[0:00] All right, thank you, everybody, for being here today

[0:03] at the Metrolink board meeting.

[0:05] Let me call the meeting to order.

[0:07] Friday, July 24, 2026, 10:00 AM.

[0:11] And first order of business is the safety briefing.

[0:14] So, Hilary Konczal, Chief Safety, Security

[0:18] and Compliance Officer, please come to the podium

[0:21] and provide our safety briefing.

[0:22] Good morning, vice chair, board of directors.

[0:25] In the event of evacuation, we will collectively

[0:30] walk out the room.

[0:32] Just make sure there aren't any tripping hazards, chairs,

[0:35] book bags, that sort of thing.

[0:36] We'll walk out the entrance to the boardroom,

[0:38] down the escalators.

[0:40] The entrance to the building will turn right,

[0:42] and we'll meet in front of the Metro customer service area,

[0:46] where we'll take headcount and make

[0:49] sure everyone is accounted for.

[0:51] In the event of a medical emergency,

[0:52] we do have an AED located outside of the security desk.

[0:55] We have our LA County Sheriff's Department who will also

[0:58] render aid and dial 911.

[1:02] In the event of an earthquake, we'll

[1:03] take cover under the benches and where we can

[1:06] and wait for the rumbling to stop

[1:08] to see if further evacuation is necessary.

[1:10] And in the event of an active shooter, we'll deploy the run,

[1:14] hide, fight tactic.

[1:15] Thank you.

[1:15] Very good.

[1:16] Thank you very much.

[1:17] Next item is Pledge of Allegiance.

[1:20] We'll ask Director Michael Vargas to lead us today.

[1:26] Thank you.

[1:26] [INAUDIBLE]

[1:32] I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America,

[1:36] and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God,

[1:41] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[1:50] All right, next, Madam Clerk, the roll call.

[1:58] Director Spiegel.

[1:59] I'm here.

[1:59] Just-- whoops.

[2:02] I'm taking my liberty.

[2:03] Everybody's asking about the flowers.

[2:05] It's not my birthday.

[2:07] Darren, you want to explain where they're from?

[2:10] Do I have to?

[2:11] So, yes, we're recognizing Director Spiegel

[2:15] for going above and beyond the call of duty.

[2:18] We had a budget, audit, and finance committee meeting

[2:20] a couple of weeks ago.

[2:22] And we learned through counsel that-- and we had several board

[2:27] members that were taking that meeting remotely outside

[2:31] of our region.

[2:33] So we were going to have difficulty getting

[2:35] to a quorum of actually having a people here within the service

[2:39] area of Metrolink.

[2:41] So I reached out to Director Spiegel the night before.

[2:46] And she was kind enough to change.

[2:51] We're recognizing Director Spiegel

[2:54] for going above and beyond the call of duty.

[2:57] We had a budget, audit, and finance committee meeting

[2:59] a couple of weeks ago.

[3:00] There's two of you.

[3:01] There's two of me.

[3:02] One of me is enough.

[3:05] It's coming from the control room.

[3:07] OK, I think they've corrected it.

[3:09] OK, so anyway, it's a thank you to Director Spiegel for joining

[3:13] us, a meeting that she had not planned

[3:15] on attending, to make sure that we could conduct the meeting.

[3:18] So that's what is.

[3:19] So thank you, director, in person.

[3:21] So yes, in the room, in the region and--

[3:28] whatever she would like, it's on us.

[3:31] OK, good enough.

[3:32] Very good.

[3:33] OK, continue, please.

[3:35] Director Vargas.

[3:37] Director Molina.

[3:39] Second Vice Chair Trembley.

[3:41] Director Engler.

[3:42] Here.

[3:43] Director Barger.

[3:44] Here.

[3:45] Director Najarian.

[3:46] Here.

[3:46] Director Sandoval.

[3:47] Here.

[3:48] Director Solis.

[3:50] Director Ohlsen.

[3:52] Director Allen.

[3:53] Director O'Connor.

[3:55] Director Camacho.

[3:57] Director McCallon.

[3:59] Director Wapner.

[4:00] Here.

[4:02] Director Dutrey.

[4:04] Director Marquez.

[4:06] Chair Chaffee.

[4:08] Director Nguyen.

[4:09] Director Go.

[4:10] Here.

[4:11] Director Tettemer.

[4:13] Vice Chair Berkson.

[4:14] Here.

[4:15] We do have a quorum present.

[4:17] Barely.

[4:21] All right, very good.

[4:22] Do we have any public comments for today's meeting

[4:24] of items not on the agenda?

[4:26] We do not have any requests to speak

[4:28] for items not on the agenda.

[4:30] We have a request to speak for four of our regular calendar

[4:33] items.

[4:34] And we have received a few written public comments

[4:37] requesting that we maintain funding and do not

[4:39] cut service that will be emailed to the Board after the meeting.

[4:43] Very good.

[4:43] So we'll go ahead and listen to the public comments related

[4:46] to those items when we get to them.

[4:49] And we will move to Item 6, Approval of the Consent Calendar

[4:52] Items 11A through 11F.

[4:55] Are there any items that need to be discussed?

[5:01] Can I get a motion to approve?

[5:03] Approve it.

[5:04] And a second.

[5:05] Second.

[5:07] Right, all in favor, aye.

[5:10] Opposed, abstentions.

[5:12] I know that's not the way we normally do it.

[5:13] But in my head, that's the way I like to do it.

[5:16] I like to be awake when I'm having meetings.

[5:19] So I make everybody do something and say something.

[5:21] Anyway, it was a unanimous yes.

[5:24] We will move to the regular calendar, Item 7A,

[5:26] fiscal year '27 budget development update presented

[5:30] by Tom Schamber, Chief Financial Officer.

[5:33] Good morning, Vice Chair Berkson, members of the board.

[5:37] On July 18, last Saturday, a proposed FY27 budget

[5:42] was provided to the member agencies.

[5:45] The budget, commonly referred to as scenario 4,

[5:48] was based on maintaining the current level of service

[5:50] for the duration of fiscal '27.

[5:54] Over this week and next, I will hold meetings with each member

[5:57] agency to review the budget and to answer their questions.

[6:01] It is then up to the member agencies

[6:03] to determine if there is consensus

[6:05] to advance this budget to their respective boards for approval.

[6:11] If consensus is not reached, the member agencies

[6:14] will need to convene a meeting to discuss

[6:16] an alternative scenario for development.

[6:19] Next slide.

[6:22] If consensus is reached to move the current budget forward,

[6:25] there are two alternatives toward reaching budget adoption.

[6:29] These alternatives were presented

[6:31] to the budget, audit, and finance committee

[6:33] earlier this month.

[6:34] The BAF Comm voted to follow alternative one.

[6:39] Alternative one would involve a special board meeting in August

[6:42] to formally transmit the budget to member agencies.

[6:46] In early September, another special board meeting

[6:49] would be held in lieu of the BAF Comm to hold a public hearing

[6:52] and adopt the budget.

[6:54] This budget would take effect on October 1.

[6:57] Under this alternative, no continuing resolution extension

[7:01] would be required.

[7:03] Next slide.

[7:06] Alternative two would involve a special BAF Comm

[7:09] meeting in August to review the budget transmittal.

[7:12] The full board would hold a special meeting

[7:14] in early September in lieu of the regularly scheduled BAF

[7:17] Comm meeting to approve the transmittal.

[7:20] This would be followed by a public hearing and adoption

[7:23] by the full board at its regularly scheduled meeting

[7:25] in late September.

[7:28] The budget would take effect on November 1.

[7:31] And in this case, a one-month extension

[7:33] of the continuing appropriations resolution would be required.

[7:37] The BAF Comm favored the alternative,

[7:40] which didn't involve an extension

[7:41] of the continuing appropriations resolution.

[7:45] Each of these alternatives assumes

[7:47] the current budget scenario is approved by consensus

[7:50] in a timely manner.

[7:51] Should there be a delay in the decision

[7:53] to move forward with this scenario,

[7:55] or if the budget does not have unanimous support,

[7:58] additional time would be required

[8:00] to identify a new scenario and develop another budget

[8:03] for consideration.

[8:05] This would require an extension of the continuing resolution,

[8:09] which is the subject of the next item on today's agenda.

[8:13] Next slide.

[8:15] That concludes my report.

[8:16] I'm happy to answer any questions.

[8:18] All right, Catherine.

[8:21] First of all, thank you for that.

[8:27] I looked at the list.

[8:28] What is the turnaround for the agencies

[8:30] to get the information back to me?

[8:32] And can it be extended?

[8:33] And if so, do you have enough adequate cash flow

[8:36] to cover any costs if we don't come up with finalization?

[8:41] Yeah, so we're hoping for a two-week review period

[8:44] before we hear back definitively from folks.

[8:48] We do get some feedback, but we're

[8:51] waiting for that official decision from each agency.

[8:54] We do have sufficient cash flow.

[8:58] We are finalizing MOUs with the member agencies

[9:05] to get their first quarter payment.

[9:06] So as yet, we haven't received first quarter money.

[9:10] But we do need it urgently to sustain operations.

[9:14] And then, Darren, is Metro working with you?

[9:19] I mean, I'll be very transparent.

[9:21] My goal is to make sure that we limit any cuts.

[9:25] And so I want to make sure that Metro is working with you

[9:28] and providing face time to go over scenarios.

[9:35] Yes, I would-- all the member agencies are working with us.

[9:37] We have different challenges in each of the counties

[9:41] that have given us targets.

[9:43] Tom will be meeting with LA Metro staff

[9:46] Monday of next week--

[9:47] Tuesday of next week.

[9:48] So we will have person to person conversations at that point.

[9:52] And I would ask then if there are any problems or concerns,

[9:59] you will alert us so that we can be on top of it with you.

[10:04] Sure.

[10:04] Absolutely.

[10:05] Thank you.

[10:06] All right, Tim, did you have a comment?

[10:09] No.

[10:10] William, you?

[10:11] OK, anybody else?

[10:13] Go ahead.

[10:14] Yeah, thank you.

[10:15] Just a quick question.

[10:18] The continuing resolutions, if we

[10:20] engage in more continuing resolutions,

[10:22] is there a financial issue going forward?

[10:24] Is there a danger that we're going to run

[10:26] into spending more or less?

[10:28] We would get a second quarter payment along

[10:30] with that second continuing resolution.

