you probably know today with the hawaiian theme so thank you for joining us on this day i'm going
to go ahead and call to order the board of directors meeting for june 3rd 2006 for the
San Bernardino county transportation authority and the San Bernardino county council of governments
today the board will be acting in the capacity of both entities therefore each board member will be
entitled to receive a hundred dollar stipend for doing business as the authority and a hundred
$100 license for doing business as the cog.
So just for your notification,
we are going to be adjourning to closed session.
We have conferences with legal counsel
regarding existing anticipated litigation
and a conference with a labor negotiator.
Are there any members of the public
that would like to speak on the closed session agenda
before we go to closed session?
Scanning the room, I see no one.
So at this time, we'll recess to closed session.
Thank you.
Well, once again, thank you for being here today.
We are back from closed session.
We have nothing to report out from closed session
at this time.
So moving on, I'll go ahead and reconvene the meeting.
And I'd like to start off with the Pledge of Allegiance.
And today, I think I'd like to have John DeTrey lead us
in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Pledge the allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to be the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you, John.
All right, so this time a clerk attendance, please.
Before I call the roll,
in accordance with government code 54953C,
Ray Marquez, City of Chino Hills,
is participating remotely.
At this time, I would like to ask Vice Mayor Marquez
to disclose if any individuals 18 years of age or older
are present in the room at the remote location
and the general nature of the member's relationship
with those individuals.
Yes, I'm at San Antonio Hospital
and I have a bed mate to this also in the room
and he's asleep, but he's also in the room.
Did you hear me?
Yes.
Yes, thank you.
As we continue with the meeting,
please announce if any additional individuals,
18 years of age or older, not originally disclosed,
have entered the room at your remote location
and the general nature of your relationship with them
prior to this body taking any further action.
I will now take roll call when I call your jurisdiction.
Please state your name.
Adalanto.
Ramos present.
Apple Valley.
Not present.
Barstow.
So the president.
Big Bear Lake.
Rick Herrick.
Chino.
Eunice Shalala.
Chino Hills.
Ray Marquez.
Colton.
Frank Navarro.
Fontana.
Yes.
Grant Harris.
Bill Hasse.
Hesperia.
Josh Poland.
Highland.
Larry McAllen.
Loma Linda.
Ron Daly.
Montclair.
Needles.
Janet Jernigan.
Ontario.
Rancho Cucamonga.
Redlands.
Mario Saucido.
Rialto.
Joe Baca, present.
San Bernardino.
Helen Tran.
29 Palms.
not present. Upland? Rudy Zuniga present. Victorville? Bob Herr. Yucaipa? Judy Wolsey.
Yucca Valley? Rick Dennison. County Supervisors, first district? Not present. Second district?
Armandara's present. Third district? Dawn Round. Fourth district? Fourth district? Not
present. Fifth district? Baca Jr. present. And our Caltrans Ex officio representative?
Anthony Dale. Thank you, we have a quorum. Thank you very much, we have any announcements to be made?
Oh that's for me. So moving on. Oh yeah, so on announcements today, some employee recognitions.
So this is always a good bright spot. We have some employee recognitions this morning. First off,
please join me in congratulating Ginger Coblast for Ginger has been promoted to the Chief of
planning and regional programs. Congratulations, Gen. Are you in here?
Oh yeah. And next, please join me in recognizing Sal Chavez. Sal is the project delivery manager
for the project delivery and express lanes department. Sal is celebrating five years
of service with the agency and congratulations and thank you on your service Sal. Where's Sal at?
Oh right up front. These two definitely provide a lot of support to this board,
so very, very appreciative of your hard work. Thank you. Well, here's the highlight of the day,
as you may notice from the festivities here. Our annual event is the Hawaiian shirt contest.
So take a look around the room and your fellow board members and cast your vote for the winner
of this year's Jim Harris Hawaiian shirt contest. There should be a ballot similar like this.
This is a time where we get to model, we've seen this before, of shirts. So you have a ballot and
pick your favorite shirt and we'll come back later and we're going to make a note of an announcement.
I'll figure that out in a couple minutes. So as you're looking around the room,
I'm going to go on. Can we eliminate someone?
I'm insulted that I'm sitting next to somebody. It is a bit frightening.
A donkey on his shirt's from Hawaii. I'm sitting next to a jacket.
I can't believe I said that. Oh my god good saying things you know I repeat everything.
Someone had to say it Aquanetta thank you.
So while we're doing this we're going to go ahead and check with the staff are there any agenda
modifications notifications? Yes the support material for agenda item 24 was posted and
distributed and that concludes my notices. All right thank you very much for that.
So this is the time we will ask for any public comment on any items on the agenda.
I have one card here. Oh, this is not for general, that's for consent. That's all right. And
so seeing none, great. So we'll move it back here for a conflict of interest. Once again,
directors, if you have any conflicts of interest, please ensure they're reported to the clerk.
and informational items are agenda items number two through five they do not require a vote and
are receiving file items in our routine and non-controversial and so now we'll move on to
our consent agenda these are going to be items six through 20. Do we have we have one card to speak
on it and so if there's anyone else outside of this card please know that you can place a card
the clerk. So first off, we have, uh, Snell. Oh, ET Snell. Okay, thank you. And on consent, I'm showing,
uh, items seven, nine, 16, and 20. ET Snell, are you in the audience? Oh, here he comes. Okay.
Yes, sir. Yes. Come on up, ET Snell. Yeah, you got three minutes and it looks like you have a
a few items to cover here so the floor is yours. I'm here today to speak on a
couple different issues. You know for 10 years I've been fighting that road from
Barstow to State Line trying to get it widened. I lived on Tammy Road and the
accidents used to happen all the time so finally I got involved and I pulled all
the death certificates. And when I saw those kids that died on that road, it
was, uh, and then I went out and I've got pictures of the rumble strips that
are like three feet away. The whole thing has just been designed by a bunch
of absurdity. I'm all serious. Speak about our mayor and bar still. Mr
has no respect for Latina women, no respect for clowns.
And it put in a false narrative.
I was at that BNSF hearing last night,
trying to find out how come they're taking
and all that traffic is from down the hill.
It has nothing to do with from Barstow to state line.
