 Call the December meeting of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission to order and We'll begin with a roll call So our commissioners who are joining us remotely are not on mute and Commissioners you are live. Can you hear us? No, I don't think they can hear us Well, so we're calling the meeting to order. It's just gonna be a moment You'll just bear with us. We're working on the Can you guys hear us now on the zoom that's a negative I Signed them and I sent back but I didn't save the No, can folks on the zoom hear us now in the room. All right chair Brown All right, right. Good morning, everyone. We'll start start this again. It is 905 I will call the meeting the December first meeting of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission to order and We will begin with a roll call. All right Commissioner Bertrand Commissioner Sandy Brown here Commissioner Montecino or sorry commissioner Hearst. I'm right here Commissioner Randy Johnson here commissioner Koenig here commissioner Quinn Virtually here alternate shifrin Commissioner cap it Commissioner cap it. It looks like you are muted. I'm back to you. Um, commissioner McPherson Is commissioner Pegler here Commissioner Rockin here commissioner Kristen Brown present and ex officio Commissioner Cubbins. Yeah All right, we have a quorum Thank you We will now take oral communications Oral communications is a time for members of the public to Address the commission on items that are not on today's agenda The commission will listen to communications But in compliance with state law will not take any action on items that are not on today's agenda And we would ask you to say your name clearly So it can be accurately recorded in the minutes of the meeting. I am looking to the In-person attendees and I don't see anyone coming up to the podium So I will call on our virtual attendees and we'll begin with Carrie Yes, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. So please I have a PowerPoint presentation. Could you please put that up? And just a moment one moment. We'll we're working on that There it is and by the way, I had the same problem Getting connected it didn't start until after 9 o'clock like everybody That's why I raised my hand earlier to let you guys know All right, your presentation is up. Okay, so go to the transportation topic We actually can't see it here and our monitors Interesting I can see it We also every online season, but not the people The message that we're getting is Please press input on your remote control. Hmm. Okay. Can I put it in? I mean, I have it open on my thing, but Yeah, you that's fine. Mr. Pico Garrett start with while we work on that So Carrie will we'll come right back around to you while we work on this. Thanks. So our next speaker or first speaker will be Brad Garrett Good morning. This is Brad Garrett. Thank you for letting me speak As most of you know, I've advocated for an innovative transit system along the rail corridor Using small vehicles to provide on-demand travel. This system is outlined at the website rail cat org Please keep an eye out on what's happening in Contra Costa County Where the transit authority has recently issued an RFP to build a system very similar to what I've proposed for Santa Cruz County They already have a feasibility study based on using glideways vehicles Which are the same vehicles suggested in the rail cat system for our rail corridors Um There um the Contra Costa RFP is broad enough that it remains to be seen what will actually get built there But the plan is for an on-demand system very similar to the rail cat proposal The main difference is that their system is not on a rail corridor And it will probably have much higher ridership since it will serve three barred systems Three barred stations. So please keep an eye on that. It's very exciting Um, I know there's a big discussion about the Rail transit on our corridor and I just want to urge you all to please be very realistic about the limitations of a conventional Kind of rail system And please try to address the limitations For example, the rail corridor doesn't go near the existing transit stations in downtown Santa Cruz or the Capitola mall And it doesn't reach cabrillo college So when planning the rail system, you have to plan how how are people going to get to those very important places How is the public transit system going to work as a whole The proposals that i've seen are for train service every half hour at the most And given the expected cost, we should do a lot better than once every half hour I know the eir process will need to include alternatives And I strongly suggest that the future eir should include alternatives that resolve the limitations Providing better public transit Or the people of santa cruz county. For example, the proposal at rail cat dot org Would use existing The existing footprint of the rail corridor to create a transfer A transit system providing convenient on-demand service almost 24 hours a day um And maintaining the possibility to run freight trains during off hours If it weren't for freight, the system would be 24 hours, but we do want to keep the possibility open for freight The system could easily extend to downtown santa cruz and cabrillo college simply by dedicating space that looks like a bike lane And it would actually provide a better energy efficient Better energy efficiency than electric trains. So I just want to urge you to please When the eir comes along Please include something like the rail cat proposal among the alternatives to be studied The website is rail cat dot org. Thank you very much Thank you, mr. Garrett We are still working on the technology Carrie, um, I believe that's mr. Pico I can share my screen if you'd like that. I I now have a Different setup. So the the issue isn't uh with the screen share. It's with the monitors here in the In the chambers You know, we were seen at our library. We just we can't see it in the meeting room And you just let him share screen. Would you like me to And then by the time they sort it out they can maybe you'll see it because it's really the info is I want you to hear it, but I also want you to have it as a documentation at the end. So should I just start Do that we can hand it out afterwards. That'd be fine. Yeah, let's go ahead and uh, You can have an opportunity to speak now and we'll make sure that all commissioners have a copy of your Ear slides Okay, let me see if this works by the way, but we'll see if I guess it doesn't share a screen so Um, I'm taught I'm interested in that everybody understand the highway Facts as well as the trail facts so it I've heard much Misstated information coming from the rtc. So this is important information starting with every day about on average 228,000 Vehicles use highway one daily not a hundred thousand two hundred and twenty eight thousand Now focusing on Watsonville since that's also a big highlight About 42% Um commute daily onto highway nine highway Of those half of all Highway one traffic that passes Buena Vista coming north Comes from Monterey county. Did you hear that half of the highway one traffic? Passing Buena Vista comes from Monterey county of the Watsonville commute Residents commuting that means about the 42% using highway one. That's 42% of all of Watsonville workers 48% almost half Go to the bay area or stotz valley. They take highway seven 48% Only 22% go to Santa Cruz This comes from a variety of caltrans data. Um, I'm sorry a u.s. Census bureau data Uh, Santa Cruz at the fishhook They all think that everybody's coming into town 50 to 60 percent Take the fishhook going on to 17 north yet the rest continues straight. I don't know where they go Yeah, county. I just want you to know that it cost 15 under 15 million per mile to build a new free Wayline that's from That number Mr. Pico, we're yeah, we can't hear you Uh, you're give me one second. I don't know Can you hear me now? Yeah, you're you're kind of in and out breaking up a little bit I don't think it's on our end and no he has about 30 seconds left to wrap up. Well, I So now let's get to the the trails Which is I'm right next to a router so it should work All right The trail stuff it cost 2.2.7 million per mile for a smart rail trail Um, Santa Cruz county at segment seven did 5.3 per mile, but there is more street crossings Phase two is 17.4 million per mile segment nine For 45 million for 1.7 miles is 26.4 million per mile and when I say that I've taken out Three million for a segment eight, which is the boardwalk and painted new projects And this I really want you to understand the concrete emissions for project nine That section puts out 5.8 puts out co2 emissions, which is equivalent to 5.8 million car miles If you're to take the expected bicycle riders, you're going to take over 30 years to recoup the co2 emissions So I'm trying to tell you that it's of second the cost is terrible and it's environmentally unfriendly To do section nine and anything else. It's on rough terrain Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Pico. Did anybody ever get to see the the project the powerpoint? Not as of yet, but we will make sure to review it once we Everybody online saw it including their commission members without people in the room. Yeah And in one last point you really need to have Mr. Pico Your time's up your time is up. I'm sorry. We did give you a little extra time due to the technical difficulties Thank you Next up is brian peoples Hi, this is brian this is brian from trail now. Um, I just want to emphasize I've known kary for I think seven years and he's very been providing this technical information for Years to the rtc and the rtc hasn't really been listening to these facts And uh, so I think it's important that we start looking at it from an engineering economical position rather than public opinion, you know public opinion is really driving our community to do Not smart things environmentally. I mean we're destroying 400 trees heritage trees. These are trees. You can't even put your arms around For segment nine just because of public opinion And and the the the cost when you talk about the cost that we're spending the money we're spending Because we think the public the public wants this It's more cost more to build your trail than widening the highway. That's crazy When smart did it for two million a mile and we're spending 26 million a mile for a trail That's actually destroys the environment 400 trees I think we really need to step back and and look and say, you know, what is driving are our decisions here You know years ago in 2004 There was public opinion that we didn't need to widen the highway. Well, the result is is that we created more pollution We're making our community unsafe because we have people speeding through our neighborhoods To do the shortcuts, so to say Most public agencies The staff drives it the decisions and strategies and con ops Via engineering, you know, yes, you you get public viewpoint But when that public viewpoint makes it worse for the environment works for our community, then we know something's wrong Now finally, I want to just touch on the measure d and the assumption that The failure of measure d greenway Makes it so the public wants a train. That's not the case The public voted against measure d for multiple reasons And actually the data shows the main reason was because they wanted to save the beach train Which was a actual lie because the beach train Is actually if you have an electric train your beach train goes away with the greenway measure d actually The beach train was to sort of stay So there's a lot of misconceptions that we think that Measure d failure is oh the public wants a train. That's that's not true and more importantly It's even if they do want it We can't have that because it doesn't make it sense Environmentally doesn't make sense transportation wise nor does it make sense economically We can't afford to continue to spend 20 million dollars a mile For a substandard narrow trail. So again, I just want to thank kary for his continued Detailed work and I really encourage you to look at his data because it is factual. He was an mit Researcher. Thank you for your time. Thank you, mr. People's To I don't have access to the participants right now to see no other hands are okay So we uh seeing no other Members of the public for oral communications. We will um, let's see. Are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? There are some changes, uh chair brown. Um, first off, there was a revised agenda that was issued And uh referencing page four of the revised agenda We need to add an item 21a before closed session For review of items to be discussed in closed session In addition Um after closed session, we will need to have another open session And as you can see there's two items 22 listed so, um Closed session will become 22a And when we open up open session again item 22 B will be report out from closed session followed by item 22 c Next meetings And my apologies for the confusion on the agenda It was difficult getting this out Thanksgiving week with a bunch of add-ons as well In addition to that, um, please be aware. There is a replacement page for item six and handout for item seven an add-on page for item 12 A staff report for item 20 And a handout for item 20 all of which came out after the original agenda and is posted to our website Thank you My revised agenda doesn't show it That's correct. That's why I was adding them now It's not on the agenda we missed Noting that we needed to Discuss the items in closed session and then report out and that's the clarification So the the substantive item was listed, but the order and the Number letter combos were different Okay, thank you So we will now move on to our consent agenda The consent agenda is items today items four through 14 all items appearing on the consent agenda are Considered to be minor or non controversial and will be acted upon in one motion If no member of the rtc or public wishes an item removed And discussed on the regular agenda Members the commission may ask questions or see clarification and direction On the consent agenda without removing the item. I'll ask my colleagues if anyone has an item you'd like to Either ask a question about comment on or pull I have a question about the proceed And if I understand it members of the public can ask that and we can't hear you you have to be louder I think you need to turn your My understanding is that members of the public can ask to have an item pulled They can comment on any item, but it's a commissioner that needs to pull an item correct to declare Yes, sorry if that wasn't clear I'm using my script, but yes any member of the public may request that an item be pulled Yes, so thank you for the clarification on procedure. I'll ask my colleagues in the room and on zoom if you have any agenda items you'd like to Ask a question about comment on or pull I do not see anyone Uh, so we'll go ahead and uh entertain a motion for the consent actually there. Oh, no, I'm sorry We're not we're not sorry. I just got lots for a second there. Um, I see mr. Hearst Commissioner Hearst has your it has his hand up. So we'll we'll go to commissioner Hearst and then out to the public Thank you. Just to move the meeting along. I would move the consent agenda Commissioner Hearst. We're going to wait until the for the public to uh come and speak on this item Or on the consent agenda. I will take it out to the public now and um, I do see one hand up in Uh, the virtual worlds brian peoples Thank you people. So you are up. Yeah. Yeah, thank you Commission chairman brown This is brian. I just wanted to comment on item number six the man risa and the california trans Uh, california coastal commission approval, which was a minor approval. They basically gave us a waiver and just to re emphasize The importance for this commission to understand the regulations of the california coastal commission You know a lot of the coastal corridor runs within 20 feet of the The ocean I was over actually ride my bike past park av over in capitola where the tracks are Essentially 20 feet. They're up on that big clip hanging over Um, the the coastal commission has uh, reject it three Santa Cruz county Efforts related to projects that Santa Cruz county, including the rtc has proposed to do And so I think it's really important for this agency To pull back a little bit and understand when you're doing designs and when you're doing Long-term planning that you incorporate the legality of it. It's it's it's not appropriate for us to spend tax dollars on designs And planning long-term planning that doesn't meet the coastal commission requirements It's pretty straightforward. It's it. You don't need to be a rocket science to understand that the coastal commission is placing huge huge requirements on this agency And the property that they own so please As you go through and you do your long-term planning I encourage you to to revisit and understand, you know, just the experience you had with the man risa And the data for coastal commission rejection of those projects. Thank you for your time Thank you, mr. Pupils Do we have any other members of the public who'd like to comment on our consent agenda I'll second mr. Hertz's motion to approve the consent agenda Great. Thank you. So we do have a motion to approve the consent agenda by commissioner herst a second by commissioner shifrin And we will take a roll call vote commissioner Bertrand I approve sandy brown I first I randy johnson I Koenig I Quinn shifrin I cap it if he's not in I Hey, Hernandez, um mcpherson I haigler I rockin I christin brown I The motion passes unanimously. Uh, excuse me. All right parkers here. All right parkers been here except for I couldn't get on I'm in science camp guys. So it's a little intermittent for us, but I've been here since about nine after okay, so um We will have commissioner pigler serve as the alternate Unless and so larry. I'm sorry, but uh with the rain I might get kicked off Um, just to let you know, but I'm here for the duration. Yeah, I didn't know Okay, we'll take commissioner parkers vote on that. Sorry commissioner pigler All right. Thank you for the clarification. Uh, we That motion passes unanimously and we will now move on to a regular agenda And our first item is commissioner reports I see uh vice chair Koenig you have a report. I do for it. Yes. Thank you chair On november 13th and 14th. I had the opportunity to attend the self help counties coalition focus on the future conference with Our own senior senior transportation engineer sarah christensen Um, this is a conference of counties that have passed self-help tax measures like our own measure d Uh, and are looking at future investments. So it was a great opportunity to gain some perspective on what's going on statewide Uh, first off, we saw our own consultants mark thomas presenting on our bus on shoulder And exhilarating project and it was really exciting to see some of the latest renderings Um, and I hope the commission will get a chance to see the whole commission