board awarded contract number MS 289-22 to Herzog
for track and signal infrastructure maintenance and support services for a base period of five years which would be from July 1st
2021 through June 30th, 2026 with a single three-year option
that will go all the way through June 30th, 2029.
On June 25th, 2021, the board approved a contract authority
for on-call work directives for the five-year base
for a not to exceed amount of $45 million.
On June 23rd, 2023, given the expenditures
on those on-call work directives,
the board authorized an increase to the authority
of on-call work directives by $57,270,996 for a new not
to exceed amount of $102,270,996.
Next slide, please.
To continue to provide inspections, testing,
reporting, and maintenance of tracks, structures,
signals, and right-of-way train control systems as well
as on-call services, the authority would
like to exercise its option to extend the contract.
The contract's base term expires on June 30th of 2026
with an existing available option extending the term
by three years to June 30th, 2029.
For on-call work directors, we currently have
just over $9.6 million in remaining contract authority
that will go all the way up to June 30th of 2026.
Next slide, please.
Exercising the three-year contract option is recommended
for the following reasons, proven performance,
operational continuity and costability,
Leveraging synergies and long-term system integration,
readiness for mega events such as the FIFA World Cup
and 2028 Olympics and Paralympic Games,
and strategic timing.
Next slide please.
It is recommended that the board authorize
the chief executive officer to exercise
and approve the contract option for MS 29-22
to extend the contract from July 1st, 2026
to June 30th, 2029.
And to increase the contract authority
for on-call work directives by 75 million dollars
from a current total of 102 million to 170,996 dollars
to a new not to exceed amount of 177,270,996 dollars.
Next slide please.
That concludes my presentation.
I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Director has questions.
I don't see any lights on.
May I have a motion?
Move.
Second, Bangler.
Move to second it.
Any objection?
Seeing none, motion carries.
Thank you, presentation.
Thank you.
We go to the Caltrans Sustainable Transportation
Planning Grant Program, a presentation by Paul Hubler.
Please go ahead.
Thank you.
Good morning, Chair Chaffee, members of the board.
This is an action item requesting
that the board delegate authority,
we can go to the next slide, to the CEO
or his designee to negotiate and execute actions necessary
to administer a Caltrans Sustainable Transportation
Planning Grant Award.
This, the Caltrans program provides approximately
$35 million a year for the, under the categories
of planning grants as outlined in this slide.
It's a competitive program.
And in October, 2024, Caltrans announced a call
for applications for FY 2025 to 2026.
MetroLink, we can go to the next slide.
Metrolink submitted an application under the sustainable communities category requesting $566,592 for the signage and wayfinding master plan.
On July 1st of this year, Caltrans awarded Metrolink's full request. Next slide.
Board approval is needed to authorize the CEO or designated execute all required documents related to receiving and administering these funds.
This concludes my report.
I'm happy to answer questions if any.
Or whoever's questions.
Yes, please go ahead.
Yeah, just a brief comment.
Just want to note that Metro is experimenting with ways
to make wayfinding more accessible, font type, size.
Perhaps there's a value in having discussions with Metro
if there's value, only if there's value,
as you work through this grant.
So I just wanted to recommend that chair.
I'll be happy to move the item.
You have the question, Dr. McAllison?
Carries, and the action is approved.
Is that our last action item?
No, I think, Paul, you're still up with one more action item.
That is 6E.
I know we want to go home, but not yet.
There we have it.
Good morning again, administration of a grant.
Thank you.
This action item requested the Board Delegate Authority, the CEO, to negotiate and execute
actions necessary to administer a state SB1 solutions for congested corridors grant that
was awarded to Metrolink.
The state makes $250 million available annually to multimodal efforts to reduce vehicular
congestion in high priority traffic congested corridors through this competitive grant program.
The Southern California Association of Governments submitted an application on behalf of Metrolink
and in partnership with us in November of 2024.
In June 2025, the California Transportation Commission awarded SCAG and Metrolink $52.6
million from the program.
That was the full amount that was requested.
This award provides match funds for a funding package needed for the procurement of up to
12 tier 4 locomotives to replace 12 tier 2 locomotives.
New locomotives will provide the cleanest available diesel
technology to meet current and future rail passenger service
while reducing emissions and helping our region meet
vehicle mile reduction goals, enhancing mobility options,
and access to affordable housing as well as
other significant policy goals for the region and the state.
Next slide.
Board approval will authorize the CEO or designee
to execute all required documents related to receiving
and administering the grant funds.
Metrolink will also commit to adhering to the CTC's SP1
Accountability and Transparency Guidelines and policies
and the amendment process.
This concludes my report.
I'm happy to answer any questions.
Our CEO would like to make a comment.
This is a comment of thanks.
This item went before the SCAG Transportation Committee
a couple of weeks ago,
And we had some opponents.
