Good morning, everyone
Trying to get our meetings started so if you at all please find a seat if you haven't already found one
Start with our safety breezing by Henry council Hillary party and so all our chief safety security compliance officer
Good morning, Chairman Shafee board of directors in the event. We need to evacuate the boardroom
We'll exit the room take the escalators down to the lobby exit the building
Turn to our right and we'll meet in front of the Metro customer service center
When evacuating the room, please be mindful of tripping hazards such as the chairs
Chords briefcases that sort of thing in the event of a medical emergency
We do have an ad located at the Metro security desk
We have emergency responders in the room who will render aid and dial 911 in the event of an earthquake
We'll take cover under the desks
Wait for the rumbling to stop
Assess the situation to see a further evacuation is necessary in the event of an active shooter
We'll deploy the run hide fight tactic, and we do have our law enforcement in the room. Thank you. Thank you
Now for our pledge allegiance
Director Marquez will lead us in a pledge this morning
Thank you, sir. Please join me ready begin. I pledge allegiance
Ownation, under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you, sir.
Yes, thank you, Director Marquez.
I'll do a roll call to establish a quorum,
but first I would note that CEO Darren Kettle is out ill.
But we have a marvelous substitute, Nola Rodriguez.
Our chief of staff will be here making certain
we have a very efficient meeting.
All right, I'd ask the clerk to call the roll.
Director Nguyen.
Director Goh.
Here.
Vice-chair Bergson.
Director Spiegel.
Here.
Director Vargas.
Director Molina.
Second Vice-chair Trembly.
Here.
Director Engler.
Here.
Director Barger.
Director Najarian.
Here.
Director Sandoval.
Here.
Director Solis.
Director Olson.
Director Allen.
Here.
Director O'Connor.
Director presciado here
director McCallen
director Wabner here
director Dutray
director Marquez
Chair Chafee present. We do have a quorum present. Thank you madam clerk. Do we have any public comments?
I have not received any written public comments or any requests to speak
Thank you for that and we'll move on to our consent calendar which items 12a through 12h
On your agenda do we have any items that a director or I guess a member of the public if any is present
Would like to hear separately
Seeing none may have a motion to approval
Looked and seconded any objection abstentions seeing on the motion carries
One to our record calendar. We have some amended bylaws to reflect our change government
Structure and was when we introduced by Jeffrey for Gioni our associate general counsel
Thank you. Mr. Chair and members of the board
I'm here to present the conforming edits to Metrolinx bylaws to effectuate the decision
Made by the full board in September to alter the governance structure of the authority
I have next slide Sam one more as
noted in the report the principal thrust of the proposed amended bylaws now before the board is the
elimination of the three standing committees.
All references to committees would be eliminated
as well as exhibit B to the bylaws,
which sets forth the subject matter jurisdiction
of the eliminated committees.
Notably, the ability to use a consent calendar is retained
pursuant to the consensus of the board in September,
and the long-standing voting rules for each member agency,
which are contained at exhibit A of the bylaws,
are retained without alteration.
Also, one of the few cleanup edits,
which was suggested by Director McAllen
and endorsed by the committee, would strike section 9.6
as redundant and, frankly, contradictory
in light of sections 9.5 and 9.7.
And finally, I will tell you that these bylaws
are intended to go into effect in January of the new year,
but because of the board's longstanding practice
of not convening committee meetings in November
and December because of the holidays.
If this proposal before you passes,
the last committee meetings will have already taken place
earlier this month.
Happy to answer any questions, Mr. Chairman.
This is an action item.
I would note myself that we were giving this a trial,
and if we need to revert back at finding this doesn't work
after six months, we can do that.
Board members, any comments, questions, concerns?
I see none move approval
Is there a second any objection an extension? Thank you motion carries. Thank you very much
I'll come to our October legislative update
Mr. Dunn what has been happening out there good morning. Mr. Chair and members of the board quite a bit actually next slide, please
For the local update. I wanted first to inform you that Metro link customer community relations
Rather has transferred to the customer experience department within the agency
So, going forward, community outreach-related matters will be shared less frequently as
part of the legislative update, only when the outreach directly impacts legislation,
policy or actions of our local elected officials or elected bodies.
Rest assured, though, you will remain fully apprised of ongoing community outreach efforts
by the customer experience department.
