[0:51] Well,

[4:53] welcome to smart regular meeting, regular board of directors.

[5:00] Members meeting for August 19th, 2026. Welcome everyone. I just have to say I like the more the closer

[5:12] set up of the room, making better use of the room. And we should do it like this all the time.

[5:21] And the barn door is nice also.

[5:24] Yeah.

[5:29] This is what happens when you leave the barn door open.

[5:35] All right.

[5:36] Tyrene, we're going to start with a roll call.

[5:41] Thank you, Chair.

[5:43] Director Catertomson.

[5:44] Here.

[5:45] Director Colin.

[5:46] President, Director Fleming, Director Garboreno, Director Jacobs, Absent, Director Kelly,

[5:56] Absent, Director Luke,

[5:58] Bergen, Director Par, Director Paulson, Director Rabbit, Director Vice Chair Sackett, Chair Corsi,

[6:10] and can I go back to Director Kelly.

[6:12] Thank you.

[6:15] All right.

[6:16] Item number two is approval of the July 15th minutes.

[6:20] Any questions or comments from board members on the minutes from last month?

[6:27] Not seeing anyone will look for a motion to approve.

[6:33] Make a motion.

[6:36] And we have public comment.

[6:38] Public comment on the minutes.

[6:39] Anyone else have comments on the minutes?

[6:41] Anyone online have comments on the minutes of July 15th.

[6:48] Thank you. We have a motion. Can we get a second.

[6:52] Second. All right. All in favor. See, I, I, I, any opposed. Stentions.

[7:01] All right. That, that causes you to anonymously. Did you have an abstention?

[7:06] Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry.

[7:08] Director's Fleming, Gavrino, and

[7:11] Awesome.

[7:20] We'll take a minute for any board member announcements.

[7:23] Anyone have anything to share

[7:26] to share with the board in the public?

[7:29] I just came from

[7:31] as some sort of educational

[7:33] on how to put screws into some

[7:35] on spine at marine general function.

[7:37] And the table, the light-hearted table

[7:39] conversation was how much everyone

[7:41] really enjoyed writing the train.

[7:43] And so that was lighthearted while you were avoiding this stuff on the screen.

[7:50] Good.

[7:51] Nice to be a good diversion.

[7:54] Director Keter Thompson.

[7:55] This morning I was out on Highway 37.

[7:58] Just supporting starting to move forward with work on Highway 37.

[8:03] So it's exciting.

[8:05] Especially if you take that route a lot, which I do.

[8:12] Director Kelly.

[8:12] Last month, I had the opportunity as the chair of the STEM Accounting Transportation and Climate Authority to attend a

[8:20] immunity and elected official gathering at the Corona Road and Petalumin North Station with some of my colleagues and staff.

[8:29] And we had the opportunity to meet with Congressman Thompson and city representatives from the city Paluma.

[8:35] It was mind-blowing to see the amount of construction homes and otherwise happening in around the northern pedolumistation and then also really shocking to see the road conditions that pedestrians and bicycles have to take, you know, their lives in their hands to cross over the 101 there to get to downtown pedoluma and everything that happens in pedoluma on the west side of the freeway.

[8:58] And so, SETA and our partners and also representatives of Taltrans and the City and all the agencies

[9:06] involved were there to really learn about what are the impacts for folks as they're

[9:11] trying to cross over the 101.

[9:12] But it was really so wonderful to see how much that northern smart station has become a hub

[9:18] for that community in Petaluma and the development that's happening around it and how to

[9:24] the connections to and from that Smart Station to really make it safe and accessible for folks in

[9:30] the community both the business park that's over there as well as getting to the businesses downtown.

[9:34] So it was a great opportunity to get to attend and so many of my colleagues and others

[9:39] were able to be there and we're hoping to find a solution to get people safely over that over

[9:44] past in the coming months and hopefully not years. Thanks. Great. Thank you. Yes, thank you.

[9:52] Um, my daughter and I were able to take smart, uh, in the ferry for a trip to see the

[9:57] Valkyries last Wednesday.

[9:59] It was really, really, really.

[10:00] Really fun. But I guess you guys have probably been more interested in hearing that I'm working on getting guys

[10:04] are available into the planet MTC.

[10:08] But the truth to the city with my daughter was so, but we did

[10:12] go to MTC first actually. So before we went to the offerings game and I just wanted to let the

[10:18] board know that I'm diligently working with staff there to make progress towards guys are there.

[10:24] Great.

[10:26] That's see all the sites both MTC and Delqueries.

[10:29] And the Delqueries won by the way.

[10:31] And the trains were full.

[10:32] Both ways as well.

[10:34] Oh, very good.

[10:36] Other comments.

[10:38] Drick to bark.

[10:41] That was my purse that one.

[10:44] Okay.

[10:47] Vice chair.

[10:47] Vice chair, sir.

[10:49] So Santa Felicity School started school today as I know many of the schools around have.

[10:54] And my teenager yesterday, I said,

[10:56] what are you going to do with your last day of summer?

[10:58] And she said, I'm taking the smart train to spend my tax

[11:01] hours in Santa Rosa.

[11:04] But sorry, the Santa fell, unfortunately.

[11:09] But I'm curious what we'll see in ridership around the school

[11:13] starting over the next couple of weeks

[11:15] in sort of what it definitely was the teenager activity

[11:19] of the summer was to take the train.

[11:22] Great. Any other board member announcements?

[11:26] If not, we'll move on to the General Manager's report.

[11:31] Which comments?

[11:33] Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Board of Directors.

[11:37] I have eight items today.

[11:39] Go over contracts with the comments over $100,000.

[11:42] I'll provide the ridership report.

[11:44] I have some info on our July event service.

[11:47] Just a quick update on the Black Point Bridge, and then I want to inform the board

[11:53] us some changes that are upcoming with the Cell and Real Paths.

[11:57] I have an update on the Pathway status and a little info on the recent app to tech conference,

[12:03] and then we will take a moment to recognize our employee of the quarter, and of course,

[12:07] it's the end to be happy to answer any questions.

[12:11] Starting with contracts and procurement, so over $100,000, I have three items to share.

[12:16] the first one is the purchase order with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

[12:22] This purchase is for a permit fee for the Hillsburg Extension Project,

[12:27] and the award amount was $112,863. Next is a contract with Samuel R. Whitehead BBA

[12:35] Precision Wireless Service. This contract is for un-call technical support, inspection, and preventative

[12:41] maintenance for SmartSplan mobile radio system, contract amount was $179,520.

[12:49] And the third contract was with Hanford Applied Restoration and Conservation.

[12:55] This contract is for the Crane Creek Fittal Neck Drainage Repairing Enhancement Project,

[13:01] and the contract amount was $130,450 in 50 cents.

[13:08] Moving on to ridership, you're going to hear a theme this month, because July was absolutely

[13:12] the best month ever for smart in our history. July ridership was 163,276, and for those

[13:21] keeping track, this was the fourth straight month of an all-time record. We set the record in April,

[13:28] we broke it in May, we broke it again in June, and we broke the record again in July. July ridership was 23

[13:35] percent higher than July of 25. And we carried almost 3.2 million passenger miles in July.

[13:44] That's a new all-time monthly record in the first time that we've carried over 3 million

[13:49] passenger miles in a single month.

[13:54] So taking a look at average weekday ridership, the July

[13:58] average weekday ridership was 5,568. That was 17% higher than July of 2025. And believe it or not,

[14:07] perhaps we're actually doing better this month, August average weekday

[14:11] ridership to date is 5,684 and that's 21% higher than August of 25.

[14:21] Pathway counts were also at an all-time high July pathway trips were 134,181 and as

[14:29] you would expect that is a new all-time monthly record. Not to be outdone July that

[14:36] say July, not June, July, connect ridership was 3,378. That was 26% higher than last year and again,

[14:45] a new monthly record.

[14:49] So a big reason for this success was a special event service. We offered to support

[14:54] the Marine County Fair and Windsor Caboom.

[14:57] I will start with the Marine County Fair.

[15:00] Membership with the Fair Smart Offered Special Service July 1st through the 5th, and over the 5th day period, we supported 11,747 trips to and from Civic Center Station. The extra late night service served 3,758 trips, which was 39% higher than last year.

[15:23] We also ran extra event service for the Windsor Caboom fireworks event on July 3rd we supported

[15:29] 2,099 trips to and from Windsor Station and the extra late night service included 2 train

[15:37] trips and served 673 trips which was about 4% higher than last year.

[15:45] I'm also very very very very happy to report that the Black Point Bridge emergency repairs

[15:50] were completed and the bridge is open for service.

[15:57] I also wanted to take a moment to update the board and the public on an upcoming cancellation of the sale in railpass.

[16:03] The sale in railpass was originally a launch as a one year pilot project.

[16:09] At the request of Golden Gate, the pass is being phased out. Passes can be purchased until October 31st and November 30th will be the last day the passes can be used.

[16:20] So moving forward with the Clipper Interagency Transfer Credit, adult fares for trips on smart transferring to the ferry range from $8.15 to $14.15 depending on the number of zones and individual rides.

[16:39] One to provide a quick update on our pathway projects, we have some that are close to construction and others that are still in the grant phase.

[16:49] I will start with those that are close to construction. First up is Joe Redo to the third street in Santa Rosa.

[16:55] We plan to award that contract in January of 27 and we are planning for construction in the summer of 27.

[17:02] And a wrench to roll in in Nevada, we are currently awaiting federal environmental clearance

[17:07] and an execution of an FDA grant and we are aiming for construction contract in the spring of 2027.

[17:15] Santa Rosa North to airport is in the same boat as Santa Ranch.

[17:19] We are waiting for that federal environmental clearance and execution of the FDA grant.

[17:25] And again, we're aiming for construction contract in the spring of 27.

[17:28] in a perfect world we would do these two projects at the same time. We also have other

[17:36] pathway projects in the pipeline and we have several new grant applications pending. First

[17:41] up is O-Bag 4, S-E-C-E-C-A staff recommendations include three segments. The first would be $800,000

[17:50] that would go to the city of Petaloma for Lakeville to water street construction. The segment is

[17:55] to sum is the missing 500 feet.