And so my thanks to members of the regional council
that sit on this board.
I know Director McAllen, Director Najarian, Director
Burksen, Director Spiegel, Director Marquez, Director
Spenoff, Director Sandoval.
I think you guys like regional transportation stuff,
is what it sounds like.
It is, I just, you know, I really
want to say thank you for stepping up and having our back it was I when I
heard this news I was just dismayed that something like this would create have
would have any sort of controversy so it's just a thanks I really appreciate
lady and gentlemen thank you if I might mr. chair I think it's important
And, Darren, you explained to the board what this means in terms of being able to get the
Tier 4 engines since we have an issue with the original Carl Moyer grant?
So as Director McAllen alludes, we have a Carl Moyer grant that is our matching dollars
currently for this grant.
We've been informed by the AQMD that there's a shot clock on those dollars, which will
be difficult to meet with the purchase of going through a procurement process and purchasing
this new equipment.
Our staff has been working very closely with the AQMD staff to identify another approach
to potentially adjust the grant rules that we've received the funding for, or secondly,
find other funds and we as we do in our business we find other colors of money
to make sure we deliver on the promises so our team is working closely with AQMD
to make sure that we we retain that matching dollars otherwise we don't we
lose this grant as well because this is this is part of the condition so we
will be working on that and it has already started thank you director
Callon for bringing that up. Director Marquez. Thank you sir, I appreciate that.
Um, Darren, I don't know if it's possible but I know the members at the
Skag meeting were fairly new, some of them, and if we could maybe come to our
meeting and just sort of express what we do at MetroLink, would be highly
appreciated. We are going to be on the calendar sometime in the spring. We've
already spoken with Skag, Skag leadership on the staff side so we are
planning that now thank you I'll move the item moved in seconded is there any
objection see none this is important item thank you all for that we have one
more action on if I may I want to skip to that and then everything else is
received in file and that is our last item which is the fourth amendment to the
act quite certain not quite as much as I want to get to this next item that
you're about ready to call up we do have the Olympics item if we could I would
elected if we could do that first and mr. mr. Litchy has assured me that he can
do this in a timely fashion so and we do have three requests to speak on that
we do okay I'm sorry I didn't know about that so that's all it is receiving file
item and so we have Michael Litchy the director of special projects good
morning chair chafee board members thank you for the opportunity to speak today
here today to provide an update on the 2026 World Cup,
2028 Olympic and Paralympic games,
and the status of Metrolinx preparedness efforts
for both of those mega events.
I do have a few more slides than the previous speakers,
but I will get through them efficiently,
and just to note there is more detail
in the written staff report
that's part of your agenda packet.
Next slide, please.
Just kind of to set where we are today,
just over eight months from the first match
of the FIFA World Cup in Los Angeles,
and two years, nine months
from the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
This is very top of mind for us.
I have countdown timers in front of my office,
so anyone walking down the hallway is reminded
of these very immovable deadlines
that we're working toward.
Next slide, please.
Next slide.
So just to kind of set where we are for the World Cup,
many of you, if you're soccer fans may already know,
but the World Cup in 2026 will take place
in 16 different North American cities
and Los Angeles will be one of 11 host cities
in the United States.
So the matches will take place in summer 2026
from June 11th till July 19th,
and the green highlight there shows,
looks like I missed the last one,
shows the eight matches that are scheduled
to take place in Los Angeles.
Next slide.
Just a bit more detail.
So we do know some things about the World Cup
and there are other things we don't know.
What we do know is that all of the matches
will take place at SoFi Stadium on the dates that are listed.
So mostly weekdays with two Sundays included.
We do know the capacity of SoFi Stadium
will be about 70,000 in terms of spectators.
And right now, working with our partners at Metro,
who are leading the planning efforts for this event
on the transit side, we believe that about 30,000
of those 70,000 will arrive by public transit.
The rest have other means of transportation.
a lot of them are sponsors and family of the FIFA group that will arrive via other means.
The one big thing that we don't know that is essential for planning is what times those
matches will take place and we're under the expectation now that we'll receive those times
of the matches in early December.
So that obviously will play into our service planning for these matches and for this event.
We do expect a higher ridership throughout the system.
In addition to the eight matches
that are taking place at SOFI,
we do expect a number of watch parties
and fanfests throughout the region.
Those haven't been confirmed yet.
We do expect some sort of official one
in the Expo Park area.
Metro is also looking at options
to potentially have a fanfest at Union Station,
but we do expect other cities throughout LA County
and cities throughout the region
may have similar events, but we will be kind of monitoring that to be able to plan accordingly.
Similar to the Olympics, there will not be public parking available at SoFi Stadium
as there is today for events that are taking place there. That's due to security concerns.
So again, that will be pushing a lot more people toward public transit to get to that
event.