For this report, though, I will note that last month, Metrolink participated in the
very robust Mobility 21 summit held at Disneyland, providing transportation
stakeholders from around the region and the state, public and private, an
opportunity to meet and assess priorities for the coming year. Metrolink
CEO Mr. Kettle participated in a panel discussion with executives from SCAG,
Metro, and OCTA focused principally on Olympics related needs for the region to
ensure there's adequate infrastructure and capacity to support the games. This
priority looms ever larger with each passing day and will continue to be a
of focus and our messaging and advocacy
with federal and state lawmakers.
These efforts at the federal level are on pause due
to the protracted government shutdown,
but we will keep our eye unwavering
on the Olympics needs balls
and will keep you continuously apprised.
Next slide, please.
After months of negotiations,
state lawmakers reauthorized Cap and Invest,
formerly Cap and Trade, through January 1st of 2046.
The governor also signed SB 840,
which details the new Cap'n Invest expenditure plan.
SB 840 creates three tiers
of greenhouse gas reduction fund expenditures.
First, $1 billion off the top
is reserved for California high-speed rail.
$1 billion is reserved for legislative discretion
each year to be appropriated
as part of the tier two priorities.
And tier three includes, among other priorities,
$400 million annually for TIRCP
and $200 million annually for LC Top.
Maintenance of funding for both of these programs
priority advocacy objectives for Metrolink as directed by the board in this year's legislative
program.
The amounts are close to the high water marks for both of these programs.
However, if greenhouse gas reduction fund auction proceeds are low, both TIRCP and
LC Top might receive less than the dollar amounts stipulated in SB 840, depending on
the actual auction proceeds, unless the legislature reallocates funding in future legislation.
interaction legislative passage of two bills that Metrolinx supports the governor signed into law a be
394 by Lori Wilson a bill that applies existing punishments for assaults against transfer transit workers and drivers to all
transit employees and contractors
This was a specifically directed priority in this year's legislative program passed by the board as well as long-standing policy by the California
Transit Association were pleased it passed the governor also signed a be
576 by Assemblyman Mark Gonzalez of LA a bill that assigns meaningful copper wire theft deterrence mechanisms on
suppliers and vendors that will help cut down on vandalism on our
System Metrolink and other operators have been victim to copper theft in recent years and this new law confronts the issue directly
We are pleased the governor signed this into law these two bills that we supported additionally
We will continue to advocate for enhanced funding strategies and recommendations from the government governors transit transformation task force
to provide more state support of transit and especially passenger rail operations
so that our member agencies are relieved of greater responsibility
to support the operation side of the expenditure ledger,
even as our ridership continues to recover.
Next slide, please.
In federal matters, your report was prepared before the federal government shutdown,
so that speculation has come to pass.
As you know, we are now over three weeks into the federal shutdown.
There is no immediate end in sight.
These are, if not unprecedented,
certainly somewhat unchartered waters.
The House passed its continuing resolution
to keep the government open weeks ago
and immediately recessed, forcing action in the Senate.
The Senate has since then voted 11 times.
Since the recess on both the House CR as well
as a Democratic Alternative CR, it has failed each time
by margins of between five and nine votes.
Metrolink has been in continual contact
with his federal advocates.
concerning the shutdown. It's likely duration and steps forward. The most
recent information we have is this yesterday in the Senate. There were
three efforts to pass separate bills to pay salaries for essential workers who
are working during the shutdown and to prevent reductions in force in the
future. All of them failed. The Senate is scheduled to be back in session on
Monday, October 27 at 5 30 p.m. In the House, there are signs on a number of
fronts from rank and file members that they are eager to come back into
session and pursue voting for a measure first to fund air
traffic controllers and TSA workers.
And second, a pay the troops bill in specific,
not yet publicly released.
In transportation, TNI Committee Chair Sam Graves and USDOT
Secretary Sean Duffy held a press conference yesterday
to highlight the urgent need to pay air traffic control workers,
specifically, and to urge both House Democrats and Republicans
to pass a clean, long-term CR to reopen the government.
According to our advocates, there
appears to be growing consensus it
will be difficult for the speaker
not to reconvene the House at some point
next week to at least start debate and perhaps take
votes on any or all of these.