[10:32] So we would continue to operate at last year's funding levels

[10:36] and get a second support payment for that quarter.

[10:39] So no, there would not be any issue.

[10:42] With one proviso, and that is that the member

[10:46] agencies, when we build them, they pay us.

[10:50] So that is out there.

[10:53] And given the uncertainty of things,

[10:56] in interest of full transparency,

[10:59] there could be pushback.

[11:01] We do know in the case-- correct me if I'm wrong, Tom,

[11:05] that Orange County is giving us the number at which the target

[11:10] reduction is, which is lower than last year's.

[11:14] They're still paying.

[11:15] It's just at a lower rate than what

[11:17] would have been in the continuing resolution.

[11:19] Is that a correct statement, Tom?

[11:21] Correct.

[11:21] So that said, at least we're getting something coming

[11:25] through the door.

[11:27] Karen.

[11:28] And as I have said in past years that please notify us

[11:35] as directors that if our agency hasn't paid, that we are

[11:40] aware that we can help in getting that payment done

[11:44] because sometimes, we just don't know

[11:46] that the agency hasn't paid.

[11:48] So I would appreciate all of us if our agency

[11:51] hasn't paid that you notify us.

[11:53] Yes.

[11:54] Very good.

[11:55] Thank you.

[11:58] Warren.

[11:59] Thank you.

[12:03] So we told you very clearly that we

[12:05] don't want to study any other alternatives,

[12:08] that we wanted the current service level

[12:10] to be the focus of the studies and the budget development

[12:14] process.

[12:17] That being said, because we have such a short timeline,

[12:22] and in the event that there are some shortfalls in the revenue

[12:28] contribution side or perhaps on the cost-cutting side as well,

[12:34] I don't want to call it a secret plan,

[12:36] but do you have a concept of a alternative to--

[12:46] Coming out of my pocket.

[12:47] --I don't want to call it a plan B

[12:49] because that goes against what we asked you to do.

[12:51] We said there's only plan A. Are you ready, at that point,

[12:55] to move quickly to develop different suggestions

[13:01] to this board as to what we need to do to move forward?

[13:04] We are looking at other savings opportunities because we--

[13:10] we are looking at other savings opportunities

[13:13] that I will call also somewhat low-hanging fruit

[13:15] to find savings to address the two counties that have given us

[13:20] a target to try to aim for.

[13:22] And we're working closely with both counties

[13:25] on that to where we help sweeten the pot at Metrolink, where

[13:32] there might be a few dollars found someplace else

[13:34] where we find some other savings in our operations.

[13:37] So we do have that.

[13:38] The only question will be, does that get us far enough?

[13:41] And we are looking deeper into those

[13:45] because we do know we have to focus on particularly the two

[13:48] counties that gave us a target.

[13:50] So yes, we are working on stuff behind the scenes,

[13:54] given what we've heard at least as initial feedback.

[13:57] And obviously, the constraint is there

[14:00] isn't going to be much time to go through that.

[14:02] So you know that.

[14:04] I mean, I'm not telling you anything new,

[14:06] but I'm just raising that out so everyone

[14:08] is-- we are doing what we can to make

[14:11] sure we're as efficient as possible to the point

[14:14] where, again, we are doing our own revenue forecast.

[14:17] We're not going out to--

[14:18] we've modified that so that we can keep this streamlined.

[14:21] All right, thank you very much.

[14:24] All right, any other comments?

[14:25] I just want to--

[14:26] Go ahead.

[14:27] I just want to add to that that we voted for our budget CTA.

[14:32] So we're pretty adamant on those numbers.

[14:35] I don't know how much flexibility we'll have.

[14:38] So I think it's really important that we do meet those targets

[14:41] that we've been given.

[14:42] And if there is going to be a plan B, that it basically

[14:45] is plan A at this point, right?

[14:48] So I just want to make sure that that's understood.

[14:51] All right, very good.

[14:52] And if I can just ask, I believe the new budget

[14:54] was provided to the member agencies a week or last weekend.

[14:59] And I didn't study it myself.

[15:04] But I've relied on some others that are the professionals.

[15:08] And it appears to them that Orange County still

[15:12] has a higher than what their target was by some

[15:16] six or something million, which just sends a flag out

[15:22] to me saying, all right, well, if we're not

[15:24] at that level with this plan, option 4, what are we doing?

[15:28] A 4.1 and figure out if there's a way to somehow get them

[15:33] to where they need to be while not sacrificing service

[15:37] throughout the rest of the system?

[15:40] Vice Chair Berkson, I only say, give us a chance to work it out.

[15:44] I think we got some things happening.

[15:46] In fact, I presented to the CEOs a week ago an option

[15:53] where something we've never done before.

[15:55] We receive on an annual basis a funding source called state rail

[16:01] assistance.

[16:03] We normally use it because it's a volatile number.

[16:05] It's not much, usually $5 to $6 million.

[16:07] We usually use that to match capital

[16:09] grants and that kind of thing.

[16:10] It's just because it's not something

[16:12] that you could sustain through operations.

[16:15] But we did receive a bigger bump in FY25-26 of $9.3 million.

[16:21] And what I shared with the CEOs is

[16:23] that I would be prepared to recommend to this board

[16:26] that we would take that full amount of $9.3 million

[16:29] to offset some of those numbers.

[16:31] So the numbers that the staff has seen

[16:34] does not include what I shared with the CEO.

[16:38] So 9.3 in our challenge does not go very far,

[16:43] but it does hopefully soften the blow

[16:46] and show the commitment at Metrolink of what

[16:48] we're trying to make happen.

[16:50] All right, very good.

[16:51] Any public comments on this item?

[16:53] We do have one request to speak--

[16:55] All right.

[16:56] --from Adriana Rizzo.

[16:59] Welcome.

[17:02] Hello, everybody.

[17:04] My name is Adriana Rizzo, representing

[17:06] Californians for Electric Rail here from Riverside.

[17:09] Really happy to see that we're getting close to a budget.

[17:12] And happy to see that the more severe service cuts

[17:15] are mostly off the table.

[17:18] I just want to emphasize again the need

[17:19] to avoid all service cuts, including the temporary March

[17:23] cuts, which we have seen ridership growth stagnate.

[17:27] And I know several people who have stopped using Metrolink

[17:30] for certain things because of the last eastbound

[17:34] 91 train of the day has been eliminated, just as an example.

[17:39] One opportunity for additional revenue that I don't think

[17:41] has been explored yet is TDA funds, the Transportation

[17:44] Development Act.

[17:46] Metro yesterday voted to allocate $35 million

[17:49] in money intended for transit and cities

[17:53] in the Antelope Valley line.

[17:55] It isn't enough to fix Metrolink's operating deficit.

[17:58] I think this needs to be looked into further.

[18:00] And I would urge all of the member agencies, not just Metro,

[18:03] to avoid certifying unmet needs when

[18:06] that funding could potentially be used for Metrolink.

[18:10] I also want to emphasize the importance

[18:12] of continuing to adhere to Metrolink service development

[18:14] plan.

[18:15] Are we still on track for 30 minutes San Bernardino line

[18:17] service by 2029?

[18:20] As we think about the future, this board

[18:23] needs a plan for how can we continue to fulfill these plans,

[18:27] fulfill the service benefits promised by the score

[18:31] program, which we've invested hundreds of millions of dollars

[18:36] in state money for and ensure that those investments don't

[18:39] go to waste by continuing to plan for increased service

[18:43] and deliver a better experience for riders.

[18:46] Thank you.

[18:47] All right, very good.

[18:48] Thank you for that.

[18:48] And this item was received and filed.

[18:50] So unless there's objection.

[18:51] Mr. Chair.

[18:52] Yeah, Allen, go ahead.

[18:53] I just want to make sure--

[18:54] I know the focus right now is what Orange County and LA

[18:57] County want to do.

[18:58] But you can't forget about the other three counties.

[19:01] Our commitment may change depending

[19:02] on what everybody else does.

[19:04] So you have to make sure that you

[19:05] stay aware of what the other counties are deciding to do.

[19:08] Don't go in with assumptions that everyone's

[19:10] remained the same.

[19:11] We just have to worry about what the other counties are

[19:13] going to do because it may not be accurate.

[19:17] Well, I agree because Riverside County

[19:19] wanted more service this year, not less service.

[19:22] So, I mean, and willing to pay the price.

[19:26] But of course, our lines go through either Orange County

[19:29] or LA County.

[19:29] So we all have that challenge.

[19:32] And hopefully we can get to that point

[19:34] where everything works out.

[19:36] So we will receive and file that and move to Item 7B,

[19:40] approval of an extension for the continuing appropriations

[19:43] resolution for fiscal year '27, again,

[19:45] presented by Tom Schamber, Chief Financial Officer.

[19:48] Good morning again.

[19:49] I just went over the status of the FY27 budget.

[19:54] It was distributed to the member agencies on July 18.

[19:57] As I mentioned, there are two pathways

[19:59] towards adoption, which are dependent on the timing

[20:02] of key decisions and the direction of the board.

[20:05] I presented two alternatives, which

[20:07] both assume that the member agencies approve advancement

[20:10] of the currently proposed budget.

[20:13] One pathway avoids the need for an extension

[20:15] of the continuing appropriations resolution.

[20:18] The second pathway requires a one-month extension.

[20:22] The third pathway, which would arise if the member

[20:24] agencies determine that a new budget scenario should

[20:27] be developed, would require additional time for agency staff

[20:30] to complete their work.

[20:32] Exactly how much time cannot be determined at this time.

[20:35] It will depend on the timing of the decision

[20:38] to pursue another scenario, the time taken

[20:40] to finalize assumptions for that scenario,

[20:42] and the timing of future BAF Comm and board meetings.

[20:47] Next slide.

[20:49] We are recommending approval of a three-month extension

[20:52] of the continuing resolution until December 31

[20:56] for the Metrolink and Arrow operating and capital budgets.

[21:00] The budget will be developed as quickly as possible.

[21:03] And it is possible that a budget can be adopted before then.

[21:07] This extension is a precaution in light of uncertainty.

[21:10] And it also takes into consideration the board calendar

[21:12] for the remainder of the year.

[21:14] Next slide.

[21:16] That concludes my presentation.

[21:17] I'm happy to answer any questions.

[21:19] All right, very good.

[21:20] Comments, questions.