[17:59] This is also 2.1 million that would go for East Railroad to PIN Grove.

[18:05] Sorry, 2.1 million for the East Railroad to PIN Grove segment.

[18:09] This funding is not enough to construct this project, but would allow us to make a significant progress.

[18:16] And then there's also a recommendation for $2 million for Cloverdale station area planning and preliminary engineering.

[18:23] this project is currently pending eligibility.

[18:27] We also submitted an application to TAN for 4.5 million to construct the Smith Ranch to

[18:34] Mane Gate segment and we will be submitting an application for RM3 safe routes to transit

[18:41] and Bay Trail program. This application is due to MTC on October 5th and we will be requesting

[18:48] an additional 10.5 million for the Smith Ranch to Mane Gate construction.

[18:56] And as this board knows, our information technology team supports the systems and the communications that are vital to smart daily operations from the systems that control train operations.

[19:07] To the office technology systems to the broadcasting of these board meetings and please to recognize information systems manager Brian Crowley.

[19:16] We represent its smart at the recent 2026 at the tech conference in St. Louis and serves as chair of the app's information technology subcommittee.

[19:26] His involvement keeps smart connected to national conversations on emerging technology, cybersecurity, data, and fair modernization.

[19:35] His involvement helps bring back valuable ideas and best practices to smart.

[19:40] So thank you Brian and the information technology team for all you do.

[19:51] And last but not least today we are recognizing our employees of the second quarter of 2026 as a reminder employees are nominated by

[20:00] And the winners receive a certificate and day off with pay. This month's employee of the quarter, we only have one, this month is Cody Sosa. Cody is a vehicle maintenance labor. Unfortunately, he was not able to be here today, but we are thrilled to recognize Cody as our employee of the quarter. Please join me in giving Cody a round of applause.

[20:27] And with that, I would be happy to answer any questions.

[20:31] Thank you, Eddie.

[20:34] Questions on the General Manager's report?

[20:37] Director Hooken.

[20:38] I just a quick one, Eddie.

[20:39] Thank you so much for the update on the pathways.

[20:42] I think you covered most all of the key remaining segments.

[20:45] Is there anything you could provide on it?

[20:46] I believe it would be a Hamilton Parkway to kind of the portion of the Bay Trails.

[20:52] That segment and also the segment over Nevada Creek.

[20:59] Bill, you want to take that?

[21:01] just kind of just a quick little status update of where those. I think those are the private two other remaining segments.

[21:09] Bill game on chief engineer was smart.

[21:12] In terms of design, we've got those two about a 50% level.

[21:15] We're probably going to pursue design build on them.

[21:18] But for funding, I would have to defer to the grant side of the house.

[21:27] All right. We need to go find money. I get it.

[21:30] That's all I need. Thank you.

[21:35] Thank you so much, I, you know, have a city council meeting tonight.

[21:40] I always love coming back with the, you know, Olympic record breaking that goes on here.

[21:45] Two questions.

[21:46] One was, you know, I actually lately installed mascots.

[21:51] And, you know, I wrote smart this week and I'm writing it.

[21:54] For all of the events that we had, like the Morin Fair and just generally,

[21:58] are, you know, how is the coordination going with the transit partners or, you know, I'm just curious because it looks very impressive, you know, when I get in there and I'm wondering if there are any glitches or, you know, how that's how that's coordinating with, you know, obviously better ridership.

[22:13] Yeah, things are going well. I heard from, from Golden Gate the other day that their ridership is up eight to half percent.

[22:21] And so they're seeing a bump in ridership as well.

[22:25] So that's always good to see when you're seeing ridership gains, not just on smart, but also on the bus.

[22:31] They are planning to make some additional changes.

[22:34] I don't want to see the day because I don't know exactly when it is.

[22:36] I think sometimes in August they're going to make some just schedule adjustments.

[22:41] They've made a lot of changes so that we make in a couple more

[22:44] little tweaks to the schedule to better align and things like that.

[22:48] But overall so far things have gone really, really well.

[22:50] and I look forward to doing more of this in the future.

[22:54] Do we get data from them as to what the real good connectors are, where the bottlenecks might be?

[23:03] I mean, I feel like we probably have a pretty good network, you now, of end-to-end ridership,

[23:09] and that is that becoming something useful to you.

[23:12] Yeah, I can share some information with you.

[23:15] We gave a presentation last month at the board meeting here.

[23:18] And so with there was some there was some transfer data and things like that. And there the big transfer location as you was suspect is that downtown San Rafael.

[23:29] But yeah, we we are tracking that data looking at how things work and looking at how much transfers have done up since we put this service out there.

[23:39] Thank you.

[23:40] Great to have it.

[23:42] Yeah, I feel obligated to just thank you for the announcement or the rail in the sale.

[23:47] I think it's important to get that out there.

[23:49] So thank you for transparency there.

[23:51] And as one of three Golden Gate board members here,

[23:55] the discontinuation of that pilot program,

[23:57] hopefully at some point we can bring that back,

[23:59] we look at the overall pricing.

[24:01] I know that some people get a benefit.

[24:07] If you're closer, it's going to be cheaper without it.

[24:10] If you're other way, it's going to be a little bit more.

[24:12] But finding that sweet spot.

[24:13] And then also, I'm not sure if it's related to you,

[24:16] that I know that Clifford 2.0 will provide a lot more flexibility in terms of those pricing

[24:21] packages.

[24:22] Yes.

[24:22] And all these unique one-offs take up bandwidth within the existing system that I know has

[24:27] been a problem for years that we're trying to fix.

[24:30] So look forward to advocating and cooperating, collaborating with smart, maybe a spring-time

[24:37] launch or a summer launch that will drive up some ridership will be a good thing in the future.

[24:43] Great.

[24:45] I just want to talk about the ping rope, the katati trail.

[24:49] That is the one trail that I get the most comments on because it's so dangerous right now.

[24:53] So I'm grateful that that's moving forward.

[24:55] But the extra 500 feet what it means is it takes people off a very narrow.

[25:00] Part of Lakeville to get to Washington Street. So they'll be able to connect with Washington Street from the bridge from downtown to Lakeville. It's so much safer for families and commuters. So this is fantastic.

[25:16] Yes, Dr. Kelly.

[25:17] I'm at a question. I don't know if you're able to put the slides back up from your report presentation, but the slide regarding the Oback funded projects and segments.

[25:27] So, I had a question about, I think it was like the third of the fourth one on the list of projects that are being recommended for funding.

[25:37] It was pending if there was feasibility regarding eligibility for the Cloverdale station area planning $2 million.

[25:47] And since really apologize since this is probably a CTA item and not a smart item, but do you know, since there's four CTA folks here.

[25:55] If that smart stationary planning $2 million is ineligible for O-backed for what does that mean?

[26:04] Does that mean that there is capacity in smart kind of carve out there that we can

[26:10] submit a different project or does that mean that it's kind of a user who's isn't if it's ineligible

[26:15] then that's $2 million that we're unable to secure and then what does eligibility look like?

[26:21] I'll let you in into that one.

[26:23] Good afternoon, Joanne Parker, Grant's manager.

[26:27] There's a couple of answers.

[26:29] One is SCTCA, like Tam has been given a budget of O-Bag funds larger than there is available.

[26:37] And I don't remember the exact dollar figure, but it's like a couple million more for Sonoma County.

[26:43] Then there's available to be programs.

[26:46] So, once SSETA approves the list of projects that will go to NTC for final arbitration, in terms of the content of the Cloverdale related item, we're sorting through eligibility based on what work we're planning to tackle, specifically the jurisdictions have to be compliant with the host of NTC requirements, complete streets policy,

[27:12] in communities policy a few others and there's some confusion over whether

[27:18] Cloverdale is eligible.

[27:20] So we're just sorting through that.

[27:22] If for some reason we can't do the work in our right of way.

[27:27] And then we will be given the opportunity to put it somewhere else inside the

[27:32] System if needed.

[27:35] Great. Thank you.

[27:36] Got the SETA board discretion.

[27:39] You know what the timeline looks like for the determination of the eligibility on that.

[27:47] It's MTC that's evaluating it.

[27:50] I think we're going to have a conversation with some staff people to figure out what pieces

[27:53] might fit.

[27:54] The SECA board is going to take up the full list of recommendations in September.

[28:01] Yes.

[28:02] So this is all going to get ironed out before the full list comes back to the STTCA board in less than a month.

[28:09] Okay.

[28:09] Sure.

[28:09] Great.

[28:14] We're here to hear first.

[28:16] Any other questions on Joe Managers report?

[28:19] We'll go to public comment on the General Managers report.

[28:22] Anyone in the room?

[28:24] Want to comment to the board?

[28:27] We'll see anyone.

[28:29] Anyone online?

[28:30] Oh, sorry.

[28:30] come on up

[28:42] to I just want to find out if this is the item where General Manager is going

[28:52] to talk about the the future plan that he talked about the future direction

[29:02] in this.

[29:03] is you came in in the middle of his general

[29:07] in the middle in the hall of ties.

[29:09] There are several items on the agenda that talk about future.

[29:13] Is there anything?

[29:14] I'm sorry.

[29:14] Just a bit.

[29:15] It was about the strategic plan.

[29:22] So hopefully I can address it here.

[29:25] You can do that on our next item.

[29:28] Next item.

[29:28] Thank you.

[29:29] That matters not on the agenda.

[29:30] Thank you.

[29:31] So anyway, anyone online do you comment on the General Manager's report?

[29:36] We have one rent hand raised for public comment. Matthew Hartsell.

[29:42] Thank you. This is Matthew Hartsell, Director of Planning and WTB Tim,

[29:46] and want to thank the General Manager for the Smart Pathway update and

[29:51] express our strong support for the grant applications that were

[29:56] That is...

[29:59] Pathway from...