So they put in all that 8,000 trucks or saving or whatever,
but it has nothing to do from Barstow to State Line.
It's the most deadliest road around, you can Google it.
And so consequently, I've been speaking to Mr. Silva
and the Barstow Council for years about it,
showing them death certificates,
but yet the EIR report that came out of here,
It says, the Bright Line Express will be supported
by transit agencies.
Now you're ready for this?
So we will not need to fix the road.
What?
Come on, I'm a clown.
I can understand some stupid stuff,
but this is completely, it's a false narrative.
So what they do is every time it comes to,
is Caltrans here?
Are they hearing in the audience?
Cause I got a couple of words for them.
I call them Kiltrans or Craptrans
because if you go look at the rumble strips,
I've got pictures of the rumble strips,
they're three feet away.
They're always shutting down the rest stops.
It's done by design.
And it's really sad to see our mayor,
the way he disrespects Latino women,
the way he disrespects everybody.
And then he puts his false narrative saying
that they will not need to fix the road
because the transit agencies are involved.
What?
The Bright Line West, we're not even sure
that they're gonna get through there,
233 million in the wrong.
So how can that EIR come out of here,
San Bernardino County Transit Authority and Crap Trans,
can we stop shutting down all those rest stops?
This note, people gotta pee, they gotta poop,
they gotta take a rest, and there's no place to pull over.
You kill them people out there, kill trans is.
That's why I call them kill trans.
And the safety and those rumble strips are three feet away.
Go look at them.
I've got pictures out here.
I'll be glad to show that'll be your,
that's your time ET Snell on the open comments.
You do have the card still for the other items individually.
Okay.
So thank you for your comments.
Thank you, sir.
And I'd like you to throw our mayor out of here
because this guy, he's putting all these false narratives.
He's supporting that line and killing kids
is what he's doing.
Well, you're done.
Thank you very much.
Any other public comments?
Seeing none, thank you.
We're gonna go ahead and move on from public comment.
That was on the consent.
So consent item, so we'll look for Mr. Nova.
Move that Mr. President.
I'm sorry, who moved it?
Move.
We're almost moved.
Second by Dutray.
All in favor?
Opposed?
Oh, sorry.
We lost him.
Roll call.
No, yes.
We don't have to do a roll call today.
So for this remote, no roll call is necessary,
but we will listen for any nays or abstentions.
When we use this particular statutory mechanism
for teleconferencing,
we are not required to do roll call vote
because the teleconferencing participant
is considered to be here in person.
Vice Mayor Marquez,
if you could please turn on your camera,
it needs to remain on.
Thank you.
There we go.
Thank you, Ray.
Thanks for joining us again.
Okay, there was a bit of a delay once again.
All in favor of consent calendar?
Aye.
All in public.
And abstentions?
None, thank you.
The consent calendar passes unanimously.
All right, we're gonna move on to our discussion items now.
These are items number 21 to 28 on your agenda.
The first one is agenda item number 21,
election of officers for fiscal year 26-27 coming up,
and I'm gonna present this item.
So the nominating committee met to discuss candidates
interested in serving as president and vice president
for the upcoming term and have brought forward
the following recommendations for the board to consider.
Supervisor Joe Baca for board president
and Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Ramos for vice president
for our upcoming year.
So do we have any public comments
on the recommendations from the board?
Move the item to approval.
Pardon me.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Was that on 21?
Oh, thank you.
We do have one public comment.
Please forgive me on that one.
And that will be from ET Snell again also.
You're back up, sir.
Oh, he did.
He left the boardroom.
Okay.
Yep.
He made the last comment.
Okay, then we'll go ahead and move on with the item.
Seeing no public comment in there.
Second.
Second.
A move.
Second.
Okay.
It's by Baca Senior and second by Navarro.
All in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
Opposed?
Um, thank you. Thank you. The
item passes unanimously. All
right. Moving on. Item number
22 SBCTA proposed fiscal year 26
27 budget. So this is going to
be a public hearing. So at this
time, I'm going to open the
public hearing and Alisa Lazar
will be presenting this item.
There was a mute button. There
we go. Good morning, Mr
President and board members.
and the proposed budget
action plan. The budget is
balanced with estimated revenues
and carry over balances. Fully
covering planned
appropriations. Key items
include 1.1 billion in
estimated revenues. 364.3
million in carry over balances.
1.46 billion in
appropriations.
Transfers total 104.7
of transit activities, debt
service and indirect costs,
including reserves. The budget
includes 87 staff positions
reflecting the following
changes, elimination of one
management analyst, one
position in fund
administration, downgrade of a
chief of air quality and
mobility programs to air
quality and mobility program
manager, creation of one
procurement manager and energy program manager to higher ranges. Reclassification
of two management analysts one, two management analysts two, and
reclassification of three management analysts two, to management analysts three.
Salary and budget adjustments include a 5% merit increase, 3% cost of living, and
up to $2,000 for medical premium subsidy. In compliance with Senate Bill 707 I
thank you. I will read salary
ranges for the department heads.
Clerk of the board is 129,000 to 214,000.
The following department heads salary range is from 174,000 to
287,000. It includes the chief financial officer, director of
Council of Governments, director of fund administration,
and director of planning and regional programs.
The following department heads have a salary range
of 191,000 to 317,000.
It's the director of project delivery and express lines
and the director of transit and rail programs.
The deputy executive director positions are from 222,000
to 366,000.
The agency maintains a strong financial position
with projected end of year fund balances of 1.04 billion,
which includes 55.1 million in reserves.
This concludes the budget presentation
and I'm happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Lisa, for the presentation.
Any public comment on this item?
Item number 22 on your agenda.
Seeing none, we do have one for E.T. Snell.
Has he returned to the board?
Okay.
The record reflect that he's still not in the room.
Thank you.
So at this time, do we have any questions from board members?
Seeing none, I'll look for someone to move the item.
Moved by Warren, by Paul in second.
And all in favor?
Aye.
Opposition, opposed?
Abstain?
OK.
I was looking for, I think you said yes.
The item passes unanimously.
Thank you.
Moving on to item number 23, appropriations limit
for fiscal year 2627, Lisa Lazar once again presenting.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I'll move the item.
We have a move by McCollum.
Second.
I have a second by Navarro.
Any comments from the public?