[21:21] Karen.

[21:21] That is with the caveat, as Mr. Head Honcho here said,

[21:29] that we would continue to make our payments, correct?

[21:32] Correct.

[21:33] So that has to be part of this, that we continue

[21:36] to make our payments of last year's amounts

[21:39] until the resolution of what we're going to end up doing.

[21:43] Correct.

[21:43] OK.

[21:46] Allen.

[21:47] Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[21:48] SPCT stands ready to support the continuing resolution.

[21:51] But we are asking-- we're ready to do

[21:53] the budget for the airlines.

[21:54] We'd like to see that come back to the board for approval.

[21:59] Understood.

[22:01] So in this case, that would be a modified--

[22:06] the recommendation would be an amendment

[22:08] to the staff recommendation that Arrow comes back at the earliest

[22:14] possible time, and that the continuing

[22:17] resolution for Metrolink proper would proceed as recommended.

[22:23] OK, any other comments?

[22:27] Do we have any public comments?

[22:30] We do have a request to speak from Adriana Rizzo.

[22:33] OK, welcome back.

[22:39] Hello, everybody.

[22:40] First, I want to say that I support extending the continuing

[22:45] resolution and urge the board to vote yes on this item.

[22:48] I think it's important insurance in case member agencies

[22:51] are uncooperative.

[22:53] But I think the fact that we're in this situation where

[22:56] we potentially won't have a budget until as late as

[22:59] December, halfway through the fiscal year,

[23:02] is a symptomatic of deep dysfunction within Metrolink

[23:07] governance.

[23:09] The JPA structure of Metrolink requires cooperation.

[23:12] But what we've seen this year is the opposite

[23:14] of that, where we can't even get agencies to agree on

[23:18] if we should follow our own service development plan,

[23:20] if we should have more or less service.

[23:23] And I think that this crisis highlights a need

[23:27] for deeper structural reform.

[23:29] In particular, most urgently, I would

[23:33] urge the Metrolink to explore a permanent, sustainable,

[23:39] additional source of operations funding,

[23:42] such as a new regional tax measure that

[23:46] is not dependent on the member agencies.

[23:51] Really, we need a source of--

[23:54] all of this complicated process of getting

[23:56] all these different actors to approve a budget

[24:00] is just really failing to deliver

[24:02] the service, a frequent, reliable service

[24:05] our region needs.

[24:07] And we need to think bigger, and particularly

[24:12] with the need for a funding source that

[24:14] is controlled by the Metrolink board

[24:16] and not reliant on so many different actors.

[24:21] I support Metrolink's move to find more state money.

[24:25] But for the last five years, we've

[24:27] really not seen interest from the state

[24:29] in sustained, reliable operational support.

[24:34] And I think that's going to continue

[24:36] to be a challenge until we have more statewide reforms that

[24:42] stabilize the state budget from year to year.

[24:45] And so I would really encourage the board

[24:46] to look regionally and think about what we can do here

[24:52] in Southern California to strengthen Metrolink

[24:57] as an agency and make it less a everybody's last priority.

[25:05] Thank you.

[25:06] Very good.

[25:07] Thank you.

[25:07] Appreciate your comment.

[25:09] Any other comments from the committee?

[25:13] Go ahead.

[25:16] We just want to make sure that even though it looks like we're

[25:19] going to try to get more time on this,

[25:22] we want to keep working towards the fact

[25:25] that it's a difficult problem to solve,

[25:28] but it's also just a math problem.

[25:31] So we have the variables defined.

[25:33] Where else can we pull levers from

[25:36] to get this to where we need to be?

[25:38] The issue for us is we've spoken our levels that we

[25:45] were able to fund to our tax dollars,

[25:48] M2 tax dollars allocated to this so

[25:50] that we can continue to service at the time we

[25:54] need it to keep going to.

[25:57] So I urge that we continue to keep working together

[26:00] and just do as much as we can to get there.

[26:04] The sooner, the better.

[26:05] I think delaying this further just puts us

[26:08] in a precarious situation towards--

[26:11] to what end?

[26:12] What if December 31, we still don't

[26:15] have all the full solution?

[26:16] So with that said, just want to keep that in mind

[26:21] that it's a everyday problem that we

[26:23] need to solve for the riders.

[26:27] Karen.

[26:28] I definitely agree that if we can't by December 31,

[26:34] there's just not going to be a solution.

[26:36] I'll be quite frank.

[26:37] I appreciate LA stepping up and reconsidering and working.

[26:40] I just hope Orange County, I know you're

[26:43] saying you're hard cut and dry.

[26:45] But if LA is stepping up, I hope that you can maybe reconsider.

[26:50] And we realize when it cuts.

[26:52] But you made a comment about constituents and ridership

[26:56] and wanting to help them.

[26:59] That's not going to happen in doing cuts.

[27:03] All right, Ara.

[27:04] And I do want to, from the LA Metro side,

[27:08] express our deep appreciation for our other counties,

[27:14] for San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura.

[27:17] We hope that you remain firm in the commitments.

[27:20] We understand there's budgetary pressures, but we're all in this

[27:24] together.

[27:25] And we're only as strong as our weakest link.

[27:30] We're competitive.

[27:31] Good, no, I know.

[27:32] I mean, I appreciated it.

[27:34] [INAUDIBLE]

[27:39] We're all.

[27:40] I think we're all--

[27:41] And in that corner.

[27:43] So thank you for working with your boards

[27:47] and maintaining the level that you have.

[27:50] Others of us have some different issues

[27:52] that we have to work through.

[27:54] And everyone has a different row to hoe, I guess.

[28:00] We all have different things that are coming at us.

[28:03] Ours is a smaller amount, but we have less coming in.

[28:07] So [INAUDIBLE] just we all have that same commitment.

[28:11] I'm just using the word commitment

[28:12] now from a monetary amount because you can't compare.

[28:16] You guys are [INAUDIBLE].

[28:27] As we talk about this, I wanted to make sure

[28:31] that staff is engaging with the member agencies

[28:34] because we're going to get through this budget.

[28:37] And it's already going to be time to start the next one.

[28:40] And before we conclude, have we had discussions

[28:46] with other member agencies to determine whether or not

[28:49] they're going to be pulling any additional funding

[28:51] for next year's budget?

[28:53] I mean, these are things that are coming up quick.

[28:55] So we can't wait till the last minute.

[28:57] That's what got us in this position

[28:59] because we found out at the very end of the fiscal year

[29:05] that all of a sudden, not just one but two counties

[29:08] needed to pull back.

[29:09] And that created a major race to try to get a budget that worked.

[29:15] Well, what happens next year if we know ahead

[29:18] of time that we're going to have additional constraints?

[29:21] We need to start building that in.

[29:24] So, Vice Chair Berkson, I think one

[29:27] of the things we are learning from this year

[29:29] is we are in a sort of a reset of our budget process.

[29:32] We had a real whiff, to a certain degree,

[29:35] on the budget process last time because we anticipated more fare

[29:38] revenue.

[29:39] Again, this is not just a member agency challenge.

[29:41] We didn't get fare revenue that we were expecting.

[29:44] So that was 50% of our challenge.

[29:47] We now know where we stand as it relates

[29:49] to ridership and revenue.

[29:51] We're in a much better place.

[29:53] We know where our escalators are and our contracts.

[29:57] We also know, at least from the one letter from Los Angeles,

[30:01] from LA Metro, that the target was for next year

[30:04] and then flat for three years after that.

[30:11] Our delivery of our service, that

[30:13] is not going to go down over those period of years.

[30:19] We have various obligations to do that.

[30:22] So our next year will be as difficult, if not more,

[30:29] because, again, I mentioned the 9.3 that we're

[30:32] prepared to put on the table, that is not

[30:35] going to be a source that is going

[30:37] to be reliable or sustainable.

[30:39] So we are going to have to wrestle with that issue, which

[30:42] is why it has been so critically important for us to continue

[30:45] to lobby in Sacramento for state support.

[30:49] And I mean, I don't know how we get

[30:55] there absent the targets that have been presented

[31:01] to us from member agencies.

[31:03] So we should expect something as challenging next year

[31:10] as we are dealing with this.

[31:12] We will know it sooner, though, to answer your question.

[31:18] We will know it much sooner.

[31:20] All right, well, my goal, obviously, in my head

[31:22] is let's not have to have any continuing resolutions

[31:25] for next fiscal year.

[31:26] Let's get it done on time knowing

[31:29] where we're at this year.

[31:31] So all right, this is an action item.

[31:33] So the action item is asking for a three-month continuing

[31:37] appropriations.

[31:38] Do we have a motion for that?

[31:40] With the proviso on the Arrow, that would not require that.

[31:44] So just make sure that the recommendation is modified

[31:47] to that or it's an amendment.

[31:51] Second.

[31:52] I second.

[31:53] All in favor, aye.

[31:56] Opposed, abstention.

[31:57] Opposed.

[31:58] Opposed.

[31:59] So motion carries.

[32:00] All in favor minus one.

[32:04] All right, with that, we move to Item 7C, internal audit,

[32:09] proposed fiscal year 2027 annual audit plan presented

[32:12] by Elisabeth Lazuardi, Director of Audit.

[32:15] Good morning.

[32:17] I'm reporting on Item C. It is recommended

[32:20] that the board approve the proposed '27 audit plan.

[32:23] Next slide, please.

[32:25] The internal audit charter requires the internal audit

[32:28] department to submit an annual audit

[32:30] plan to the board each year for approval.

[32:33] The five-step process we used to develop the annual audit plan

[32:37] is summarized here.

[32:38] Next slide, please.

[32:40] This slide highlights our newly proposed audit.

[32:44] Next slide.

[32:46] And we carried forward a few audits.

[32:48] We started in fiscal '26, which we will complete in fiscal '27.

[32:53] Following board approval, we will provide the board

[32:56] with the status of the audit plan on a quarterly basis.

[32:59] At the budget audit finance committee meeting on July 10,

[33:03] in response to Director Tettemer's request for an update

[33:08] on process improvements related to past challenges

[33:11] and mechanical failures, management

[33:13] will provide the board with a quarterly report

[33:16] on these areas going forward.

[33:18] The first report will be in October.

[33:21] Next slide.

[33:23] And this concludes my item.

[33:24] Happy to answer if you have any questions.

[33:26] Very good.

[33:28] Comments or questions about the audit report?