will get a chance to see some of those soon It is really impactful to see how long some of those Transition periods are between entry and exits that are really going to allow the bus on shoulder to gain a lot of time I think that comes through in the latest renderings and um, and overall they did a great job representing the project at the conference It also became clear that our county is really uniquely positioned in the state because of our diverse spending plan on measure d you know a lot of other Of these other counties that have passed self-help Funding initiatives have expenditure plans that really focus on spending for the highway And that really limits them when they're going after state dollars because the state doesn't want to fund just highway projects They want to see multimodal projects So the fact that we have a diverse expenditure plan for measure d has really uniquely positioned us That's why I think we've done so well on some of these grant applications and hopefully we'll continue to Uh, we heard also just from a variety of of different folks Um, you know if you hear some particularly from the bay area our neighbors to the north So we heard from newell arnett. She's the mayor of danville about how things are progressing with their iron horse trail Which is a rail banked line there. They're starting to we're seeing that it's so popular. They are looking for ways to begin to divide Um wheeled, you know bike traffic from pedestrian traffic as well as looking for options for autonomous vehicles on that trail from uh tim hail the executive director of contra costa contra costa county as we heard earlier in public comment They are doing more with autonomous vehicles including a full Level four. That's uh fully autonomous vehicles for public use in ross more a senior community center And as well as in the city of martina. There's a way to get uh from the city center to the hospital Um, and those autonomous vehicles would have wheelchair loading. So that's interesting Um, we also heard from Santa claire county The the vta there is looking at some serious challenges. Um, so deba dang chief planning and programming officer Just talking about the fact that the vta is facing a physical cliff as covered funding goes away And that they are concerned they don't have enough permanent money for transit operations I mean, this is coming from a county that has a sales tax and perpetuity ten dollar vehicle license fee And a number of other local funding measures that just that really put them far ahead and they're still facing these challenges We also heard from april chan gm and ceo of In san mateo county that They're seeing about 70 percent of um of i think 76 Sorry, let me Go back there. Um, they're seeing that fair revenue which had accounted Had accounted for about 70 of cal trains revenue before the pandemic is down to less than 30 of the overall revenue And so they're facing a big challenges at funding with cal train as well Their buses continue to do well though um Finally, there was a breakout session on community outreach. We heard from jody litvak at la metro Who's talking about better ways to do public outreach? Including having meetings at different times of day using translators and social media to get the word out Going to other people's events. Um, so really partnering with community organizations Um, so rather than to to go to groups of people who are already meeting for other reasons and helping to talk about transit And other projects rather than expecting everyone to come to our rtc meetings all the time So overall great conference and really good perspective on what's going on throughout the state That's all Thank you. That was really informative. I appreciate it Yes, thank you. I uh commissioner mcpherson. Yeah, um, I um as uh, the representative of uh, of santa criss county to the california state association The county has attended our annual session down in orange county last month and one of the presenters I'm on the coastal committee of that organization of csac and the coastal commission executive's address on general issues about it and I just Told him about the importance of the coastal commission giving us a clear identification of what can or cannot be done Along the coastal routes of santa criss county We're following up on that and I just wanted to let you know that It is something the coastal commission is aware of obviously, but I told him that it would really help if we could get a definitive answer of what can or cannot be done along that corridor Along the coastal area. Thank you Thank you Okay, I Don't uh commissioner birch on you're up. I'll just make a little comment. Um Exactly you're gonna have to give me a little help here. So what is the organization that? I go to with you it has a complicated name about transportation issues on this county It's the coastal rail Coordinating council. Okay coastal rail coordinating council. So i'll be off the council here and So i'm giving a plug to the coastal rail coordinating council So for any members of this commission who are truly interested in rail issues And connecting from the north to the south and all the different problems that the communities along that route the various routes Are doing in terms of stations and in terms of trying to work with freight issues and such like that and get funding For their local issues to improve transportation. I I suggest that you go to this meeting It's usually virtual. Sometimes it's in person Um, you get a pretty clear idea of all the issues from san francisco all the way down south for this area and um You meet a lot of interesting people that are involved in transportation issues and so They are also great resources for you in terms of trying to understand general transportation issues that we face And also the other communities in this area face. Thank you Thank you commissioner Bertrand if I could ask how often do those do the does the council meet? Not very often just for for commissioners who are thinking about this It's about every three to four months and they are brown act meetings. Um, so they will be very much in person due to the new Or the lifting of the state of emergency by the governor. So they do require a certain amount of travel Can we get staff to give us a Listing of when the meetings are going to be Sure. Um, I will make sure that that is included in the next agenda package Thank you. Thank you Okay, uh, let's see for commissioner Hernandez. I see your hand up Reports Yes, can you hear me? Yes, we can So I got the opportunity to attend uh participate individual for world day of remembrance for traffic victims Who have been killed in watsonville? Uh, and you know, it was put on by the our county's community traffic safety coalition and watsonville's vision zero group And you know, a few people attended caltrans, uh, public works folks But you know, it really reminds us that our roads are for everyone And we really need to keep in mind that we need to uh, but uh, my can pedestrian infrastructure in place Uh to really, uh, ensure equity and we ensure that roads are for everyone. So Just want to put that reminder out there for everyone. Thank you Thank you commissioner Hernandez always important to think about Yes Oh, we will now move on to item 16 And we now have an opportunity to express our appreciation for Uh outgoing commissioners These are um commissioner Bertrand commissioner caput commissioner coonerty uh commissioner alternate Hearst And retiring caltrans ex officio tim gubbins So, um, I do have some certificates here on they're on my Screen and I'd like to read them and and share them and and speak just for a moment about each of the Commissioners who are coming to the end of their terms Before you do that. Um, yes Commissioner community asked me to express his apologies for his inability to be here today He's at a conference in washington dc and just is unable to attend So he did want me to express his apologies. Thank you. Um understood. Well, we'll uh Honor him in absentia today All right So I'm I'm going to start with uh, and then we'll give an opportunity for outgoing commissioners to say a few words Um, I am I'm going to begin with uh, Jacques Bertrand here to my left We and you can see the award which you will receive On when we get them printed. We had some technical difficulties Um, but we want to recognize you the rtc wants to recognize you for your seven years working to improve transportation in santa cruz county as a commissioner And years of service advocating for transportation improvements in capitolah and the san lorenzo valley Demonstrating focus leadership and advocacy for the needs of our community Supporting the unified corridor investment study and your careful attention careful attention is absolutely Accurate there to transportation funding and budget um, you've served on the budget and personnel committee and the coastal rail coordinating council and we Uh, sincerely appreciate your service Thank you And i'll give you a moment to say a few words okay, um So, um, truly you recognize that I was concerned about um funding issues. That's one of the Real reasons why I stepped on um So let's go back a little bit When I first moved to capitolah, I Got pulled in by dens norton and a lot of people here may remember dens norton a former city council person capitolah And he says we got this great opportunity to buy the rail quarter. What's the rail quarter? And um Well, I know there's some tracks going through the county and he explained it to me and he explained the possibilities that This presented to the community of santa cruz So I said sure this makes a lot of sense. Um I came in and talked to this board one of the board of supervisors and you know, definitely supported the issue Well, we bought it When I chose to become a member of this body It was for fiscal issues So a lot of you may not know but I went to the panennas to kind of master some public policy And my focus you take extra course or like a minor was on municipal finance and all the issues pertaining to that So and then I also became treasurer capitolah for eight years So the main thing is when you spend money on something you take away the possibility of spending money on something else It's it's almost zero sum Unless we have a rising tide and the boat goes up so I wanted to make sure of all things that we focus on finance issues If it ever comes to a public ballot I hope that this commission Make sure that we do have the proper financing And I think that's the thing that we have to focus on as a community The issue of whether or not we need something like this to me has always been something that Is transparently positive. We do need alternate quarters for transportation I certainly support the idea of a trail. I think that many people do How we get there and is it affordable? I think is very critical So I'll repeat As you spend money on something you take away the ability to spend on something else So the benefit for what we do has to be so large in comparison to anything else we may want to spend on That it's worth it And I will always be focused on that. I won't be on this commission But I'll still fake to focus on that as a member of this community of capitolah and santa criss county. Thank you Commissioner Bertrand So our next honoree is commissioner capits. I think you're there And I have a few words to say You will receive your certificates. Um, we'll get it to you. I'll deliver it if needed Okay, so commissioner capits We are recognizing your 12 years of dedication to improving transportation In santa criss county as a commissioner at the rtc Uh demonstrating leadership and advocacy for for residents Uh school children in southern in south santa criss county and the greater pahero valley You i'll just say you you really have been such an advocate for Your constituents in south county. So i want to highlight that your support of the corridor investment study and the transit corridor alternative it transit corridor alternatives analysis an advocacy for projects around state routes 129 152 highway one and the farm roads and rail corridor Um as well as bicycle, pedestrian and specialized transportation projects and programs So we want to thank you commissioner capits And if you're here, um, I see your screens off, but if you are here, I give you an opportunity to Make some comments Okay I think we will Keep moving along then and um, so this will be an an absentia recognition for commissioner community For eight years working to improve transportation in santa criss county as a commissioner Uh demonstrating focused leadership and advocacy for the needs of the santa criss county community as well garnering support for the passage of measure d In 2016 the unified corridor investment study and the transit corridor alternative analysis Your dedication to transportation projects on the north coast of santa criss county Including the coastal rail trail and um bike pad and safety projects in davinport Thank you for being an advocate for your constituents on the north coast And no comments from commissioner coonerty who is in dc So i'm going to move on now to commissioner hearse commissioner alternate hearse A steady presence At the rtc for for many years and i imagine we'll we'll keep hearing from you And look forward to that But we want to recognize you today for your outstanding dedication and public service as an alternate with the rtc Thank you for your advocacy for the needs of all users of our transportation system Including bicyclists pedestrians transit users motorists and the entire watsonville community You've garnered support to help ensure the passage of measure d Served as an alternate on the budget and administration and personnel committee and your dedication to transportation in santa criss county To not just meet the needs of current residents, but also for future generations. And so we thank you For your service and uh, we'll give you an opportunity to say a few words well, thank you chair and and i want to thank all the other RTC panelists and participants and and the public as well You know, none of us get here by ourselves and Transportation's like that too. We need a lot of different infrastructures We need a lot of different ways to to move folks and and in south county You know, we've been really perplexed and stymied in the past in some cases and just trying to You know, make sure our workforce is able to get to work and that Access to better transportation can take place lots of good things are happening, uh, just to our south and monterey county with Tamsi and and their efforts to improve highways and rail transportation as well and their bus service and so It's it's an honor to assist in santa criss county and and try and bring better opportunities for our south county residents in particular But it's not just down. It's visitors coming to spend money and visit our community. It's job creators and makers of employment We have a wonderful opportunity ahead of us and in a bright future And I would encourage everyone to stay involved as much as they can and um, let's get people moving. Thank you Thank you I look forward to hearing you say that In the coming years as well Okay, our our last certificate of recognition Uh, I'll be presenting to tim gobbins. Uh, cal trans district five director Uh, today, we're recognizing your retirement from cal trans after decades of public service as a cal trans engineer project manager and, uh, deputy district director director and exo ficio member of this body Your dedication to long range planning and commitment to engaging the public and transportation partners has really been instrumental in development of Uh, multimodal safety projects along highway nine through the san lorenzo valley uh highways 129 and 152 in watsonville The highway 17 wildlife crossing Improvements to highway one along the entire length of the county and numerous planning efforts Including the highway one corridor plans highway 17 access management plan The highway nine san lorenzo valley corridor plan the unified corridor investment study and advanced mitigation planning as district fives director, you've always emphasized the partnerships as key and overcoming challenges and, uh, we we just so appreciate your long-standing partnership with the rtc And wish you well in your future endeavors And so i'd like to give a round of applause to all of our awardees and then give you a moment tim to Mr. Gobbins All right, thank thank thank you chair and commissioners and yes, it's a strange feeling but uh after 35 years with cal trans And over 10 is the district director. It's time for me to move on to the next stage And uh, I just wanted to say it's over those 10 plus years and even earlier It's been an honor to be part of this commission and then working in partnership with this commission on On all of those long-term planning efforts that you just mentioned delivering critical projects and And having the planning in the and the plans in place for when for when we had opportunities to actually implement them so, uh Thank you for the ability to partner with you and uh, I I look forward to my next step But i'm sure that you know these partnerships will continue long into the future. So thank you Thank you One more All right, we I'm going to take it out to commissioners for comments. Uh, commissioner mcpherson. You're up first and commissioner rock Can I see you? Yeah, uh, first of all, I'd like to thank each and every one of the commissioners the retiring commissioners for their really interest and consistent Consistency and discussing these matters and how they've done it Um, you know, we've had some split votes and some intense Conversations here, but unlike federal and state Officials, they've been civil discussions and that's what I really appreciate more than anything that we've had really six to six votes as we know and so forth and and over some really Uh, so like I said intense discussions, but I really want to thank the commissioners and all of us But especially those who are retiring for their their really civil discussion that we've had And uh, particularly to mr. Govans and caltrans in in general I just want to thank him for his attention to this county always And uh, I I'd just like to get even more honed in on this about the fifth district and what has happened there a lot every every, um Every month we get these projects under construction and there's usually two a couple dozen of them and regularly that Uh, a lot half of them are in or adjacent to the fifth Supervisorial district, which I represent and two, um two of them, uh In particular the wildlife processing has just completed, which is a fantastic first of its kind in the state Uh, that has happened. Uh, it's going to be really a safety issue And uh, uh humanitarian or an animal friendly issue for sure So I just uh, that is a huge project and we did it here in santa cruse county because of caltrans's cooperation and leadership From mr. Govans And I'd like to his one of his assistants journal and just to say how much I appreciate him