Any public comments from board members?
All in favor?
Aye.
Opposed?
Abstentions?
Thank you.
The item passes unanimously.
Thank you very much.
Moving on to our next item,
which is agenda item number 24.
The adoption of measure I ordinance number 26-1,
an expenditure plan and Otis Square will be presenting.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Good morning to you and members of the board.
Item 24, for your consideration is the second reading
of the proposed renewal of measure I,
San Bernardino County's voter approved half cent
transportation sales tax,
which is funded transportation improvements
throughout the county since its original approval in 1989
and its renewal in 2004.
Over the past year, the board,
the Measure I Ad Hoc Committee, local jurisdictions,
transportation partners and community stakeholders
have worked collaboratively to develop the proposed ordinance
and expenditure plan you see today.
Staff has also conducted extensive public outreach,
including presentations to all 24 cities and towns,
as well as the County of San Bernardino.
The proposed measure, I, renewal,
would continue to support improvements of local streets,
roads, highways, transit services, good movement,
active transportation, regional mobility projects
throughout San Bernardino County.
Staff is requesting three actions today.
First, to receive a brief presentation
from Dr. Richard Bernard of FM3 regarding the results
of the most recent countywide voter survey.
Second, adopt measure I ordinance number 26-1
and the accompanying expenditure plan establishing
the continuation of the half cent sales tax
for transportation purposes.
And third, to authorize a submission
of the ordinance and expenditure plan
to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors
for approval and placement on the November 3rd, 2026 ballot.
This item represents a significant milestone
in Measure I and renewal process
and the SBCTA staff would like to thank
the board ad hoc committee, the jurisdictions,
and countywide stakeholders
for their collaboration and support.
We'll begin now with a brief presentation from Dr. Bernard
and we'll be available following his presentation
for any questions.
Please, oh, one comment before you start.
For our remote requirements,
I'd like to announce that Ray Marquez,
his wife has joined him in his hospital room,
just for notification.
Thank you, good morning.
to thank the board and the staff for inviting me to present the results of your most recent survey.
We conducted the survey between April 20th and the 29th. It was a dual mode survey which means a
random portion of respondents took the survey on the phone and a random portion online. In fact,
49% took it on the telephone, 51% online. We interviewed a random sample of 1,020 San Bernardino
County registered voters who are likely to vote November 2026 election based on their
past voter history, or if they've recently registered to vote. We started out with a
base of 800 and we oversampled some of the smaller geographic areas, ie by population,
to make sure that those small communities were heard as we have done in previous surveys.
and then we reweighted the data to make it look as if there was a likely November 2026.
Uh, electorate. We contacted, um, voters by telephone, email and text. Uh, we've had the
privilege to conduct surveys for this, um, esteemed board, uh, previously and where there's
track data. Uh, I will provide that. And we offered the survey as we always do in English
the survey in Spanish and the
to include free ways, highways, local roads, and public transit. And as you could see, over time, there's a slight dip in terms of perceived at least some need, but nonetheless, more than eight and eight out of 10 voters perceive there's a great or some need that continues to today, of which a very healthy 59% suggests that there is a great need for additional funds.
that we're going to be able to
at the end of the process.
You could see that the data
suggests that statistically
very similar comments between
November of 2025 and April of
2026.
I want to identify that now.
We will come back to that issue
in a moment when we look at
people's responses to a
potential ballot measure.
So this is what I will call
to vote on whether they would like to move this forward or not. We worked with your staff
attorney and outside counsel to review the legality of the question. And as in previous
work, we worked with your staff to ensure that this mirrored the desire of the board
in terms of long range plans. And while it doesn't identify all your services, infrastructure,
and improvements or aspirational goals,
it does mirror the desire of your voters,
which we've seen in previous surveys.
So we asked them if they, we read this to them,
if they were on the phone or they read it,
if they were online and we said,
if there were an election today,
would you vote yes in favor or no to oppose?
69% said they would either vote definitely,
probably, or lean voting yes,
with 26% saying that they would lean, probably or definitely
vote no, and 5% were undecided, just hearing ballot title
and summary.
And so in a moment, I will show you
a simulation of the election.
But first, I thought it would be important for you
to get a sense of who supports this initially, who opposes it.
So thinking about it as of today before one goes out
and does legally permissible educational outreach,
where are folks?
So this slide looks at the various
supervisorial districts.
The blue are the folks who said definitely probably
or lean yes.
On the ballot question I just showed you a moment ago,
the blue bar is total yes.
The folks who said definitely probably or lean no
are the orange bar, that orange bar is total no,
and the gray are the folks who are undecided.
In front of you, you'll see the five supervisorial districts
and the percentages below them are the percentages
that they will make up of a likely November 2026 election
based on their past voter history
or if they've recently registered to vote.
As you could see, since the legal requirement
is a two thirds plus one expectation,
you could see strong support across the county.
We've worked very closely with your staff
to identify subregions of your community,
as I've mentioned in previous presentations.
If I'm living in place X,
I care about my pothole a little bit more than place Y.
And so we looked at the data
where there were large population bases
so that we have statistically reliable data.
And what I present here is Victor Valley, West Valley,
in Eats Valley, we have data for some of the,
for all the geographic sub areas.
However, those, because of the population density
is quite modest, those numbers,
the margin of error is a little bit larger.
So looking at at least the larger geographic areas,
you can see pretty strong support across the board
on those issues.
Now, remember, previously I showed you the question
about whether people felt confident or uneasy
in the next few months about meeting their living expenses.
And I wanted to look at the level of support based on that
because I know rightly so people are concerned
about their constituents.
And what we see here is exactly what we saw
in November of 2025 and the last election
that folks who are on easy about their prospects
in terms of meeting their bills or their future expenses
strongly continue to support this measure
in spite of that.
Now there could be a lot of hypotheses of why one item
could be the measures intended to reduce bottlenecks
and improve traffic flow on freeways.
So maybe that expands my job search from place A to place B
if I think I can get there in quicker time.
So that might be one illustrative example
of why folks support that.
but they are reminded through the survey,
this is not a tax rate increase.
This just continues what Measure I is doing at the moment.