[33:32] So we did bring something up at our board briefing

[33:35] yesterday in regards to possibly talking

[33:39] about adding another item to this list,

[33:42] but wanted to just bring that to the board for consideration.

[33:47] With the number of issues that have been publicly

[33:53] blasted about Metrolink with trains

[33:56] and having the mechanical issues we had earlier this year

[33:58] to the one Saturday where, I don't know,

[34:01] between 150 and 500 stranded people

[34:04] in the blazing sun, fire department supplying them

[34:08] water and things like that.

[34:10] And some had heat stroke or whatnot.

[34:13] Obviously, the conversation basically

[34:18] is about whether or not we add an item to the audit plan

[34:22] to basically determine if our response teams are

[34:28] the ones driving the regular little Metrolink

[34:30] cars that might have water in the back or the backup trains.

[34:35] Are they doing what we need them to do?

[34:37] Do we have that plan in place?

[34:39] Is the checklist there, and they know what to do and when?

[34:43] I'm not sure what the feeling is here.

[34:45] But I think that, at least in discussion with our board

[34:51] briefing, it seems like that might be a good item

[34:55] to add so that we can at least make sure that the public is

[34:59] being treated as quickly as possible

[35:02] and the people that are representing

[35:04] Metrolink are getting out there as fast as they're supposed to.

[35:08] So I'm not sure if we've ever had an audit like that.

[35:13] Not that I recall myself, but I wanted just to bring it out

[35:18] and say that is something that I was thinking we might want

[35:21] to engage with if there's--

[35:24] Just a comment.

[35:25] I think that's something really important that we look into.

[35:27] I'm not sure it's quite an audit kind of function.

[35:29] Perhaps it's just something we have there and take a look at

[35:32] and bring it back.

[35:32] Mr. Vice Chair, I was going to suggest that this board has

[35:37] probably not been briefed in some time about how we handle

[35:39] those types of actions.

[35:42] Between our safety security and compliance team and our customer

[35:45] experience team, we can put together

[35:47] a presentation for a full board meeting that

[35:50] lays out because we have a long list of what's

[35:54] supposed to happen.

[35:54] Does it always work perfectly?

[35:58] But we do have a plan in place.

[36:01] So if we can do that and if we encounter a need potentially

[36:05] in the future, how it could be treated through Liz's team,

[36:09] that may be something.

[36:10] But maybe we get a bite at the apple

[36:12] from a management perspective on that one as well.

[36:14] I have no issue with that myself.

[36:17] Catherine.

[36:18] So is there a reason--

[36:21] and this may be what you're asking--

[36:22] why the materials and management maintenance of equipment unit

[36:27] was left out of the audit plan?

[36:30] As indicated in our report, we have a table

[36:33] identifying areas of high risk.

[36:36] Definitely, that's one of the high risks that were not

[36:39] selected for an audit for the fiscal

[36:42] '27, partly because as management is working on it,

[36:46] they also have their internal working group looking into this

[36:50] for process improvement.

[36:52] And again, as I already mentioned at the budget audit

[36:57] finance committee meeting, during the discussions,

[37:01] Director Najarian and Director Tettemer

[37:03] obviously raised that issues.

[37:05] And then you feel free to chime in.

[37:08] But it was agreed that an action item of management

[37:14] will provide quarterly report on those areas.

[37:17] OK, because given that that seems

[37:19] to be the equipment failures.

[37:27] So we have new leadership over the area that deals

[37:32] with our parts and operations.

[37:34] They're stepping up.

[37:35] We have this internal working group.

[37:37] To be real blunt, the locomotive that you see in front of you

[37:44] on these screens, the 40 of them,

[37:46] they have had a reliability.

[37:48] We are actually getting the parts we

[37:50] need when we do have failures.

[37:52] The situation that occurred on Saturday

[37:54] was something that we've become, unfortunately, accustomed to.

[37:57] They just happen to be a surprise every time

[37:59] it happens because you don't know

[38:00] when a fuel manifold is going to crack

[38:02] and renders the equipment completely unusable.

[38:07] We have fuel manifolds in inventory.

[38:10] We have spider shafts in inventory.

[38:12] So we know what our problem parts are.

[38:14] We just don't know when they're going to fail.

[38:16] And that is a problem with this particular locomotive

[38:20] that I have now determined to be a DeLorean as we

[38:26] struggle with some of the reliability challenges.

[38:29] But the team is working on the parts of material side.

[38:34] And we're trying to come up with ways

[38:37] to reduce even the part failure issue

[38:40] with the various manufacturers.

[38:42] Thank you.

[38:43] All right, any other comments?

[38:47] All right, this is an action item to approve--

[38:50] oh, public comments.

[38:51] Do we have a public comment?

[38:52] OK, now it's an action item.

[38:54] Do we have a motion to approve the audit

[38:57] plan as is in the staff report?

[39:00] Second.

[39:01] All right, all in favor, aye.

[39:03] Opposed, abstentions.

[39:06] Not a lot of yeses, but no no's.

[39:10] Item 7D, contract number SP645-27,

[39:14] customer service center recommendation to award 22nd

[39:17] Century Technologies, presented by Rachel Chaires,

[39:22] Senior Manager, Customer Relations, and Tammi Phillips,

[39:24] Senior Contract and Compliance Administrator.

[39:28] Good morning, Vice Chair Berkson, member of the board.

[39:31] Next slide, please.

[39:33] Metrolink's customer service center handles over 500,000

[39:37] customer contacts each year, providing real time information

[39:40] on schedules, fares, connecting transit,

[39:43] and assistance during service disruptions.

[39:45] In addition to supporting marketing campaigns,

[39:47] special trains, and mobile app issues,

[39:50] live agents are available via phone and text

[39:52] during designated business hours, seven days a week.

[39:55] And recorded information is available 24 hours a day.

[39:58] Next slide, please.

[40:01] This procurement will ensure uninterrupted, high-quality

[40:04] customer support for riders when the current contract expires

[40:07] in November 2026.

[40:10] We began with a request for information

[40:11] in October that drew 33 responses--

[40:14] I'm sorry-- that drew responses from 33 firms,

[40:18] giving us strong insight into modern customer service

[40:20] tools and staffing models.

[40:22] The request for proposal was issued in March

[40:24] and generated strong industry interest.

[40:27] Of the 83 firms that downloaded the solicitation,

[40:30] 25 attended the pre-proposal conference.

[40:33] Staff answered 348 follow-up questions

[40:36] and ultimately received 11 proposals.

[40:38] Eight were responsive, and six advanced to interviews

[40:41] after meeting the technical threshold.

[40:44] Proposals were evaluated on capabilities, staffing,

[40:47] operations, and price.

[40:49] After combining technical and cost scores,

[40:51] 22nd Century Technologies Inc received the highest overall

[40:54] ranking.

[40:55] Their proposal demonstrated strong operational readiness,

[40:59] a modern technology platform, and a staffing approach

[41:02] that aligns with Metrolink's performance expectations.

[41:05] 22nd Century has been in business for 29 years as an IT

[41:08] services integrator and has 12 years of experience operating

[41:12] customer service centers.

[41:14] The company is headquartered in McLean, Virginia,

[41:17] with an existing customer service

[41:18] facility in Dallas and the capability

[41:20] to establish a local operation if needed.

[41:23] They currently employ more than 350 trained customer service

[41:27] agents supporting federal, state, and local government

[41:30] clients, including several public transportation agencies.

[41:35] To support a seamless transition,

[41:36] they also intend to recruit experienced staff

[41:39] from the incumbent contractor.

[41:41] Next slide, please.

[41:43] Staff recommends awarding a three-year contract to 22nd

[41:46] Century Technologies Inc with two one-year option periods

[41:50] for an amount not to exceed $8.5 million and authorizing the CEO

[41:54] to exercise the option periods at the authority's discretion.

[41:58] Next slide, please.

[42:00] This concludes my report.

[42:01] And I'm happy to take any questions.

[42:03] All right, very good.

[42:04] Karen.

[42:09] Is the current company OK with 22nd Century recruiting

[42:19] their folks?

[42:21] That is a standard.

[42:23] When there's a transition of customer service center

[42:27] contracts, the new contractor will reach out to the incumbent

[42:31] to determine if there is staff that

[42:33] is interested in transitioning over.

[42:35] And where is our incumbent based?

[42:38] In Brea, California.

[42:39] So the new one is in Virginia.

[42:44] Yes, they're headquartered in Virginia.

[42:47] And there doesn't seem to be a problem because it's straight

[42:50] over the phone customer service?

[42:52] No, we have several SOPs that we'll be sharing.

[42:57] We'll be working closely with them

[42:59] on developing their training curriculum.

[43:03] They also operate customer service centers

[43:07] for transportation agencies across the country.

[43:10] So we're really confident that they

[43:12] will be able to support us successfully.

[43:15] OK, thank you.

[43:17] Allen.

[43:18] Thank you.

[43:18] Did you have the opportunity to actually visit their customer

[43:20] service center to see how it operates?

[43:22] I have not.

[43:24] You think that that might be advisable?

[43:27] Is that something you would do normally or not?

[43:33] Historically, I mean, Director Wapner, that's not something

[43:37] where we've gone to those.

[43:39] Not to say it's not a reasonable idea.

[43:42] That's not been a practice of Metrolink's in the past

[43:44] to go and visit those centers.

[43:48] We generally take the references we have from those agencies

[43:53] that they recognize that they currently perform work

[43:55] for as sufficient for our ability

[44:00] for them to perform on our contracts.

[44:02] I'm just wondering if sometimes the flexibility of that customer

[44:05] service center, are they really using folks that are there

[44:08] or they're using the address and there's other folks working

[44:10] somewhere else in the world?

[44:11] How do we know that?

[44:12] I'm sorry.

[44:13] Can you repeat the question?

[44:14] How do we know that the folks that are working for them

[44:17] are actually working within the United States

[44:19] and they're not using folks in other countries

[44:21] to answer the phones?

[44:22] Thank you for the question.

[44:23] They have confirmed that their entire staff is located

[44:26] within the United States.

[44:30] OK, any other-- Tim.

[44:33] Yeah, thank you.

[44:35] You had mentioned that they're based in Virginia.

[44:38] They have a center in Dallas.

[44:41] And then you also said, if I understood correctly,

[44:43] that there is the possibility of a local option.