We also do know that Metro have been working closely with them. They are planning to run
direct shuttle service from LA Union Station to Sophi Stadium for the eight
match days, so similar to what they currently operate for the Dodgers, the
Dodgers Express, so that would be an option for our passengers to transfer at
LA Union Station to have a one-seat ride from Union Station to the venue, as
opposed to now where you can take light rail but takes a couple connections. Next
slide please. Okay and moving on to the Olympics, next slide. This map just sets
sets the stage for Metrolink's system map that's shown by the lines there and overlaid
on that the Olympic venues as we currently know them. There's one missing near the city
of industry that was recently announced that will be a mountain biking venue. But as you
can see, we originally, when Metrolink started planning for the Olympics, were focused on
the union station as being the hub for many of the venues in the LA region. In April,
probably 28 made some changes and announced some new venues.
So, as you can see on the map here,
represented by the circles,
we have a number of different Metrolinx stations
that will serve as hubs and transfer points
to get folks to Olympic venues.
Some of them are, in fact, walkable,
such as the Honda Center in Anaheim,
Pomona Fairplex near our Pomona Station,
and others are very nearby, including Trestles Beach,
which will be the surfing venue
that is just over the county line in San Diego County,
our tracks run directly through that area. So we're working closely with Metro
and our other transit partners to ensure that we'll have connectivity from our
stations to these venues and we do expect that we'll be playing a key role
in bringing people from throughout the region into the areas where the venues
are located because we do as a system typically take longer trips off the
freeways and expect to be doing that
during the Olympics as well.
Next slide please.
This is meant to be a DMV eye test.
I would not pass it.
But in general, not expected to read the detail,
I just wanted to give a sense
for what the games are expected to look like
in terms of the amount of activities
that are gonna be taking place.
So as you can see here,
the Olympic games will take place
starting with opening ceremonies on June 14th,
I'm sorry, July 14th of 2028
and running through July 30th.
The dots there represent events,
the number of events taking place at each venue.
So you can see on there that we have many concurrent events
that will be taking place on the busiest day.
There's 67 different event sessions that will take place
throughout the different venues.
LA28 has often referred to this
as basically having seven Super Bowls a day
for each day of the Olympic games.
And that doesn't include the demand that we'll see
from fanfests and watch parties,
which we will likely see with the Olympics
similar to the World Cup.
We are currently working with Metro
on some travel demand analysis
to determine where folks are most likely
to originate their trips to come to these venues.
We do expect, based on some of the information from LA28,
that many of the hotel rooms in the LA area
near the venues will be spoken for,
for the games family, sponsors, media.
So our working assumption is that we're likely
to see a lot of demand from about an hour's
commute distance out from these venues in any direction,
because that's where likely the hotel and Airbnb
and other short-term rental availability will be.
The events will take place anywhere from 8 a.m.
to 11.30 p.m. at night, and that's the event times
at the venues so that's not counting the time for people to get to the venue and back out.
And just as one example, we went to a planning meeting for the Honda Center
which is going to be hosting the indoor men's and women's volleyball so that as many
of you are familiar, hosts concerts and other sporting events.
During the Olympics, it will host four event sessions per day.
So that's basically four duck schemes in a single day with 90 minutes in between each.
So it's not just one event at each venue, it's four cycles of getting people in
and out of that venue, so it's a significant effort,
significant amount of people that will be needing
to be moved throughout the region.
And just to point out, not on the chart here,
but the fund doesn't end after July 30th.
We have about a two-week break,
and then the Paralympics begin August 15th through the 27th.
So that will be a much smaller footprint, fewer venues,
fewer, smaller expected attendance,
but it's the first time that Los Angeles has hosted
the Paralympics, and we do expect quite a few people
looking to attend those events as well.
Next slide please.
I won't read through this entire slide,
just giving a little context for what Metrolinx role is,
which is to move the visitors and workforce
along with our other transit partners.
LA28 is the Olympic organizing committee.
They're standing up their own transportation system
during the games that will be responsible
for transporting athletes, Olympic officials, news media.
I mentioned the metro service, the GETS, Games Enhanced
Transit Service, that will be stood up to link to mobility
hubs, including MetroLink stations,
and getting people from those areas to the venues.
Another important note, security is an extremely important
concern for both of these events, the World Cup
and the games.
For the Olympic and Paralympic games,
it is considered a national special security event, which
is a special designation for very high-profile events.
and so the security planning for that event
is led by the US Secret Service and other federal agencies
in coordination with state and local law enforcement.
As I mentioned with SoFi Stadium and the World Cup,
there will be virtually no spectator public parking
near any of the Olympic venues
due to security concerns and perimeters.
So all of the large stadiums now
that have quite a bit of parking capacity,
that capacity will not be available to the public
during the games due to security perimeters.
And then just a few notes about
where we expect spectators to come from.