We then presented them to simulate an election,
some educational statements,
and they include, for example,
the fact that in 2025,
the Federal Highway Administration rated close to 60%
of the 1,422 bridges in San Bernardino County
as being fair or in poor condition.
This money could be used to improve the condition
before it gets worse and costs more to repair.
We talked about the accomplishments
over the last 37 years of Measure I,
including the fact that it is qualified
for more than $2.9 billion of state
federal matching funds to fill thousands of thousands or hundreds of thousands of
puddle improve highway on and off ramps safety bottlenecks and by renewing this
measure it will continue to help meet current and future transportation
related needs after providing them with them some education we re-ask that
ballot question that you saw previously and as you could see the initial vote is
on the left hand side that was just ballot title and summary you saw this
moments ago, it was 69 26 telling them the story in a non advocacy way increases the level of
support overall by five points above that margin of error plus or minus 3.5 but also or maybe more
importantly it strengthens the definitely yes to 55% that's a nine point bump up and note
that the definitely no which typically I see at a floor of about 20% remains quite low but that's
without any critical statements which we then presented to the to voters, because it's important
to simulate the entire election. On the critical statement side we reminded them about the cost of
living. Some folks think that they are already overtaxed and you know adding to this additional
tax even though it's just a continuation might be a little bit much for folks. We also talked about
the concerns about that many people have about government in general and the concerns about
waste and mismanagement and that if you just cut back on excessive salaries and pensions
you'd have enough money to do all the kinds of projects that are being considered in this
measure and then we re-ask the ballot question. After giving them oppositional statements,
overall support drops down 10 points, definitely yes drops down 10 points from 55 to 45. What's
What's striking to me is that definitely no really doesn't statistically move much in
spite of trying to hit the measure hard as potential opposition might do.
And the final vote at 64% is below the threshold, but within the margin of error of passage.
And I wanted to just show you comparatively the August of 2023, November of 2025, and
the April of 2026 numbers.
the election. Each point on each
of the measure.
So in conclusion, thank you for being so patient.
More than eight and 10 continue to perceive
there's a need for additional funds
for the transportation system,
which we defined as highways, freeways,
local roads and public transit.
On the extension measure, overall initial support
starts above the two thirds threshold at 69%,
which is required for passage,
but within the margin of error.
After education, overall support increases further
above the super majority to 74%
above that margin of error with a healthy 58%
that say definitely yes.
And after critical statements,
overall support drops below the threshold
of needed to pass, but within the margin of error
of that two thirds, a required passage.
Support has slightly declined from 2025 support levels
and it's more in line with the 2023 results
when likely presidential 2024 voters were interviewed.
Now we're looking at gubernatorial voters
who are a little bit more conservative,
a little bit more, a little bit older in terms of age.
However, at this time,
the measure continues to appear to be viable
for the November 2026 election,
assuming a robust legally permissible
educational outreach effort.
and what's going on. Okay. And
with that, I'm happy to answer
any questions. Thank you for
the presentation very much.
This time we'll open up for
public comment. Any public
comments on the item number 24.
Okay, This time I'd like to go
ahead and announce that
member armadura says left the
meeting and Ray Marquez is
still with us remotely. So
continuing, see no comments
from the public. Any comments
I just want to thank you for the presentation. I just wanted to extend the thanks and and and
for all the hard work that the Ad Hoc Committee put into into into this presentations. Otis,
Kerry, thank you guys for facilitating those meetings and all the information that you brought
towards us. Thank you for that. Yes, De'Trey. Yeah, I think I said on the Ad Hoc Committee,
I think we're in good position. The number's still good. I think the voters have confidence in us
and its measures I move for approval for the second meeting have a move by
Detroit and seconded by Ramos no other discussion all in favor I opposed
abstentions the item passes unanimously thank you doctor appreciate the
presentation thank you all right moving on to item number 25 this is a revised
policy. Our council will be
presented. Thank you. Um after
the elimination of the risk
manager position last year the
risk managers. Responsibilities
for handling claims was
transferred to my department.
Um and the policy was revised
to remove all references to
authority granted to the risk
manager. Unfortunately that had
That had the unintended consequence of only authorizing the executive director to take
any action on claims.
And so our executive director has been tasked with duplicating the efforts of my office
in rejecting claims, sending out notices of insufficiency sending out notices or returning
late claim.
In order to relieve that necessary burden on the executive director, we are asking that
the board revised the policy in order to allow me
to reject claims and my staff and me to send notices
of insufficiency and return of late claims.
Settlement authority will not change at all.
That will still reside only with the executive director
and is limited to $50,000 under the government code.
With that, I'm happy to take any questions.
Thank you for the presentation.
So we'll open it up for a proper comment on this item.
I see no public requests to speak.
Board members, yes.
Approval.
We have a move by McCollum.
Second, Marquez.
And second by Marquez, thank you, sir.
Any further comments?
No, all in favor?
Aye.
Opposed?
Abstentions.
Let the record reflect that Supervisor Rao
has stepped away and the item passes unanimously.
Thank you very much.
recognize that Rao has left. Okay moving on to item number oh okay yeah 26 okay
item number 26 update on SCRRA fiscal year 26-27 Metro link budget development
and recommendation for prior fiscal year surplus. Yes Victor Lopez thank you.
Good morning support president and directors. An update similar to this one was provided to the
and the transit committee last month.
And consistent with that update,
we will have our Keto CEO,
the Southern California Regional Railroad Authority
that following this presentation
will also provide a short update
and address any questions from this board.
The Southern California Regional Railroad Authority
or SERA operates the Metrolink service
and is made up of five member agencies, including SBCTA.
The Metrolink budget development process
for the next fiscal year
has been complex and challenging.
And at the core of these challenges is a projected
30 to $35 million operating shortfall driven by slower
than expected ridership and revenue recovery,
continued escalation in operating contracts
and subsidy caps set by member agencies.
System-wide ridership has only gradually recovered
to approximately 58 of the pre-pandemic levels.
Also the optimized schedule that was launched
in the fall of 2024 did not generate the ridership
anticipated, largely due to issues with on-time performance
and related to scheduling afraid interference
and maintenance issues.
And furthermore, the operating costs have increased
about 46% over the last six years.
Member agencies such as SPCTA are funding 78%
of the operating budget and SPCTA subsidy has increased
by approximately 17 million over this period.
to close the gap as CRA has looked into the administrative
and operational savings and is proposing a fair increase.