[44:47] Maybe you didn't phrase it that way.

[44:49] What triggers that?

[44:50] Because what I assume to be a local option

[44:52] is California or somewhere in Southern California.

[44:56] Can you explain that?

[44:57] Yes, they indicated that if we require them to be local,

[45:02] that they can secure a facility here and set up operations

[45:06] locally.

[45:07] Just out of curiosity, is there a reason

[45:09] why we wouldn't do that, given proximity?

[45:13] Is there additional cost?

[45:17] It's close by.

[45:18] We can go see it.

[45:20] Just any thoughts on that insight would be appreciated.

[45:23] Yeah, Director Sandoval, and I don't know, Tammi or Rachel,

[45:26] if there's an added cost for them to tool

[45:30] up a facility in Southern California

[45:32] that we would then be on the hook for.

[45:34] So much of what customer service does

[45:36] happen is almost by its very nature is kind of remote.

[45:40] But it is nice to be able to go kick the tires locally

[45:44] if we can.

[45:45] Can you answer that question, Rachel or Tammi?

[45:47] Is there additional cost to have it or Sabrina who's stepped up

[45:49] behind you, just so you know.

[45:52] They did not indicate an additional cost.

[45:55] But I can certainly find out and get back to you.

[45:57] And maybe one of the questions is

[45:59] this is a three-year contract, two additional years.

[46:05] Maybe through our process of just monitoring,

[46:11] perhaps we go back to them and say, listen, we really

[46:13] would like for you to bring a local component here.

[46:16] Certainly, it could mean some jobs,

[46:17] albeit probably not a lot of positions, but just something

[46:21] to be aware of.

[46:23] Good point.

[46:23] All right, any other comments, questions?

[46:26] Any public comments?

[46:29] All right, this is an action item asking for the contract.

[46:33] Do I have a motion to approve?

[46:35] And do I have a second?

[46:36] All right, all in favor, aye.

[46:38] Opposed, abstention.

[46:40] Motion carries unanimous.

[46:42] Onto 7E, contract number C3167-26 SCORE Marengo

[46:50] and Rancho siding extension projects,

[46:53] construction recommendation to award Granite Construction

[46:55] Company, presented by Katy Thorpe,

[46:58] Principal Engineer Capital and Third Party Construction.

[47:01] Director Berkson, before Katie starts,

[47:04] this is a really big deal.

[47:06] Go ahead, Katy.

[47:08] No pressure.

[47:09] Good morning, vice chair and members of the board.

[47:11] Next slide, please.

[47:13] Authority proposes to extend both the existing Marengo

[47:17] and Rancho siding tracks on SCRRA's San Bernardino line

[47:21] to improve frequency and flexibility of future service.

[47:24] Next slide, please.

[47:26] Invitation for bid was released on February 6, 2026.

[47:30] We received four bids.

[47:31] And the lowest was 39% over the designer's independent cost

[47:34] estimate.

[47:36] Authority staff analyzed the bids alongside the designer

[47:39] and determined a few key factors in the bid.

[47:42] And independent cost estimate discrepancy were as follows.

[47:46] The designer's escalation factors were too low.

[47:49] Material cost escalations have been particularly volatile

[47:52] in recent years, with some track and signal components doubling

[47:56] in cost.

[47:58] Lastly, due to the number of current and pending construction

[48:00] contracts in the Southern California area--

[48:03] sorry here echo-- there is a concern amongst contractors

[48:06] regarding labor availability and potential labor shortages, which

[48:10] may lead to premium pay in order to obtain qualified workers.

[48:15] After review, Granite Construction

[48:17] was determined to be the lowest responsive and responsible

[48:20] bidder.

[48:20] Next slide, please.

[48:23] It is recommended that the board authorize the CEO to award

[48:26] contract number C3167-26 for the SCORE Marengo and Rancho

[48:31] Cucamonga siding projects to Granite Construction

[48:35] in the amount of $51,502,175, plus a 5% contingency,

[48:41] bringing the total not to exceed amount to $54,077,283.75.

[48:49] Next slide.

[48:50] Thank you.

[48:51] All right, very good.

[48:53] Comments or questions.

[48:55] That $0.75 is important.

[48:59] It just sounds like a 5% contingency

[49:01] is kind of low when it comes to a construction project.

[49:05] Yeah, 10% is typical, but, I mean--

[49:08] I just don't look for it a lot of change orders, that's all.

[49:12] I hope so too.

[49:14] Any public comments on this?

[49:17] We do have a request to speak from Adriana Rizzo on this item.

[49:24] Hey, everybody.

[49:25] This is really exciting.

[49:27] I'm very happy to see that these projects are

[49:30] moving forward and getting close to the construction phase.

[49:32] It's going to be a game changer to have 30-minute service

[49:36] on the whole San Bernardino line and hopefully have that be

[49:39] a little more reliable than we've been seeing with

[49:42] the attempts to do 30 minutes for part of it.

[49:45] So this is really great.

[49:47] I have a concern, though, that this

[49:49] is one of the only SCORE program projects that

[49:53] seems to be moving forward in anywhere near on time.

[49:57] I mean, we were supposed to have SCORE phase 1 done by 2028

[50:01] now, right?

[50:02] And some of these projects have been indefinitely canceled.

[50:07] They're indefinitely delayed like the Serra Siding.

[50:10] Others of these projects like the Balboa Double

[50:14] Track, some other projects in LA County

[50:16] have been delayed like 10 years.

[50:19] I think some of the AVL projects are not supposed to be complete

[50:23] until the late 2030s, based on the latest update I saw.

[50:27] And this is really concerning for riders

[50:30] and for people who want to see a better, more

[50:36] serviceable Metrolink system.

[50:40] I'm wondering, has the--

[50:42] first off, it's quite difficult to actually find information

[50:47] about the status of these projects.

[50:49] I'm wondering if the SCORE website

[50:52] page could be updated more frequently

[50:54] to provide more information about these projects.

[50:58] And secondly, I'm wondering, has Metrolink

[51:00] done any kind of comprehensive audit

[51:02] to study the reason for why there's so many delays?

[51:07] This would be helpful for us as advocates to identify ways

[51:11] where we can push for legislation or other changes

[51:16] that could help us deliver some of these projects faster.

[51:20] So we want to see these projects on time, on budget.

[51:23] But that's not really what's happening right now.

[51:25] So thank you.

[51:27] All right, thank you very much.

[51:28] Comments from the board.

[51:31] Yeah, what were you so excited about this item?

[51:36] Because this is one of-- as actually the speaker just

[51:40] mentioned, we have not had many SCORE projects

[51:43] get out of the gate.

[51:44] And this project on the San Bernardino line, our most used

[51:49] line will give us--

[51:52] awarding this contract today, having the funding in place

[51:55] means that this project will be done in advance of 2028

[51:58] in the Olympics, which will give us the ability to run 30-minute

[52:02] bidirectional frequencies on that San Bernardino line.

[52:06] So it is setting us up for success.

[52:09] And it's just great to finally get that project out the gate.

[52:14] You look like a little kid looking at the candy bar.

[52:16] You were just-- did I miss something?

[52:19] You can turn to Katy and Justin and the team on this.

[52:23] These are long processes to make happen.

[52:27] And I will say that the fact that we had the budget

[52:33] bust on the independent cost estimate was like, OK,

[52:35] how are we going to track down the money?

[52:36] And we now have two different sources

[52:38] to cover that, the delta.

[52:39] So we're just excited about getting shovels in the ground.

[52:44] So, Darren, can you--

[52:46] so going back in my dusty memory bank here,

[52:50] SCORE program, if I'm not mistaken,

[52:52] was supposed to be a $10 billion--

[52:56] it was set up to be $10 billion of funding coming in

[53:00] and doing all these programs.

[53:02] So the speaker that mentioned so many have been canceled

[53:06] or postponed, is that because--

[53:09] I don't know what the exact amount we brought in.

[53:11] But I know it's nowhere close to the total that we were seeking.

[53:15] So is that the reason for the delays and the cancelations?

[53:22] And where are we with the total score of the 10 billion?

[53:28] Where do we get to?

[53:30] Where we are is in phase 1.

[53:32] And I want to say the original cost estimate was

[53:35] 2.3 or $2.5 billion.

[53:39] But that number was developed seven years ago.

[53:43] And as Katie indicated, some of these factors

[53:46] that are hitting us are blowing cost estimates

[53:51] right through the roof.

[53:54] So we can certainly provide more information.

[53:57] There are various reasons why we've been challenged.

[53:59] We were delayed for some time on our Simi Valley Double Track

[54:02] Project because we had a dispute with the Union Pacific Railroad.

[54:06] That's been resolved.

[54:07] But in the meantime, construction costs

[54:09] have escalated.

[54:10] So that project isn't fully funded.

[54:12] So there's a variety-- that's just one example.

[54:15] We've found other ways to try to get some benefits that

[54:19] deliver without the Serra siding being one of those projects

[54:22] where we have some other bets.

[54:23] We have a project in downtown Riverside

[54:25] that was going to be funded.

[54:26] And we've been able to find a more efficient way

[54:28] to get benefit from it that's going to be less expensive.

[54:31] So we're always trying to be creative

[54:34] that, again, that plan was developed seven years ago.

[54:36] So as we have to bob and weave to a certain degree,

[54:40] and this is why this project we're excited about it

[54:44] is because we're going to make this one happen.

[54:47] Good.

[54:48] All right, any other comments, questions?

[54:51] OK, this one is an action item.

[54:54] So moved.

[54:55] Do I have a second?

[54:59] All in favor, aye.

[55:01] Opposed, abstentions.

[55:03] Motion carries.

[55:05] Item 7F, system safety, security and compliance,

[55:12] SSSC Department activities update quarter three fiscal year

[55:16] 2026, presented by Hillary Konczal,

[55:20] Chief Safety Security and Compliance Officer.

[55:23] Good morning.

[55:24] Again, today, I'm here to present our third quarter safety

[55:29] security and compliance stance.

[55:30] Next slide, please.

[55:33] So total train strikes for quarter three

[55:38] were flat compared to quarter two.

[55:40] If you look at the bottom there, those

[55:42] are the number of train strikes by type.

[55:46] Nothing alarming, but we are trending downward

[55:48] for the year, which is very, very positive.

[55:51] Next slide, please.

[55:54] So here, you'll see the train strikes by county.