[30:00] This ranch road to main gate road. That is the key connection on the smart pathway between Santa

[30:05] Fell and Nevada, but two largest cities in Marin County. It's been a big gap out there for many

[30:12] years and it's great that Smart is now going after that one full speed ahead with two, it

[30:17] looks like two different grand applications. Good luck and we're available to support that application

[30:22] in whatever way we can. Also, please to see the inclusion of the Lakeville to water street segment

[30:29] in downtown Petaluma. That's a key local downtown connection that will help better connect downtown

[30:36] Petaluma and the existing Petaluma River and Lynch Creek Trail system in Petaluma to the

[30:42] smart pathway and great to see that that segment is being advanced as well. Thank you. Thank you, Matthew.

[30:53] Anyone else online?

[30:57] All right.

[31:00] Okay, no action on that one. We'll move to public comment on matters

[31:03] not listed on the agenda as your time?

[31:19] I think it's on, yeah, still.

[31:24] Well, one thing I'd notice is I want to thank

[31:28] the board members, all of them, particularly supervisor

[31:32] rabbit, for all his contributions over these many years.

[31:36] Really, I have been serving in our church for 22 years

[31:42] and they're not just Sundays, there are other days

[31:45] things like that, and it takes something. It's a commitment. It's a long-term thing. And there are

[31:53] a number of you who are doing that. I'm sure all of you, and I just wanted to say thank you

[32:00] for all those times, and they'll be another time when I can say thank you, but I wanted to say that.

[32:06] And, and, and, and, and to,

[32:11] um, you might be now, are you a assembly man or is that happening yet not yet so, okay, um, great.

[32:21] Well, we had a chance to meet with the manager, Eddie Cummins last month, and he was offering his

[32:35] he was asking us to consider things and describing some of the things that he anticipated for

[32:44] where we would go. And I want to congratulate everyone about the election being part of Francis

[32:50] smart and the transportation line use coalition that began this is really wonderful that we

[32:58] have going forward with a tremendous result, you know, sending a percentage huge. And it just

[33:06] shows how he has changed the perception and with the things that he did. And the board has supported

[33:13] him and you work great together. In the future, he has discussed some things, equipment, executive

[33:22] personnel. These things are really necessary to improve the effectiveness going forward

[33:29] that he's looking forward. That ask you to wrap it up. Okay. So those are those are things

[33:36] that we all acknowledge and going to the East as well and maybe we talk about

[33:43] Sassum, but maybe it's the capital quarter that we want to connect to and

[33:47] there may be different ways to do that. And so I want to acknowledge that and thank

[33:52] you all. Thank you. Anyone else in the room want to address the board for items

[33:57] not on the agenda? Anyone on mine? We have one hand raised for a public comment,

[34:10] Thank you. Good afternoon. Susan Kirk's Petalena. I've spoken in general public comment

[34:17] at your meetings for, I think, several meetings and exchange some written information with

[34:24] your staff appreciating your board court, Kairin, who seems to be very effective and I really

[34:31] appreciate her assistance. I did receive one written response from the chair, chair,

[34:38] Unfortunately, that only responded to one question that I had had not the core other issues, and those issues are, whether or not your organization has guardrails established boundaries, in other words, of policy when you own.

[35:00] Or to contract to affirm or an individual, bleeding affirm or specifically affirm about political activism in the county and the region.

[35:17] And that is because there is a political activist who is very active on social media regarding one of your current board members.

[35:28] and other candidates for office who are currently running, and some very pointed social media

[35:36] post-criticisms are frequent, and I would like to see your organization have a policy about

[35:46] political activism when you have persons doing work for all of Sonoma County, all of Morin County,

[35:54] for your organization. And I'd really appreciate it if someone could

[35:58] would could address this or point me to the place where the policy exists that I could

[36:04] review.

[36:05] Thank you very much.

[36:09] Thank you.

[36:10] Anyone else on that?

[36:13] At this time, there are no more hands raised for public comment.

[36:16] Thank you.

[36:18] Move on to our consent calendar which consists of items six A through six D.

[36:26] We have any questions

[36:27] from the board on any of the consent items?

[36:33] All right.

[36:34] Just a real quickly on consent.

[36:37] Because I know, Council Member Jake, if this is not here,

[36:39] but I know we'd probably want to mention,

[36:41] 6C and just express the appreciation

[36:43] between the city of Nevada and Smart.

[36:45] This portion of all of Avenue has been a long plan

[36:48] within the city of Nevada, and this is a key milestone

[36:50] for the community.

[36:52] So, just thank you, and I want to express the appreciation there.

[36:57] Thank you, Director.

[36:58] who can, near the comments or questions on the consent calendar, go to public comment down

[37:06] the consent calendar.

[37:07] Anyone in the room,

[37:10] nope, anyone online,

[37:14] not there either, okay, look for a motion to

[37:17] accept and approve the consent calendar.

[37:19] May I come for you?

[37:20] Second.

[37:21] Move by Dr. Kelly, second by Director Luken, all in favor?

[37:28] Say aye.

[37:29] Aye.

[37:29] And he posed, abstained, all right,

[37:37] we'll move on to the regular calendar.

[37:40] Adam seven involves the proposed geyserville station, the the

[37:46] secret exemption determination and the information about the project from Zoe

[37:52] andra.

[38:01] Good afternoon chair members of the board.

[38:04] The item before you today is an action item.

[38:09] The recommendation is as follows to receive an update on the outreach efforts and receive

[38:14] the California Environmental Quality Act exemption to termination for the proposed

[38:18] Guide to Ville Station, adopt Resolution 2026-26 adopting the Guise of Ville Station project

[38:25] into Smart's program and approving the project and directing staff to file this sequence notice

[38:31] of exemption and directing staff to request the Guise of Ville Station be amended into relevant

[38:36] local, regional, state, and federal plans.

[38:44] So to start, I'd like to provide a little bit of context

[38:47] about Geiserville.

[38:48] Geiserville is located in Unincorporated Sonoma County.

[38:52] Geiserville is a census designated place,

[38:55] with or a CDP, and the Geiserville CDP population,

[38:59] according to the 2020 census, is 861.

[39:03] The CDP is depicted on the map here in Brownish, yellow.

[39:09] Within the CDP, there are 1,667 jobs according to the 2023 launch atonal employer household

[39:16] dynamics data and the proposed station that smart is putting forward is located within the urban

[39:22] service area and in the unincorporated area, the urban service area serves as the urban growth boundary

[39:28] for guides or bell. Also featured on the map are schools as well as the River Rock Casino,

[39:36] which is a large employer because he knows currently in a phase of expansion, which will bring

[39:42] it from 300 jobs to 700 jobs in a future expansion of the casino could result in a thousand jobs

[39:48] at that location. So while the station is proposed within the urban service area, we believe that a

[39:55] potential station will serve the broader geyser travel bill truck.

[40:00] Kaiserville, travel shed, mouthful.

[40:06] Just as a reminder, this effort really stems from community engagement

[40:10] with our general manager and our agency. It went back to conversations that took place in 2023,

[40:19] but the timeline on the screen is highlighting a focused engagement effort that took place starting in June,

[40:27] around the proposed Guisabilitation.

[40:31] We were here before this board in July

[40:33] and we are back to present the results of all of that outreach

[40:37] and for your consideration of project adoption.

[40:43] So those focused discussions with the board,

[40:46] the community of Guisville and the broader public occurred

[40:48] across several forums.

[40:51] Some of these were virtual, many were in person.

[40:56] The most recent being,

[40:57] our August 10th community meeting,

[40:59] which I will detail in the next slide.

[41:03] In August 10th, smart held a community meeting

[41:07] in Guiseville, where our general manager

[41:10] provided a brief presentation on the proposed station.

[41:14] We also had lots of staff on hand,

[41:16] from different departments to answer questions.

[41:18] Spanish translation was available.

[41:21] We had information boards that featured

[41:24] the station location, station rendering,

[41:26] as well as the pathway alignment and we had 140 people attending not including staff.

[41:36] A consistent with that kind of community spirit that's really driven this project, one of

[41:40] the things that was not anticipated was a member of the public asked for a handful for support

[41:46] for the station, which many of you may have seen in media coverage and you can see on this slide here.

[41:54] We were really pleased with the attendance if the event was well promoted through social media as well as with our partners.

[42:01] The guys reveal community in particular, the planning committee got the word out and we were pleased to see a lot of people in the room.

[42:08] There was also a lot of media coverage of the event and this picture is from the press Democrat article that ran the following day.

[42:20] In addition to the in-person and virtual meetings we also had a public survey available between July 1st and August 16th.

[42:29] The survey was available in English and Spanish.

[42:32] At the meeting we also had hard copies of the survey to complete and were very pleased with the responses.

[42:39] We had 797 responses in total.

[42:42] 9 were in Spanish, 698 were in English and the survey was very well promoted across social media.

[42:50] digital newsletter, print flyers, and our project website.

[42:57] So to quickly get into the survey results,

[43:00] on the question of should smart ad estation and geyserville,

[43:04] among all respondents 90% were in support of the station,

[43:09] 9% were not supportive and 1% left that response blank.

[43:14] And this cross section here, you can see,

[43:17] among different population sectors responding to the survey,

[43:21] There was consistent support for the stations, so on the screen you can see support among

[43:27] guisable residents, support among guisable workers, as well as the support from Cloverdale

[43:33] residents.

[43:37] This is true even when you look at responses by age demographic.

[43:42] The graph on the left shows the percentage of support versus opposition by age brackets.

[43:48] Notably, respondents in the 18 and under 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 age groups were strongly

[43:57] in favor.

[43:58] However, all age brackets had at least 90% or greater rate of support.

[44:08] And on the question of should smart locate a station at Highway 28 and Remmel Road, 88%

[44:15] of all respondents supported the proposed location, 90% of respondents that reside in

[44:21] as a grid with the location, you can see here on the left a picture of the proposed station

[44:26] location relative to downtown Guiserville.

[44:30] 12% of total respondents disagreed with the station location and I will go into a little

[44:35] detail on that group.

[44:40] So among the 12% respondents that disagreed with the station location, 61% of those opposed

[44:47] the project outright, and that's equivalent to 5% of all the survey respondents and 20%

[44:55] of those disagreed with the location saying that Cloverdale should instead be proud.