In our sector, the Federal Rail Administration,
as of its last reporting, has furloughed almost 25%.
That is 239 of their 1,023 employees.
of those working, 550 are safety-related positions.
As you know, the president was able to use
administrative authority to shift funding
within the DOD budget to pay our soldiers
and sailors on October 15.
It is widely presumed there remains
other Department funding available to do the same
to meet the next DOD payroll on October 31st
should the shutdown remain in effect.
For other non-DOD federal employees,
the federal payday is today, October 24th,
and most federal employees will miss a second paycheck.
We will keep you informed through our chief executive, Mr. Kettle,
as any significant developments occur pertaining to the shutdown.
And thank you very much.
I'm happy to take your questions.
Board members, any questions, comments?
I see Director McCallum.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Just a question on SB 707 was passed and signed
by the governor, which deals with Brown Act issues.
Does that affect our agency and how?
First of all, I want to say that we've referred this
to our chief counsel.
We also have shared it with our chief of staff
and with our board clerk.
At the high level, what the bill does,
one significant change is that it
will allow public comment via video conference
in most circumstances.
We are currently looking at the bill.
It was very iffy whether or not the governor was
going to sign that bill.
We are in communication with CTA on that, as well as
the California Passenger Rail Operators Association.
We'll have it figured out by January 1st.
Actually, the bill doesn't go into effect, I believe,
until July 1st of next year.
So we do have a little bit more time.
That may be for this agency, but for other agencies,
it does take effect January 1, like my city, et cetera.
And there are certain implications
dealing with social media for all of us
elected officials that need to be taken care of,
but that's more at the city level.
Thank you.
Dr. Spiegel?
To further that question, you used the term video conference.
It has to be video, or can it be, like if somebody calls in,
can it be just a call in?
It may be also a call in.
OK.
I want to make sure, because we interpret that it's call in.
It would be challenging for us to hear even in any entity
to have just video for just the people calling in.
Correct.
It's a good point.
And I think these are the kind of issues
that are gonna have to be debated
and we're not necessarily specifically contemplated.
I mean there are all different kinds of potential
technologies that could come into play statewide.
Basically you're saying just remote ability
to have a public comment.
That's my understanding.
Thank you.
When Alan reminded me that if the video link
goes down or whatever, you have to,
if you will, recess for an hour or whatever
and then you come back, I don't know the details.
Well, yeah, apparently, Jeff, is that if internet goes down,
then we can wait up to an hour until we can actually
adjourn the meeting or continue without the video.
One of my concerns, it's too late,
obviously, you already signed it.
You can have folks calling in from Russia, from China,
anywhere they want to call in from,
and testify before our board.
It doesn't make any sense.
And I'm sure this applies to the legislature as well, right?
People can videotape and call into the legislature.
Yes.
You said yes.
Lindy, I'm listening.
I believe so.
I think that these are all excellent questions.
And I think with a lot of legislation
like this that deals with emerging technologies,
it's the kind of iterative process
that boards such as this and agencies such as ours
are going to have to go through.
Any more comments?
Yes, go ahead.
Thank you.
R and I were just talking about, I think for some of us
this is news.
This is something that I think many public,
or I should say elected officials,
are not aware that this is coming.
A question for you.
Does it affect our ability to set the time that each speaker
has to comment publicly?
So for example, in the city of Pomona, it's three minutes.
But if I knew that I had 30 people calling in
to speak on an item, it's going to change
how much time they have, which is going to impact those who are there present in terms
of the amount of time they can speak as well. Does this in any way impact the ability of
a council or the mayor to be able to change the time?
I know the intent of the bill was to make a provision for people to comment remotely.
It was not to change the flexibility of boards to be able to adjust the amount of comment
per person.
And the main point I'm trying to make, it's going to impact the public's ability to speak,
in our case, for three minutes.
I mean, yesterday we had a meeting here at Metro, and we reduced it down to 30 seconds,
just simply because of the number of speakers.
That's what we may be looking at, which it's hard to really capture a whole lot in 30 seconds,
so just something to be aware of.
Thank you.
Yes.