[55:58] LA Riverside Ventura counties recorded one less train strike

[56:02] in Q3 than Q2.

[56:03] Orange County is flat.

[56:05] And San Bernardino county recorded three more train

[56:08] strikes in the third quarter than they

[56:11] did the second quarter.

[56:12] So we are watching those closely.

[56:15] And again, as I said, we have a total

[56:17] of 15 train strikes for the year.

[56:21] Next slide, please.

[56:22] These are the same numbers broken down

[56:24] by line, just to give you a different visual perspective.

[56:28] Ventura line is flat.

[56:30] Antelope Valley, 91/Perris Valley,

[56:33] Orange and the IEOC lines all recorded one less train strike.

[56:39] San Bernardino recorded five more train strikes

[56:42] than they did in Q3 than Q2.

[56:45] In Q2, they had zero train strikes.

[56:48] Riverside recorded two less train strikes,

[56:50] and then Airline recorded one more train strike.

[56:54] And as a reminder, a lot of these lines

[56:57] go through more than one county.

[56:59] So that's why we do it both ways.

[57:02] Next slide, please.

[57:04] So here we have our fare evaders unruly passengers.

[57:06] They're up quite a bit.

[57:08] Don't want to alarm you.

[57:10] The reason why they are up quite a bit

[57:12] is because we have increased our fare collection

[57:17] strategy, so to speak.

[57:19] Alstom obviously increased their requirement to 50%.

[57:24] And we also increased the amount of streetcaring

[57:27] we're doing at Union Station.

[57:29] So what we do is we'll hold our customers at the ramp

[57:35] to make sure they have a valid fare to get onto the platform.

[57:38] And that's helped immensely.

[57:40] That's a lot of the reasons why the fare evasion is up.

[57:43] And then the unruly passengers is tied very closely

[57:46] to fare evaders because once you tell somebody

[57:50] that they can't take the train, then it gets confrontational.

[57:53] So then we have them ticketed or arrested.

[57:55] And that's when they become an unruly passenger.

[58:00] Next slide.

[58:04] These are basically conductor assaults or assaults

[58:07] on trains that are recorded through the National

[58:11] Transportation database.

[58:13] We've recorded six for the month of February and eight for March.

[58:20] Even though it says nonmajor physical,

[58:22] the nonmajor physical ones are if somebody's pushed

[58:25] or there may be a nudge or something.

[58:28] So we do watch those.

[58:30] And our law enforcement is always close by

[58:34] to handle any of those assaults.

[58:36] Next slide, please.

[58:38] So these are law enforcement activities by county.

[58:44] These are conducted by the LA County Sheriff's Department.

[58:46] I just want to specify that.

[58:49] And for the three months for quarter three,

[58:53] there were a total of 6,821 law enforcement details that were

[58:57] conducted by the LA County Sheriff's Department.

[59:00] The next slide, please.

[59:02] So this is the same information just again broken down by line

[59:07] by the LA County Sheriff's Department again for a total

[59:11] of 6,821 law enforcement details that were conducted.

[59:18] And I just want to remind you, these are in addition

[59:23] to all of their other duties.

[59:24] A lot of times, there's a call for service.

[59:26] We have to handle a fare evasion,

[59:31] dealing with right of way inspections.

[59:34] So there's a lot of things that go on in addition to this right

[59:38] here.

[59:40] Next slide, please.

[59:42] So these are the same law enforcement activities

[59:45] by the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.

[59:48] They monitor or patrol the San Bernardino County line

[59:53] or the San Bernardino line, I apologize, from Montclair

[59:57] through Redlands University station.

[59:59] So they had a total of 3,027 law enforcement activities.

[1:00:05] Next slide, please.

[1:00:06] So the rule violations, I'm happy to report,

[1:00:09] are trending downward, even though it increased by three

[1:00:14] in the third quarter.

[1:00:16] Last year, if you remember, we had a spike in rule violations.

[1:00:19] We created an action plan.

[1:00:21] And I'm happy to report that our rule violations are

[1:00:25] down for the year 78%.

[1:00:28] So this is a positive story, even

[1:00:30] though there's a little spike in rule violations there.

[1:00:34] And we do continually watch them and work with our operations

[1:00:37] team.

[1:00:38] Next slide, please.

[1:00:40] So FRA reported injuries.

[1:00:42] We recorded two less injuries in Q3 than we had in Q2.

[1:00:50] Injuries are down 18% compared to the previous year.

[1:00:53] A lot of them were like-- we had two pinch points,

[1:00:57] I think one slip and fall, but nothing major to report.

[1:01:02] Next slide.

[1:01:04] So training, we continue to train our employees

[1:01:07] in numerous safety and operational practices.

[1:01:10] Safety is the most important thing

[1:01:12] here at Metrolink in addition to a lot of other operational

[1:01:18] [AUDIO OUT].

[1:02:01] And we did a phenomenal job.

[1:02:04] And when I say we, I say Metrolink as a whole.

[1:02:07] There were no safety issues.

[1:02:08] No incidents, security incidents whatsoever.

[1:02:12] We did have increase in ridership.

[1:02:14] I believe the 15% increase in ridership

[1:02:16] that I put up there may be low, but those were initial numbers

[1:02:19] that I got when I was putting together the presentation.

[1:02:22] So I just wanted to point that out that even us as an agency,

[1:02:25] we should be extremely proud.

[1:02:29] I've worked on NATO, the Obama campaign, his inauguration.

[1:02:34] These national events are huge.

[1:02:36] They take a lot of coordination with Secret Service, FBI, DHS,

[1:02:42] TSA.

[1:02:43] And with the limited number of resources that we had,

[1:02:46] our team did a phenomenal job and at Darren's leadership,

[1:02:51] I should say.

[1:02:52] So I just want to point that out there.

[1:02:54] Next slide.

[1:02:56] So these are just a few.

[1:02:57] I can't go over everything we did because a lot of it,

[1:02:59] we don't want to give our secrets away

[1:03:02] because we're going to start preparing for the Olympics next.

[1:03:05] But we've held two active shooter drills before the event.

[1:03:10] They were simulated.

[1:03:12] We had law enforcement on the train.

[1:03:15] We had actors that acted as an active shooter.

[1:03:20] So we did a lot of preparation.

[1:03:23] LASD, we had a workshop with them

[1:03:26] or drill with them and then San Bernardino County.

[1:03:31] And we also included local law enforcement.

[1:03:34] All forward-facing employees were trained in bomb detection

[1:03:38] to know what to look for if they seen a suspicious package

[1:03:40] or bomb along the railroad right of way or what have you.

[1:03:45] And we had limited resources.

[1:03:48] But we were lucky through LA County and the County Sheriff's

[1:03:52] Department to be able to obtain 22 additional officers, two

[1:03:58] sergeants and a lieutenant for match days

[1:04:01] at no cost to Metrolink.

[1:04:03] So that was a plus.

[1:04:04] And they helped us out with Allied Universal.

[1:04:07] We had 15 additional armed.

[1:04:08] We were able to obtain 15 additional armed security

[1:04:11] guards.

[1:04:12] So they were strategically placed throughout the system.

[1:04:15] And then our LA County Sheriff's Department

[1:04:17] and our San Bernardino Sheriff's,

[1:04:19] they did over 200 I say facility inspections.

[1:04:23] But those are everything along our 564 miles of track

[1:04:27] that they were patrolling.

[1:04:31] Next slide.

[1:04:34] The other thing we did was before the beginning

[1:04:38] of the matches, we did high rail trips

[1:04:40] with an officer in the high rail to make sure

[1:04:42] that there's nothing along the railroad right of way,

[1:04:45] no sabotage, suspicious people.

[1:04:49] We increased our street coloring, our fare enforcement.

[1:04:53] And then we worked weekly with LA Metro.

[1:04:57] And we had one of our employees, a security employee, safety

[1:05:02] employee, and then an LASD Sheriff deputy

[1:05:06] in Metro's ESOC, which helped us coordinate

[1:05:10] the busing to our trains at Union Station and vice versa.

[1:05:13] So there was a lot of coordination.

[1:05:15] It all worked well.

[1:05:16] I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Michael Litschi and the customer

[1:05:19] service team as well and the operations team.

[1:05:22] But that will conclude my-- oh, I'm sorry.

[1:05:24] Hold on.

[1:05:25] One more slide.

[1:05:26] This is what I really wanted to thank.

[1:05:28] So I just want to recognize a few people.

[1:05:31] And if you're in the room, please stand up.

[1:05:33] I know that two of them are on vacation.

[1:05:36] Captain Abi Ben-Sahile from the LASD Metrolink Bureau,

[1:05:41] Lieutenant Nick Aguirre from the LASD Metrolink Bureau,

[1:05:48] Sergeant Ryan Bressler, he's on vacation.

[1:05:51] He worked too much.

[1:05:52] He said he needed time off, so.

[1:05:54] And Nicole Adams, our security manager for Allied Security,

[1:05:57] who's in the back.

[1:06:00] And Tinh Quach, manager of security and law enforcement

[1:06:03] who works for me.

[1:06:04] He is actually on vacation.

[1:06:05] And then Eric Smith, who's to my left, our manager, emergency

[1:06:08] preparedness and operations trainer.

[1:06:10] This guy, I call him professor.

[1:06:13] He's phenomenal.

[1:06:14] But I just want to thank everybody.

[1:06:15] Thank you.

[1:06:16] [APPLAUSE]

[1:06:20] And that will conclude my report.

[1:06:22] Very good with applause at the end.

[1:06:23] That's amazing.

[1:06:25] Comments from the board?

[1:06:27] Just a question.

[1:06:27] Thank you.

[1:06:28] A quick question.

[1:06:28] We get reports of trains versus unoccupied vehicle.

[1:06:31] What is normally the cause of having an unoccupied vehicle

[1:06:34] on the track?

[1:06:35] Usually, the vehicle will stall, and the person

[1:06:38] will get out of the vehicle.

[1:06:41] There's been a few instances where a vehicle was stolen

[1:06:43] and they parked it on the track.

[1:06:45] But most of the time, it's somebody that gets

[1:06:47] stuck on the track.

[1:06:48] The car might die, and they just out of panic, they

[1:06:52] get out and trying to call 911 and stuff like that.

[1:06:55] Any investigations if any of these are intentional?

[1:07:00] There are a couple that are intentional.