[45:00] And I'm sorry, there are labels on my version of this pie chart that you are not seeing, but I can just briefly label them for you.

[45:09] The purple color was 61% represents those respondents who do not support the project at all.

[45:18] 20% in the other kind of perplish color. Those are people that feel that clover dayl should be prioritized first.

[45:26] We had, in the next to the left there, the two small slivers, both represent 3%, we had 3% of respondents say they preferred a heelsberg station, another 3% preferred another location in Guiserville, 8% in that light blue pie slice, believe other smart priorities are more important, i.e. completing halfway gaps, and the 6% in that kind of lightish blue,

[45:57] preferred adding a station elsewhere on the corridor, suggesting places like Nevada, Santa Rosa, or Pengrove.

[46:09] When asked if you were able to connect to Guiseville via a smart station, where would you travel to or from?

[46:16] The responses on the right show.

[46:19] What is confirmed already with existing and established travel patterns that are strong between Guiseville and neighboring communities, such as Cloverdale fields, Bergen Windsor,

[46:29] as well as San Arosa.

[46:32] And what this tells us is that a real connection

[46:35] could effectively serve an existing travel market.

[46:42] So in terms of equity and demographic considerations,

[46:45] 63% of the population in the Guidesville CDP

[46:49] is white alone, 36% is non-white,

[46:53] or identify as more than one race,

[46:56] and 34% of the population are Hispanic or Latino,

[47:00] and this tracks pretty consistently

[47:01] with the proportion of white and non-white residents in SMART's two county district.

[47:07] But what does stand out is that the proportion of households in Gyeserville with the household

[47:11] income of $50,000 or lower is greater relative to the proportion in the two county district.

[47:23] In terms of the project rationale and objectives, a Gyeserville station will allow train access

[47:28] for residents, workers, and visitors to Gyeserville. It will maximize the utility of the rail system

[47:34] without harming railroad operations, it will make more trips on the pathway between

[47:38] Cloverdale, Guyserville, and Hieldsburg possible, and it will also allow for the segmentation

[47:44] of the delivery of the extension between Hieldsburg and Cloverdale.

[47:49] So to summarize, the station really fulfills many of smart strategic objectives.

[47:54] Number one, completing the system to Cloverdale.

[47:57] Number two, maximizing the benefits and usefulness of the system, and three, effectively

[48:02] connecting communities along the corridor to offer a transit alternative to the 101.

[48:10] Some other business case considerations, the station will provide a rail alternative to those

[48:16] existing and future travel markets between guiserville and communities on the corridor.

[48:22] Of the workers in the central, excuse me, in the census designated place area, 40% of that

[48:28] that's coming into guys or they'll come from places along SmartScore at or.

[50:04] So I'll just start from the top apologies. Just in terms of other business case considerations, but we believe that

[50:12] this station will provide a real alternative to existing and future travel markets. I was mentioning that the census

[50:20] designated place that is Geyserville has 1,067 jobs, about 1,030 of those jobs are held

[50:29] by people who live outside of Geyserville and commute in. And 40% of that incoming workforce

[50:35] are coming from places already served by the smart corridor. So we believe we have a built-in

[50:39] travel market that could be served if we had a station there. With that established travel market

[50:46] That means there's great potential for mode shift, both in terms of the benefits of reducing

[50:51] vehicle miles traveled and the associated transportation, transportation generated CO2 emissions

[50:59] from those trips that would occur by getting those trips onto the train and out of a car.

[51:05] Importantly, the station would provide access to education, jobs, affordable housing, and health care.

[51:11] The nearest healthcare facilities are located in Cloverdale and Hillsburg, and it would also

[51:17] make employment education and other opportunities more accessible to you guys with the residents.

[51:23] And finally, it supports economic impact by increasing business reach to a broader customer base

[51:28] as well as a larger employee pool.

[51:35] Staff evaluated the project relative to Sequa and the project

[51:39] is statutorically exempt under the public resources code section 21080.25 subdivision

[51:49] be paragraph six sub paragraph a as it is a public project for the improvement institution

[51:55] or increase of passenger rail service including the maintenance construction or rehabilitation

[52:01] of stations. The project meets all the following conditions of the exemption as it will be

[52:07] by a public agency. It is within existing public right-of-way. It will be exclusively used by

[52:15] certified Tier IV locomotives. It is located within the North Coast Air Basin, which is in attainment

[52:22] for particulate matter and ozone. It does not include single occupancy vehicle trips, adding additional

[52:30] highway lanes or capacity. It does not require the demolition of affordable housing units and the

[52:36] project cost is under $50 million. In meeting the conditions of the statutory exemption, the board must

[52:44] certify that the project will be completed by a skilled and trained workforce. This clause is specified

[52:51] in the resolution attached to this item.

[52:56] So with that, I bring it back to the recommendation

[52:59] that is before this board and should the board choose to act and approve the project, staff will

[53:08] file the notice of exemption and we will work with our local, regional, state and federal partners

[53:13] to include the project in the relevant plans. We will also continue to pursue grant funding

[53:20] opportunities to complete the system to global, global, inclusive of a geyserville station,

[53:25] and we'll do ongoing outreach work, outreach work with the community. With that, I open for any

[53:33] questions.

[53:36] Thank you, Zoing. Before we go to questions, I just want to compliment staff on what

[53:42] appears to be a really amazing planning and outreach effort in a very short time. You know,

[53:50] doing a survey that focuses on a town of 800 and some people and getting 780 responses is pretty good

[54:02] in my opinion.

[54:06] I did want to start with the question of my own, and that is that there

[54:13] seems to be some perception, not a lot, but some, that doing this planning effort around

[54:21] a geyserville station somehow indicates a prioritization of geyserville over Cloverdale

[54:30] or other parts of the system.

[54:34] And I'm just wondering if we could address that right up front.

[54:41] This actually helps Clover Dell very much.

[54:45] You know, I explain this at the community meeting,

[54:47] and I think most people understood it very clearly.

[54:51] Anytime that you go and try to get a grant

[54:53] for an 18-mile segment, that's a heavy lift,

[54:57] there's a, that's a tall border.

[54:59] And...

[55:00] Very difficult to get. What bringing in a Guiderville station does is allows us to segment this project, which means we can get from Hillsborough to Guiderville and then we can go seek the funding to complete the project to get to Cloverdale.

[55:14] So I think that adding Guiderville is a huge help to Cloverdale and is ultimately a big part of our strategy to complete this project.

[55:25] Thank you.

[55:28] Just put it even simpler.

[55:29] You can't get to Cloverdale without going through a crisis, though.

[55:33] That's fact.

[55:35] At least not if you go in from South to North.

[55:38] All right.

[55:39] We'll go to Board questions on this item.

[55:44] Any questions?

[55:45] Coach Keller.

[55:47] Thank you.

[55:48] It's been fascinating to really see this process unfold

[55:53] And I used to be a planning commissioner for

[55:56] Sonoma County that included the area representing that area that included guys areville.

[56:01] So I feel like compared to most people, I thought it guys were like I tend to

[56:04] know a little bit more about what the full of the community has never have

[56:09] I seen this many people in guysville all mostly overwhelmingly agree on something

[56:14] which is really interesting. I mean, I think the same thing could be said for

[56:17] any community, right? When you put out, you know, how many options and

[56:21] people are like there's just no consensus. So this is wild to see and wonderful and heartwarming.

[56:27] I did have a question about the station location and some issues that have come up historically

[56:32] about flooding in that area and how if that is something that has come up in the conversations you

[56:39] had with guys or residents, I see Eddie also grab expert's phone and just what type of evaluation

[56:44] would need to take place based on the likelihood that flooding would occur there and what we would

[56:50] to do about it to ensure that the train can still pass through when those conditions are happening.

[56:57] Yes, that did come up at the community meeting. It's several people that talked to me. We had a map

[57:02] up, you know, one of the boards, so they were actually able to show me exactly what happens and how the

[57:08] water backs up. And so yeah, we did have some of our engineering team there to talk through that. Obviously,

[57:14] we would have to look at how the hydrology and things like that work in the area to make decision

[57:20] and so we move forward that project,

[57:22] but that would definitely be part of it.

[57:26] Is it possible that when, if we are to move forward with this

[57:30] and when construction's happening,

[57:31] that it could be a net benefit to the community

[57:33] because ideally we're not gonna be placing a platform

[57:37] without looking at opportunities to ensure

[57:41] that water is able to kind of move more freely in that area.

[57:44] And so that should we proceed,

[57:47] there could be a reduction in some of the flooding

[57:48] if we can maintain or improve some of those

[57:51] the infrastructure that's there.

[57:53] Right. Yeah, I definitely think there would have to be some level of improvement.

[57:56] I don't know exactly what would be done until we get in there and study it, but according

[58:00] to the local residents, they were telling me that when it's really bad, the water goes

[58:04] all the way up to the rail. So if that's the case, that's something that we would definitely

[58:08] be looking at and trying to manage. And so yeah, we just have to get in there and as a part

[58:13] of the project, that'll be something that we will look at and do our best to manage that.

[58:18] And then has there been a conversation, I know in addition to some of the work travel and

[58:24] travel habits and where people are coming from that you mentioned in your comments,

[58:29] has there been a conversation with the tribe that operates the casino that's expanding

[58:34] up there just in terms of the number of buses that they're currently running to the casino

[58:39] from all over the Bay Area and if there is an opportunity to get those, you know, should the

[58:45] come to town if get those buses off the 101 and potentially have writers using smart to visit there.

[58:52] Yes, Zoe and I did go meet with the folks from the tribe. We had a really good conversation.

[59:00] They did tell us that they were very supportive of a guy's civil station and went on to tell

[59:05] us that they plan on running bus service whenever Hillsford goes in and planning to connect Hillsford

[59:11] to the casino and so that's kind of in their thought process and they would want to think

[59:16] about first and last mile connection from a guy's ofville station to their casino.

[59:21] So, yeah, that was, we did reach out, we did have a great, really great conversation

[59:28] with them.