We have the center of the valley corridor This is kind of unlike any other project too when you have five agencies you have the state you have the county You have, um rtc metro the school district This is not easy to coordinate the efforts and uh, it's been done really well Under the leadership of mr. Govans and uh, I don't know if he's had any other project quite like that or this but, um I just want to say, uh as The district representative from uh, this fifth Supervisorial district Uh, it's it's a long time. It takes more time than you ever want, but it is really, uh, it's going to be a real great safety addition And uh, convenience addition to the santa runs of valley in particular. So, uh, The special job on some special projects here And thank you mr. Govans and your associates and uh to all the retiring board members too. I really appreciate your efforts. Thank you Thank you commissioner rockin Well, i'm boosted part of my uh fire away here. I totally agree with his comments I want to say it's first starting with uh, mr. Govans the Our cooperation with cal trans is under his leadership has been incredibly positive and it was not always thus I have to say we Before his service We often found ourselves at odds and not working very well together and feeling you're being frankly oppressed by Cal trans and a lot of our local projects and that has not been the case under Tim Govans and so we really need to appreciate the way cal trans is You know addressed itself to our local needs in this community Um, and I want to say for all the other commissioners and their alternates Um, these are not people that have just been warming seats Um, these are people who have been active and uh as as bruce mcperson was saying They've been strong advocates for things and often Um, you know have to speak out loudly to sort of get the attention of the matter the things that matter to Their constituents and their communities and but they've done it in a way that's very different than what we've seen at the national level in terms of The quality of the discussion and it's been done in a way that's been effective and that's the most important thing to say about it I mean people can complain about things, but it doesn't always result in change in a positive direction But every one of these commissioners have worked in a way Actively with the rest of the commission in a way that's been very very positive Even when again they were pressing us to change what we were doing or pressing us to put more attention on the matter That really was a concern to their area of the county So i'm i just want to really recognize that that i don't take that for granted and we have Lots of examples counter examples around the rest of this nation about how it's done badly And these have been people who've had really a positive impact on transportation issues in our county. Thank you for your service hey Yes, commissioner. We're trying to go for it and and commissioner cap it I saw your your face for a moment and I wanted to offer you an opportunity to speak up If you are there For the moment commissioner Bertrand, I'll I'll give you the mic one more time. Yeah, I have to say one more thing and You know I think a lot of us have been on multiple commissions and multiple committees and elected positions perhaps And one thing that's always apparent is the effectiveness of the effort Is truly the people that are on that committee and on that commission and how well you work together But the other on sun heroes heroines are the staff people And you know since I've been on this commission, I've noticed Great changes in the staff and great examples of professional Focus on achieving the aims of the commission But achieving them in a way that means that people are working together. They're working with caltrans Knowing how to do that in an effective way Really amazing to me And I did not know this Before I became an elected official in capitol You know a lot of people complain about staff and for all sorts of reasons, but if you really want to know How much we depend On staff You need to get elected And I'm saying that in that way because You really truly can't know Unless you're truly involved in that committee or in that body So thank you for being here Thank you for this opportunity Thank you Thank you Okay, I see No additional hands up And that Means we will move on to our next item This is item 17 election of chair and vice chair This will be pretty quick. I I do believe I just want to make a couple of remarks As the outgoing chair very briefly, but first I'll Go ahead and give a report from our Subcommittee that met or that spoke consisting of myself commissioner rockin and commissioner McPherson and as we were Discussing how to proceed with our nominations. We Decided that we want to recommend commissioner conag to move into the chair position He has been vice chair and served as well this past year and Our vice chair Kristen brown commissioner brown Who has served on our commission? Been a thoughtful and active participant and I know to be a wonderful Presiding officer of meetings from my experience at ambag and so I'll Just put that out there and see if uh any if our Committee members would like to say anything. I'm gonna go ahead and make a recommendation nomination the nominations for chair and vice chair from Commission committee. I'll second those as a member of that committee as well as the commission All right, we have a motion on the floor from commissioner shifrin to nominate Commissioner conag to the chair position and commissioner brown christian brown to The vice chair position And we have a tie for second the second from that. I'll give it to commissioner Bertrand today as an outgoing member and Then I will ask if any members of the public have any comments about this recommendation the motion I guess we did make the motion before I went out to comment I see commissioner conag go for it Thank you chair. I just wanted to thank you for your work throughout this past year You know people often think that Chair comes with a lot more power, but really it's mostly a lot more responsibility And and work as far as both reviewing the agenda signing documents And I thought you've done an excellent job throughout the year Riding us through some difficult issues And and thank you for your work and and also second that I think Our commissioner brown is excellent at presiding at meetings and seeing her work on embag as well And we look forward to having her as vice chair wonderful Okay, I do want to just say a couple of things. I'm the outgoing chair I am Going to as far as I know remain on this commission And I so I won't make a lot of comments, but I just want to really thank A whole lot of people who are sitting in this room and people beyond this room For the support you've given me. I want to say really thank our staff Director Preston you have been amazing to work with as chair In helping me understand the issues the intricacies of the Agenda items that come before us. This is really complicated stuff. Um, and you know, you just make it You know, you make it a pleasure to to try to work through And think through those issues I want to thank, you know, I all I'd like to just say thanks to everybody In the room. There's a lot all of the staff at the RTC I mean, I am just always inspired impressed inspired by the work you do your commitment And the the amazing level of preparation that goes into Holding these meetings doing all of this work and and again helping me keep these meetings running and You know, I've been lucky to be on the commission. I've been on the commission for six years now And I've been lucky to be on this commission during the the self-help years So, um, you know, that has come with a lot of opportunities and some challenges. It's been a wild ride of a year Some real contentious, uh, you know issues and debates They've remained substantive not personal and I want to thank uh commissioner McPherson and rockin for raising that It's it's even in the the difficult conversations. It's been a pleasure to work with you all And um, I'm looking forward to continuing So I will leave it there and we'll uh, go ahead and there was to speak We have oh, we have a member of the public. Thank you. I didn't my computer was blocking I do see a member of the public, uh, who wishes to speak on the item Uh, brian from trail now Yeah, I think thank thank you for taking the time to allow me to make a comment So first of all chairman brown, um, you know, I attend these meetings and I think you've done a phenomenal job and, um, you know over the last while you led this organization It hasn't been as controversial as the past. I don't know if it's the subject or what but you've done a very good job in managing, uh The the communication so I just want to commend you for that and thank you My only other comment what I think is pretty interesting is I think the next generation is coming Um, I think uh, our new chair and our vice chair Are they that the y generation? So i'm gonna i'm a right at the cusp of a baby boomer. I just find it very Exciting that we're gonna have the young leading us I I won't say well so the point is I just find it interesting and i'm really looking forward to their leadership So again, chairman brown. Thank you for your your, uh, exceptional work. Thank you Thank you, mr. People's and thank you for reminding me that gen x2 is uh, the older generation one of the older generations Um, I see another hand up. So I'll I'll call in michael seat Uh, thank you chair brown. Um, I had my hand up for the previous agenda item Are we is it okay to comment on that on the commissioners? That are exiting Sure. Go ahead. We're we're doing well here. So if you could quickly do that that'd be great. Thanks. I appreciate I appreciate I came to the meeting just specifically to uh Thank the outgoing commissioners for their public service I especially wanted to emphasize joc Bertrand We came into the public light a little bit at a similar time. I started my advocacy about six or seven years ago and over that period of time In a word that period of time jock and I I think became somewhat of friends. We've had several phone conversations over all these items As well as coffee different places in capitol and aptos and uh, I truly respect jock a lot and I think a lot of the elected officials and the appointees can learn a lot from uh, commissioner Bertrand Because he was a true public representative. Uh, jock and I did not agree on a lot of things and uh, that did not matter But what it did I feel he learned some stuff from me I learned some stuff from him on a political aspect as well as the corridor of the highway, etc The thing that bothers me most about some of the electives. I'm not going to say any names, but I request meetings or try to get together and a lot of times I don't even get a response From a lot of the people on this commission, uh, as well as my own district representative Um, so you can learn a lot from jock. He doesn't Really care what your Goals are or what you support, but he feels the public. He's a public representative And he comes and he will speak to anyone at any time And uh, I wish you all the best jock. I'm sure I'll talk to you soon And uh, thanks for all your service. Thank you very much You cannot start your video Thank you Okay, our next item is the director's report Oh, I'm sorry, we had a motion and then all kinds of wonderful conversation. I forgot So we'll go ahead and then we'll call it for a vote on the motion to appoint, uh Commissioner conig as chair for 2023 and commissioner christin brown as vice chair Commissioner bertrand I make a comment Go one quick comment or okay. We're approaching the vote I would be remiss if I didn't say something about christin I as a city councilman sharing with christin She will be a great vice chair and a chair We love her way of running the meetings in capitol and the way she keeps the issues focused And I think this is something that will be very beneficial for any commission that she in the future is on also. Thank you thank you And now a roll call. Sure. I think commissioner bertrand I agree commissioner sandy brown I commissioner hirst I commissioner randy johnson commissioner conig I commissioner quinn yes commissioner shifrin I commissioner capit Commissioner mcfearson I commissioner parker I commissioner christin brown I uh commissioner rottkin Mike you're you might be frozen Oh, there. No, there is It looks like I Okay, there we go. Thanks That passes unanimously. Congratulations right Moving on to item 18. Yes, uh item 18 is our director's report Thank you, madam chair and thank you for your service. I really have appreciated working with you your dedication towards the public process is Outstanding You really do care about making sure that the community gets an opportunity to to be part of the process and you never miss Litting them and and and appreciating the input that they can provide and you know with that said You know, I can work with all of the commissioners Regardless of How you may feel about any particular issue? I I can work with all of you because I can learn from all of you and if people kind of consider that as we go through You know Deciding difficult issues Um, it becomes so much easier to come to an agreement and and find a way and a path forward So thank you for all of the services by the commissioners that are outgoing I only have a couple announcements today for my director's report. Um, my first announcement is um, our current recruitment for the measure d taxpayers oversight representatives from supervisory districts one and two This independent oversight committee reviews the annual independent fiscal audits And the expenditures of measure d revenues and issues an annual report on its findings regarding compliance With the requirements of the expenditure plan and ordinance. It's a very important role. It's a very technical role It's a very tedious role and the service of these community members Is very important for our mission Members of this committee must be residents of Santa Cruz county Who are neither elected officials of any government nor employees from any agency or organization that either Overseas or implements projects funded from the proceeds of the sales tax The committee will be made up of community members that fairly represent the geographical social cultural and economic diversity of Santa Cruz county to ensure maximum benefit For our transportation users and shall include at least one person with an accounting or fiscal management background The deadline for applications is january 3rd 2022 Applications can be downloaded from the rtc website My second announcement is that rtc will be hosting a celebration of our 50th anniversary Next week on thursday december 8th at our office at 11 01 pacific avenue sweet 250 The entrance to our building is off a lot Or where the farmers market takes place. It's the back of the building. It's not off of pacific avenue It's over by the mattress store The event is taking place in an open house format with informational booths and displays set up With staff available from 2 p.m. To 7 p.m. You're welcome to come for just a portion of the event We wanted to have it for a long period of time to make it as accessible as possible The event will not have a formal presentation or speeches But will be a festive opportunity for the public staff and commissioners to meet and celebrate 50 years of rtc planning and delivery Of vibrant sustainable and equitable transportation solutions for santa cruz county Although rtc staff considered calling a special meeting of the rtc to ensure brownout compliance The statute does allow for purely ceremonial functions Provided the commissioners do not discuss amongst themselves future business within the subject matter jurisdiction of the rtc The chair brown and i discussed the logistics of having a five hour long rtc meeting and Decided that it would be permissible and desirable to not call a special meeting So the 50th anniversary celebration is in fact a ceremonial event Commissioners in attendance should be careful not to engage in any conversation with other commissioners That relate to rtc's future business decisions You should strive to limit discussions to completed accomplishments actions and programs of the rtc Rather than perspective items. We will have plenty of time to discuss future business I'd publicly noticed rtc meetings such as today This concludes my director's report and i hand it back to you chair brown for those important discussions and decisions Thank you all right I do want to ask because occasionally there are members of the public who have a comment on The director's report and I just want to make sure that we don't have anybody online okay, uh, so Seeing none, we will move on to Uh, the caltrans reports. We'll turn it back to tim gobbins for your last report to us All right. Thank thank you chair brown. I don't have very much today but um kind of going off what commissioner hernandez had brought up as far as safety, especially for vulnerable users of of the transportation system I wanted to point out fhwa has recently announced they have a new national roadway safety strategy And that helped all the states address roadway safety across the nation And as part of that to the states including california will complete a vulnerable road user safety assessment Kind of using a new safety approach a little different than we've done before And you know, we will identify areas of high risk, you know and use some of the demographics and different performance related data you know in Consultation with local governments do will help identify those safety areas that may not be the same way we've done it in the past And as part of that the usdot has also adopted a safe systems approach Which again in some ways changes the way we think about safe roadway safety And recently earlier this year outrans had also adopted that approach And when I say safe systems approach it just rather than look at all of the Serious crashes just with that kind of data We also have some principles that we include They include things like humans make mistakes, you know humans are vulnerable Responsibility is shared by roadway owners the vehicle manufacturers researchers the roadway users among among many others And so the focus is going to be on proactive safety and putting out redundancy where we where we do have it needed and so This is a little bit different approach than we've done in the past and I look I think this is going to be a great way to help look at those those places that we do have our most vulnerable users because The people on foot and on bike have been experiencing very very high safety related things and we want to focus on them As well as making the roadway safer for all the vehicular traffic as well And on a related note Ultras has been coordinating with dhp on some safety campaigns Including impaired impaired driving You know the drowsy driving and distracted driving Speeding and aggressive driving has really increased