However, with 60% of the operating costs being fixed,
service reductions are required.
So in response, two draft service schedules
have been developed.
The first proposes a 35% service reduction,
decreasing the number of trains from 164 to 107,
which did not meet the targeted budget.
The second proposes a 41% reduction
further decreasing the number of trains 296.
So given the scale of these potential cuts,
the member agency advisory committee
requested additional schedule options
during a special meeting that happened in late April
to better reflect the agency priorities.
As there's no clear path forward at this time,
the SCRRA board approved delaying the transmit
of the next fiscal year budget request to member agencies
and requested that member agencies adopt
the three month continued resolution,
which is the subject of the next agenda item.
ACRA staff is currently working on the,
again, on the budget right now,
and is targeting to have the budget presented
to their board at the end of July,
which means that the next opportunity for this board
to adopt the fiscal year budget
will be at the September board meeting.
With that information, I'll turn it over to Darren
to provide any additional information.
Thank you, Victor.
Mr. President, good morning.
Again, my name's Darren Kettle.
I'm the chief executive officer at Metrolink,
raised here in San Bernardino County
and I am a proud alum of your SBCTA staff.
I worked here from 2000 to late 2007.
It's great to be back in this boardroom
and I appreciate Victor's introduction.
First, let me start with some good news
because what Victor just shared with you
wasn't exactly roses and puppies
as far as our challenges,
as it relates to what's going on at Metrolink right now.
So I will start with some brief good news.
Later this next week we are launching
on our San Bernardino line a new payment process.
It's a pilot on the San Bernardino line
where you will be able to use either your iPhone
or your mobile device or your credit card
and simply tap the validator to board a train.
You will not need to use our app
or the ticket vending machine.
So if you've traveled internationally,
you're familiar with the ability,
or if you go to Starbucks
and you just pay for your coffee that way,
you'll be able to do the same thing on our trains.
We're excited about piloting this on the San Bernardino line,
just in advance of World Cup.
And we hope to secure the funding
so that we can have the same technology available to us
on all seven of our lines in the Metrolink system.
And so there's some good news that the,
as Mr. Lope has indicated,
We have also had some challenges that we are wrestling with.
We're coming out of the pandemic.
I think there was a big question about
what our new world would look like,
what this new world would look like.
It was related to how workforce changed.
I joined Metrolink about four and a half years ago.
I was the Executive Director
with the Ventura County Transportation Commission.
So what Ms. Schindler does here,
I was in that role in Ventura County.
So I come from an agency that is familiar
with the challenges of working in this,
and as a member agency of Metrolink.
As Mr. Lopez indicated in 2024,
recognizing that because of the major change
in a post COVID environment,
we had to rethink who we were as an agency.
We could not just continue to rely on commuters.
Commuters had been our bread and butter
since we were formed in the early 90s,
but commuters changed significantly.
And so that because of that, Metrolinx recognized
we had to change our business model.
And after a couple of years of work and analysis
and in full support with our member agencies,
including SBCTA, we launched what we call
Metrolinx Reimagined in October of 2024,
which was changing our service model
to move beyond just the commuter,
recognizing the importance of midday trips, evening trips,
those types of activities that got us beyond
just be thinking about the commuter.
Commuters are still our bread and butter.
I am a user of our system.
I live in Ventura County still
and take our train regularly.
In fact, Mr. McAllen would grill me right now
with his question of, did you take the train today?
I took the train, I left Camarillo at 608 this morning,
made the transfer at Los Angeles Union Station
in about seven minutes and arrived here on time
for this board meeting.
But that is what we've tried,
how we've tried to design our schedule
is to allow for those connections,
particularly at a Los Angeles union station.
We didn't get out of the blocks great
with our retro link reimagined.
We had some challenges.
What looks good in a model
doesn't always translate in real life.
So we had some struggles there,
but we had continued to see growth,
just not to the growth that we had hoped.
As Mr. Lopez indicated,
our ridership growth has been positive,
just not to the numbers that we expected.
And that is one of the big reasons
we are struggling right now
with getting a budget adopted into this next fiscal year.
As Mr. Lopez indicated, we are somewhere on the order
of we wanted to continue the service levels
that we launched back in October of 2024,
those 164 trains a day throughout the day
with a lot of frequency,
we would be somewhere between 30 and $35 million shy
a structural operational deficit.
And part of that was $15 million in unrealized fair revenue.
People that we thought were gonna be riding our trains
under this new program did not materialize.
Some of our lines were positive.
Some of them did not grow as quickly as we'd hoped.
So that is one of the factors,
15 million or so in unrealized revenue.
We have two member agencies that set a cap,
OCTA or the Orange County Transportation Authority,
the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority actually reduced the amount of funding that we,
they have put us on notice that they're reducing
the amount of funding for our next fiscal year.
And then again, Mr. Lopez indicated we have annual
escalators in our, all of our operations contracts.
We have a staff of about 280 people.
Most of the work you see at venture link that is happening
out on the right of way, our train, our engineers,
our conductors, those are all contractors
And all those contractors operate
under collective bargaining agreements
and inflationary elements in those contracts.
So we have the trifecta of challenges.
We had not the kind of fair revenue we had hoped.
We had some reductions by our member agencies
and we have annual escalators.
So that puts us in this boat.
We have submitted a request
to the California State Legislature
recognizing the importance of what MetroLink means
for this region, requesting state support
given the importance that we do play.
And we are waiting to see what the results of that will be.
If we don't get the kind of support that we are requesting
and we've had our member agencies in varying degrees
step up and say, yes, we want to see something happen
to support Metrolink, we will have to look at some scenarios
that reduce that level of service that we had
from 164 trains down to 96 trains,
simply because where we find our greatest savings,
even after we do administrative cuts within the agency,
we still see the greatest,
this most significant part of our expense
does come from train operations.
And that is a cruise, fuel,
and those types of things to take to run a railroad.
So we are hoping to get a positive,
some positive news from Sacramento.
That's always a risk.
You have all been in this business a long enough time
that you know that you just can't go to Sacramento
I don't expect that the blank check is going to show up,
but we are making that request
and we've had some support from member agencies.