[59:29] Thank you.

[59:32] Thank you.

[59:32] Yeah, thank you very much.

[59:33] Sorry, thank you so much for the great and thorough presentation, very much appreciate

[59:37] that.

[59:40] And what's the, I know it's in the staff report, but the distance between the two points

[59:45] Um, again, guys or bills right in the middle, and uh, I'm tip my card earlier. I'm totally supportive.

[59:53] I know I have residents in the Pengrove that would love a station there.

[59:57] A little more difficult to put a station within.

[1:00:00] We don't want to, we are more of a commuter rail with some time frames that we're going to have to commit to. Talk about that. This, this particular stop, how that affects the overall trip to Cleverdale. Does it not.

[1:00:14] It adds a minute or two, but it stays within the promise that we made to voters way back when.

[1:00:21] Given the spacing between the stations, it supports the performance without compromising the

[1:00:29] competitiveness of the rail relative to what we're competing against, which are travel times

[1:00:34] on the highway. So it allows us to operate effectively without undermining that rail performance.

[1:00:40] And just for transparency, could you talk about any additional infrastructure that would be needed

[1:00:45] in terms of passing tracks or laying tracks or the rock

[1:00:52] with the additional.

[1:00:53] That may be all part of the Cloverdale extension anyway,

[1:00:57] I'm not sure if guys available

[1:00:58] would add any additional pressure in that regard.

[1:01:05] So the scope of this project is really focused

[1:01:08] on the station platform.

[1:01:11] Our environmentally cleared project through,

[1:01:15] from Mark's bill, Lark's for to Cloverdale,

[1:01:19] includes the kind of track and the signals,

[1:01:21] the communications, all of the elements of the track

[1:01:24] that would be required to operate to Cloverdale.

[1:01:28] The infrastructure that's really needed

[1:01:29] to support this service is the station platform.

[1:01:34] And because of we're month over month

[1:01:37] record setting ridership, and thank you all for that,

[1:01:43] would we do anything different

[1:01:44] with the this platform as opposed to what the platforms we built in the past

[1:01:49] Would it be longer would it be and I know that puts the other platforms in at a different. Yeah, obviously

[1:01:55] We take a we take a good look at everything before we build it, but as of right now

[1:02:00] I would say that it would look just like the rest of our platforms whether that would be a side platform or a

[1:02:06] Center platform. I don't know quite yet. Yeah, we'd have to work through that

[1:02:09] But as far as appearance, I think it would look very similar and then I'll just go one step further

[1:02:13] You know, in the spacing of the stations, I think it's about eight to nine miles from Hillsburg to Cloverdale.

[1:02:21] And this board served me, say, time and time again, but about seven miles in between commuter rail stations is pretty much ideal.

[1:02:30] And so that that's right in with that.

[1:02:33] It would be a long stretch to go 18 miles from Hillsburg to Cloverdale without a stop.

[1:02:39] So, yeah, I think this is, I think this is a good move on multiple times.

[1:02:43] I think our conductors would have to be waking at one up to get off the train at the distance.

[1:02:50] I appreciate that. And so I don't have to buzz in again, I'll just say I'm supportive and I totally after being in this business now for quite a long time and advocating for many big projects.

[1:03:03] I think people have the full sense that there's just money waiting to be grabbed and it's all from one source and that's never true

[1:03:09] It is always a battle to cobbled together funds from many different sources and you do that in the best way you can and the best way you can is to start off by being competitive and realistic in what you could achieve

[1:03:22] this being the halfway point really cuts the project in two, which is

[1:03:27] positive thing and makes getting to Cloverdale that much more realistic, and

[1:03:32] that's really for me the most important thing, and you know, again I'll go back

[1:03:36] and say, you know, if we knew today what we didn't know way back when when we

[1:03:42] were starting this whole thing, would we have additional stops at different places

[1:03:45] and probably, and I think this is a good move for smart one that

[1:03:51] will be very beneficial to be able to complete what was promised to the voters way back when

[1:04:00] and really excited about it. And again, thank you for all the work. Thank you to all staff

[1:04:05] for making everything so successful. Any further questions from the board, Director Garberigan?

[1:04:14] Comment, Kate and I were over here mumbling about how you well you drilled down into those.

[1:04:19] What was it not even 10% of the people that maybe it was fighting?

[1:04:23] 90% of the people who were unhappy.

[1:04:26] And we wish them well.

[1:04:28] But now we know what could happen in the future

[1:04:33] that we've got a challenge to bring them on board.

[1:04:36] The good news is though the lion share are really thrilled.

[1:04:40] And I was happy to see there are 700 jobs there

[1:04:43] and 600 people live there.

[1:04:45] So obviously people are commuting in and out.

[1:04:47] this will be a service. And I just echo what everybody else said, but that way your presentation

[1:04:52] was delicate. Thank you.

[1:04:56] There's a question to come and check the gun.

[1:04:58] Maybe just a quick observation we get.

[1:05:00] 7.4.5% of the ballot box, but about 90% approval in Geiserville. So just a couple months later, I mean, I've already added 15 points that's impressive.

[1:05:12] Next time, 110.

[1:05:15] All right. Is there no more questions for the board? We will go to the public. Anyone in the room want to comment on this item? Sorry.

[1:05:25] Oh, we're going to do this backwards. Okay. Sorry. We're going to go first to online comments.

[1:05:33] Just for fun. There you go, Brian. Yeah, we have three hands raised for public comment. First is S.

[1:05:40] Thank

[1:05:45] you. Susan Kirk's Petalima. I support this extension, this new station, and the new platform 100% and so pleased for the residents of

[1:06:00] and for all of the residents in the North County who will eventually, maybe, able to use this,

[1:06:08] I appreciated Director Kelly's comments and her experience in that area of the county,

[1:06:14] and also Director Rabbits' comments, and I too would love to see a station in Pengrove,

[1:06:22] a stop in Pengrove. I know so many people who would really benefit from that.

[1:06:27] on having said all of that, I really wish that your board would direct your manager and staff

[1:06:34] on certain environmental impact issues such as the hydrology issues and potentially other

[1:06:42] issues that really do need engineering, complete evaluation and planning so that the building

[1:06:54] of the platform will not be inundated by flooding, and there could be other environmental impacts

[1:07:02] as well, but since you're being sent to from Sequa, obviously there are environmental impacts

[1:07:09] that need to be evaluated.

[1:07:10] And I hope you will support that.

[1:07:12] Thank you.

[1:07:17] Thank you.

[1:07:32] Thank you.

[1:07:33] Thank you.

[1:07:34] Thank you.

[1:07:34] Appreciate your taking this up today.

[1:07:39] As many of you know, I've been following this project since its inception.

[1:07:44] It's been part of public service in Cloverdale through the planning commission.

[1:07:48] and two-time mayor during the inception and the attended many of the events concurrent with all of this whole smart project.

[1:08:04] I attended the meeting in Cloverdale because I was very interested in to see how their feeling was.

[1:08:12] and it was not surprised to see that it was overwhelmingly accepted and I'm totally in favor of it.

[1:08:22] It's to me it's a no-brainer. It makes all of the sense.

[1:08:30] It's it's it's got to be a

[1:08:32] done deal. So I'm excited for it and hopefully it will get past without a problem. Thank you very much.

[1:08:42] next up for public comment is Savannah.

[1:08:52] Savannah, please unmute and begin your comment.

[1:08:55] So, so I'm not Savannah. I'm actually need a handshot on the director of the

[1:09:00] Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce. And we represent about 200 a little more than 220 businesses.

[1:09:08] It's small and large in both Cloverdale and Geiserville.

[1:09:11] And we've been waiting for the train for a long time.

[1:09:14] And I think that the slide that we showed that had shown that

[1:09:19] Cloverdale residents weren't as supportive of the station and guys of

[1:09:23] real didn't understand how the sectional funding and all of that would

[1:09:28] actually make it more realistic to come to Cloverdale.

[1:09:33] It was, it's perfect.

[1:09:36] Guys of real has lots of dining and hospitality opportunities.

[1:09:41] Cloverdale would love to write on the hotels and actually show off what we have here.

[1:09:47] The community meeting on August 10th was amazing and one of the, I wanted to start off by saying

[1:09:53] the ridership levels that you talked about earlier. Everybody's excited about that and we have

[1:10:00] I hope it continues and continues. But I, on behalf of my board and my chamber, we fully support the

[1:10:07] training government to close it. Guys are all in then, Cloverdale. So, that was very informative

[1:10:13] to learn that that will hopefully make it a little bit easier to come to Cloverdale and make

[1:10:19] more sense. So, thank you.

[1:10:23] Last hand raise for public comment is Mike Peckner. Go ahead, Mike.

[1:10:29] Thank you. Thank you to the board and to Eddie Cummings. I want people to know that we still have

[1:10:36] freight service on the smart line and before freight service was ended by floods and debris on

[1:10:47] the tracks and February of 1998 that was what's in Pacific railroad ran a train from here to

[1:10:54] and Willets south to the connection with the main national railroad network at Shellville.

[1:11:03] And that guys areville had a passing track, a 5200 feet, one train ran from Willets to

[1:11:10] Geiserville, the other train ran from Shellville to Geiserville. They met in the middle and

[1:11:15] the cruise changed engines and went back to their home depots. And I would think that possibly

[1:11:24] in the planning that we think of freight service in Guiseville and keeping the 6200 foot

[1:11:31] siding that is there now for logistics purposes and that we have a center platform instead

[1:11:41] of a side platform and of course make sure that we have gauntlet tracks at Guiseville so that

[1:11:51] can continue the freight service to the north. I'm fully in favor of a

[1:11:56] guys reveal station. I think it's exciting and it's glad I'm happy to see it

[1:12:01] happened. Just want to make sure that freight services considered through

[1:12:05] guys reveal as well. There are three lumber companies in Cloverdale that

[1:12:11] used to be railroad serviced and would certainly go back to using the freight

[1:12:19] instead of trucking. Thank you.

[1:12:25] That's the last of the online portion of public on it.