We do expect a mix of local spectators
within the SCAG region, as well as a significant amount
from outside of the area and outside of the country as well.
Next slide please.
So internally we've come up with a few overarching
really aspirational type goals for the games.
Again, I won't go through these in detail
other than to note that on the second goal,
enhancing the customer experience this was these goals were presented to the
Olympic Ad Hoc Committee of Second Vice Chair Tremblay and Director Wapner and
one of the points they made which we've heard at the board as well is that
during planning for these events we're not just looking to serve the the
population that's new to our system and coming to the events but we're trying to
make a convenient comfortable safe experience for all riders both existing
our existing current riders and new riders will both be using our services
during these times.
And there are some more detailed objectives and strategies to go behind each of these
but these are kind of the overarching working goals for us as we're planning for the games.
Next slide please.
This slide is just a overview and it was a similar slide was presented back at your board
workshop at the end of March.
So we're currently working through a few different service scenarios on how we can best serve
the games.
Obviously a key piece of that is the demand,
trying to understand better where the demand is coming from.
And so we're working on, as I mentioned with LA Metro,
getting some of that more detailed information.
But in general, the concept that was presented originally
was to have 30 minute frequencies on three of our lines,
down on the Orange County line,
San Bernardino line and Antelope Valley line.
We're also looking at the possibility
of adding some additional service,
including later night trips on other lines
that are not part of that 30-minute frequency
to ensure that there's connectivity throughout the region.
Few of the notes on the left column are, you know,
there are constraints, obviously,
to what we can provide.
Equipment being one of the big ones.
Infrastructure, and then also funding,
which we'll talk about more in a minute.
And then the slots on the freight railroads, BNSF and UP,
where we're adding additional service.
you need to work with the freight railroads
to negotiate additional slots
to be able to run additional trains.
And I do wanna just note we are working very closely
with our other rail partners in the region,
including Losan, operator of the Pacific Surfliner Service,
and NCTD, which operates Coaster Service
in San Diego County.
There's a regional rail subcommittee
of the Games Mobility Executive Group
that includes all those agencies.
So we're working closely to collaborate
on our service offerings
so that we're not duplicating or competing,
but working in unison to provide the best rail service
we can during these events.
Next slide, please.
So I mentioned equipment.
One of the high priorities right now for Metrolink
is ensuring that we clear through the backlog
of equipment that is currently out of service.
We're gonna need every piece of equipment possible
to be in service and running during the games.
So currently, there's a project
to repair 32 pieces of out-of-service equipment,
28 cars and four locomotives.
So that work is underway and expected that all 32
of those pieces of equipment will be back in service
before the games in summer of 2028.
Next slide please.
This is just to give you a high-level overview
of on the capital side, the SCORE projects,
where we're at with those projects.
So the first red line is the current date,
second red line is the Olympics.
So you have a number of projects that are completed,
others that are underway, and a few that are not currently expected to be done prior to
the Olympics, so we're working through now how to best operate service with the understanding
that some of those capital projects won't be completed and how we can adjust operations
to still take advantage of the capacity that we do have.
Next slide, please.
And this is the final slide.
Again, I won't go through in too much detail in the interest of time.
There is some more information in your written staff report.
As we've mentioned before, funding is obviously a very big concern for us, and we've heard
clearly from the member agencies that we need to be looking for outside sources of funding.
We're doing that actively with our other transit partners in the region, as well as Caltrans
and SCAG.
We do have an advocacy trip planned in November that second vice chair Tremblay, who's a member
of the Montmorillon ad hoc committee on the Olympics
is planning to attend to continue to advocate
for federal funding for our needs during the games.
And we're also looking at safety and security funding.
There's a few notes in your report
about some recent developments on the federal side
in terms of some of the potential funding availability.
In addition, as was mentioned earlier,
there has been a White House task force scheduled
or convene to assist with planning for the Olympics.
President Trump is the chair of that task force,
so we are going to be monitoring closely
the work of that task force
and making sure that Metrolink's service plans
and needs are incorporated in the work
that that group is doing.
And then finally, we are working as well with LA28
on MOU to more clearly outline
what Metrolink's role will be in terms of the games.
Metro is in the process of negotiating a similar MOU.
And I'll just, I'll hit one last point on here,
which is station area planning.
So we are working both with SCAG and Metro
on some tools that we can provide to station cities,
not just those that are adjacent to venues,
but those that are further out in our system
to help them with the planning efforts
that are gonna be needed
for the additional surge of ridership that we're expecting,
as well as some options to activate the area
around the stations to take advantage
of the festive atmosphere for these events coming up.
So I think I'll stop there,
and this is a receive and file report,
but I'm happy to answer any of your questions.
Questions, please, Director Marquez.
Thank you, sir, I appreciate that.
Sir, just a quick question.