during the pandemic and we're trying to make sure that that goes away And each of these efforts. We're having a specific public information component Um, so you'll see more messages on our changeable message line as well as increased enforcement um, there's all sorts of Possible funds coming out through the office of traffic safety will be coordinating and leveraging where we can So in addition to that, um, we do have the normal, um Outran's project update list that I believe commissioner McPherson referenced a little earlier And that is all I have to share today unless there are any questions Thank you again, mr. Governments, but uh, you are you coordinating this effort I'm sure you are with the california highway patrol or local police agencies or how is that You're you're initiating it, but are you coordinating that effort? Yeah, we're we're coordinating very closely with chp, especially but in some areas we do have local law enforcement too Um, the the campaigns are mostly with chp commissioner cap it Yes Uh Okay There we go Thanks for your report. Uh, I guess on hula hand and the highway 152 They started the project and they were Going ahead a couple months ago and then they stopped. I guess there was a problem with um One of the property owners sold the property there and then uh, they didn't want trucks and uh Uh Different vehicles uh parked on their property. Is that is that up to date now? Um, I believe so but we have just been kind of bordering with that with that county project I'll have to check with my staff and county staff may actually be a little bit more um directly involved Yeah, that would be great. Uh, they started on it and uh, then they had to stop because of the uh, the purchase by the new owner Was complaining about something. Okay Thank you uh mission rehearsed I want to take uh the opportunity to thank uh calcrand's director Govins for uh the the attentionities focused on highway 152 129 and highway one through uh the city of watsonville You know, we've had a lot of safety issues in the community Regarding uh roadway, uh tragedies deaths injuries and such and I too attended the uh remembrance ceremony with uh, uh, commissioner, uh alternate hernan death and You know, it's an opportunity to reflect upon what could be uh engineering wise as well as driver and pedestrian education safety for Everybody's best interest and so I want to thank calcrand's for their partnership moving safety forward moving transportation issues forward in their interest in design as well as Uh Not just the efficiency of moving of Traffic and and congestion forward, but also keeping that sit focus on safety as well. So thank you, sir Good luck. Thank you Commissioner hernan does I'm so excited to thank mr. Govins for all this hard work Especially here in south county with highway one 129 and 152 specifically with the interlakin Uh intersection and our downtown corridor, you know, our downtown Um, it is technically a highway and you know, we definitely, you know, been working on making the biking pedestrian improvements there But we have had a number of issues there with biking pedestrian Both uh collisions and fatalities actually and so I want to thank them for all the work that we've been uh doing there and You know, it's it's uh something that's critically needed in our downtown, of course, um to to protect lives and you know, it really protects everyone because Um, even the drivers are affected by all these incidents that happen collisions that happen Uh for their lifetime, you know, and so uh, thank you for all the work that you've been doing here in south county um And you know, I look forward to the completion of our downtown as well If there's any any way that we can get any of this new information out from the fhwa of the new new vulnerable road users safety test and You know, the new safe systems approach if you can email us any of that information I'd be glad to share it with folks as well. Um, thank you. Thank you again All right, we will do that. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Govins We'll now move on to uh item 20 This item is a contract award for professional engineering and environmental services and an amendment to the measure d rail category five year program of projects Uh for electric passenger rail transit and the trail project between the pahoro junction and santa cruz along the santa cruz branch rail line And I will turn it over to sarah christensen Uh senior transportation engineer for a report Thank you chair brown So today I am here to recommend awarding a contract to hdr um for this important project Uh electric passenger rail transit and coastal rail trail along the santa cruz branch rail line No, I'm good. Thank you. Sorry So, um, this is an exciting time. We're advancing this project also planning phase in august This commission directed staff to release an rfp. We did so we received two proposals uh the selection committee, uh who consisted of rtc staff santa cruz metro staff and cal trans division of rail and mass transportation Uh selected hdr as the most qualified firm And uh we have been negotiating the contract since and are ready to uh recommend awarding the contract to hdr today Um, this is not oh there we go So staff recommendation we have a few items here. We are uh requesting authorization to enter into professional engineering and environmental services contract With hdr for a total amount not to exceed three million dollars to begin preparing the project concept report, which is task one in the scope of work We also recommend amending the measure d rail category five-year program of projects to add additional funding through fiscal year 24 to partially fund the consultant contract, um through task one Amend the budget accordingly and authorize Interprogram loans from other measure d fund categories to the measure d rail category if that is necessary So your slideshow went backwards there. You're you're not showing the current slide I think you just click that resume slideshow box That's popped up see if that works on zoom. What can you see? We see the slide one now we see slide two Okay, let's try this Rachel, can you please? Advance the slide I could just give an oral presentation. The power point is uh, you won't it's not much to miss That's fine. I just want you to know that what was happening there thank you It's If you feel comfortable with that, um, Sarah, maybe we can just go ahead. I know we have, um Materials in our packet that probably we can refer to for visuals right needed Although we may Just give it one more try here. I'm just going to go ahead here. Um So project description, uh, this project is along the Santa Cruz branch rail line between Pajaro Junction and Natural bridges drive in the city of Santa Cruz a total of 22 miles It consists of converting the single track freight railroad to an electric passenger rail transit facility Which includes new passing siting stations operations and maintenance and storage facilities this will require replacement of Replacement or rehabilitation of major infrastructure including bridges culvert track and signals Adjustments to horizontal and vertical alignment of the track and connection to the future Pajaro station And that is all the electric passenger rail part of the project Now I'm going to talk about the coastal rail trail. As you know, we have many segments under development Already so this project Includes the remaining segments that have not began development. So the scope of work includes between Rio del Mar all the way to Pajaro Junction And then the gap closure that will remain We're calling it segment 11 phase two, which is the capitol atresol connection there The scope of work for the contract that we are Recommending awarding today is for the project concept report that is task one in the scope of work That was included in the rfp The remaining tasks will be preliminary engineering Task three is initial right of way services and task four is the draft and final environmental documentation We expect the project concept report to be an important first step in these in the project to Develop a stable project definition for the remaining Subsequent tasks that you see can you all see now the power? Yes. Yes run repeat Great and then the rfp just a side note included full service engineering all the way through construction of the project Okay, next So the first 12 months of task one is what we are Um proposing to proceed with The following bullet points is what we believe will be included in that first year of work There's going to be an extensive community and stakeholder outreach throughout the entire process of development of the initial purpose and need statement for the project initial ridership and operating model work A environmental Existing conditions initial screening Structures existing conditions assessment Development of the project alignment for both the rail facility and the trail segments Crossing investigation That's the grade crossings. We have many of them on the branch line An initial right of way investigation, which will include a focus boundary survey And project management through the whole process next slide The funding strategy That we came up with for this project includes getting started with local funds As you know, uh, there's insufficient pay as you go capacity In the measure d rail category to fund all of task one through The duration of task one so staff is recommending getting started To program 3.8 million total to complete the first 12 months of task one and concurrent with that we are actively pursuing competitive grants The funds will serve as a local match for those competitive grants The grant that we are currently preparing an application for is the transit and inner city rail Capital program or tersep They have a special project development set aside fund of 150 million dollars That we are pursuing um to fully fund tasks one through four of this project next So the fiscal impacts of this item The insufficient capacity and measure d rail category to fund all of task one through the duration of task one Our solution for that is to uh propose getting started awarding the cost plus fixed fee contract with a not to exceed value of three million dollars to cover the first 12 months and then another solution to that is actively pursuing the grants to fully fund the work And we anticipate um The awards for tersep to be announced in the spring or summer time frame of 2023. So that's before the 12 months are up Next slide And then finally, um, we Touched on this quite a bit in the staff report, but we have 4.7 million in outstanding invoices to um cal oes california office of emergency services and the federal emergency management agency cal oes and fema This was disaster relief funding for work that we completed earlier this year Um, and that was due to the 2017 storms We are continuing to pursue full reimbursement from um cal oes and fema And this is why we are recommending um because of the uncertainty of when those funds are going to um Be reimbursed, uh The measure d rail category may need to pay back the loan from the regional service transportation program exchange And this may require inter program loans from other measure d categories And with that, uh, that concludes my staff report Thank you, miss christensen I will now look to my colleagues for questions comments, uh commissioner burton and then commissioner mcpherson Um, thank you very much for that report. Um, I welcome the Initiative here here's some finding costs definitely. Um, one thing that's come up and I know Mr. Monning's been involved in this um I don't know due to oversight or what I don't think it's important at this point, but uh, it's a lot of private property boundary issues And the one that I think we've been involved in to some extent is a mobile home issues where mobiles are over the line And this represents a significant problem for them obviously people that Um have in many cases people that I know in capital spent considerable amount of their life savings to to buy into the park And it's clear that The responsibility could lie in the rtc side could lie on the property owner the park owner I don't know But there's other issues. I think we're all aware of And so I just want to mention that right now because I think the rtc Does share that responsibility And so I wanted for the public record. I don't know how this issue or these issues are going to be resolved But I just want to make that statement and For the future commissioners We do need to think Very clearly about The fact that there's people's lives. There's people's homes. There's people's properties In many cases That they've saved many years just to purchase so To executive director, I I I know that you have concerns about other people and how they are in their lives And I just want to put that out. Thank you Thank you commissioner mcpherson. Yeah, thank you for that report and it's I think it's good that we're at this point finally With the increase of funding from measure d's rail plot That's going to go to this the total of three up to three million dollars Can you describe what projects or maintenance will not be funded because of the need for more money for this contract? I mean in particular local roads or pedestrian special needs Metro so forth You know how much is going to be taken from them and I I don't want to get this Conflict. I just want to know What what amount We are loaning from them If you will So I can try to answer that question The rail category funding will ultimately be responsible for all of the costs For the rail portion of this project the trail Pot will be responsible for all of the costs associated with the trail portion of this project We have a mechanism that allows us to loan Money from one category to another That loan needs to be paid back and it needs to be paid back with interest That's part of our strategic implementation plan and it is allowable per the ordinance One of the things that the taxpayer oversight committee has frequently brought up with us is that we're accumulating cash balances In several of these accounts and they've mentioned what can we do to try to get that money out there? We we state all the time that we have all of these transportation problems, but yet They look at our financials and they see that there's money, you know still available in several of the accounts um The account most likely to loan money to this effort if needed and it may not be needed at all Would be the highway category as the highway category Obtains the highest percentage of regional funds And most of those projects are still in development and have not gone to construction yet And when we did get construction funding for the ones that are about to start It's mainly funded from grant programs. That's going to change in about 2024 So we have some time If we need to Loan the money temporarily it will be paid back with interest. So there really will be no Ultimate impact on any of these accounts. So we monitor this very closely and try to maximize the amount of money That is out there on the street delivering transportation improvements. So it really should Never have any impact on any of the other programs It will impact our ability to do preservation on the rail line By spending on this category but only during the period that we're spending money on this specific effort This is a 30-year program We anticipate bringing in about a billion dollars total and measure d money over the lifetime of the project The eight percent rail category is about 80 million So this four million is only about five percent of the total of the funding that would be brought in overall For the for this category. So we have a pretty good handle On how to make sure we can maximize getting Work done without impacting any one category over the year. Thank you for that clarification. Appreciate it. Thank you Okay, uh commissioner cappitz Thank you Thank you Guy uh, president. Thank you very much for clarifying the Supervisor McPherson's question The 4.7 million is the key to A lot of paying back everything, right? Is that correct? So that would affect our cash flow significantly If be my reimburse us all 4.7 million dollars The rail category will be on a much better footing than if they were not to but either way we have mechanism to Mitigate those concerns and keep the project moving Okay, and then what what is the interest being charged on the loan? Generally, if we do an inner program loan, we look at what the county pool is currently Receiving for money that is deposited and earning interest and we use that same interest rate. So there's a net zero effect to the program that is Providing the loan an example of an inner program loan that has already taken place and authorized by this commission Was the loan for the wildlife crossing project to start? that project Receives five million dollars over the life of the program At the time that the loan was taken, uh, the interest rates were down in the, you know, low One to two percent and I believe that's the interest rate that we used to we're using to pay back that loan So there there's no net effect On that money not being invested In The the pool it's paid back at the same interest rate That it would receive in the pool by the category that is receiving the funding temporarily Okay, and finally, uh, thanks garden and finally, uh The word if if we get paid back the 4.7 million Uh, what's the if we had a percentage of We're not getting back the money or Would you say it's a 50 50 chance or it's 90 percent? That we should get it the 4.7 million or The word if this which stands out to us I anticipate that we will definitely Receive at least some of the funding from them So a hundred percent chance that will receive or 99 chance that will receive some of the funding FEMA often looks at What you did out there Versus what was needed to restore the line for service So they may look at some of the improvements that we've done as a betterment And if they do there's a possibility that they may say well I can see paying you for this aspect of the work But some of the additional work you did Was a betterment In excess of what was needed to restore the line back to its original status service So I'd say there's a higher probability that we will receive some sort of Reduction from FEMA and the amount that they allow, but we are going to fight for every penny We have a thanks. Thank you Commissioner Quinn Oh, thank you chair and Thank you. Ms. Christensen for The attachment for number for item 20 very comprehensive You know as I read through it and I recognize that measure d made it clear that the public does want rail Included in future planning It reads a little bit like a wish list and and I guess I'm a little concerned that we I mean I'm Obviously voted that we continue to explore rail And I endorse the exploration But the risk category mentioned in the outline seems pretty lightly weighted in the deliverables And I'm just worried that we're pursuing rail quote at any cost How do we factor in the discovery of risk and cost