[1:12:28] All right. For the folks in the room, thanks for your patience. I'd like to address the board on this

[1:12:34] item. Please come to the podium.

[1:12:45] Good afternoon. My name is Bryce Jones. I am president of the

[1:12:49] guys of all planning committee. First off, I'd like to thank staff for the amazing outreach they did.

[1:12:55] was really a huge amount of engagement within the community.

[1:13:00] We were pleased to be able to help share the survey.

[1:13:03] Really, really impressed with the number of respondents to it.

[1:13:08] Also, we wanted to comment today on the potential impact of a train station in Guiseville.

[1:13:15] For those of you who don't know, we'll redwood highway used to run right through downtown

[1:13:20] and when the highway bypassed Guiseville.

[1:13:22] a lot of the economy ended up bypassing our community as well.

[1:13:26] If you saw the news coverage from one of the San Francisco news stations,

[1:13:30] a lot of our business owners commented that they love to have a station there

[1:13:34] because it might bring more people in.

[1:13:37] And the news coverage is another great example of the potential impact of a smart station.

[1:13:42] Guys, your vote was in the news more in the last six weeks

[1:13:46] than it probably has been in the last 16 years.

[1:13:49] So, it was really impressive to see all the newspapers basically from the San Francisco

[1:13:54] Chronicle, all the way to Cleverdale, cover this and cover it prominently.

[1:13:59] So, it really does show you the potential impact of this station coming to town.

[1:14:04] We love seeing these statistics on the workers.

[1:14:07] We do have a shortage of housing.

[1:14:09] A lot of people work the jobs and guys will do commute to town, so this could create

[1:14:13] another opportunity for them.

[1:14:15] Love the comment that you guys outreached in the casino, they are partnering with Caesar's to develop the casino quite a bit.

[1:14:24] So there's a lot more potential with that as well.

[1:14:27] I can comment a little bit on the drainage comments.

[1:14:31] So once again, I am president of the guysville planning committee, one of two committees in town.

[1:14:36] We do have the guysville and Alexander Valley Municipal Advisory Committee, and they have done a drainage study already for that area with

[1:14:44] with Sonoma County Department of Transportation.

[1:14:47] So a lot of that study and work has already been done,

[1:14:49] and a lot of that expense has already been spent.

[1:14:51] Thank you.

[1:14:55] Anyone else?

[1:15:03] Thank you. I did the injuries by myself last time, Thomas Ells, and I'm a civil and environmental engineer. I've done a lot of railwork and a lot of hydrology.

[1:15:14] And if the water, a lot of times people have a pretty good idea of what's happening out there. But if it's reaching the rail, okay, it's a problem for the subgrade, but it's not a problem for the track or the people because your platform is 40 inches above the top of rail.

[1:15:32] So you've got quite a bit of clearance from any water or interference, and trains can usually navigate through significant depths of water as long as it's not flowing, but it's a river that you're going through that's a problem.

[1:15:48] But I was at that meeting and it was extremely supportive on extremely supportive of this, there was a person who was there who said, oh, this is a big expense and whatever.

[1:15:58] The problem is, as Supervisor Abbott or Board Member Abbott said, is that this was a promise.

[1:16:06] People would not vote.

[1:16:08] When we went for the election, people would not vote for this, if we didn't commit to

[1:16:13] going to Colbert L, wherever they were, in Moran, they were against us if we didn't commit

[1:16:21] to going.

[1:16:22] I mean, they wanted to commit every single word that was in there, including the trail and

[1:16:26] everything.

[1:16:26] And that's why I was saying the board was so effective in doing that in preparation for the

[1:16:31] election.

[1:16:32] But this is all part of that.

[1:16:33] This is all part of that.

[1:16:34] An original commitment from the Council of Study and everything going forward, it's very

[1:16:40] necessary.

[1:16:41] And I would point out that it's possible to use other equipment.

[1:16:46] Your equipment is very vital and it's complicated and difficult to reproduce what we have.

[1:16:53] You could use other equipment because that, that leg is going to take a great deal of time and not carry very many people.

[1:17:04] So you could use other equipment on that and then focus the equipment you have on the segments that you have.

[1:17:10] Thank you to that's a possibility. Thank you. Next time.

[1:17:14] Anyone else in the room want to comment on this item?

[1:17:19] Is there any final comments or questions from board members or emotion?

[1:17:26] Thank you, Chair Crossey, and thank you for the presentation and to the members of the

[1:17:32] Guyserville community who have participated in the process as well as folks from

[1:17:36] Kloberdale who have engaged. This is really as Christione's both the chair of the planning

[1:17:43] committee, but also the Chief True Reading Officer of the City of Guyserville.

[1:17:51] Chief

[1:17:51] and truly to have this many, this much interest in this many eyeballs on

[1:17:57] guyserville makes me so proud as a nearby resident but also as just as

[1:18:01] someone who has a lot of hope and aspiration for that community. There's so

[1:18:07] much love and pride in guyserville, people who are from there who live there. I mean

[1:18:11] like any part of Sonoma County I would say but really it is a unique community that

[1:18:16] very tight knit. Here is deeply about one another and the young people who are being raised

[1:18:23] and growing up in the schools there. The conversations I have had with kids about their desire

[1:18:28] to travel to other parts of the region to go to educational opportunities that SRJC,

[1:18:35] which there are already doing now if they can get on the Sonoma County Transit Bus. To get there,

[1:18:40] this has really opened up a lot of people's eyes and hearts to the idea of having a better

[1:18:45] more connected in order to know my county.

[1:18:47] And what you may not know is actually the route bus,

[1:18:51] the snowing honey transit bus that travels from Santa Rosa up

[1:18:54] to Culverdale that stops and guys reveal is the most heavily

[1:18:57] utilized bus in snowing county transit circulation.

[1:19:01] There are a lot of people who rely on public transit

[1:19:03] to get around this region and the people that are waiting

[1:19:07] for that bus and how often they have to wait

[1:19:09] in between buses are really delighted and excited

[1:19:12] about this opportunity to have a train

[1:19:14] that sort of is a community not just for the folks who are living in other parts of the county,

[1:19:19] commuting to guys are built for work, which is about a thousand people a day,

[1:19:22] but also the folks living in guys are built who would like to commute elsewhere

[1:19:25] in and around the region and the doors and the visibility of what this will open up for those opportunities for people in the community,

[1:19:33] as well as the number of seniors in guys are built who are very much excited about having the train to get to places

[1:19:40] because the only way to get around right now is pretty limited.

[1:19:46] In addition, I know comments were made about the River Raccocino partnering with

[1:19:51] Caesars and International Entertainment Group. They're the expansion at the River Raccocino.

[1:19:57] We'll certainly have an impact in the community.

[1:20:00] There's a lot of people who have feelings about it. But what I will say is that it's happening, they broke around over a year ago or about a year ago, and they're adding a 100 room luxury host hell and spa resort as part of the casino that they're also expanding.

[1:20:16] And so the number of people who will be visiting there and the impact that we'll have in the community, I think, positively economically, but this train will help to mitigate some of the negative impacts in the community.

[1:20:28] you may talk to farmers in Alexander Valley who say that the buses every single day, you know, driving up and down their small highway to get to the casino really does have an impact.

[1:20:39] And so the idea that this would lessen some of that impact and provide economic benefit to the community without some of the environmental impacts certainly is is interesting and and worth consideration.

[1:20:50] So I want to pull hard at least support this expansion.

[1:20:54] I think that it really will be such a net positive for the entire Northern

[1:20:59] Stromo County community as well as for the entire system.

[1:21:03] So thank you.

[1:21:05] President questions.

[1:21:07] Comment.

[1:21:10] Just carrying this is one motion encompassing all three parts of the action.

[1:21:17] It is one motion.

[1:21:18] I've put that in your chair notes.

[1:21:20] Chair, of course, I'd be happy to make motion.

[1:21:21] Well, second. I move that the Board of Directors of the snowman county,

[1:21:26] some of a ring area rail transit district adopt a guiseville station into

[1:21:31] smarts program and improving up the project.

[1:21:35] Yeah, motion in a second. I think this is a good one to individually vote on.

[1:21:42] Irene, can you call the roll? Of course.

[1:21:50] Do I work for Catertonson? Yes.

[1:21:51] Director Colin, hi, Director Fleming.

[1:21:57] Yes, Director Garboreno, Director Jacob's absent.

[1:22:01] Director Kelly.

[1:22:03] Director Lukeins.

[1:22:05] Yes.

[1:22:05] Director Par.

[1:22:07] Yes.

[1:22:08] Director Paulson.

[1:22:09] Yes.

[1:22:09] Director Rabbit.

[1:22:11] Hi.

[1:22:11] Vice Chair Sackett.

[1:22:14] And Chair Corsi.

[1:22:15] Yes.

[1:22:16] Thank you.

[1:22:17] if it's called positive votes from those present.

[1:22:28] And we're not done yet.

[1:22:31] Mr. Gamlin, I have a number eight.

[1:22:35] Yes, I have number eight.

[1:22:37] This item is a recommendation for a construction contract

[1:22:41] to do some repair work on the existing railroad.

[1:22:46] So to orient you a little bit,

[1:22:48] this is down with the area we call St. Vincent

[1:22:50] It's behind St. Vincent's church, this area between San Rafael and Nevada, so left side of

[1:22:57] your screen is Highway 101, north is to the top. The marine wood area is to the left of 101.

[1:23:05] St. Vincent's church there is towards the right and the reddish line with the blue

[1:23:10] polka dots is our railroad, the blue dots being mile post markers. So I've identified two locations

[1:23:16] there where we have some box culverts in the right away that are settling and I'll drill

[1:23:23] into that a little bit. We've had settlement in the railroad in this area. We have these box

[1:23:28] culverts that are pairs. So two locations, each with two box culverts, there are a series of

[1:23:33] concrete structures put together to convey drainage. They're failing the seams are opening on them a

[1:23:39] little bit and see it in this photo here where we've got some ballast and gravel falling through

[1:23:44] So seems this project will put rebar in here, fillies with concrete, we will be putting a pipe through each one, so we maintain some drainage capacity and just solidifying them essentially.