You said that we're gonna try to get some funding
for some of our projects.
Do we have a rough estimate of what the costs are gonna be?
Yes, so we do have a working assumption
around just over $250 million is what we're expecting.
We're working to refine that number
based on going through a few different service scenarios.
Our ultimate goal is to present
a few different service plans
based on different assumptions of funding availability,
so the 250 is probably the high end of that range
at this point.
Basically, everything we could run
with the time we have left
and the equipment we'll have available,
but we're also looking at maybe some tiered approaches
to what we could do with slightly less funding
but still provide a higher level of service.
There's no doubt in my mind
you're gonna get the money, but good luck.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Director Preciado.
Yes, for the Federal Task Force you mentioned,
have the other members that have been named yet,
specifically I'm curious on who the regional representatives
will be on that board?
You're referring to the White House Task Force
on the games?
They, there have not been any regional members named,
to my knowledge.
We haven't had any direct contact with that group.
I think it was established about two months ago.
So through our federal, our lobbyists
and our federal government relations team,
we are monitoring the work of that group
and providing the updates as they occur.
Thank you, sir.
Dr. Sandoval.
Question.
So now with the A line open,
there is the ability for riders,
particularly coming east to west,
to get off at the MetroLink station at Pomona North
and then to hop onto the A-line to get to Laverne.
But have there been discussions about activating
the Laverne Pomona Fairflex station
because it goes directly to Fairgrounds,
which will be hosting cricket,
and I've shared this before,
but it's the second most popular sport in the world,
We're anticipating a lot of people.
But just any background on that?
Yes.
Director Senate English, yes.
We are had communication with Metro staff
about how we would be able to reactivate that.
That platform has its challenges, but ADA and otherwise.
But it is something that we're talking about.
And if there's a way to be able to, not just that platform,
Michael also mentioned the idea of a temporary platform
for the surfing contest that doesn't have anything out there.
So we do have a couple of platforms
that we see as being other opportunities
to have direct stops at.
That's one of them.
Any other questions?
Seeing none, thank you for the report.
And it is a receiving file item and one more.
Sorry.
Hi, I just wanted to,
can I make a general comment right now?
Right.
I just want to point out, not for you,
this thing about the last four items in general.
I do want to point out, kind of sad,
we have a robust group of alternates.
In fact, today we have eight alternates here,
which is more than the seven direct board members.
So just a shout out for alternates.
But one thing, but five of us are back bencher.
And that last presentation was really great
because the presentation was attached in the board packet.
There was a lot in it.
It was easier to read on your phone or your computer here
than trying to look at that.
And in fact, some of the sides,
the ones that like the iChart,
you could really see that better when you pinch it out.
The other three presentations were not attached.
Granted, they were not as deep in terms of the slides,
but still, depending where you're sitting here
on the back bench, you have to look.
So it would be great if we could have the presentations.
If they're not ready when the agendas are posted
on the Friday, if they could at least be sent later,
it would really help us alternate, as I said.
And we're the majority here today,
Although three of us are sitting on the dais with you.
So that was my comment and observation.
Thank you for your power suggestion there.
I think that's a great suggestion.
Thank you for that.
See no more questions on this item?
We do have three requests to speak on this item.
We do have someone to speak.
I'm sorry, three.
All right.
Call the speakers, please.
Jeremy Stutes.
Well, I'd like to speak last after Bart Reed,
as he's the CEO of our organization.
Is that all right?
Bart Reed.
Hi, I'm Bart Reed,
Executive Director of the Transit Coalition.
Good morning, directors and staff.
I wanna say that customer experience is really important,
and Michael showed some slides here today,
and one of the things that really struck me
on the going by the central maintenance facility,
It's a pigsty.
You look at all the trains there,
everything is full of graffiti.
It was better when the destroyed cars were under tarps,
but right now we have locomotives full of graffiti,
we have rail cars full of graffiti.
It's just looking terrible
going through the central maintenance facility.
So one of the things besides getting this equipment
repaired and up to date is get somebody out there
and cover them with tarps or do something.
Then I'll also talk about the statewide contract right now
by Overhead Cantinary for the High Speed Rail Project.
There are several segments in Los Angeles County
and San Bernardino County that are potentially
could have OCS to save money.
I suggest the staff look into joint purchasing of the OCF
or taking some options on the contract
because California, the director of high speed rail,
is spending money to buy the cantonary, the equipment,
and Metrolink and San Bernardino County and Orange County,
Los Angeles County, could save money
by being parts of add-on to the high speed rail contract.
The other thing I wanted to talk about
is a universal tap card.
Some people use phones, I couldn't use my phone today
to pay for my parking, even though I have a tap card
on my phone that didn't work today.
So a lot of people will just have a plain, ordinary tap card.
And the problem is that if you use a tap card,
you can't ride the big blue bus in Los Angeles County.