[1:07:02] And we get that determination from the coroner.

[1:07:05] A lot of times, when the police department,

[1:07:07] when they're doing their investigation,

[1:07:09] they'll suspect it's intentional.

[1:07:12] But we really go off of the coroner's manner of death,

[1:07:16] but yeah.

[1:07:17] I guess I'm talking about unoccupied vehicles.

[1:07:18] Anybody parked their car and leave just to cause a collision?

[1:07:22] Oh, no.

[1:07:23] No, we haven't had that since way back.

[1:07:26] I don't want to mention it.

[1:07:29] But no.

[1:07:31] All right, any other comments or questions?

[1:07:34] Well, very good.

[1:07:35] I guess that was a good test run for what's coming up in 2028.

[1:07:40] And it was nice to see.

[1:07:43] And you say a 15% increase in ridership during that period?

[1:07:47] Roughly, yeah.

[1:07:48] That's good.

[1:07:51] All right, and with that--

[1:07:53] Those were preliminary numbers.

[1:07:55] Perfect.

[1:07:56] Do we have any public comments?

[1:07:59] That's receive and file.

[1:08:00] That'll be the order of business for that.

[1:08:03] And we will move to Item 7G, July legislative update,

[1:08:09] being presented by Jeff Dunn.

[1:08:10] Good morning, Vice Chair Chaffee, members of the board.

[1:08:13] Next slide, please.

[1:08:14] The California legislature is presently in its summer recess,

[1:08:16] will return on August 3 to begin the final stretch

[1:08:19] of the legislative session.

[1:08:21] At that time, lawmakers will take up legislative fixes

[1:08:23] to the Budget Act passed in mid-June,

[1:08:25] including various trailer bills to amend, clarify and amend,

[1:08:29] or implement specific provisions of the budget.

[1:08:32] It is within this budget trailer bill activity

[1:08:35] that Metrolink is seeking state assistance

[1:08:36] to appropriate $35 million of operations

[1:08:39] funding to the railroad to avert or relieve

[1:08:43] the budgetary challenges that we are tasked

[1:08:45] with addressing to allow Metrolink

[1:08:46] to operate at full service.

[1:08:49] We are circulating a joint legislator sign on letter

[1:08:52] to be delivered to the governor and legislative leaders

[1:08:54] in early August.

[1:08:55] And our CEO, Mr. Kettle, will be traveling to Sacramento August 5

[1:08:59] to pursue in-person this advocacy with lawmakers

[1:09:02] and administration officials.

[1:09:04] We will keep you apprised as these efforts continue.

[1:09:06] Next slide, please.

[1:09:09] On the federal side, yesterday, the house

[1:09:10] departed for summer recess after narrowly passing a continuing

[1:09:15] resolution to keep the government funded

[1:09:16] until December 4.

[1:09:18] It will return to session on August 30.

[1:09:21] The Senate remains in session until August 7

[1:09:23] before it takes its recess.

[1:09:25] Regarding the FY 2017 bill, the House Bill

[1:09:28] cuts passenger rail by an estimated $17.2 billion,

[1:09:32] which includes expiration of advance appropriations

[1:09:34] under the IIJA cuts to Amtrak intercity rail and the Sea Grant

[1:09:39] program.

[1:09:39] The bill passed the Appropriations Committee

[1:09:41] on June 3 by a party line vote.

[1:09:43] In the Senate, the Appropriations Committee

[1:09:45] has yet to release its bill or set a date for markup.

[1:09:48] Current level funding expires on September 30,

[1:09:50] unless a CR or successor THUD appropriations bill

[1:09:53] passes by or before that date.

[1:09:55] In Olympics funding, as reported to you last month,

[1:09:58] Metrolink has held a senior level meeting

[1:10:01] with FEMA officials to share its recommendations for funding

[1:10:04] allocation best practices in the soon to be released notice

[1:10:07] of funding opportunity to guide allocation of the $1 billion

[1:10:11] of Olympics security funding provided by the Big Beautiful

[1:10:14] Bill.

[1:10:15] Metrolink will continue meetings with FEMA district staff

[1:10:18] and state officials at Cal OES to ensure

[1:10:21] these processes are implemented as efficiently as possible

[1:10:24] once the NOFO is released and will keep the board apprised.

[1:10:27] This concludes my presentation.

[1:10:28] I'm happy to take any questions.

[1:10:30] All right, very good.

[1:10:31] Comments, questions, Karen.

[1:10:34] That word, "continuing resolution," I know we just--

[1:10:39] I believe that's the first time we've done that.

[1:10:41] We've had to do it in the past.

[1:10:42] But it's been a number of years.

[1:10:44] Number of years.

[1:10:47] In the opposite, has there ever been

[1:10:52] our legislature that didn't have a continuing resolution?

[1:10:58] It seems in Washington, DC, not in recent memory, of course.

[1:11:01] I think it's reflective of the budgetary divide

[1:11:05] in both chambers.

[1:11:07] Well, your comments were very much

[1:11:11] appreciated when you said we'll start working on earlier.

[1:11:13] So we don't have this again because you do it

[1:11:16] the second time, it's going to become a habit.

[1:11:20] So I just want to make sure that we work

[1:11:22] really hard not to do that.

[1:11:24] I certainly, I have ill feelings towards our legislature

[1:11:28] that continually do that.

[1:11:30] Now they're on break because they

[1:11:31] did the continuing resolution.

[1:11:33] It's disingenuous to us.

[1:11:37] So thank you for your sharing of wonderful words.

[1:11:42] Well, I would say, at least in the federal side,

[1:11:45] if a continuing resolution passes and funds the government

[1:11:49] through December 4, that means status quo funding, which

[1:11:53] is actually good because the House Bill cuts passenger

[1:11:56] rail significantly.

[1:11:57] The Senate likely will not do a bill.

[1:12:00] If they don't, they'll have to go by CR,

[1:12:02] and it's level funded through December 4, which

[1:12:04] is better than cuts.

[1:12:06] OK, thank you.

[1:12:08] All right, yeah, Catherine.

[1:12:09] So-- and thank you for that.

[1:12:11] On the federal side, on the Olympic security funding,

[1:12:14] I'm assuming that you are coordinating with LA28,

[1:12:17] so that when we're asking for the security funding,

[1:12:20] it's a holistic approach to--

[1:12:22] It is a holistic approach absolutely with actors.

[1:12:25] Now, in terms of our meeting with FEMA,

[1:12:27] we were focused on our recommendations

[1:12:30] for Metrolink and for passenger rail procedurally when

[1:12:34] the NOFO is released so that it is efficient as possible.

[1:12:38] But of course, the security funding

[1:12:41] is very much holistic from all the agencies.

[1:12:44] Are you meeting with LA28 or do you

[1:12:46] have a relationship with LA28?

[1:12:48] We do have a relationship with LA28

[1:12:50] where I'm not meeting with them specifically

[1:12:52] on security funding.

[1:12:53] I don't know if we are there.

[1:12:54] Yes, we are, Director Barger.

[1:12:57] Both myself and then Hilary Konczal is coordinating.

[1:13:01] We regularly coordinate with LA28

[1:13:03] on the security side as well as Metro.

[1:13:05] Because I would just think if we apply supporting one another,

[1:13:13] I don't know.

[1:13:13] What amount are you requesting?

[1:13:17] Do you know?

[1:13:21] I'd have to--

[1:13:22] Yeah, I'd like to find out more about this

[1:13:24] because what I'm finding is happening

[1:13:25] is that many agencies are kind of working on their own

[1:13:28] without coming together.

[1:13:30] And I think it's important as we move forward,

[1:13:33] we move forward with one voice so that we have coordinated

[1:13:35] effort because while you're doing security on Metrolink--

[1:13:38] and by the way, I'm really proud of--

[1:13:41] and we all talked about the fact that we had no incidents

[1:13:44] with the World Cup.

[1:13:47] And I want to carry that over to the Olympics.

[1:13:49] But I think it works when you are coordinating

[1:13:51] across all regions to make sure that we

[1:13:56] are coordinating our efforts and not duplicating.

[1:14:00] And Jeff, correct me if I'm wrong.

[1:14:01] So we know FEMA has already been given it

[1:14:04] was I thought a billion, right?

[1:14:06] Yes, sir.

[1:14:06] And so what we have tried to do is for the Olympics.

[1:14:11] And so what we're trying to do is as FEMA develops

[1:14:15] its notice of funding availability,

[1:14:17] that there is a recognition of the role that commuter rail,

[1:14:21] we would play in that larger situation

[1:14:23] so that we are able to access those dollars directly.

[1:14:27] But we're doing it in collaboration

[1:14:29] with all of the law enforcement that's involved.

[1:14:32] Yeah, and I would agree that you all play an important role,

[1:14:36] especially in bringing people into the region for the games.

[1:14:40] And so, I mean, I'll advocate that you all

[1:14:43] are an equal member at the table because when it comes

[1:14:48] to transportation, we're looking at across the board

[1:14:51] accessibility and giving people options to get to the venues.

[1:14:56] Thank you, supervisor.

[1:14:57] I would say one of the things that we're

[1:14:58] going to be focusing on and that we communicated

[1:15:00] with FEMA is that there be flexibility, once the NOFO is

[1:15:04] released, to have funding move as expeditiously

[1:15:07] as possible to agencies that need it in order

[1:15:10] to allow enough time to implement

[1:15:12] the requested funds for.

[1:15:15] For example, we need to install camera systems

[1:15:18] on our entire fleet across the entire network.

[1:15:21] And that takes time.

[1:15:22] And so if the NOFO and the process

[1:15:24] goes too far into abutting the actual Olympics themselves,

[1:15:29] even if the money were to be appropriated

[1:15:32] beyond a certain period of time, we

[1:15:33] would not have enough time to make those types of investments.

[1:15:37] So that's one of the messages that we're

[1:15:40] communicating that there's flexibility in the process,

[1:15:42] that we not only get the funding that we're asking for,

[1:15:44] but we get it timely.

[1:15:47] Very good.

[1:15:48] Any other comments?

[1:15:49] Thank you very much.

[1:15:50] Oh, public comments.

[1:15:52] We do have a request to speak from Adriana Rizzo on this item.

[1:15:55] OK.

[1:16:00] Hello, there is a line in the agenda packet for this item that

[1:16:06] was not in the report but I thought

[1:16:08] was really important about the need for sustainable funding

[1:16:12] sources that are not one-time.

