[nfbwatlk] FW: Sound Transit CEO Report

Mon Mar 29 06:46:47 UTC 2010

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From: Sound Transit [mailto:soundtransit at govdelivery.com] 
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 4:03 PM
To: lawnmower84 at hotmail.com
Subject: Sound Transit CEO Report

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CEO Report 

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>From Joni Earl 

March 26, 2010 

In this edition 

*	East Link light rail update to the Board 

*	Report from Olympia 

*	Photo of the Week 

*	Sound Transit Board action on Thursday 

East Link light rail update 

The Sound Transit Board on Thursday heard the latest news on East Link light
rail, the 14-mile light rail extension between East King County and Seattle.
Stations are planned for Rainier Avenue in Seattle, Mercer Island, Bellevue
and Overlake in Redmond with service starting in 2020/2021. 

The East Link route, particularly through downtown Bellevue, has become an
issue of great interest in the region. Going back to last May, the Sound
Transit Board approved a preferred alternative route that has light rail
running on the surface through downtown Bellevue. The agency is well into
the environmental and preliminary engineering process for the East Link
route. However, preliminary engineering on downtown Bellevue was put on hold
as the City of Bellevue, working in close collaboration with Sound Transit,
looked at other new alternative routes. Last month, Sound Transit and the
Bellevue City Council teamed up for a workshop to explore those new routes. 

On Thursday Steve Sarkozy, Bellevue City Manager, told the Board that the
Bellevue Council had recently announced its preference for a new tunnel
route option under downtown Bellevue. The city is also working on ways to
make contributions to the project in Bellevue that would reduce Sound
Transit’s cost by $100-$150 million in order to help fund a tunnel. Several
residents from East King County also spoke to the Board about the light rail
route. 

To remain on schedule, the Sound Transit Board plans to choose a preferred
alternative in late April and then issue the Final Environmental Impact
Statement late this year. The final route alignment decision is scheduled
for early 2011. 

Report from Olympia 

The report from Olympia is very good for Sound Transit. During its regular
session, the Legislature passed three bills on the agency’s legislative
agenda that was approved by the Sound Transit Board late last year.  

Here’s a quick rundown: 

*	SB 6279 clarifies that Sound Transit projects are essential public
facilities and will help streamline negotiations and discussions with
partner jurisdictions. 
*	SB 6271 provides for areas to automatically be included in the Sound
Transit District when they are annexed into a city already within our
district.  Both these bills have been signed by Governor Gregoire. 
*	HB 2575 adds Sound Transit to the Capital Projects Advisory Review
Board, a state board that evaluates public capital projects construction
processes, including alternative contracting methods. Because the Governor
had proposed the elimination of this board, she is considering a veto of the
bill.  

In addition, the supplemental transportation budget includes three
additional items of interest. The budget provides $4.5 million in state
Regional Mobility Grant funding for ST Express bus service in Snohomish
County, and funding for a study by the Joint Transportation Committee (JTC)
to develop a blueprint for public transportation investments. 

The JTC will convene a panel of state legislators, transit agencies, labor
employers, and others to assess transit needs, the state’s role in public
transportation and priorities for state investments. I will be serving on
the panel, along with three other transit agency general managers.  Another
provision requires agencies receiving Regional Mobility funds to grant
private transportation providers access to transit-only lanes and
park-and-ride facilities.  Sound Transit, other transit agencies, ATU,
cities and counties are urging the Governor to veto this provision due to
concerns that it conflicts with federal requirements and existing state law
and could negatively impact transit operations.  

Per SB 6392, Sound Transit will participate in two workgroups associated
with the SR 520 project.  One workgroup is studying options for planning and
financing high capacity transit through the 520 corridor, and the other is
looking at transit connectivity in the corridor.    

Photo of the Week 

Our photo this week shows work underway on the University Link Capitol Hill
Station site in Seattle. http://www.soundtransit.org/newsroom/photo/
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to/> . 

The Sound Transit Board on Thursday: 

§         Approved the submittal of the Transit Development Plan 2010-2015
and 2009 Annual Report to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

§         Amended the Adopted 2010 Lifetime Capital Budget to create a new
capital project for Sounder ST2 Fleet Procurement in the amount of
$15,546,000 and amends the Adopted 2010 Annual Capital Budget by increasing
the vehicles phase budget to $1,000,000. 

§         Approved a resolution regarding the administration of the 401(a)
and 457(b) employee retirement plans, amending Resolution 32, creating a
retirement plans committee, delegating oversight and management
responsibilities for the employee retirement plans, indemnifying the Sound
Transit Board, officers and employees to they extent they are making
decisions or acting as fiduciaries of the retirement plans, and authorizing
the purchase of fiduciary insurance. 

§         Approved the acquisition, disposal or lease of certain real
property by negotiated purchase, by condemnation (including settlement of
condemnation litigation), or entering into administrative settlements, and
to pay eligible relocation and re-establishment benefits to affected owners
and tenants as necessary for staging and station areas for the Brooklyn and
Roosevelt Stations within the North Link – UW Station to Northgate project. 

§         Approved an agreement with Community Transit to provide ST Express
bus operations and maintenance services for the period of April 1, 2010,
through March 31, 2013, with two additional one-year options to extend. 

§         Approved an agreement with Community Transit to fund 47% of the
cost to expand and renovate the Kasch Park Operating Base for a total
authorized agreement amount estimated to be $4,982,000. 

§         Approved an agreement with Harmon Management Corporation from
December 19, 2008 through March 25, 2010. 

§         Approved an agreement with Asian Market from December 19, 2008
through March 25, 2010. 

§         Approved the extension of lease agreements beyond five years on
properties located within the railroad right-of-way from Tacoma to Lakewood
that include a 90-day notice (or less) termination clause. 

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