People are going to all these different venues.
And Metrolink needs to come up with a physical, universal tap
card that you can use in Riverside County, San
Bernardino County, Orange County, and Los Angeles County,
and for all the transit operators.
And we need to be unified.
there's all these other technologies that we're doing,
but some of the people here won't understand English
or they'll have limited English,
and just having a physical card
and being able to take the card and tap
and write any transit system without,
you're not paid for this, you're not paid for that,
you can just use it.
So it shouldn't be that hard to combine
OCTA and San Bernardino and Los Angeles County,
get something universal for the whole region,
because between the games that are coming
with the World Cup and the Olympics,
they need to be unified,
and customer experience is really important.
So thank you very much.
Thank you, sir.
Andy, more speakers?
Kevin Dadi-Katoria.
Hello again.
To kind of piggyback what Bart is saying,
one of the examples used on the Open Loop Pilot program
was MTS.
I used MTS.
It would have been a lot easier for me to use a pronto card,
their commemorative pronto pride card,
than it would to use a smartphone
or a tab to pay credit and debit card.
People are gonna use their smartphones
for recording and photos,
and people are also gonna use their credit and debit cards
to buy for whatever events or things they're gonna do.
Metro has done really well promoting
their commemorative tab cards for various purposes,
and I use my pride tab card
over using my smartphone or when they have Tap Plus,
their Tap to Pay credit debit cards or their Tap app.
I know Orange County, for example,
did an assessment on their Wave program
and people are likely gonna use a Wave card
over Tap to Pay credit debit cards
and smartphone payments put together.
If three out of the five agencies
are gonna offer open loop payments apps
A transit card. Why is it not good enough for Metrolink and by the way?
Metrolink tickets and passes are not good on big blue bus
Culver City bus and Long Beach transit except Metrolink tickets and passes and none of them touch a Metrolink
Station at all and it is upsetting that you know, we are falling behind
Seattle, Washington San Diego County that we do not also offer a transit card option
And did you know that the NBA All-Star game is four months before the World Cup are we?
This is an also an opportunity for us to see how prepared we are, you know, we can tie you know
commemorative transit cards for Metrolink for
The Dodgers the Angels my Clippers the Lakers when they have major events the Insomniac trains
The holiday trains that Director McAllen likes to promote every year. These are opportunities for good marketing, good revenue
It's time for all of these agencies to come together and give
transit cards an opportunity to replace these paper tickets and passes alongside an app, the open loop payment, which will I
believe be implemented system-wide
It's time to embrace this all of the above option
The World Cup is coming up. The Olympics are coming up
It's not a choice between open loop and an app. It's open loop and app and transit cards. It's good marketing
It's good revenue and it's a good way to remove the barriers to fair payment for Metrolink and the local transit systems
Throughout the SCAG region and Metrolink region. Thank you
Thank you
Jeremy Stutes
Thank you so much folks
Good morning board
My name is Jeremy Stutes. I'm the director of special projects for the Transit Coalition and the former president of rail LA
I have years of extensive knowledge working to build world-class customer experiences. Most importantly
I was working for one of the world's most admired companies in customer experience design
I'm prohibited by contract from really who they are but
Yet definitely have a lot of experience in that and as we prepare for the Olympics and are talking about customer experience
it's really important to think about what's going on in the region and
Brightline West will have an electric train from Vegas to rational kokomunga on target to open before the Olympics.
It is extremely important that Metro be looking at that corridor in terms of electrification.
Both the Antelope Valley line and the San Bernardino line were identified as
commuter rail corridors with high potential for electrification, and the
2024 action plan for rail energy and emissions innovation. That was
commissioned by the US Department of Energy, DOT, the Environmental
Protection Organization, Environmental Protection Agency, and HUD. So as we're
looking at electrifying the San Bernardino line, I think it's
important to think about whether we can provide an experience where there is a
one-seat ride from Union Station to Las Vegas and that may provide additional
funding as we're looking for a public-private partnership to purchase up
that overhead canadry that would be necessary to electrify that corridor.
The experience is clear. Overhead electrification makes trains greener,
quieter, and faster. They allow trains to accelerate faster than all the other
options which would allow increased frequency of service on the corridor and would also
accommodate the high number of volumes anticipated for the Olympics.
It's also a better use of public dollars.
There's less maintenance costs overall and it's a tested technology used around the world.
I've lived in Asia and Southeast Asia.
We are behind.
I hate to say it, but we are so far behind and we're inviting the whole world here to
to Los Angeles to look at our county,
and Caltrain and the Bay got on board.
They understand that they're able to move people
around that region faster, and it's really important
that MetroLink not give the same excuses
that what we share the train lines with freight.