associated with the rail to temper the expectations that we can deliver rail Vote at any cost And Thank you, um commissioner Quinn. So, uh The I guess the approach that we that staff Is proposing to take is to identify those delivery risks to the project early um and study them and uh bring the information forward and um Do the heavy lifting early and that is sound project delivery And it usually results in um, you know, obviously having a lot more time um an understanding of those risks to solve those problems um and so I would say um the scope of work for the project concept report is somewhat robust It's more I think it's actually more than what we originally planned because as we thought through the scope of work And what we actually need and the information that the public seeks and the information that this commission seeks We beefed up task one a bit and we brought some of those um Some of those Deeper dives into these project risks forward into task one for that reason So hopefully a And I apologize for the broadness of the question But you know, as mr. Bertrand said earlier choosing to spend your money on one item often precludes spending it on another And and as we work through this and inform the commission and the public Will we have mileposts where we decide or we determine in a collaborative way That the cost and again, I'm thinking back to the capitol attress alone. The cost is making the project. Um At least how will we address the cost there? What will be the burden both on the people paying the fare and on the taxpayers to make this project work? right, so currently the funding is the measure d rail category fund so that expenditure plan Includes preservation of the branch line As well as analysis such as what we're proceeding with the project concept report tasks one through four of the scope of work um So in other words, we're not I guess proposing to take money away from any other local projects or projects of other types for this particular study and then we are pursuing State and federal competitive grants to fully fund the project so that should not quote take away from other projects um, and then You know just looking forward once sec was complete the project's not over yet We will be continuing to pursue grants for other um Future phases such as construction. So going through this process completing tasks one through four we should have um a well-developed cost estimate And uh, that will allow us to make decisions and strategize on how to fully fund this project um, and then also part of the work is um identifying that we do need an additional funding source for the operation and maintenance of this facility and so that is definitely um anticipated and so, um We just we don't have enough information right now to Bring more information about that because the size of it the timing of it Um, but we do recognize there will be another funding source needed Thank you, and if I can elaborate a little bit too, um Risk is a very important aspect of any projects in project delivery if you remember my Interview for this job. That was one of the three biggest challenges. I think I brought up That was one of the questions you asked me And what did you think? The three biggest challenges were and how would I manage them and I talked about risk and risk register um Can I ask 1.16 of our scope of work is the conceptual? um initial risk analysis and risk register um, we're taking in the more complicated version of this where you really do look at the risk and The probability of the events occurring with the schedule and cost impacts So we use a level three risk register and that's what you usually use for complex projects um We've also decided that to manage risk having a and and sarah's already mentioned this but i'm going to emphasize it We're we're doing a very comprehensive concept report before we really kick off the environmental document And we're doing significant engineering early so we can identify these areas and fully inform the commission and the public of the probability of these risks The impacts of the risk and our management strategy So throughout this process, we will be bringing and identifying it. These are not easy problems. Um, you know, one of them Commissioner burtrand has already brought up We're going to have to manage that risk. We're going to have to have some difficult conversations with the community and the public to understand the trade-offs between the benefits of a very Transformative project like this with the impacts because there's going to be a combination of both Thank you Commissioner johnson Thank you chair um As i want to do every once in a while, I will check my email and look for comments from the public And a lot of those comments this time were about failures really um Excuse me different rail Project systems that are going on throughout our state And so this question is for maybe sarah, but also for guy um In that do we ever You know, I have an honor on this conversation I mean you just referred to the fact that we're going to have a difficult conversation with the public and with Commissioners and so forth. Do you ever go to other agencies such as, you know, smart train or San Jose light rail people or high speed rail people or Bart, I mean, I just saw a headline from The san francisco chronicle a death spiral bart scenario includes cutting weekend service um, if I look at the light rail issue over With the vta and san jose The mercury news says as it approaches the point of needing to order replacement for light rail Vehicle fleet the transit agency serving san jose areas considering a more existential question Whether it's light rail system even has a future now. That's the board talking about its system So I appreciate the fact that sarah christensen When you say this is an exciting time But why is it exciting? Um, what is the future of rail? I mean, can anybody honestly say this is a vibrant expanding exciting uh, sort of Uh future I mean, I'm looking I'm looking for results. Okay, and I'll say it again Those who ignore history or can kind of condemn to repeat it. So my question to Um, mr. Pressin is do you ever have conversations? Maybe even back channel conversations with people at these different agencies That says not the ones that give the publicity reports But the ones that say man, we're in trouble here Okay, if we had to do it over again, would we really do it? so Those are the kinds of difficult Conversations I want to have that I want our executive director to have That we have honest conversations about What works and what doesn't before you start throwing in 3 million and then 10 million and 20 million and you know A million a billion year and a billion there pretty soon You're talking about real money. If you know if to quote Everett Dirksen, I believe so Um, that's kind of you know, I just don't see a bright future for rail, but apparently other people do Show me why Okay before we start spending incrementally over here over here over here That something is something in in terms of becoming a death spiral Okay Is the future really really real? You know earlier we had a speaker from the public talking about what was a rail cat um People are looking into things like that, you know being open to other alternatives instead of something that You know, I'm seeing and even metro right our own metro Is having a problem puttingbehinds in the seats, right? I just went to you know, scott's valley has a metro Essentially parking lot um I visited there four times this week and counted the cars An average and now I don't know what the capacity is of that parking lot It's hundreds but there's an average of 30 cars per day Okay, public public transportation. Is it viable? Is it working or are Are people cutting back on it? Okay, how are they actually using it? Is there transformational situation with cove where people are just working from their homes and it's never really going to be the same again Okay, those are the type of tough questions I want to ask before we start spending 3 million year 5 million year 10 million there depending on grants interagency loans and so forth, so Thank you chair Thank you commissioner johnson commissioner shifrin Yes Thank you. Uh, I want to thank the staff for the report. I think it was helpful. I did have questions. I want to thank The director for responding the comment from the last commissioner's speech about Ignoring history makes you repeat it. I would just remind us all about measure d um measure d sent a pretty strong message I think my interpretation that people didn't want to rip out the rail line and they wanted to look at Whether in fact rail is feasible and I think that's in santa cruz I'm always skeptical about applying situations elsewhere to Our community because the devil as you know is in the details and the details here are not the same as they may be Up in sonoma county. I don't know whether ultimately it will be possible to have a feasible passenger rail system Um between santa cruz and lots of build but I think we need to look at it I think this contract moves us along the way. I think what that's what the vote of measure d Uh told us we wanted to do and I think the commission has been very supportive of that direction thus far um Obviously they're skeptics and there are reasons to be skeptical because there's a lot That's unknown. Uh, this is is an expensive effort I wish it wasn't so expensive, but I don't I I you know, um I think it's impressive that our staff is wanting to look at it in a very detailed um Comprehensive way so that ultimately the commission will be able assuming we can get the Funding to actually carry the study through to conclusion to be able to make Uh, uh a decision based on information Uh, not other not people's predictions about what they think the future is going to be like or what it's like someplace else but what uh, what would it take uh to to have a passenger rail service That would be operating in santa cruz county. So um You know, I don't really have a question. I'm sort of I know this is a time for questions, but since others made comments. I want to make comments as well I am supportive of uh the staff recommendation on this item Uh commissioner birchland Thank you very much chair. Um Not to rebuff you andy. Um, I'm not sure what measure d the most recent measure d actually said about The will of santa cruz residents. There are so many causes for why they voted one way or the other I think it's fair to say that most people who really think about the issues would agree Maybe that's an assumption, but that's my comment because that's the feedback I get Um, I'm very supportive of this measure Really of this proposal. Excuse me And the reason why is because I think it is the best effort That we have at this point if the commission approves to get a clear idea what the costs are I approve. Excuse me. I am very Glad that it's detailed I'm a risk analysis is very critical because we don't know what the future is I I think staff has come through. Thank you guy To lead this effort and everyone's concerns that This is what we need because there's so many arguments in our community what the cost is And we need this kind of report so that we have the data to actually Allow people to make a decision Because ultimately the decision whether we're going to go ahead Is going to be based on what the people in santa cruz county are willing to vote for And like I said earlier Spending money on this train and this trail Is going to take away for money that we can be using for other things in this county And so that's going to be part of the discussion. Maybe five years from now, maybe 10 years from I have no clue But that's why particularly like this study. Thank you very much Sure I so I just want to get commissioner cap. It does have a hand up and then I'll um get Get back to you. Um commissioner cap it go for it and then commissioner conic You're on mute Greg Greg you're on mute. We can't hear you There we go. Okay Yeah, all the comments are fine. I think measure d made it very clear in the last vote back in june that The people do want to have rail between Santa Cruz and watsonville and and beyond So I I think Our small section of all of this about the risk and everything is all Uh, correct. I believe there is risk of anything But I just wanted to make it clear that uh, the people of santa cruz actually did say They want to go forward And uh, that's what I want to see happen. Also Uh Davenport to Watsonville Pajaro and uh, maybe connecting to uh, Gilroy and also Monterey and The rest of the state this We're a small section and a small part of a big idea for the whole state And at one time we had a governor Brown that wanted to have rail everywhere basically but Um, yeah Priorities shift and but I I just want to make it clear that People of santa cruz counting made it absolutely clear that they want to go forward with rail also part of the transportation Right here Thank you Commissioner Koenig Thank you chair brown Since we're Pining about the meeting of measure d. I mean, I think it it is difficult to uh to determine exactly what voters meant with that I you know Personally believe that what we saw there was a lot of fear at work fear of loss Which as we know is actually one of the most powerful human motivators And so there was fear about potentially losing the beach train fear about losing an option for transit Um, and so I think that's why voters ultimately voted no on measure d But I think if you start Talking about uh taking people's money away, uh, whether it's with the new sales tax measure or even Spending money that could be used um for or other things um, you know, ultimately like alternative transit options on the corridor or Other infrastructure maintenance that um, that's going to activate that same fear of loss and we could see see that At play in future elections future initiatives, uh, which are asking for more money for rail Um, I mean at the same election June of this year. We also saw a sales tax measure in the city of santa Cruz fail So our sales tax measures are not particularly popular at the moment Um, I want to get been a few questions. So I mean we are talking about allocating three million dollars now, but the total Uh budget here and that for this project scope for this first phase one 7.759 million dollars. So does that mean that probably within the next 12 months? We would the commission be asked to approve another 4.759 million Yes and with the Grants that we're applying for the tersip Um, would any of that cover this initial phase or that would only be for later phases of the eir we Are assuming it would cover the remainder of task one in addition to task two through four to fully fund through sequa So if we got tersip funding it could pay for that four point The remainder after this three million four point five million roughly of the phase one. Okay. Um You know in the uh to Commissioner Quinn's point of trying to get down to the medias questions that the greatest risk as soon as possible and I was I appreciate that Approach from staff in general both in doing this conceptual report Um, and you know as as you expressed identifying some of those key questions I mean, is there an opportunity to push that any further? Um, is is there an opportunity to break up the project a little bit? To hear I mean, you know, I noticed that the conceptual rail transit ridership and revenue forecast wasn't in the first year of Of work could we move that up? Um Same with preloon preliminary opinion of probable conceptual capital and operations and maintenance cost estimates And those seem like, you know ridership. Is there is there demand for this? Uh and costs seem like pretty big risk factors. Could we look at those in the first year of work? So the um the work that we anticipate uh the first year does include some initial modeling for ridership and um development of that operating model and the way that it Works, it's somewhat of an iterative process from how I understand it is going to be happening is um You know the model is developed and then the alignment Comes in and then there's somewhat of an iterative back and forth Um between you know updating the model to see what Certain tweaks in the alignment would do To ridership. So obviously if you have I'll just give you an example of um Having really sharp curves in the alignment. You have to slow down, right? That's going to increase your travel time That could affect ridership. So it's all kind of a holistic um beast that we have to um We have to start somewhere. So um the first 12 months were You know putting together that initial model and then we're going to um do some kind of sensitive Sensitivity tests to it based on all the other factors that are going to factor into that um and then cost um, I would love to have a class estimate today, but Realistically that's usually done somewhat towards the end of the engineering process just because with all the just you know the milestone steps and the outreach and um development of the Uh alignment and the ridership modeling um We want to we want to obviously Get it right. And so it's best to not spin our wheels and try to estimate every single Thing um through the process. So those costs are gonna they're going to come later, but we can you know qualitatively Tell you through the process if things are going to be more expensive Um, so but we won't necessarily be able to quantify them Um to the detail that we will at the end So we had a really interesting conversations with the Selection committee about when to do the ridership analysis. Um A lot of the consultants came in and and had it as an early task It's interesting. I I'm going to go to a question. Andy Schiffern asked me um before today's meeting regarding um The past studies and um, are we building off of those studies or are we just You know starting all over again. Are we really making sure we we take advantage of the work that we've done thus far? um We are going to do that. Um, we have initial ridership numbers from our past studies and as sarah articulated um As we go through this iterative process Um, things are going to change and there's a lot of work that goes into ridership and to try to refine it to Maybe see if it's going to bring in 10 percent more or 15 percent more and spend all that effort on it Because there's a lot of effort that goes into calculating ridership Um, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense until you really have your project to find better So we are going to do some initial work on it, but we're not going to overkill it Early on we're going to wait till we have a good definition of the project And then we're going to do that work. We think it's a more efficient way of Ensuring when we get the most most bang for our buck with respect to that and you know, there are a lot of Locations that we've identified that are really risky In front of the boardwalk. I mean that's uh subject to sea level rise We've got a congestion problem with the tracks going right down the middle of the the roadway. We've got um Conflict