[1:24:00] We did a competitive procurement for this contract. We received three bids.

[1:24:04] Joladi Brothers Incorporated was deemed the lowest responsive responsible bidder if you adopt

[1:24:11] resolution 2026-27 that would authorize the general manager to execute a contract which

[1:24:18] Joladi Brothers contract CVBB26-004 in amount of 272,869 dollars.

[1:24:28] I'm happy to answer any questions.

[1:24:31] Thank you, Mr. Yamlin.

[1:24:33] Questions?

[1:24:36] Thank you.

[1:24:37] Supervisor Sack and I might have the same questions or similar questions.

[1:24:40] So I'm curious if you have had outreach to the other property owners in that area

[1:24:44] because whenever there's flooding or we're moving around dirt there can be both intended

[1:24:48] and intended consequences one and two just letting them know the work that we're going to be doing this

[1:24:54] process.

[1:24:54] Yes, we have.

[1:24:55] We primarily outreach with the church.

[1:24:57] We have contacts there.

[1:24:59] We frequently act.

[1:25:00] Access the railroad crossing there, through their property. We did find that these culverts were drastically oversized, and the drainage that goes through, or it's not that significant at all.

[1:25:11] Okay, great. Thank you.

[1:25:14] I have two questions. The first one, we talked about earlier today, a $4.5 million Tam application for O-Bake funding for the pathway in this area.

[1:25:26] And so how are you thinking about these culverts with that construction?

[1:25:31] Does this need to happen right now before that?

[1:25:35] This has been something we've been monitoring for a while.

[1:25:38] So we really should address the settlement piece.

[1:25:40] The two are really separated in this area.

[1:25:43] The pathway will be on an engagement easement that we secured some time ago.

[1:25:48] That's parallel to the right away in the field.

[1:25:51] I guess that's south east of the railroad.

[1:25:54] It won't be on the same prism in this area.

[1:25:58] Yeah, they're not really related.

[1:26:00] And then the other question is, you're talking about decreasing drastically the size of the

[1:26:07] covert, feeling that it was over size.

[1:26:11] Yeah, we'll be maintaining drainage through there with 24-inch pipes, 24-inch diameter pipes,

[1:26:16] so still sizeable amount, but smaller than what's there today.

[1:26:19] And would that change at all if there was development on the church side of this property?

[1:26:26] It seems like it's probably far enough away, but just wanted to see if you're taking that into consideration of how much size you need.

[1:26:36] Sure.

[1:26:36] We're not taking in any development consideration, but we are certainly taking in the consideration for all the runoff and the hillside and everything in that area that we pick up.

[1:26:46] So if there's any concentrated runoff from a development, they have the responsibility to handle their own water, but we would certainly coordinate with them if they had a need to channel some water or something in the future.

[1:27:01] Thank you.

[1:27:03] Other questions for Bill?

[1:27:06] Not seeing any public comment in the room in the online.

[1:27:14] All right, we'll look for a motion on number eight.

[1:27:17] So moved

[1:27:22] by Director Colin and seconded by Director Fleming.

[1:27:26] Thank you.

[1:27:28] Well, and all in favor, we'll say aye.

[1:27:30] Aye.

[1:27:31] Any opposed?

[1:27:33] Seeing?

[1:27:33] Right.

[1:27:34] That's the unanimously.

[1:27:38] Bill's going to steer right there.

[1:27:39] And we're going to go through items nine.

[1:27:43] Ten and eleven with a power point.

[1:27:45] And then we'll have individual votes on those after the PowerPoint presentation.

[1:27:59] Here we go.

[1:28:05] There we go.

[1:28:06] Okay, as Director, of course he said, this will be items 9 through 11.

[1:28:12] And this pertains to incorporating some work from our municipal partners into our Healdsburg extension project.

[1:28:19] As you may recall, you authorized a contractor award in September last year for a progressive

[1:28:26] design-build contract for the Healdsburg extension.

[1:28:29] Quick refresher on progressive design build in this effort, smart hires a contractor with

[1:28:36] a very little project definition.

[1:28:38] We work with the contractor and his engineering team to develop the engineering documents.

[1:28:43] we then get into open book cost negotiations and if all goes well and we agree on a price,

[1:28:50] we move into a phase two contract which would complete design and construct the work.

[1:28:55] Sometimes we'll do a couple phase two contracts depending on how the project's

[1:29:00] flowing and how it's being implemented. We're currently developing design. We've conducted field

[1:29:06] work, field surveys, we're incorporating that information. As part of that, our municipal partners,

[1:29:11] the city of Healdsburg and Sonoma County, have both asked us to incorporate some work into

[1:29:17] the project.

[1:29:22] In terms of Healdsburg, they requested us to add three items, so it would be a

[1:29:26] sewer line design across the smart property near the depot. It would be to include a sleeve,

[1:29:34] for a future utility crossing at Front Street, essentially a pipe that you could slip a water line

[1:29:39] a sewer line through and then designing some brackets on the Russian River Bridge for a

[1:29:45] possible future water line. This would take this work, this contract would take this work

[1:29:51] to a 65% design level that's consistent with the milestones that we're designing the project

[1:29:56] for our work, the cost of this is a hundred and...

[1:30:00] 4141,285 dollars and 61 cents, and would be funded by Cloverd, sorry, city of Hieldsburg, which is item nine in the packet.

[1:30:11] That's the funding agreement itself.

[1:30:16] Worked for the county of Sonoma, we will be replacing the bridge over old redwood highway and adding a pedestrian bridge, adjacent to it for the bicycle and pedestrian pathway.

[1:30:27] Sonoma County has asked us to start doing some design work to widen this section of roadway.

[1:30:32] As you can see in the photo there, it necks down at the railroad bridge, so this is a great opportunity to complete this work.

[1:30:39] It would add shoulders, bike lanes to the roadway, increase the line of sight on the curve there.

[1:30:45] And again, this work would be designed to a 65% design level consistent with our work, the cost of 640,000, 375 dollars and 27 cents.

[1:30:55] And this item is covered in the county funding agreement, which is item 10 in your packet.

[1:31:04] So all this would feed into a contract amendment with our progressive design built contract.

[1:31:09] Contract CVDB-25-001.

[1:31:13] The total amendment amount on this first phase would be $751,771.

[1:31:20] and 28 cents were a total not to exceed contract of $22,566,169.82 cents. It would incorporate

[1:31:31] the cities and the counties utility and roadway design work all funded by the city and the

[1:31:37] county. Quite frankly, these are great opportunities to combine work like this. It usually

[1:31:43] everybody benefits from economies of scale and it minimizes impacts to the public. So we've done

[1:31:48] lot of it up and down the right of ways we've rebuilt the railroad. So in summary, three resolutions,

[1:31:55] the first one item nine is the City of Hillsburg funding agreement, then item 10 is the county

[1:32:00] of Sonoma funding agreement, and then finally item 11 is the actual amendment to the contract itself.

[1:32:07] I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Bill. Questions on 910 and 11 of the board,

[1:32:16] You're one, George Kelly.

[1:32:18] For the snowman county work that's happening outside of the city to widen, to evaluate, essentially, why, and that bridge.

[1:32:26] Do we already know that it's feasible to be able to do that work or we're still evaluating?

[1:32:32] No, we've identified that it's feasible to do.

[1:32:35] We've looked at a longer bridge length there for the railroad that opens up the roadway.

[1:32:40] We've looked at the retaining walls that would be needed there, so yeah, we've determined it's feasible.

[1:32:44] Okay, great. Yeah, I think that in both of these instances, I mean, for just some local context on the Hillsburg Bridge utility work and extending utilities, there's about a 275 to 200 acres of the city of Hillsburg that is south of the bridge south of the river that has no utilities whatsoever that is a part of an area planning effort that's underway.

[1:33:07] So those in town within the city limit acres, if the city has the ability to leverage smart infrastructure to do this utility work, bringing utilities to that 200 acres of land, it will greatly increase the potential of both residential commercial and industrial development in that area right now that's served by limited septic and wells and so it's really a great opportunity and something the city has been talking about for at least a hundred years.

[1:33:36] So it's exciting to see smart coming to town being one of those things that's helping make it happen.

[1:33:43] And this area of roadway in the county where the bridge widening is taking place is a very dangerous area at a intersection in

[1:33:51] It shouldn't kind of J-Winery where Rodney Strongwinery is at the intersection of East Side Road and the old Red.

[1:33:58] And it is very narrow bicyclists and pedestrians are risking their lives just getting through that under that bridge.

[1:34:06] And it comes right up on a really fast moving intersection.

[1:34:09] So this will be a really much needed benefit to that area.

[1:34:14] That has a lot of traffic.

[1:34:17] Other questions for Bill?

[1:34:21] All right, we're going to do public comment on all three of these down, or do we have to take that set?

[1:34:28] We should take public comment on each individual one.

[1:34:31] All right, team, sure.

[1:34:33] Start with public comment on number nine.

[1:34:37] Name of anyone in the room.

[1:34:40] Anyone online?

[1:34:44] I have one more question on this bill.

[1:34:45] Was that first slide, was that a turn table in that picture?

[1:34:49] Yes, excellent.

[1:34:50] and I direct a course.

[1:34:52] That is the old turn table up in Healt's firm.

[1:34:54] It's still up there.

[1:34:56] It's still there.

[1:34:57] We would love to toy with the idea of rehabilitate.

[1:35:00] I'm not saying anything, but like anything, takes funding.

[1:35:03] For people who don't know, would you explain what a turn table does?

[1:35:07] Well, anyone with kids probably has Thomas the tank, so they've had like the rail road video.

[1:35:12] So yeah, the turn table spins the locomotive around, so it can get in and out of the maintenance base for work.

[1:35:22] So you don't have to back it up.

[1:35:25] All right, sorry for that aside.