I'm really pleased to say that while we have had
LA County Metro and OCTA give us caps
on the kind of funding we would be able to expect
for fiscal year 26, 27.
Your staff and through your actions,
if you move forward with the proposed budgets
and the continuing resolution,
that is not what SBCTA is doing.
the SBCTA has been a steady and steadfast supporter
and to see the value of Metrolink.
And so for that, we are much appreciative,
but that does put us where we are today.
So we, as Mr. Lopez indicated,
we are operating under a continuing resolution.
And our hope is that by the end of July
or potentially a special meeting in August,
we will have a schedule and a budget that can be approved
by the Metrolink board and a new schedule
that would go into effect on October 1st,
whatever that might look like.
Again, there are a lot of moving parts to get to that point.
But I do certainly hope that we are not at a place
given where we are less than two,
just about two years away from LA 28.
And the fact that the Metrolink will be playing
the regional backbone transit backbone role
for Southern California.
This is not the time that we should be looking
at service reductions because of any number of reasons.
I liken what we're doing as any Olympic athlete.
You don't just show up to run the 400 meters
on the day of the event.
You start training years in advance.
We should be in that mode.
We should not be in a mode of having to look at reductions.
So that is also a pitch that we have made to Sacramento.
It has resonated.
We'll just to see what level.
Mr. President, you've had a long agenda.
I've probably taken more time than I already should.
So I'm gonna turn it back to you
and I'm happy to take questions.
Well, thank you, Darren, for that.
You know, you said the bread and butter
is certainly for the commuters, right?
And that's, it's a very important service to many
that do to use it for commuting.
Like to announce it, Member Rao has returned to the meeting
and we'll go ahead and open it up
to public comment at this time.
If you have any questions for the presenter on this item,
bring them back to board.
Any board member of questions?
Oh, right there.
Can you repeat what time you left and what time you got here?
Shall I let you know what I woke up this morning as well?
I left the Camarillo station at 608 in the morning, and I was able to do about a seven
minute transfer to the San Bernardino line, which was about, I think I arrived here right
around 923.
Were you happy with that?
I was on time.
I did not sit in traffic.
I was able to work.
Would we like to run a more timely service?
Sure.
But I will take my commute over what I was seeing on the I-10 freeway.
Right.
All right.
Well, thank you.
Good.
Do you have a goal to shrink that trip?
What's the overall?
Yeah.
They, you know, one of the things that we, our writers certainly speak to us about as
and speak to us about having our trains,
if we could get there sooner.
What we hear more often than not is about reliability
and being on time, whatever that timing is.
Would we like to shorten the trip?
Sure, it's, we have limitations on our corridors
that do limit our ability to run quicker.
And just as an example on the San Bernardino line,
we have whatever it is, 12 or 13 stations that we stop at.
Every station stop is tight.
but absent that, generally, sir,
what we hear is our customers are comfortable with being,
as long as we're on time,
it's when we're not that we hear it.
So my question is because I'm in the desert
and we don't have that.
So I was just curious.
Thank you.
Mr. President, just real quick in response,
one thing just, when Brightline West arrives
and comes to the Rancho Cucamonga Station,
we will have our, their station is on our footprint
and we will have a connection for those that are
at least in that portion of the high desert.
I shouldn't assume maybe your Yucca Valley or 29 Palm.
So I shouldn't have gone.
That prompts me to ask one more question.
What is, when do you think that'll happen?
Oh boy.
Hi, you know?
I know that that's really not possible answer,
but I think I'm just, you know,
My constituents are getting really stupid about it and very negative.
So I'm just curious what ...
Yeah.
You know, I won't even hazard a guess.
We hear our latest date is like 2029 or something along those lines but ...
I'll go ahead and just jump in here real quick.
We have monthly updates with Brightline.
They've signed their contracts for the Rancho Cucamonga station, the Victor Valley station.
They're in what's called a race to cost certainty at this point.
And they are working very closely with the federal government on their, what's called
their riff loan, which is the next major piece of funding they need to put in place.
They want that in August so that they can go ahead and move forward in September.
That is their schedule and they're working very hard on it.
I think it's a big win for the region that they have signed the contracts for the work
within our station areas.
On that same note, Ranch Cook Among Us
speaking of Brightline, a member of Michael.
Yeah, I'm just, I'm perplexed.
Orange County Transportation Authority and LA Metro
decide they're not gonna meet their budget requirements.
We are, that's what staff is proposing.
And yet we end up suffering,
even though we're meeting our obligation,
the other two agencies,
because it's all one system.
So anybody that says, no, we're gonna have to cut back,
what is the reason for both those counties
to cut what they otherwise should pay for their services?
Well, Mayor Michael, what is explained to us,
so real quickly, stepping back for a second,
we are a five-county joint powers authority.
So our governance structure is such
that the five agencies come together
and what we don't get in fair revenues
has to come from the member counties.
And there's a long complicated formula
about how this gets paid for.
In the case of Los Angeles County,
LA Metro generally covers about 51%
of the member support to this agency.
Orange County is around 20%.
So those big players drive a lot of the conversation
in our overall operations.
In the case of LA Metro,
they have seen a decline in sales tax revenues.
They fund us through their sales tax measure.
You may have heard the reports
that LA County had a shrinking population.
With that comes reduced sales tax revenue.
So they are wrestling with their own fiscal cliff.
In the case of the Orange County Transportation Authority,
they have forecasted their sales tax measure out to 2041.
and based on our increasing costs,
their measure doesn't get them to the life of,
to 2020, to 2041.
So they look at it as like,
we think we can fund Metrolink
at a current burn rate around till 2033 or 2034.
So they are making a call to reduce us now
so that they can get all the way to 2041,
even if it means a significant reduction
in the member support to this agency,
which then does drive the overall system
that we're operating under and impacts inland counties
because Riverside is echoes
what I think I'm hearing you say, sir.
So, I guess then they're not really concerned
about getting people to and from the 2020 Olympics,
I would assume then.
Yeah, we're doing what we can to be ready.
And my hope is our, we make our case
that this is one of the reasons why the state steps up
and helps provide some support.
Okay, thank you.
Appreciate it.
Member Loughner.
Thank you, I wanna help join it just a little bit
because I can see stuff he can't say.