with um The beach train in that location Um, and its ability to continue to serve the boardwalk while running a commuter train down through there That's a location that we're going to do a lot of work with it's going to require a lot of stakeholder engagement with the seaside company With the city of santa cruz. What do they really envision this location looking like when this project is done? Uh, same is true for the bluffs above Manresa The comments that have been made by members of the public about not being able to get coastal commission approval We need to flush that out. Um, we need to start meeting with the coastal commission early And talk to them about what they're going to require in terms of an alternatives analysis To ensure that we don't move forward with a project. That's not buildable Same with the harken slew area. I mean that area i've walked on and it's been underwater Now before we've experienced 20 more years of sea level rise Um, you know, what's the requirement there? Are we going to have to build a viaduct through there to elevate the Rail line so that it doesn't flood Those are the areas we're going to drill down on early and then figure out what our solutions are and um Then do a cost estimate and have a good ridership analysis and a concept report and Cost estimates so that the commission knows. Okay. Now we're going to start environmental on this And um, you know, we've accepted that this is manageable risk and this is a permissible permitable project and We'll see where we can go with it Okay, I hear you that uh, some of those later phases of ridership calculation and costs are dependent on these first Parts of of the study I'm glad to hear that you're going to engage in the coastal with the coastal commission early Given what we've seen in southern california with you know, i'm asking us other lines to move in I don't know 40 100 feet or something inland. So that's great Um, there's a couple more questions. So we've you know heard consistently from train supporters that they feel like we're kind of looking at the I don't know what deluxe train here and Really we could do something better faster cheaper Is this study can I really dig into that a little bit so that um, you know, if as we do move forward I mean the goal of this study is really to provide data And get us all working on the same page as a community to build consensus And so I just want to make sure that it'll also address some of those core questions Um, I know rail supporters have of what the what the most cost effective rail option is going to be We definitely are going to have an extensive public engagement period and we want to hear from the public about the different ideas that they have So that we don't move forward with a project that is not consistent with what the community and what the commission is Is really ultimately looking at You have to remember that when you start, you know changing the scope of the project It could change the performance metrics You know if you're dealing with a rail system that Doesn't have sightings you you have no where to pass you can't have very frequent service if you don't The alignment concerns on maybe you put in too many stations You're not going to be able to have the travel time of 40 minutes between Watsonville and Santa Cruz For those are the sorts of things that we have to help the public understand Um when we Talk about the project and kind of drill down on really what we want the project to be You know, um that You know, it could change things and that would of course then change the ridership and change the cost and all of those other aspects one of the reasons why we had Uh the cal trans division a rail and mass transit as part of our interview panel Is because we're very much interested in them helping us to fund this project And they very much want to see a project that is consistent with the state rail plan and that Creates interoperability They really did not want us to choose between light rail and commuter rail as part of the tcaa Because they want us to flesh this out and understand How this would work with respect to the state rail plan. That's very important in terms to our ability to attract funding state funding and federal funding for Our future construction and operations costs So We're going to have to bring all of that forward so that people can understand Yeah, you may be able to do a cheaper system But it may not be as attractive to the state to fund And that may in turn not really make it less affordable for this county It may also affect ridership numbers and you know that those are the things we're going to work on to try to help educate and And receive the input that we need to develop the best project definition moving forward All right, that's helpful. Thank you My final question is I guess more towards the latter part of The environmental impact report You know, we heard I mean I mentioned the contra cost is looking into Putting some automated vehicles on their streets and we've heard from the public about that um, you know, I'm curious if If we get to the end of this and find that You know transit plan a rail is not going to work. How Do we are we providing any space for transit plan b whenever that would come along in the future? Or is that just a whole nother planning effort that we would have to look at in the future? I mean With the environmental impact report as we look at alternatives, is it going to be pretty much rail project or no project? Or would there be other options considered? So we um Spent the time to do an extensive transit corridor alternatives analysis to determine the best type of transit on the rail line Um, we consider this a form of prescoping the project Those other alternatives were looked at as part of the tca at this point. It's a rail project. It's either Rail or a no build And this commission is ultimately the decision makers and we're doing this in an iterative process with several tasks In decision points along the way if the commission wants to change direction That's the prerogative of the commission and staff will follow that direction but at this point We have Defined this project as a rail project moving forward on the rail line with the trial adjacent to it Okay, thank you I had um one other response to commissioner Johnson's questions that I didn't get an opportunity to respond to I mean commissioner johnson is correct and that that Rail transit projects right now or rail rail Operations right now are down the ridership is down significantly the article he referred to uh about Bart looking at a A depth spiral analysis I read that article. Um, it it was important information to understand That was their worst-case scenario. They looked at okay if And when we lose open funding if ridership comes That doesn't come back. What are our options and they looked at several things. That was only one of them Mid-good headlines. So it was the headlines of the story um, of course You know the rail transit agencies are concerned about ridership and um, they're looking to the state and lobbying to the state and federal government for additional operational funds I do not think the state and federal government have given up on rail. Um, the state just had a huge um budget surplus and as Part of that surplus they augmented several programs including the transit and inner city rail capital program That augmentation created this hundred and fifty million dollar fund That we can apply for for project development That didn't exist last cycle. It was not very easy to get funding for an environmental document I'm not saying that it's going to be easy now, but we're going for it. Um, we have an opportunity and they have not given up on this But there is concerns and one of the things that I heard was brought up Repeatedly at the self-help county coalition is How the state will not contribute as much for rail operations? And is there a way that possibly they can start doing so? Because there is still very much An impetus to move people away from Personal vehicles and more towards public transit Um, we're fortunate that we're not, you know, starting a system right now We're starting to analyze a potential system right now What the landscape is going to look like in two years when we finish the concept report is going to be different than it is today I don't have a crystal ball. I can't tell you exactly what it's going to be But it's going to be different And it's going to be different two years later when we hopefully finish the environmental impact report And have to start moving forward with an initial You know a funding plan to try to get to construction and operations So, you know, I I do talk to these other agencies. I know the chief engineer at smart They're very bullish still on their program. They're looking at a an additional connection Along state route 36 to connect it to the capital corridor there are Plans to continue to move forward with Additional improvements throughout the state including mark to san osa airport The vta light rail system is definitely something that I look at and it concerns me when people talk about light rail on our rail line Because it's slower. It's not It did not Attract the ridership that they were hoping for in san osa. I've taken bta light rail from The closest station I could get to which was in los gatos to Mountain view to see the pack 10 championship game. It took over an hour to get there I decided it probably wasn't a very efficient system for me to use again I don't want to make those mistakes here. And so that as goes back to commissioner conic's discussion about You know, there are members of the Public that look at this and say are we Doing too much. Are we trying to build too much? I don't know yet We have to look at the performance metrics that people want to see To attract the ridership to understand the land development issues and build a system that would be useful and not detrimental to our community Thank you for sharing those comments commissioner rockin thank you turn I want to honor and respect the kind of skepticism of some of our members about Whether in the end we're going to be able to build a system that works and that we can afford I that's Uh, I don't share that same level of skepticism, but I it's not inappropriate. It's not silly or Wrong to have those views and I appreciate that despite that skepticism This commission did vote unanimously to move sort of forward at least to the point that we're at right now and Hope that that people's willingness to at least consider In the face of their skepticism Supporting enough additional studies that allow us to have a really good idea of where it is We want to go on whether it's really feasible in the long run I do want to really emphasize that this is an iterative process and that What we're being asked to support today Basically is uh, we will be funded out of the portion that the voters gave us money for for rail The 8% I mean we would be involved in borrowing, but I think our staff's done a pretty good job of Demonstrating that we're not taking great risks with other um projects within the measure d funding's structure And so I the idea that as randy pointed out, I think you know appropriately at some point It's not three million that we're talking about it's 20 and it's 15 and 20 and big numbers and so forth But that's not the decision that's in front of us today Um, and I have to say I somebody who uh, generally a strong supporter of rail It's possible that i'm going to be persuaded at some point in this process not to spend that next 20 million dollars or something that uh that brett I'm garrett's idea about an alternative system that they're trying in contra costa or something like it may make more sense Um, but at this point, I think we owe it to the public to try and Uh, sort of proceed with the process that we have now Um to to make the expenditure that we're being asked to to put together enough information to to test the skepticism And again as I say I want to I'm I'm this is not just a political ploy The skepticism is not is uh warranted because we Even though in the rest of the world rail seems to be what's happening And it's not like some dead technology of the past the united states has not got a very great record about how we've sort of implemented rail systems I do want to say about the one study that randy mentioned about the one about the uh What's it called the death spiral and stuff if you read that article carefully and Guy Preston talked about this a little bit That's not a report about what's going on That's a report about like what could happen badly if everything goes wrong and the whole thing falls Into a complete mess and when I was reading that article i'm going like what kind of a news story is this This is kind of totally speculative and based on very little that's actually happening And just to be clear that's an article that says there's a death spiral not just for rail But for every form of public transit including buses Closing that bar it's going to have to close down. That's what I concluded Oh things if everything goes wrong and things are terrible. We'll have to close down bar We won't have any bus systems anymore Everybody's going to go back to private automobiles And I guess we're just then subject to moving three miles an hour on a highway waiting to get somewhere So that's not a study that moved me particularly I do think the Problems that have been had by some of the other systems around the state are worth looking at and those give me a little more pause And reason to you know sort of maintain at least my own sort of sense of skepticism about whether in the end This is all going to work But as I say I want to end with this comment I think the public has given us money to at least study the feasibility of rail We're not stealing it from other places in the in the measure the expenditure model or other kinds of modes of transportation We're not being asked to make a commitment because you vote for this today You're not being asked to commit that you're going to agree to spend 20 or 40 million dollars in the long run or Whatever the 100 million dollar cost of the operation subsidy and everything else that happens here Those are things that depend upon an iterative process that either will look make it look more promising at the end or less promising and Everybody reserves their right at some point myself included to say, you know, you know, I let's let's study this thing I'm really appreciate our staff presenting a plan for us that actually will get us the information we need I think they've done a really good job of responding to what we asked for And so I'm hoping people will vote for this at the stage and not feel As I said in another meeting you reserve your I told you so rights if this all comes to nothing in the end I mean, that's that that can happen. That's we don't know the future. So those are my comments. Thank you Thank you, uh commissioner johnson, and then I would like to take it out to the public Commissioner mcPherson. Oh, yeah, so we'll get commissioner johnson commissioner mcPherson, and then I do want to go out to the public We're trying to be short here. So I appreciate the comments With respect to, you know wanting to explore investigate and so forth I also want to be cognizant of the fact that, you know When information comes back It's not like everybody Is unanimous in terms of what the actual data shows You know I don't think public entities can be treated like a business if if if we treated a government like a business You know three quarters of a of it which shut down because there's no profit in it, right? But there are times when you have to do that And so with the respect to When we have a entity here in scott's valley called 1440 scott cranes was the A person behind that but successful entrepreneur He came to scott's valley with these words I want to get to quote no and no sooner rather than later He wanted to explore all the bad things that could happen before he put millions of dollars into uh A project he ended up putting I you know north of 50 million dollars into scott's valley into into the old um Campus college campus that we had here. It's been very very successful. So With respect to looking at all the details for example Guy you brought up the whole idea of rail operations You know rail operations take employees, right? and we've learned that and metro is probably a pretty good example of I believe that they just You know Was it 80 million or 100 million dollars in pension peres that they had to Renegotiate Does this study speaking of of operations does this study take into account the deficit? That's probably going to happen with calpers once you have A bureaucracy of say another hundred people. I'm just curious as to that. Is that part of the calculus? We definitely will be looking at the Oh, I know what I did It will be moving on the operation Of course dropped out there guy I unmuted myself on the here and on the microphone. Sorry about that We definitely will be looking at the operations and maintenance costs We did so as part of the tcaa and it's pretty significant And when you look at an extended period of time 20 or 30 years The operations and maintenance will exceed that of the capital costs of the project Pensions are included as part of part of that. Well, I'd be assuming that it will be union labor and And those those individuals will will be able to draw pensions So it is significant. We understand that You know, there there are, you know opportunities to try to keep the the costs Down towards operations and maintenance We're looking at that too. It's why we often are criticized that we're trying to do too much out there But I don't want to leave too much out there have to maintain after We start the system So, you know, since capital funds are easier to obtain, you know We're looking at a lot of potential bridge replacements and whatnot But you know back to a comment I made earlier people are transit operators are screaming right now about The state's insistence that operations and maintenance get funded from local governments So maybe it'll be a rosier pitcher in a few years. I don't know Don't have that crystal ball but we definitely will be calculating the costs and Showing you the financial picture at the time that we present the material Thank you Commissioner MacPherson. Yeah, and thank you. I want to especially thank Sarah Christensen and all the rtc staff for this 37 page report with plus charts Really amazingly Detailed and is what we need to know. So we all appreciate that very much I think this contract is Important even at a cost higher than anticipated because it's imperative. We really know What a project of this scale will realistic cost to build and operate. I mean, I don't think that voters In particular said we went rail with measure d circa 2022 until we know The costs the environmental impacts the the impact on private property rights as was mentioned by mr. Bertrand But with so without an eir Which identifies in real time all the challenges that and costs