Thank you.
would note that what we do is we require the request to speak be in ahead of the
item and so you know how many are going to speak on an item if the request is
not there then that person can't speak on the item if they don't know how that's
addressed in the bill too you can't have somebody saying always listening and
then add a comment that doesn't work very well this is a highly scrutinized
bill there are over 150 cities and organizations on record in support and
opposition it was very closely contested and it was very much open to debate
whether or not the governor would sign it. You know traditionally Brown Act
bills are something the legislature and the administrator is only very carefully
and under limited circumstances changes in substance that law. So I don't believe
though we'll certainly check that and there were certainly debate on the
central aspect of allowing elected bodies the flexibility they currently
have to control the debate at their meetings. And as usual they exempted
themselves a legislature. Sorry. I just want to add a further comment. These changes to
the Brown Act are going to affect different entities differently. The
impact to Metrolink is very little if any. And it does go into effect in January.
But as to your various home forums and legislative bodies the impact of these changes will affect each of you possibly
Differently than in fact how it will impact Metro link
Legal be happy to prepare a memo highlighting these changes, but you'll get additional advice. I'm sure from your general counsels at your various forums
Thank you for that
All right any more questions. All right, it's a concern to all of us. And so thank you for reporting on that
This is a receive and file item, and if there are no more comments, it shall be received and filed.
Now we move on to our monthly report on ridership, revenue, and financial results.
It will be presented by Tom Schamper, our Chief Financial Officer.
Good morning, Chair Chafee, members of the board.
Here are the financial results through August 2025.
Next slide.
As you can see, ridership continues to outperform against forecast.
Year to date through August, ridership was forecasted
to be 1.5 million or 73% recovery rate.
Actual ridership was 1.1 million or a 56% recovery,
low forecast by 333,000.
While these results are notable, it is still early
in the fiscal year to speculate
about whether this trend will continue.
However, we have engaged KPMG Sperry to reforecast FY26
after recalibrating their model using the most recent economic indicators
and incorporating our latest ridership results.
A lot has changed since this forecast was produced in the fall of 2024.
We will then have a better idea about what to expect going forward.
This process is going to take a little bit of time.
Results won't be available until December or possibly the January board meeting.
Next slide.
Like ridership, revenue is below budget
in August and year to date.
These results include fares paid by riders
and subsidies for discounted fares received
from grantors or member agencies.
Year to date through August, revenue was budgeted
at 8.9 million or a 64% recovery.
Actual revenue was 7.2 million or a 51% recovery,
below budget by 1.8 million.
Next slide.
The next several slides are a new addition
to these presentations.
We hope that they are going to offer some additional insights
and open some analysis for ridership and farebox revenue.
This slide shows system-wide monthly ridership
for FY26 compared to FY25.
The black line represents the FY26 forecast.
Next slide.
This slide shows year-to-date ridership by line.
It includes FY25 actuals, FY26 actuals, and FY26 budget.
All lines are performing under budget,
but the Ventura County line, the Orange County line,
and the 91 line all exceed the prior year.
The San Bernardino line and the Antelope Valley line
are the obvious outliers against budget.
These are two areas of focus for the KPMG
Barrie Reforecasting efforts.
Next slide.
Like the ridership slides,
here are the system-wide monthly fare box revenue results
compared to FY25.
The bars are shaded to distinguish
between fares paid by riders
and subsidies paid by grantors and member agencies.
Next slide.
Here is the year-to-date fare box revenue by line
comparing FY26 against the budget and FY25 actuals.
A question was raised at committee about the use
of the term simplified analysis in the board item.
While it was maybe poorly worded, the point of the comment was
that this additional detail will open up deeper analysis,
but overly simplified analysis might not capture all
of the nuances behind the data.
Next slide.
The next several slides provide additional ridership information
by line for your separate review.
Can we advance two slides please?
Okay. And looking at the overall financial results year to date
through August, operating revenue is $10.7 million
under budget by $1.3 million or 11 percent.
The down arrow depicting the revenue is depicting
that revenue is under budget and the red color indicates
that this is an unfavorable variance.
Expenses are 53.9 million under budget by 4.8 million or 8%.
Again, the down arrow represents expenses that are under budget,
and the green color indicates that this is a favorable variance.
Year-to-date member agency support is in surplus by $3.4 million.
Major expense categories that are under budget are also shown.
Next slide.
The next three slides show detailed operating statements
for the two months ended August 25 for your separate review.
Advanced three slides, please.