Look, the government has identified at a national level
that we can do this, and I think it's very important
that as we're looking for alternative vehicles
that we're looking at electrification
because it does provide, right now,
the best customer experience available.
And it also allows more trains to travel on the corridor.
Thank you.
Okay, I think that was our last speaker.
All right, so now this item is a receiving file,
and that'll be so received and filed.
I had to go to our last action item at this point,
which is item 6T.
So our Fourth Amendment to the At-Will Employment Agreement
of our CEO.
And we have a presentation by our human resource director,
Roxanne Rendon.
Good morning, Chair and members of the board.
I'm presenting item 16, Fourth Amendment
to the At-Will Employment Agreement
for the Chief Executive Officer.
Next slide, please.
It is recommended that the board approve a Fourth Compensation
Amendment to the September 7, 2021
at-will agreement between the authority and CEO Darren
Kettle.
Upon approval, the board authorizes the authority
to pay CEO Darren Kettle an increase in annual salary,
annual base salary from $375,000 to $401,250
on a pro rata bi-weekly basis effective May 25th, 2025.
Next slide please.
That concludes my item and I'm happy to answer
any questions you have.
I'll move the item.
Moved, I'm pleased to second it.
Other comments, questions?
Okay, I don't see any.
So I think that's you.
Wait a second.
I was.
You would say no.
Don't see any objections and it was a process
We went through and I'm so glad to have you with us further and the good work and with the
New scheduling you're gonna get more phone calls than ever from board members
That's fine
All right
And with that now we have an ask the court to have either public public commerce on any other item
I've not received any other written public comments or any other requests to speak on any of the items that are not previously mentioned
Their remaining items are all receiving file and there have been reports given out in advance in your binders
And so what I'd like to do is kind of treat all those
Receivance files sort of a like a consent calendar and I asked directors any one of you'd like to hear any of the reports
Orally, otherwise, I would I would like to just sort of move that along as one item
6g through 6r
6g through 6r
I'll second it
All right any objection to that procedure all right then those items are all received and filed and
now we come to
Our CEOs report your first report with your new contract
Thank you, Mr.. Chair and and thank you board members for
For your confidence and in in our work
So I've got a few things. I'm going to hit on the
CEOs report first one. I'm gonna I'm gonna hit this directly head-on. Let's go next slide on time performance
We have struggled over the course of the last couple of months for different reasons as we were moving to our new contractor
in train operations Alstom
initially, we struggled because of crew related matters we
We had some when when we had a transition
We thought we had some engineers and conductors that were coming over from Amtrak that ultimately didn't so we were a little bit short
Of cruise. I'm pleased to say that that issue has generally been resolved. We have gone through awesome has gone through several classes
If you're a regular user of our trains
You will see that we are training we have a number of trainees on our trains at this point being led by more experienced conductors
And engineers, so that's been a positive
We are now turning our focus to some of the mechanical issues that we've been wrestling with the last month and a half
Don flippy our chief operating officer and myself have been very very direct with Alstom about
issues that need to be resolved
And that it's simply not acceptable to be running a situation our situation where we have
mechanical issues at the level we've had
And so that they all some has come back with an action plan. They're working through those issues
We're gonna be holding their feet to the fire on that. I
Will remind the board that as part of the agreement the contract that we do have with Alstom
For the first time we do have a liquidated damages component
Now there is a grace period on that of six months
So we have reminded Alstom that there are liquidated damages provisions in this agreement
And they effectively better get their act together
We so I wanted to just the board to know that this is something that the team is taking extremely seriously
We are being very active with with Alstom. The last thing is as we get into the holiday season
This is a time where there is a lot more cargo on our freight railroads
It is
Historically, we have sometimes had
Challenges with big freight trains getting in our way
We will be putting BNSF and Union Pacific on notice that we would like to see a change in the trend
During the month during the fall as it relates to our freight our freight partners
So again board members, I know you've been hearing about it from your staff. It's remember at the member agencies
We have not been sitting around just letting things happen.
We are being proactive.
Next slide.
Some good news stuff.
We had some great, and during the month of August
and early September, we had some great events.
First, we got to cut the ribbon, as it were,
on the expansion of the Moreno Valley Marchfield
Metrolink Station in the city of Paris.
Well, Paris-Marino Valley,
We had some great service there.
We had members of RCTC as well as other members
of our staff there to celebrate that.
Of course, on September 13th,
we launched the zero emission multiple unit
into full revenue service from the line
between San Bernardino and Redlands.
We refer to as Arrow.
It has been running extremely well.
And in fact, it had been running, I think it was at 1.5
or six days straight and is now into a more,
a regular cycle of exchanging in with the other
three diesel multiple units.
And then I had the privilege on September 19th
to join Director Sandoval, Director Presiado,
a few others, Marlon registered from Caltrans,
celebrating the extension of the A-line to Pomona where we,
it is now the second, only second location in our system
where we have the ability to cross a platform
from a Metrolink train to a Metro A-line train.