[1:16:14] Just want to highlight that.

[1:16:18] I think there's a couple of opportunities for Metrolink

[1:16:21] to advance that goal.

[1:16:24] But the current lobbying efforts are really important.

[1:16:28] But I think there's a couple of opportunities looking

[1:16:31] a little bit farther in the future for Metrolink

[1:16:33] to advance that goal.

[1:16:36] One of them is there's a proposition

[1:16:38] on the ballot this year, I believe it's prop 2,

[1:16:41] to increase the state's rainy day fund.

[1:16:43] I think this is really important for the state

[1:16:46] to be able to find more sustainable, less

[1:16:50] intermittent funding for transit because we

[1:16:54] have a feast or famine budget situation at the state.

[1:16:57] And more stable year to year funding

[1:16:59] will make it easier to provide stable funding for transit.

[1:17:04] Secondly, another opportunity is reforming the transit

[1:17:09] development act.

[1:17:10] As I mentioned in a previous comment,

[1:17:13] the unmet needs process allows millions

[1:17:17] of dollars in transit formula funding that

[1:17:19] can go to operations to be spent on other things every year.

[1:17:24] This is a big priority for transit advocates.

[1:17:28] And I love for Metrolink and member agencies

[1:17:33] to get involved in that process next year as well.

[1:17:37] And then finally, just again, I think

[1:17:42] Metrolink needs its own income, so to speak,

[1:17:48] needs the ability to find new revenue that is not

[1:17:52] controlled by member agencies.

[1:17:54] And this is something that will require state authorization.

[1:17:58] So just flagging that for the board as well.

[1:18:01] Thank you for all your efforts.

[1:18:04] All right, very good.

[1:18:05] Thank you.

[1:18:05] Any last comments on this from the board?

[1:18:08] All right, good.

[1:18:09] We will move to Item 8, our chief executive officer's

[1:18:13] report.

[1:18:13] Darren.

[1:18:14] Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair.

[1:18:15] Next slide.

[1:18:16] So we touched on the mechanical challenge we had over last week.

[1:18:21] And I've used the term that it was a bit

[1:18:22] of a perfect storm of factors.

[1:18:26] And again, a fundamental part of this

[1:18:30] is the challenge we're wrestling with with the F125 locomotive,

[1:18:35] the only 40 in operation anywhere in the world.

[1:18:39] So we wrestle with those challenges

[1:18:41] with the manufacturer.

[1:18:43] And again, I think we're going to see some progress in some

[1:18:46] of these areas.

[1:18:46] But it is just one of the challenges of that locomotive.

[1:18:50] So it was not lost on Metrolink staff by any means

[1:18:54] that there's room for improvement.

[1:18:57] And under Rod Bailey's leadership

[1:18:59] as the interim chief operating officer,

[1:19:02] there's already lessons learned effort in some of these things.

[1:19:06] And as usual, sometimes communication breakdowns

[1:19:10] are the biggest challenge that we experience.

[1:19:12] And that was one of the cases that happened here.

[1:19:15] But nonetheless, it's got our full attention.

[1:19:18] Next slide.

[1:19:20] Some really good news.

[1:19:22] We're really pleased to be able to share that our finance

[1:19:27] team once again received the GFOA certificate of achievement

[1:19:32] 10 years running.

[1:19:35] So that's a decade of success in this area.

[1:19:38] And some of you have been around for an extended period of time

[1:19:41] and will remember the times when we were not getting this award.

[1:19:44] So I think it's a testament to our finance team

[1:19:49] that we were recognized again this year.

[1:19:52] Next slide.

[1:19:54] All right, so we're all just reveling in the glow

[1:20:00] that came out of the World Cup.

[1:20:02] So we have a video here.

[1:20:04] And I'd just like to share with board members what

[1:20:08] our customers shared with us during World Cup.

[1:20:12] Go ahead and roll the tape.

[1:20:14] [VIDEO PLAYBACK]

[1:20:17] - I'm really excited because I love soccer,

[1:20:19] and especially because my brother loves soccer.

[1:20:22] That's why I do.

[1:20:24] And right now, we're on the train.

[1:20:27] It's my first train in the US.

[1:20:29] And it's been a pleasant experience so far.

[1:20:34] - Once I realized it was at Union Station, once I

[1:20:36] googled it, I said, oh my gosh, I have to go.

[1:20:41] I don't have to drive.

[1:20:42] I can take the Metrolink all the way up

[1:20:44] and not worry about parking, get there safe and sound

[1:20:47] and enjoy my time.

[1:20:49] - I was telling my family that this

[1:20:51] is a really nice, very clean station, very clean train.

[1:20:55] And it branches out all over the place now, so.

[1:20:59] - So it's just a lot more affordable.

[1:21:04] And also sometimes, it's just more convenient.

[1:21:06] If it's rush hour, it's so much easier to just get on a train

[1:21:10] somewhere than sit in the car and inch forward

[1:21:13] every few seconds.

[1:21:14] - [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[1:21:33] [END PLAYBACK]

[1:21:36] So thanks to our comms team for going out and convincing people

[1:21:40] to share a few words on their experience with World Cup,

[1:21:45] whether it was going to a match or going to the fan zones.

[1:21:49] Next slide.

[1:21:51] All right, so a couple things.

[1:21:55] Picture to the left, you'll recognize the guy.

[1:21:59] The lovely lady to his left is my wife, Carrie.

[1:22:03] We did have a chance to go to the Spain Austria game,

[1:22:06] one of the knockout stage matches.

[1:22:08] And we experienced what our customers experienced.

[1:22:11] We caught the train at the Moorpark Station,

[1:22:15] made our way to Union Station.

[1:22:17] And then from LA Union Station, we got on a Metro bus.

[1:22:23] My compliments to Metro, the full Metro team.

[1:22:27] I had a chance to see Conan Cheung the other day

[1:22:30] and complimented him.

[1:22:32] We got on a bus that was clean, smooth.

[1:22:35] My wife was a little nervous of a neighborhood bus

[1:22:38] doing 65 miles an hour on the flyover between the 110

[1:22:42] and the 105 as we got there because I felt

[1:22:47] a little bit like Scotty from Star Trek

[1:22:51] that it's like, we're going to break up,

[1:22:53] we're going to break up.

[1:22:54] Because it was shaken a little bit,

[1:22:56] but it was a great experience, other than the portion of just

[1:23:00] being in LA traffic that, unfortunately,

[1:23:02] we found ourselves in.

[1:23:04] The bus was well air conditioned.

[1:23:06] The staff was great.

[1:23:08] We had a great experience.

[1:23:11] Along with that, though, I had the chance

[1:23:12] to volunteer with a number of our Metrolink staff

[1:23:16] in the tunnel.

[1:23:17] And so this was after our board meeting last Friday.

[1:23:20] I Friday of last month changed into a different suit

[1:23:26] and joined our team volunteering and helping guide customers.

[1:23:31] That was obviously on a game day.

[1:23:34] So had a great experience with helping our staff.

[1:23:38] We had something on the order of 60-odd of our staff volunteered,

[1:23:42] number of people volunteered on multiple occasions.

[1:23:45] So it was just a really good feel good moment

[1:23:47] to be a part of the Metrolink team.

[1:23:48] And we got a jersey out of it, a Metrolink jersey out of it.

[1:23:52] Just let us know if you'd like one.

[1:23:54] They run big though.

[1:23:57] But going back to one of the other questions,

[1:24:00] how we saw success out of it.

[1:24:02] We had a weekend boardings increase of 26%

[1:24:07] compared to the prior six weekends prior to the World Cup.

[1:24:12] So weekend boardings, 26% increase over the prior six

[1:24:16] weeks.

[1:24:17] We had a system-wide ridership growth of 12% year over year.

[1:24:21] This is the statistic I'm most pleased with, though.

[1:24:24] Nearly 25,000 new Metrolink mobile accounts were created,

[1:24:30] representing a 22% increase of new riders introduced

[1:24:34] to our system over that six-week period.

[1:24:37] So that is directly attributable.

[1:24:40] They're going to matches.

[1:24:42] They're going to fan zones.

[1:24:43] They downloaded our app, and they signed up for it.

[1:24:46] So I think that's a real positive story.

[1:24:48] And just what a great experience across Southern California

[1:24:53] to be a part of it.

[1:24:54] And yeah, it was a great experience.

[1:24:57] Next slide.

[1:24:59] And that's it, Mr. Chair.

[1:25:00] Thank you.

[1:25:00] Very good.

[1:25:01] Thank you.

[1:25:02] All right, board member comments.

[1:25:04] Anybody have anything to talk about?

[1:25:07] Lunch.

[1:25:08] Chair's comments.

[1:25:11] I just wanted to mention a couple things.

[1:25:13] One, I went over after that last BAF Comm meeting

[1:25:17] with Director Dutrey and Marquez,

[1:25:20] and we went to the fan zone.

[1:25:23] I thought kind of a precursor to what I expect,

[1:25:26] the Olympics will be something similar.

[1:25:28] And LA Metro, I have to complement their staff

[1:25:32] and the way they set it up.

[1:25:35] It was neat.

[1:25:36] You felt like you were really involved

[1:25:38] in the game that was on and just the fans and the support.

[1:25:42] It made sense.

[1:25:44] And I hope that they take that forward to 2028.

[1:25:50] And the other thing, I guess that is going to be it.

[1:25:55] If I can, I think thank you, Metrolink, for this.

[1:26:02] My mom passed just a week or so ago.

[1:26:06] And thank you, Karen.

[1:26:07] I was in Vegas where she lived during that meeting.

[1:26:11] And Karen stepped up.

[1:26:12] And appreciate that so that I could tend to that.

[1:26:18] But I would like, if possible, to just conclude today's meeting

[1:26:23] in the memory of my mother, Audrey Phyllis Reitman

[1:26:25] Berkson, who was born in December 15 of 1936

[1:26:31] and passed July 1 of this year.

[1:26:34] So 89 and 1/2 wonderful years with myself and my two sisters

[1:26:39] and her three grandchildren.

[1:26:42] All going to miss her.

[1:26:43] But with that, we will close in memory of my mother.

[1:26:48] And this meeting is adjourned.

[1:26:50] Thank you.

[1:26:56]

Board of Directors

Agenda

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