As of August 31, past due accounts receivable,
total 50 million.
Annual MOUs with member agencies are nearing completion,
which will eliminate most of these balances.
Next slide.
Cash available as of August is 54 million,
above the threshold set by the board.
Next slide.
Okay, arrow service.
Next slide.
Arrow ridership is also below forecast
and in comparison to last year.
Note the significant impact
of the student adventure pass ridership in FY25.
That program has now ended and replaced
with a slightly different student youth discount.
Next slide.
Aero revenue is significantly below budget, and again,
note the impact of the Student Adventure Pass Program in FY25.
Overall financial results for Aero through August,
operating revenues are 78,000 under budget by 34,000 or 30.6%.
Total expenses are 2.7 million under budget by 332,000 or 10.9%.
SBCTA support required is 2.6 million
under budget by 298,000 or 10.2%.
Next slide.
That concludes my report,
I'm happy to answer any questions.
Director is a question supervisor,
sorry Director Segal.
Whatever.
The lady with the light, okay, here we go.
Slide 26, I believe, went so fast.
Insurance and legal, I thought that was going to be higher.
I thought that was going to be something
that was going to be over budget.
We had the conversation before.
No, Don, do you want to talk to that?
You take a pay cut?
Absolutely.
I'm going to ask Ray Berrer, our insurance claims risk manager,
to speak to the zero point less than anticipated.
Ray, can you share that?
With respect to our claims that we process on a regular basis,
that would be part of that number.
Those are relatively low.
With respect to our litigation, that is taken into account.
And insurance is usually pretty stable throughout the year cost.
So it's a good reflection.
It's good and just surprised because I just remember something said that we were going to be a little bit up because
Stuff that was going on. That was why I was surprised pleasantly surprised that it was below
It is good news and projecting claims and litigation is very difficult. Right? And so
See how the rest of the year
Very good. Thank you
Director pre Seattle
I'm not sure if we talked about this last time
But maybe somebody can tell me a little about it because I know that the
Revenue is down
Are we looking towards changing a payment system?
Especially coming up to the Olympics where it's more of like the tap model or something that while someone on boards
It just automatically reads it or something more like the a line where you can't even get to the station unless you have tapped already
that's correct, we're
beginning the process of a
demonstration of open loop on the San Bernardino line should the demonstration prove worthy we would expand that system wide before the Olympics and
I know this morning we were at the photo transit meeting and Metro has created that partnership with a lot of the 25 agencies
But one thing that I found interesting is even aside from just a tap card
It would just allow people to just use a debit credit card or cell phone like wallet. Yes. Thank you
Please go ahead just briefly to follow up on the budget in the legal
Do we bank any savings that we have year-to-year on the liability fund or the liability?
Yeah, no, we don't retain those funds they're returned to the member agencies every year as is all of our operating budget
Okay, is that the best way of doing that you think?
Maybe that's a discussion we can have yeah, I think with these your agents
maybe during budget cycle or the agency.
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there are some thoughts,
I'm sure there are some thoughts on best way to handle that.
I mean, this is great, but I imagine there may be sometimes
and we are not in the group.
Yeah, as Don said, it's hard to think about the situation.
Think about that when the opportunity arises.
Thank you for that.
that i saw a light on
thanks mister chair
thanks mister chair tom thanks for the presentation uh... i'm the director
who is too
no no credit to blame
uh... for the discussion on finance committee relative to
the analysis on fair box return
course
it's critical because that directly is relevant to
all of our member agency support requirements
based on what was indicated, I'm still, I really don't have a good understanding trying
to peek behind the curtain of the methodology used by the wizard in trying to come up with
that.
I would like, I would appreciate, and I appreciate, Mr. Chair, maybe I'm not asking to go down
into the weeds, but I would like to have a little bit more of an understanding and explanation
for how that analytical methodology occurs, because it's critical for all of us.
And maybe an appropriate thing to do would be, it would probably be in the,
in a report ultimately coming out from the consultant.
But prior to that, it would be nice to have at least maybe a very brief presentation
on that either at the workshop coming up or in a separate report out to members.
And I'm not asking for, you know, 50 pages, but I am asking for something
where I can understand the methodology or I can understand the analysis and then be able
to compare that from a fair revenue standpoint because otherwise,
it's like I'm looking into a black box and don't understand it.