It's not just financial when it comes to Orange
and LA counties, there's a little bit of political
kind of activity going on in the background
that Darren can't share, he doesn't wanna share.
So there's a lot more moving parts
than what we're looking at,
but it's inherent in the type of funding that we have there
being dependent on JPA with no independent source of funding,
kind of like our transit agencies depend on SBCTA.
As you said, over 50% of LA Metro,
they pull up, the system's gone.
There's nothing we can do.
They can probably operate their own.
The other thing I don't think you mentioned
was the fact that with the reduction in LA,
they're making their priority Antelope Valley.
They're not making their priority San Bernardino,
which means whatever money they're putting in
is gonna be put into a different part of the line.
So it's really not gonna help us that much.
And I wanna be careful because all of our member agencies
watch these events.
And our challenge on what's happening with OCTA's
and Metro's notice of our reduction
is one third of our financial challenge.
The fact that we don't have that unrealized fair revenue
because our forecast, the crystal ball of our consultant
for forecasting, ridership and revenue,
I don't know who would have predicted what we could have.
This is a national issue.
systems like that is across the country are wrestling
with this very same problem of how we come out
of the pandemic.
So it is like I said, it's the three part,
this is the trifecta.
And while the members of losing some member support
is not wonderful.
Other parts are just as challenging for us to work through.
Member each.
Yeah, speaking about Alonzo lines, LA Metro,
is that gonna make any cuts on Alonzo line
or is LA Metro still fighting for still fighting for it?
I, you know, we, Director DuTrey,
We've just received the most recent schedule modifications
that recognized some different scenarios.
We're having to cost those out
and we will take a scenario that involved
the Antelope Valley line to Metro
with the pricing that's associated with that.
In the case of Antelope Valley line,
that line is pretty much fully,
it is fully funded by Los Angeles County Metro.
So if they can handle that pricing,
then we'll be able to continue that service.
And that's the decision that they'll have to contact.
We're in a difficult position.
60 out of every 100 passengers, we lost 40.
We're hoping to be at, I mean, 30% right now.
We're not based on our projections.
We had to redo our projections, so there's less revenue.
So we just have to, I mean,
hopefully the state comes in as a temporary relief
but we still have a long-term issue.
Less passengers come back and start paying revenues.
So I'll move for approval.
All right, we got a motion by Dutray second by McCollum.
Any further discussion?
Seeing none, all in favor?
Opposed?
Abstentions?
The item passes unanimously.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President.
You're very welcome, thank you.
Moving along on to item number 27, as Victor said,
this one here, same sub SCRRA request
for continuing resolutions for the first quarter
of fiscal year 2026, 2027 for MetroLink Aeroservice.
Good morning Mr. Board President and Directors.
So based on the discussion from the periods agenda item,
we are recommending that this board approve
a three month continue resolution
for both the MetroLink and the Aeroservice
as noted under recommendation A through D.
The recommended funding levels are equal
to the first quarter budget for the current fiscal year.
And then again, as it was noticed in the last staff report,
the target is to work through the budget process
with the ACRI board taking action in July
and then us coming back to this board in September.
So then separately under recommendation E,
we're recommending that this board approve a funding swap,
allowing timely payments to ACRI.
This recommendation is to ensure timely payments
to ACRI until the SB 125 allocations are received
from the state and that concludes my presentation
and I'll answer any questions.
Thank you, Victor.
Any public comments on the item, number 27?
Bring it back to board.
Any comments from board members?
Seeing none, thank you, Victor.
Looking for a motion.
Move approval.
McCallum moves.
And Navarro's second.
All in favor?
Opposed?
Abstentions.
The item passes unanimously.
Thank you.
Under our last item, item number 28 on your agenda,
I-215 University Parkway interchange,
amendment number four to cooperative agreement
with city of San Bernardino,
and amendment number three to CTO
for construction management services.
And Paul Mellithutton will be presenting.
Good morning, Mr. President, members of the board.
This item is related to the Interstate 215
University Parkway interchange.
The interchange is located in the city of San Bernardino
along 215, of course,
just about a mile and a half north of State Route 210.
And this project actually recently opened
the region's first diverging diamond interchange
or DDI for short.
So a majority of the construction is not complete.
There's some minor items left such as final electrical items,
final striping and addressing Caltrans
and city inspection items.
So as we approach completion,
staff has identified several needs that require an increase
in the funding authority of the co-op
between SBCTA and the city of San Bernardino.
So these include additional construction management effort
due to understated field conditions,
added coordination with utilities and property owners.
And also we're thinking about increasing the budget
to address continued public outreach
and to address post-construction
right away Goodwill claims.
So the total increase proposed in the corporate amendment
is roughly 623,000.
It's to be funded with city of San Bernardino funds
and Measure I Valley freeway interchange funds.
In addition to that, and like I said,
related to the construction management increase efforts,
staff is requesting approval of a amendment
to contract task order with Kleinfelder
who is SPCPA's construction management consultant.
Of the total CM increase, 250,000 was recently
released under delegated authority
and the remaining amount, 517,000 is now being requested
for board approval.
This will bring the CTO amount to 2.9 million.
And that concludes my presentation.
I'd be happy to answer any questions.
All right, thank you, Paul.
We'll see if there's any public comment on this item.
Item number 28, seeing none, back to the board.
Any questions or comments or to move the item?
Second.
By Baca, moves and second by Trent.
All right, thank you very much.
Pardon me.
I apologize. They're sitting next to you. My apologies. Okay, we got that. It would be a
Baca Jr. All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstentions. The item passes unanimously.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Paul. Moving on, any board member comments as we close?
Yes, I'm sorry.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Go ahead.
Yeah, Larry, please.
I just wanted to congratulate all of those
that won their election yesterday.
Congratulations.
And Dawn, please.
In your comment in the agenda item earlier,
you mentioned that SBCTA was able to meet
with Brightline Monthly.
San Bernardino County Fire District,
if I can put on my board member hat,
has been unable to get them to return our emails, phone calls,
and requests for meetings.
and we've expressed that to them continually as a problem.
If you could encourage them to maybe have County Fire join you in your monthly meetings that would be great.
I will do that. I just mentioned it when we met with them last week,
when they were asking if there's anything they should be focusing on, and I said exactly that.