So LA Union Station and Pomona.
So I'm really excited about that.
One thing that I did learn on the August 12th event was,
this is where I learned, next slide,
This is where I learned we're never ever cross Director Spiegl.
I take back any disagreement I have with the supervisor.
So Director Sandoval, be heads up over there.
All right, next slide, please.
Really pleased to share with the news
that Metrolink was recognized by the Railway Technology
Excellence Awards for several of our projects
in the last year, our Shake Alert with USGS,
the fact that our trains are alerted to earthquakes
that happen in our region, a marketing award
for our student adventure pass,
and the wireless crossing nearside station stop
or smart crossing technology that started
in Orange County at Del Obispo in San Juan Capistrano
and have now been sprinkling throughout the region.
We've recently done one in Riverside
as well as in Ventura County.
So positive news there.
Next slide, please.
Some of you, if you've been a part of bus agencies,
you've heard of bus rodeos.
Well, we did a train rodeo where we took our team
and they were able to sort of get real hands
on with railroad equipment.
We did a skills day, nice little competition kind of thing
with some of our maintenance of ways staff and track and signal
people. Next slide. Train Festival, those of you last weekend, September 20th and
21st, over 40,000 people came to LA Union Station to be a part of
Train Festival and we had, I think it was 22 something on a thousand on
Saturday, we had really good ridership. A lot of people took our trains to LA
Union Station for the event and we were there proudly carrying the flag of
Metrolink, U2, yes, U2 can get one of those ugly Christmas sweaters.
We sold $8,000 worth of those Christmas sweaters.
So get them while they're hot.
But our team was there in force there.
We had our equipment out on tracks.
We had an F125.
We had one of our cab cars, one of our recently overhauled Bombardier cars.
And I think that wraps up my slide.
So thank you very much.
Question.
Director Spiegel.
Speaking of those Christmas photos, are we having a Christmas tradition?
We are having the politically correct holiday express.
We have all people saying that.
We are having the holiday express, so stay tuned.
We have, that's well underway and planning.
We've got actually more sponsors than we've had in prior years, so it's coming together
quite nicely.
sure we get notes out so that you can plan for the event. I think we've
already established the dates and locations. We do know. We do have that.
You will receive that before the end of the day, Ms. Barr? Yes, all right.
So we'll have that to them. We'll have it to the board maybe as they come out with
some of the public comments that Miss Paine had mentioned earlier. Dr. McCallum?
Was the train event on the side? The train event the train fest? Yeah. Yes it
was it was it was publicized by the train festival sponsors I think that it
was a partnership with Metro and another so that was the that was the extent of
the Metro link didn't send anything out I don't know that we I wasn't aware yeah
no I don't know that we did director Sandoval I'd like to propose that we take
that photo of supervisor Spiegel as part of our new marketing materials called
breaking new barriers so that would be my recommendation chair ride the train
or else. Yeah, there you go. We have any more brilliant suggestions? I think that
comments. Board members, it's your turn. Anything? I just wanted from the Ventura
County people, thank you for the vote on the temporary train to Santa Barbara. Our
people who commute from Ventura County up to Santa Barbara will really
appreciate it. Thank you. Dr. Marquez? Yes, I do have a ZMU shirt that I got from
Which is beautiful. I'd like to see if I can get one of those sweaters to match my azuma shirt. Thank you
We look really good
Also, no, it's my comment
Again, we're going to have a board workshop in January the dates are January 22 and 23
And you'll have a chance not only to ask all the questions you want all the things that you
It might be missing from committees. There you are
That's important. We have a camaraderie among ourselves and with our staff. We need to work together
I think at the last board meeting. I thought it was
Neat that we had representatives from the freight trains there
I thought that was a good thing because we do compete for right away
And I thought was out that was excellent don't we have a ride free day coming up clean air day or something?
We do October 2nd is clean air day. So there is a
Anybody can get on our trains for free
You might spread the word among all your constituents who can ride the train all day everywhere
It goes on clean air day that ends my comments. One more thing if you don't mind
I'd just like to make one quick introduction
some of you have
met my better half at a workshop, but today
My wife, Carrie, is in the audience, first time at a board meeting, so that's Carrie.
So anyway, so she got to experience Metrolink in all of its entertainment.
So I really just want to say thank you, board members, and again, thanks to my lovely wife
for joining us today.
We're heading down to San Diego to celebrate a birthday party.
Thank you.
See a light you can also celebrate Adam 60
Is that why you're behaving so well today? He doesn't act like this usually let me tell you but
Your wife is welcome to be here at any meeting
All right. Yeah, is that a light on directors people for further? No, okay good. I
Should be careful with the hammer
Well, all right with that we are adjourned. Thank you all for your attendance today