So I would really appreciate, this has been a good report,
but I would really appreciate the Chair's consideration of something,
doing something in addition.
Absolutely.
Director Tranley, we heard your comments at the committee and we do plan to come back
At the board workshop in January with some deeper analysis on that okay great. Thanks Tom. Thanks. Thank you
Are there any other questions from board members comments seeing none? Thank you for the report. This is a receiving file item
And now it's our CEOs
Report and so be given by Nola Rodriguez our chief of staff
Thank you Chair Chaffee and good morning directors. Just to add before the comments from the CEO's report, you all have gotten the invitation for the workshop which will be the first board meeting of the year in January, I think it's the 23rd of January.
So if you haven't seen that, look for that and we look forward to seeing you all there.
So on with the report. Continue. So as Tom just mentioned a few minutes ago it's
we've just come on our one-year anniversary of Metrolink Reimagined and
happy to share with you on top of Tom's report that our ridership growth is
healthy. You'll see on the peak platform it's up 3% off peak it's up 45% total
weekday is up 11% and weekend is up 5% so it's a good sign despite some of the
bumps that we've had along the way. These arrows are going up and they're
green so we're happy to share that information with you. Next slide please.
You also may have heard that last Saturday was the administration's
commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps and down in
San Clemente we had a little bit of involvement in that in response to a
request from the U.S. Secret Service. We adjusted our service on the coastal
corridor on that Saturday and we modified our Orange County and IOC line service between Laguna
and the Gale Mission Viejo and Oceanside solutions. I don't think we had any other, any incidents
as you relate to that event that day. Next slide please. You all may have seen the wireless
crossing press release that just went out I think on a stay or two thanks to Director
Sandoval for being a part of that in the form of a quote celebrating Baldwin Park. But now
We are all in five in all five counties. So that's really good news and WC and SS
Don't ask me to tell you what it stands for but basically wireless crossing
Means that and there's this is a tool to reduce traffic congestion at grade crossings while a train is at the station
So that's good news
Next slide please and this is a good news story. So you come to Metrolink for
Is that a good news story, too?
It must be Darren.
So we have a good news story here
in that a student, a 10-year-old autistic student,
got out of school recently and got
onto the train at Northridge unaccompanied.
And when his mother discovered this,
she called the law enforcement officials,
and they contacted us.
And we have, in the form of Harold Cruz,
who identified the student and stayed with him
at Union Station until he and his mother
could be reunited.
So we wanna have a shout out to Noelie Sanchez,
who was the conductor, Joseph Arnaud, the train master,
Brandon Zavala, the train master,
and Mario Robles, who was the superintendent
of operations for Alstom.
So very happy to celebrate Metrolink Cares.
Next slide, please.
Is that it?
Is that it?
Oh, so since I'm gonna insert my temporary authority
since I have the microphone.
And as I did this two weeks ago and it worked
when I was here for the e-comm committee,
I'm just going to say, go Dodgers.
Thank you.
Happy to take any questions if anybody has any.
Thank you for the report
and the good news on increase in ridership.
Board members, comments, questions?
Yes, I see Director Marquez.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a young man sitting to my right.
I've known him for many, many years.
And I just want to wish him and his beautiful bride tomorrow
a wonderful wedding.
Congratulations, Walter.
Thank you.
All right.
I would reiterate the workshop coming up in January.
It's a chance to meet with staff,
have your questions answered in depth,
a chance to have an opportunity to create
a camaraderie among staff members.
And hopefully, again, we'll have some of the freight train
representatives there too so we can at least talk a little bit about right-of-way that we share
And yesterday I had a great experience with a trunk or treat as Halloween is coming up
My wife without telling me dressed me up as mr. Potato head
so anyway
And and at last I wish our CEO
Darren kettle well he I think has the flu so as a reminder of all of us if you hadn't had a flu shot
Please think about that and if it doesn't prevent it at least it makes a little bit lighter if should you get the flu
And with that we come to close sorry director Spiegel. I don't know what you're closing with
But I would like to have us close in honor of our veterans
Since we won't be back together till after Veterans Day
Thank you for that
Council closed session the board will now go into closed session on a lot item 11 a B and C as described in today's agenda
Thank you