we're going to have I don't think we have a clear choice of whether or not passenger rail is feasible in santa cruz county or affordable despite The community rhetoric on both sides and we had plenty of it earlier this year of course on measure d So I think having a scope of work on the shelf will put Us in the best possible position to qualify for state money To do an eir. So i'm going to be supporting this recommendation And I again, I want to thank The staff for getting this comprehensive report. It's going to put us on track excuse the pun To decide Really what we should be or how we're going to make that decision and what give the public more a little more clear input and information on what this is really going to cost and like I said in In a money sense an environmental sense and a property rights sense I think it's those are clear and important issues that need to be more thoroughly addressed Thank you Thank you Okay, I'm going to now take it out to the public for comments comments and I Will start with members of the public who are in the chambers And I see Member coming up Is sally arnold welcome. Thank you This has been a really interesting conversation and it's had me scrolling for data on my phone while you were talking and you know, obviously financial concerns are reasonable and You know appropriate for this group to consider I really appreciate that both Miss christensen and and mr. President have been very clear about how there's a certain order of operations You can't find the price of something if you don't know what the thing is yet And so I really appreciate the thoroughness in which they're proposing this, you know be approached and I've been looking at the American public transit association For some kind of economic facts about public transit that sometimes get you know We think about the money we're spending within the rtc budget, but or you know the state or federal money But we forget that there's economic benefits to those investments And I'll just read a few every dollar invested in public transportation generates five dollars in economic returns Every a billion dollar invested in public transportation supports and creates approximately 50 000 jobs Every 10 million in capital investment in public transportation yields 30 million in increased business sales Every 10 million in operating investment yields 32 million in increased business sales And an estimated 32 39 billion of public transit expenditures flow into the private sector Um, you know through contracts and things like that Home values are 24 higher near public transportation in other areas hotels and cities with direct rail access To the airport raise 11 percent more revenue per room than hotels and cities without I mean it just I could just keep scrolling but I just want to point out that You're talking about an investment in our community It's not it is a public service But there's also going to be economic returns and we just need to think about the big picture And I really appreciate everyone's thoughtful care today, and I hope we're going to get a positive vote on this issue Thank you miss arnold We have a number of members from the Virtual world who are have called in and so i'll start with Our first caller mary fontis Mr. Fontis you're on mute. So if you're speaking we can't hear you Chair brown, I apologize. I didn't need to raise my hand. Oh gotcha. Okay. Thank you No worries So our next speaker mark messini miller Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes great greetings chair brown commissioners and commissioner alternates My name is mark messini miller with the santa cruse county friends of the rail and trail For the last 20 years fort has been a steady advocate for transforming our 32 mile rail corridor into a modern rail with trails transportation facility To enhance mobility to improve safety especially for cyclists and pedestrians And to create a more sustainable And more equitable community Today fort urges this commission to fully support and approve all staff recommendations Your approval of staff's recommendations will be another very important step toward realizing the community's vision A few fully utilizing the existing rail corridor With benefits for everyone While many folks think of this effort as focused on the implementation of passenger rail Fort appreciates that approving staff's recommendation will also move the preliminary design and environmental documentation needed To complete all remaining segments of the rail trail A rail trail that will connect our neighborhoods Neighborhoods full of people young and old families with children With a safe car-free path to schools parks and shops along the rail corridor between watson bill and santa cruse Regarding ridership recovery every market is different la is Is receiving a third more transit ridership than the bay area You know santa cruse is its own unique market Metro just told us that they're on track to do a phenomenal recovery of covet uh from their covet ridership So we urge you let's move forward. Let's gather the facts. Let's keep everyone moving forward. Thank you Thank you Our next speaker is judy giddelson Good morning commissioners. Can you hear me? Okay? Yes, we can. Thank you Um, I am a watson bill resident train enthusiast and one of the over 70 percent of your voters Your constituents who voted to support keeping the tracks. I am thrilled with the progress you're making and I wholly support Uh approving the staff recommendations. I have three questions in the um 2016 measure d Was the preservation of the branch line was that um I I heard the talk about how money moves from one pot to another but was money for uh Maintaining the especially the trestles and the tracks. Was it taken away from the train money? That's one question and then the other question is um Uh, how many of you rode that tig m demonstration train last year? It was amazing. It was quiet. It has zero emissions And from my understanding that train Could be in place For a million dollars a car or something like that. Anyway, don't quote me on that, but I just think it's fantastic Sarah christian your report is fantastic. Can the public access that report? And then um I think that this period of climate change of increase of uh population I think that the ridership analysis, uh, it will just you know, we will be so happy to not be Spending an hour and a half coming from santa cruse to watsonville on highway one with this as an alternative So I am thrilled. I think it's feasible. I think there is a bright future for rail I think santa cruse county can Show the world how it can be done and I wish you The best and I wholly encourage the acceptance and approval of the staff report. Thank you Thank you. Ms. Gettleson and I um, I'm just Saving questions for the end if there are questions that we um that come up during public comment, so we'll Cover those in a bit and I will next call on michael lewis and gene brockelbank This is gene brockelbank speaking Two things first about borrowing and secondly about environmental impacts Borrowing was kind of sloughed off as oh, well we can borrow money But borrowing means going into debt And that means that the rtc and the taxpayers will be going into debt I am conservative very fiscally and I don't like that idea and I don't recall that when we voted for measure d That we were told that we would borrow and go into debt with the money that the taxpayers provide The other is environmental impacts That was mentioned We already know the environmental impacts of Pursuing both a rail and a trail In this corridor The environmental impacts are huge and they involve They involved that everything that was mentioned by the previous speaker In terms of climate change where we're going to deforest the corridor and release carbon that's stored in trees and Release carbon that was stored in the soil And so we're already aware of some of the environmental impacts I'm very uncomfortable with the idea of borrowing measure d money And I think we ought to Think twice three times or four times about doing so I can't support this recommendation. Thank you Thank you miss rocklebank Okay Our next caller is uh brian from trail now Yes, hi, this is brian your hand was hiding on my screen. So okay. Thanks. This is brian from trail now You know when we talk about risk management their terms that we use Realized risks and unrealized risks. So a realized risk is no longer a risk We already know it exists and that's the situation we have here already We already know the coastal commission rules that they won't allow the rail going through there. So that's not a risk anymore. That's a fact We already know that you're going to be destroying historical trestles. That's not a risk. That's a fact We already know that You're gonna that we've already spent three million dollars on multiple studies. So we already know those those facts We already know the risk Of it's not a risk anymore. We heard guy Preston say it's not going to be slow moving Like rail it's going to be fast moving train Can you imagine a 60 mile an hour train speeding through our little neighborhoods? That's a that's not a risk. That's a fact. They're very dangerous We already know it's a fact that the coastal commission will not allow the fencing That will be required. So when you put this rail in you're going to be required to put big walls up big fencing that's going to separate the The beach From the public and the coastal commission is not going to allow that So you keep saying that we need to spend the money to understand the risk and to But we already know it. They're not risks. They're facts So I think you we all need to step back a little bit and say is it worth the seven million? It's not three million the seven million dollar commitment So I think you need to go back and start what I heard supervisor McPherson suggests Is go to the coastal commission and ask them the the likelihood that this That this will happen the other risk you have that's Really not a risk either is you're not going to be competitive Against those existing rails when you go try to get grants They're not going to give you the money because the coastal commission is going to be standing there saying We're not going to approve this. Thank you for your time Thank you, mr. Peoples Our next caller is david date Good morning commissioners. I'm calling from the intersection of san andres and marmonti in lasalva beach There's a bus stop that was discontinued here in september of 2015 Since then the bench has been removed and the signs have been removed. So maybe there's no intention to restore bus service here That was kind of Echoed as a condition of the passage of the 2016 measure d was that this would actually fund the Allow our buses to come back and and there appears to be no intention to do that There's a pothole swarm across the street here. They're full of water. There's cracks in the road So the rain is permeating into the base rock and and and causing unspeakable amounts of damage to the base rock on the roads On the half mile from the manresa washout that brian just mentioned Can this commission honestly say that we are in a position to invest millions more dollars in the study of trains When we it's so clear that our county roads and our transportation infrastructure are in complete shambles um so that's That's really what's on top of my mind. Um, and you know, I guess I guess to understand what's happening I I I guess I I kind of looked to the opposition and I saw this quote from uh You know, I call him the chief train lobbyist barry scott and on next door. He commented Their game plan is to encourage as expensive a system as could possibly be Instead of privatizing the rail quarter at half the cost Four and others need to get behind roaring camp and make sure that at the end of the progressive contract in 2028 another freight operator selected hopefully with experience and popularity So here are the primary train advocates saying that there's not going to be a commuter train in 2028 There's not going to be a commuter train in 2038 We're going to continue to lock up the corridor with freight agreements Even though there's no freight service and everything's falling into shambles So what we need to do is prioritize the construction We don't have to pull the rails everywhere But we do need to prioritize the construction of the trail on existing trestles and infrastructure and keep the rails where where's possible And and that's the only thing that we can do in the near term to really get Santa Cruz moving. Thank you for your time Thank you, mr. Dave Michael same to you are up Thank you chair brown Yeah, I was looking at carry pico's slides and stuff And this is really a conundrum with Kind of the differences between highway widening versus the rail corridor And multimodal situations you have to decide To do one or the other if you are supporting both highway widening as well as trying to do the rail corridor You're kind of fighting yourselves widening the highways actually going to take mass transit people away And not really want people to get on the rail Because if you ease up that highway for a while You're just kicking the can down the road He said 20 to 30 percent at the fish have continued straight Those are the people you need to get off the highway These people are a lot of them are getting off at 41st Morrissey So kill avenue and around the fish hook to Santa Cruz There needs to be some type of mass transit to take care of those people and it has to be as good as getting in a car We've made anything. It's kind of simple. I try to simplify things. You need to get the people out of their cars And you need to move people and not cars, which was emphasized by one of our commissioners a couple years ago You know for sure that what won't work And in the future it's been proven over and over again been studied ad nauseam That widening the highways will fail You don't have a problem putting a million or half a billion dollars into widening infrastructure for cars But you're having a problem putting it on the rail That's the issue. I mean it's as simple as that. Also, I wanted to talk during the caltrans thing about safety Well, it's nice. They have good thoughts about having meetings and safety and chp But if you take people out of cars put them on mass transit, your safety problem is taken care of Thank you for your time Thank you, mr. St Our next speaker is ben vernazza Good morning everybody In a sense, I've been a resident since 1933 My mother was pregnant. My mother and father came down and stayed in capitol But that's not my my reason for talking today. I have been a resident since 1967 Now you're taking from metro and highways Which is part of the expenditure plan And the ordinance i'm reading from the ordinance now The ordinance and expenditure may only be amended if required by the following process Set forth in section 180 207 of the public utilities code one Initiation of amendments by the authority reciting findings of necessity two provisions of notice and copy of the amendments provided to the board of supervisors and city consuls in santa Cruz county Three the proposed amendments shall become effective 45 days after notice is given amendments shall require a two-thirds vote of the total membership of the authority So I think you better take a look at that To see if that's applicable in this case since you're taking money from metro You're taking money from highways With the probability or possibility maybe that's a better expression Of having a problem later on And if you haven't have a two-thirds majority to go ahead with this Then that may be very Well be a problem Thank you very much Thank you, mr. Vernazza Our next speaker is equity transit Thank you chair chair brown. I appreciate your service with all due respect with regards to a repeat of history I would urge the commission to look at details and data from organizations like the apta The labor network for sustainability la dot and civil rights environmental and labor organizations across the nation The research is clear public transportation is a critical lifeline for many in our community And it is a critical way to mitigate the ongoing systemization of racism and classism in this country Due to the destruction of our once great public transit systems Under the forces of an automobile centric industries You can see some of the links to these resources and data available at equity transit dot org Some more around 20 of our entire national and local populations depend on public transportation in order to access essential life opportunities jobs education Important community and civic activities access to robot Robust public transit is a civil right and one which around the 1950s was systemically destroyed across this country Underserved members of our community remain stuck unable to access opportunities because of the disconnect and lack of awareness of a wealthier Mostly wider contingent of our population that holds most of the power in our governmental systems Those with the wealth to buy a car seem completely unaware of the lived reality a great percentage of our community's face With a lack of 15 minute public transit systems Research is clear as sally mentioned earlier. She gave some great Resources and I urge you to look at those I'm very concerned when I hear elected leaders seemingly disconnected from this reality around public transit Which is essential to our essential workers community members with disabilities People of lower income are elderly people who cannot or do not want to drive Public transit is essential to our environment. Um, I'm just going to skip forward We all pay into this extensive system Unfortunately a majority of the members of our community who require and need and rely on public transit are unable to afford to come to these Meetings and so I speak on their behalf. Thank you very much Thank you. Ms. Faulkner Our next speaker is solid in sale Welcome. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes Thank you chair brown commissioners alternates and rtc staff My name is solid in sale. I live in the city of santa Cruz I want to voice my support for the staff recommendations for this agenda item Acting today to take the next steps in moving this investment in the long-term quality of life in santa Cruz county forward Represents the very best of long-term thinking In history, there are moments of plasticity where certain decisions having long-term effect on the future quality of life Are most impactful. This is one such moment There's likely a long history ahead for santa Cruz county And life for future generations may be very good or very bad In part because of your actions today While those of us here are already enjoying decisions made in earlier years Which have led to the sections of rail trail already completed And protection of the rail The results of today's actions will benefit untold more in terms of quality of life both locally and within the global environment Thankfully, we now know the overwhelming public support in our county for long-termism In the realm of transportation planning and delivery Please acknowledge and then respectfully Disregard the urges of those remaining few who are unable to see the value of investments whose reach exceeds the span of just their own lives Thank you Thank you, mr. Sale Our next speaker up is david loves public transport Welcome Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Okay? Yes Yeah, this is a david van brink. I'm calling in off-site in beautiful cold bentonville arkansas. I'll be home next week Um, so yeah cars are so so they're kind of killing our planet public transit has to keep evolving So this is great. Please keep moving forward. Thanks Thank you Enjoy your travels Mr. Otto Keith Otto you are up next Yes, quick soundcheck. Can you hear me? Okay? Yep. Great. Thanks. Greetings. Keith Otto county resident The item before the commission includes an engineering services contract for electric passenger rail transit Let's remember that the 2016 measure d expenditure plan states Measure revenues do not include funding for any new train rail service Now if the proposed contract is to be characterized as analysis We should ask ourselves if that is really the case Will the outcome of this contract before you today truly inform future decisions? For example consider this Do we really think there will be substantial new information? Such that say a commissioner who in the past Voted against the train then with this new information may then vote for it And conversely a commissioner who in the past voted for the train Again with this new information may then vote against it If not, then we're simply starting yet another study A rather starting just the first part the first year of only an addition an initial study for task one I'll say that the frog in the warming pot of hot water comes to mind I hope all have read the full 53 pages for this item Please carefully consider your vote on this item. Thank you Thank you, mr. Otto And it looks like that concludes our public comment on this item item 20 on our agenda and so i'll bring it back to The commission for deliberation and action with their recommendation Okay, so we have a motion by commissioner shiffer and a second by commissioner I'm going to give it to commissioner cap it your last meeting and As for any additional comments with the Just a reminder that our question and answer portion of this agenda item Did include involve a lot of comments so if we could keep them Short or and or additions We'll go ahead and Call on commissioner conic Thank you chair brown It's no secret that i'm a rail skeptic However, I am going to vote for this today because first of all this is money that has been allocated for rail Including studies and I think an environmental impact report certainly qualifies as a study and This money is not going to be allocated for anything other than rail until we do this level of analysis to determine whether it's feasible or not We're not changing the expenditure plan any money that we're taking away from the highway funds are considered alone And that would be paid back from the rail fund to the highway fund in future years or from whatever category it comes from And also in regards to going into debt This is not a case where we're borrowing money from someone else We're just talking about moving money from one category of funding to another on a short term basis, but that money would also be paid back with interest right So second I'll support it because I think it will provide a significant amount of new data Including a detailed review of the status of all the trestle's information about environmental issues and heart can slew and along the men recent Bluffs and updated ridership and projection costs And third because I hope the data will help our community to build consensus on the best way forward Not only here among commissioners, but also among voters because ultimately it's the initiatives that we vote yes on that make the biggest difference Thank you Thank you Any other comments? Okay, I did want to just before we take the vote. Um, I'm in support of this agenda item And I won't repeat what other commissioners have already said about, you know, I do believe this is going to give us more information that will be useful in making decisions and I wanted to make sure though that um the kind of questions that came up That can be answered that we could we could speak to and most I what I heard mostly what as I was taking my notes was um, You know questions around The funding pots and the question about borrowing against measure d perspective revenues and we have discussed these items in great detail on more than one occasion And we I imagine we'll continue to have those in-depth conversations as we make decisions about potential bonding and moving You know moving funds or borrowing from different pots of funding, but I I did want to just ask for clarification on the point that one caller made mr. Vernauza about The just our our clarification on the amendments language and make sure that we I imagine that's you've got a something that you can share with us to make us sure about that if we were Permanently moving funding from one category to another that would require an amendment Or if we were adding a project to a category or or something to that extent and that's all spelled out in the Reference code that he mentioned We have done that one time. We added projects to a highway one category And we went through that that process Interprogram loans are a mechanism to deliver projects the money is being paid back as commissioner koneg noted with interest so There is no need to amend the expenditure plan for that purpose It's covered also in our strategic implementation plan. The policy is spelled out in the staff report Bonding also is section 10 of the ordinance so we can can borrow outside of the Measure itself and that is anticipated as we continue to receive grants for various programs moving forward Thank you I I just wanted to make sure that that was clear for members of the public since it it didn't raise a potential question in people's minds so I will go ahead and then I did actually want to see one more thing about this question around the funding and the you know the scarcity and and the Kind of the idea that taking money from one pot means that we're Not able to spend on others and so and I I get that that's a very significant concern and I take that very seriously but I also want to just remind us that some of these expenditures That we're making and hopefully all of them will actually generate not just the the kind of economic benefits That we should be thinking about the multiplier effects, but we'll be able to bring draw down Significant dollars and we've talked about that but I just in my conversations and kind of when I put it all together I feel very very confident that our rtc staff our team is Equipped to make the best decisions in this planning process to help us draw down additional funds to be competitive in funding Around grant funding rounds and so I do think that they're that while those concerns are very legitimate We should also be thinking about these opportunities as well to bring money into our community So I just wanted to add that since it hadn't been said in explicitly and with that Actually now I do see a few more hands up. Sorry to get the To get the comments started I will Call in commissioner cap it and commissioner Hurst and hopefully we can take a vote soon Anyway, you can hear me, right? Yes. Okay Basically, I'm gonna I'll make this quick The voters made it very clear that they want us to go forward with Looking at the rail and all the options To vote no really for our commission here Is really not an option We're basically saying the voters didn't know what they were voting on They voters do analyze when they go to the polls and they read a lot of information They know what they voted on And for us as a commission to say that the 20 28 or 29 percent That don't want us to go forward We're correct on the 72 percent. We're incorrect We we we really can't do that You know, even if you don't want to have rail or even pursue it Just to vote no And be on this commission to me just just It seems like it would be a slap of the face to the voters. So thank you Thank you, mr. Caput. Mr. Commissioner Hurst, you're up. Thank you very much chair And I want to thank staff for a very well prepared Agenda today I know that there's always apprehension by the public and certainly fear and self-interest Showing as well, but let's all think about the future and safety and equity and connectivity and and really getting people Moving and so that should be our job. Let's get people moving. Thank you Oh, thank you commissioner Hurst. I will now call for a vote on this item Commissioner betram I approve commissioner sandy brown I commissioner Hurst Yes, I commissioner randy johnson no commissioner conig I commissioner quinn yes commissioner shifrin I commissioner caput I commissioner mcpherson commissioner parker um Yes commissioner christin brown I commissioner rockin I The motion is approved with one no And yes Right. Thank you. We will now move on to item 21 This is a construction contract award for the pahero river bridge rehabilitation project Along the santa cruz branch rail line and senior transportation engineer sarah christensen will Give us a report on this as well Is he gonna take a picture of iphone? Thank you chair brown Commissioner Hernandez, did you have a question? Okay, gotcha. Sorry. Okay. Thank you chair brown. Um, this item is Being recommended to the commission today To award this construction contract for rehabilitation of the pahero river bridge. No powerpoint. Thank goodness. Um We've had enough trouble today As you may remember, uh, we advertised this project earlier this year Uh, staff, um recommended rejecting the one bid that we did receive. Um, the bid was Very high. Um much higher than the engineer's estimate. It was one million seven hundred and nine thousand four hundred and seventy dollars the commission directed staff to um evaluate reevaluate the scope of work. Um, and try to re-advertise a more competitive construction contract, which is what we We did so we found um after talking to a few Contractors there was a lack of interest due to um the specialized work we, um Developed a scaled down scope of work. Uh, we removed some of the specialized work um, the timber work seems to be really a niche. Um, and so we uh removed Basically all the timber replacement work. Um, we do have some pile banding and that's about It for the timber rehabilitation um, and so We put this project back out to bed. Um, and we received another one single bid. This one was was much more um competitive. So it was two hundred eighty seven thousand eight hundred eighty five dollars from a Uh contractor called Euro style management This amount is under the engineer's estimate and staff recommends accepting the bid and awarding the contract and that concludes my staff report Thank you miss christensen Are there any commissioner questions? Or okay, I don't see any so, uh, we'll ask if there are members of the public who'd like to speak a c Mark mcd miller is up first Greetings again, chair brown commissioners and commissioner alternates Um, once again, I just wanted to let you know i'm with the santa cruz county friends of the rail and trail We urge you to support the staff's recommendation on the side of them and we just wanted to encourage uh The continued working with and collaborating with The warring camp railroad They have a ton of experience and expertise And uh, we understand that this revised scope of work saving a million dollars or so Was developed by consulting with them Regarding this project. So we just want to encourage you to continue collaborating with With the local experts at warring camp. Thank you Thank you Uh, our next and this will be our our last commenter. Um, unless somebody wants to raise their hand. Okay, we've got two Uh, brian from trail now Hi, this is brian. I'll keep it short so nobody jumps in there. Um So the interesting thing to note here is that the cpc has a short line railroad Improvement fund and you know why they do that is because short line railroad is not a very good business The profit is very low and we've seen that with The many with progressive rail trying to leave. So I guess the question would be is staff Are we getting we're not getting the volume Freight volume reports out. Can we get more of that information to understand? You know, us taxpayers are supporting a short line operator That really isn't a very good business. You know, if you go and walk this section It's a beautiful section and and if we were to connect that as a trail and even a access road It would be phenomenal for san watsonville. There's a school right there Um, it really separates the neighborhoods. I I watch people and they have to walk across this currently old Um trestle and it would be very good if if our community the watsonville community had this as an access road and a trail Um, the freight business is not very profitable there. You know, maybe look at in the long term look at Trucking that can come from the union pacific rail yard just half a mile away So it's something to think about remember that Progressive, uh, one of the other questions is is progressive throwing any money into improving the The railroad there. Um, I know the rails are really going through the road. It's it's tremendous Damage to those roadways and it's it's not ideal for the community So again, thank you for your time. Bye Thank you Okay, our next speaker is judy giddelson Hello again commissioners. I don't know. Can you hear? Okay, there's the time Hello again commissioners just a quick question. Are these reports available to the community? Is there a website where we can peek at them and I completely support? Um, endorsing repairing this so thank you. That's all Thank you Just want to check. Are you talking about the the freight report volume reports? The freight report and the eir or whatever you call the previous report that Was about the the one that the measure that was approved the Gotcha. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for the clarification So it can we, um, can just to ask and since it came up, um, the freight volume reports are those available and then I mean, I know all of our other Background information is available, but um the freight reports. I'm not sure where those would be Luis Mendez can respond on that Hey, yeah, I think they there were a couple of questions one was about the staff reports the staff reports are on their website Um for all the items were on the on the agenda today So we're gonna go to that for the freight reports. We do get quarterly freight reports from Progressive rail and though we don't well put those on our website, but they they probably they can be provided to anyone who I I'm great. So if you'd like that information, uh, please feel free to reach out make that request Okay Bring it back to the commission for action and deliberation deliver action hopefully second Okay, we have a motion and a second On this item and we'll take a roll call And just to clarify was that rock in rock emotion. It was sorry. Um, uh Commissioner rock in motion and commissioner conig second. All right Commissioner Bertrand. I approve Commissioner sandy brown. Hi commissioner hearst Hi Commissioner randy johnson. Hi commissioner conig Hi commissioner quinn Hi commissioner shifrin Hi Commissioner cap it Commissioner McPherson. Hi commissioner parker Commissioner parker. You might be muted She may be or she looks like she's gone. She's gone. I don't see your picture. Yeah commissioner pagler. Hi commissioner christin brown I And commissioner rockin. Hi Uh, the motion passes you man unanimously. Thank you So our next item is uh 21 a items to be discussed in closed session. I'll ask Mr. Mattis for report on those items. Thank you. We have a service One closed session item covering three properties and the potential for real property acquisitions And we do anticipate that there may be a report out of closed session as well too. Yes. Thank you So in just uh for other commissioners benefit for the report out We won't need to come all come back for an act of public action. We'll just report out So that you and I can come back staff and the chair can come back and report on there's a reportable action And do we have an email with these? Zoom address for this meeting in closed session You yes, we did receive or I did a message And I can forward it to you now. Um anybody who needs it I can forward it So just let me know it came in about nine this morning from ctv at least online I'm not seeing that. So I would appreciate somebody resending it. Well, we'll make sure everybody's got the link and um Are we going to be going into I think we were out here last time because of the uh capabilities for with internet Well, we're gonna remain in this room. So we will okay. So we'll remain here room. Um, but we'll we'll clear the room and um get started on that item If we can just take a moment and while we'll yeah, we'll take a five minute break. Um to Sort out this make sure everyone has the the link and um So I know mic you need it anybody else need it. I'll email right now to make sure you get it Okay, supervisor, uh, like uh, herdandus, uh, you can do I have to run to a meeting I gotta go Okay, thank you. And um, just for those out there the um, the email was we got one at seven this morning It's ctv webinars Is the sender I'll forward to you. I got the one you just sent. Thank you very much. Okay Cool Welcome back. We are here to uh report out on the closed session from our uh rtc meeting and I will turn it over to steve mattis our council for a report Thank you, madam chair. Um, the commission was in closed session for real property negotiations Related to properties at 79 92 79 94 and 79 96 so cal drive As part of the closed session by an 11 0 vote of the commission The commission authorized the staff to obtain appraisals make formal Offers to purchase the fee interest in the properties obtain rights of entry from the property owners to perform A physical assessments of the property And and to negotiate and then present to the commission If the parties are able to come to an agreement a purchase and sell agreement for the properties The um the purchase and sell agreement terms would be associated with the with the Appraisal itself that the rtc would obtain and as part of this to obtain those appraisals the commission also authorized The staff to enter into contracts for ride-away services either with arws Or the county of santa cruz In an amount not to exceed 157,500 for The appraisals and the ride-away acquisition activities that are necessary and with that madam chair, that's the report out of closed session All right. Thank you So our final item is 22c next meeting that will be Our our next regional transportation commission meeting scheduled for thursday january 12th 2023 at 9 a.m and With that we are adjourned Thank you everyone You