They haven't found our phone number yet. Okay, thank you. I hear you.
I have one? Yes.
Oh, on behalf of the City of Needles, we'd like to thank SBCTA.
We contacted them to come up with a public announcement
to increase our ridership out there
since our gas per gallon out is well over $7.
So again, we thank them for the flyer
and June 18th is gonna be called Dump the Pump Day,
Ride Your Nat and D-A-R Free.
But thank you again to SBCTA.
Oh, excellent notification, thank you.
Yeah, please, go right in.
Thank you. I just want to let
everyone here know last night
council meeting one item public
hearing and as a part of that
we approved the specific plan
for the Barstow International
Gateway bringing thousands of
jobs to the Barstow. Great
Davis. There's been a lot of
discussion around the
communities with that project.
So congratulations, Mr
President, your neighbor,
Adeline Bell. Right. Thank you,
Mr President. I just wanted to
officers wanted to first start off by thanking our our amazing and great
looking city manager mr. Jesse Flores and our PIO our Liar Señeda for
driving down and being here for today's meeting it means a lot ladies and
gentlemen for the city of Adelanto what happened today right this is the first
time that an elected official from the city has ever held any type of vice
president or president position on any type of board so it's a big deal for us
us. I think we can all agree on that. There was a time when the A in Adelanto stood for
absent armpit and another A word that I'll keep to myself for the public. But that's
not the case anymore, right? The A in Adelanto now stands for accountability. It stands for
ambitious. It stands for action. And it is a privilege to be able to co-lead this ship
with one of the greatest human beings on Earth,
Supervisor Joe Baca Jr.
I'm excited to continue learning.
Well, he came from you, so you got it.
That rolls down to you, sir, yeah, right?
But, you know, it's a gift to be able to learn
and soak in and observe from the Aquinas of the world, right?
The Don Riles of the world, the Art Bishops of the world,
the the the Hagmans of the world. Um, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you for
trusting the city of Adelanto and thank you for trusting Daniel Ramos for for for to lead,
you know, to lead. And, uh, and lastly, um, you guys are to thank for that. I'm, that
you guys are.
Yes, I like on me that I can't I'll close in this I cannot thank you guys enough for
building me into the leader and the jackass that you see here before you today, Mr. President.
Thank you for that. You're a welcome member. Yes, member Marquez.
Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. First of all, I just wanted to just to basically congratulate
Mr. Joe Baca Jr. and also Dan Ramos. But especially you, sir. You've done a great job as president
at this past year.
Great job and thank you.
Well, thank you for that comment.
I appreciate it very much.
Nick, I have my light on.
Aquanetta sensor sitting over there
by the vice president.
I know, I'm just so honored,
but I just want to thank you, Rick,
for the great job you've done.
You've been outstanding and I appreciate you.
Well, thank you.
I got to tell you, Daniel, I am so proud of you.
I remember meeting with your city
and in the role of Latco chair,
and just talking to your city manager
and your mayor and yourself,
you showed that you had the concerns.
And I really gotta tell you all,
if there's ever a turnaround,
that's what I've seen in Nogolong
and I'm proud of that.
And I'm proud of you.
You got rid of the naysayers and the haters and moved on.
And just keep doing what you're doing
because you're doing an outstanding job.
I really, and plus I love your dad.
Yeah, that's my dance partner at the senior center.
Well, there is no doubt that Adelanto is back in business.
And Daniel has been excellent.
We sat together when he first started coming to the board,
and we would chit-chat back and forth
and just talking about the membership and the work
that we do here.
And he's been all ears, and he paid attention
for a long time.
And now he's stepping forward, and I appreciate that.
Joe Baca Jr., thank you for your time as vice chair.
You're great.
of course, your stewardship from your father
has been fantastic.
He brings a lot to the board.
And I do work, I enjoyed this year a lot.
It went by super fast, as many people said it would be.
There were challenging days for me where I was in,
I thought, a little bit over my head at times,
but because it's such a good team and we are a team,
things have been moving forward
and we're bringing projects that make the life
of every resident and visitor to San Bernardino
having better and I see see the projects I go by the projects and I'm very
thankful for the work that we accomplish and how we represent our communities so
with their yeah just yes yeah thank you Rick just wanted to thank my colleagues
at the board for your support and confidence for president's been an
honor to serve as vice president but most of all just want to thank Rick for
his leadership he's done a great job he's been fair he's he listens he does a
great job and he really represents this SBCTA board well you've done it well for this past year
we're so proud of you so keep up the good work thank you so much oh Janet did we did you have
another comment no oh your lights on I don't want to miss it you know we love needles I really
appreciate you coming all the way out here so at this time I'll turn it over to our executive
director yeah I'll make I'll make it quick because it's been a long meeting but I just want to thank
you for your leadership today you approved the largest budget in our history 1.4 billion
Um pretty big deal. Um not and not lost in that is the additional effort in cog and the housing
trust the board's accomplished a lot this year. Thank you for the clear um consistent direction
and I look forward to another year with you. And in addition with the award or the potential award
of contract to be on I-10 will be in the realm of approximately somewhere around a billion dollars
of construction underway in the county which is tremendous I'm here very shortly so thank you for
all your fantastic leadership. Thank you for that there's not going to be any shortage of work
for the next president and vice president so with that what you've all been waiting
for all day long this was a very challenging uh vote uh so we have a tie oh aqua nera took off
did she no okay it was gonna surprise her well you know uh janet looking straight across
You were in the tie.
So you outdid yourself.
You look fantastic.
Jim Harris would be proud of your commitment to
making sure that we take this serious.
Aquanetta knew that she was sitting next to what she,
I don't want to say what she said,
but Daniel, it's a tie.
Adelanto and needles.
That's it. Jim Harris.
I see him right over there by Bill.
You guys want to say anything about this year's winners?
You're the reason.
Bill, where did you drive in from?
I remember Big Bear and I still think of you as being there.
You're in the low desert now, yeah?
Yes, Steve just left us and went down there too.
Thank you for joining us today.
You guys definitely left your mark on this,
a tradition that continues and I'd like to applaud both of you.
I think we'll be getting some photographs with
today's two winners and yourselves. So thank you with that. This meeting is
adjourned.