[1:35:27] on number 10 public comments on number 10 can we have a motion and a vote count on

[1:35:33] ah okay we're doing that one

[1:35:44] why don't why don't why don't you go I had to tell us

[1:35:52] we'll so do you do forgive me again Thomas else civil engineering the one first of all

[1:36:00] this this is really great it's all part of the part in parcel can't get to two guys to go without

[1:36:07] into Hillsburg, right. So but there have been conversations about the Hillsburg Bridge. I think

[1:36:15] this is what is incorporated within this because again, you can't get the Hillsburg without

[1:36:21] the bridge, right? So this is a question of it being, it's an existing steel bridge. It probably

[1:36:29] can be used still. It's not that difficult to to upgrade or maintain. You can just add pieces to it.

[1:36:40] It's like a Lego land or something like that. It's historic. It's valuable as that resource.

[1:36:51] It may have to be, it may have to go. I talked with a contractor that I believe is the contractor.

[1:36:59] That's two years ago or more, and there was a question about what would happen underneath

[1:37:07] where the abutments of the bridge at the abutments and at the columns of the bridge and where they meet in the water.

[1:37:18] It was understood that maybe there was some undercutting or something, but I was able to see that when it was dry and it looks like they're into virgin rock,

[1:37:25] at least on the south side and it all looks competent and so a really good evaluation

[1:37:33] average I think could really save a lot of money like if they wouldn't have done

[1:37:42] what they did on the on the day bridge you know and rebuilt it they could have

[1:37:47] rebuilt it with a new bridge that was eight billion dollars you know they could

[1:37:53] South, the other bridge, but they all had their different arguments.

[1:37:59] They didn't even say that. Thank you.

[1:38:04] All right. I'm sorry. Now I've lost my place.

[1:38:08] I'm happy to move adoption of the Dan to item nine. Excellent. Thank you.

[1:38:12] Seconds that.

[1:38:14] Move five, five, share a second. Seconds byator Thompson.

[1:38:17] All in favor of any opposed abstain, all right, all for any questions or comments on number 10 or bill.

[1:38:33] From the board, no public comment on number 10.

[1:38:41] Go right. Motion, please.

[1:38:45] I didn't plan.

[1:38:49] Move by Vice Chair.

[1:38:51] Second and seconded by Director Kelly.

[1:38:55] All in favor say aye.

[1:38:56] Aye.

[1:38:57] Any opposed?

[1:38:59] I've staged.

[1:39:00] Cases unanimously.

[1:39:03] And number 11.

[1:39:05] Equations from the board.

[1:39:07] Comments from the public.

[1:39:12] Motion please.

[1:39:15] Some moved.

[1:39:17] Second.

[1:39:17] approved by Director Paulson, second-end by Director Park, Owen Paver, I, and he opposed.

[1:39:27] There we go.

[1:39:29] And move on to number 11, the appointment of our new Chief Financial Office.

[1:39:36] Sorry, number 12.

[1:39:39] I think we need to get from this one.

[1:39:43] Thank you again, Chair and Board of Directors.

[1:39:46] I cannot tell you how excited I am to present this particular item.

[1:39:53] I'll start with the recruitment process.

[1:39:55] We hire CropAmer and Associates LLC.

[1:39:58] They manage a nation.

[1:40:00] One wide search, they worked directly with me to develop a leadership profile and really identify those skills that were necessary for the position.

[1:40:09] They advertised this position nationally. They also reached out to what I like to refer to as the real edicts across the nation and recruiting folks who might be good fit.

[1:40:18] They were able to forward meet 12 semifinalists, semifinalists.

[1:40:24] We looked through all of those resumes.

[1:40:27] We decided to interview five internally.

[1:40:32] That was a smart staff and that panel of internal folks included myself.

[1:40:37] The general council of the Chief Operating Officer, the Chief Engineer,

[1:40:41] and the grants and legislative affairs manager.

[1:40:44] And from there we noted down to two candidates that we really thought would be a good fit

[1:40:50] at Smart to service the next chief financial officer and we boarded those two to a board

[1:40:57] ad hoc committee, the board ad hoc committee interviewed both candidates on 8, 11, 20, 26 and

[1:41:04] that particular committee consisted of chair core seed, vice chair, socket, and director par.

[1:41:12] The ad hoc committee's recommendation is to appoint Troy Bingham as chief financial officer

[1:41:18] pending a successful completion of the background investigation. Troy Bingham has

[1:41:24] 20 years of financial municipal government experience. He has eight years of transit experience.

[1:41:29] He spent six years at Utah Transit Authority as the Comptroller.

[1:41:33] And two years at a smaller agency in New Mexico called the North Central Transit District.

[1:41:39] He served as the financial finance director in that role and he's currently the finance director at the city of Stafford, Arizona

[1:41:47] and Troy has a bachelor's of science degree in accounting and information system from Arizona State University.

[1:41:57] We were able to come to terms on an agreement.

[1:42:01] The term of his employment would be five years annual salary between $99,250

[1:42:06] $250, he would receive a cell phone and car allowance of $300 per pay period.

[1:42:12] He would receive upon appointment 15 days of vacation and five days of sick.

[1:42:17] He would have the ability to participate in smart benefit programs.

[1:42:21] And he would get a reimbursement of $30,000 for relocation and temporary housing allowance.

[1:42:27] And then would also receive severance of terminated without cause of 90 days salary and benefits.

[1:42:32] So the recommended board actions here today is to point to our Bingham to the position of chief financial officer and improve the appointment and agreement subject to the completion of the successful background investigation and authorized to chair to execute agreement contingent upon the successful completion of that background investigation.

[1:42:54] And with that, I would be happy to answer any questions or turn it over to the ad hoc committee for additional information.

[1:43:02] Yeah, just a couple of additions from our ad hoc committee.

[1:43:10] We had conversations with the final two finalists just a couple of weeks ago.

[1:43:17] Both were very qualified people enthusiastic about coming to work for smart.

[1:43:24] And both probably capable of doing it, Troy, stood out to me for his transit industry experience.

[1:43:36] His understanding of the many types of funds that smart users to both operate and build the system.

[1:43:47] And again, his enthusiasm for wanting to work for this transit agency.

[1:43:56] I think you covered most of it and, again, great candidates, great that was really a pleasure to see the enthusiasm and levels of expertise.

[1:44:06] I think the other thing that stood out is he does have a diverse experience and a lot of different jurisdictions, including some pretty small jurisdictions.

[1:44:14] and so is dealt with kind of soup to nuts, public engagement issues, you know, isn't somebody

[1:44:22] who's been buried within this C-suite but hasn't interacted with a public or actual projects.

[1:44:30] And I think there's a lot that we're building at Smart, but it felt as though he would be a good

[1:44:34] contributing partner for the team. I'm happy to move that. I want you ready.

[1:44:40] You know,

[1:44:46] some of us have been around smart for a long time, and smart has a certain culture, and when I interviewed him, and when I said on the panel, they're absolutely right. He's very, very qualified, but people come to us with coffee.

[1:45:00] But I look at the overall who they are and how they relate to people. And that's one of the things that I've appreciated over the years about the smart staff, is that they're collaborative, they're positive. I know that it's not all pretty out there, but you're always good to us and don't make us get in the weeds very much on that. So what I wrote down was, of course, this transit experience, which I think is important.

[1:45:27] He seemed as though he was a realistic problem solver.

[1:45:31] He didn't jump right to the answer for problems.

[1:45:34] He knew that there were processes.

[1:45:37] Like I said, we appreciate our staff and the team approach.

[1:45:41] And he showed us through some of the questions and some of the answers

[1:45:45] and some heat mild a lot and joked a little bit.

[1:45:50] And we can see that in our staff.

[1:45:52] And that was the part that I appreciated that he would fit in.

[1:45:56] He wouldn't be a CFO that would say, oh, look at that.

[1:46:00] But he was very bright and the transit orientation was good.

[1:46:05] He was easy to talk to, collaborative, and he just looked like he'd be a really good fit

[1:46:11] for the team.

[1:46:15] Any questions from the board or Mr. Cummins or any of us?

[1:46:23] Right.

[1:46:24] Mr. Beckett, do you want to make a motion?

[1:46:28] Public comment?

[1:46:29] Oh, yeah, we have that.

[1:46:30] Thank you.

[1:46:32] Anyone in the room want to make public comment on this item?

[1:46:36] And we'll go online.

[1:46:39] First personal public comment is S-curks.

[1:46:42] Please go ahead and mute yourself to make your comment.

[1:46:46] Thank you.

[1:46:46] Susan Curks, Pvelina.

[1:46:49] And reading the particulars for the agenda item and the benefits available for this individual,

[1:46:59] knowing the cost of living in our area is so high, it seemed to me that $30,000 for relocation and temporary housing seemed a little low.

[1:47:13] And although I'm simply a member of the public, I'm very well aware of the cost of living and thinking about monthly temporary housing expenses,

[1:47:23] is the cost of relocation and the stressors involved with that for anyone, relocating from

[1:47:31] one state to another, I hope your board will consider increasing that to $40,000.

[1:47:38] I think that might make a very positive difference and be one less stressor that your

[1:47:45] You see F.A.A.A. would have to address potentially after five or six months of temporary

[1:47:51] housing and still potentially looking for permanent housing.

[1:47:56] Thank you.

[1:47:59] Thank you.

[1:48:03] Thank you.

[1:48:03] There are no more hands raised to public comment.

[1:48:05] I'm happy to remove the appointment of Troy Bingham to the CFO position contingent upon the

[1:48:13] successful completion of a background investigation.

[1:48:17] We have a motion from Vice-Chair Circuit and a second from Director Par.

[1:48:23] All in favor?

[1:48:24] All right.

[1:48:25] Any opposed?

[1:48:28] I'm staying.

[1:48:29] That is unanimous.

[1:48:31] Welcome.

[1:48:33] Mr. Binghammer.

[1:48:36] Oh.

[1:48:37] Okay.

[1:48:40] All right.

[1:48:41] That brings us to our adjournment.

[1:48:42] Our next meeting is September 16th.

[1:48:46] on 30 p.m. Right here, we'll see you that.

[1:48:51] We are journeying at 315.

Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Agenda

Transcript