Board of Directors

Here is their stated agenda https://docs.google.com/gview?url=https%3A%2F%2Frtachicago.granicus.com%2FDocumentViewer.php%3Ffile%3Drtachicago_2de3bcd6b149e9bdfa6874d1f29d9df8.pdf%26view%3D1&embedded=true

The meeting is being streamed here
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHBTEjtqt0bjxN7e3RBdUOA/videos

Chairman Kirk Dillard is explaining why it is being held online and the guidelines for the virtual meeting.

All 16 directors are present and Dillard calls for a motion for the minutes from January to be approved. It passes and the minutes are approved in a roll call.

They allot time for public comment, though they now ask for commenters to submit their comments via mail. There were no public comments submitted.

They are now going over the executive director’s report. Exec. Director Leanne Redden is reviewing this now. First, she mentions her excitement at working with the new federal secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg.

She says new federal Covid bills show strong signs that the federal gov. understands the importance of public transportation.

She says the bulk of today’s meeting will surround discussing Step Two of their Three-Step Recovery Strategy.

“The situation we find ourselves in is much more positive than it was three months ago” Redden says.

She says they’ve reached an agreement with regional partners and the entirety of the $400+ million relief allocated will go to the RTA jurisdiction and not to the areas of regional partners.

She mentions the RTA is committed to a transparent and collaborative allocation process of these funds.

Here is Redden shared of the State Delinquency Figures https://t.co/tE5T6ewfmN

They are now going over an update on the activities of the RTA’s “Transit Access Citizens’ Advisory Board”

Now an RTA staff member, Karin Allen, will go over the Quarterly Performance Report for the Fourth Quarter 2020

There were three goals they measure their performance against.
The first is whether they saw returns on their investments.

They were up in annual capital funding by 186% and down in fare revenue per passenger trip by 14.8%

The next goal was “build on the strengths of our network”

The regional vehicle revenue miles went down in 2020 by 13.5% from where it was in 2011. https://t.co/UwEf46vo38

There was also a 58% drop in ridership from 2019 to 2020.

She also says ridership has not recovered as well as it has in other parts of the country/world.

Director Mike Lewis asks whether there are any plans to help facilitate transportation to and from Amazon centers. Miller doesn’t have the answer.

The next item is certifying the the financial results from the fourth quarter 2020, presented by CFO Bea Reyna-Hickey

CTA, Metra, Pace and Pace ADA all reported unfavorable operating revenues compared with their budgets. https://t.co/aT47twz4no

Metra had more public funding than they had anticipated, though CTA did not.

CTA reported favorable recovery ratios by 1.2% and Metra and Pace reported unfavorable recovery ratios by -6.5% and -3.4%, respectively.

CFO Reyna-Hickey concludes and the board has the floor to ask questions.

There’s some confusion as to whether they’re under or over the regional recovery ration by .1%

They conclude that it’s under by .1%

“Everyone thinks we’re getting more from the state.” Dir Dillard says and follows that by saying they’re one of the least supported transportation entities in the country.

In a roll-call vote, the board certifies the report.

Now, another presentation step 2 of the recovery process

Their priorities for this effort include id’ing funding solutions, sustaining critical transportation services

Peter Kersten is now reviewing Critical Need Areas (CNA’s) https://t.co/YMxMmzjuzf

Moving on, Breyna-Hickey says the decline in sales tax revenue has not been as severe as initially feared

She says the 2021 RTA funding increases will be up by $114.9 million in total due factors including PTF and sales tax increases

She recommends that the bulk (77.5%) of the CRRSAA funding (federal relief) go to the CTA

The documents included in the presentation are available for review and public comment through March 5 at http://rtachicago.org/recovery

In a moment allotted for questions, Dir. Coulson says that the fiscal restraint (in cutting services) that Metra showed over the last few months should not be punished.

They are now going over the 2021 audit plan including internal and external audit plans.

Now, an ordinance to be voted on that would authorize contracts for project management oversight

The companies are GSG Consultants, TranSmart and Globetrotters. They take a roll call vote and the ordinance passes.

The last item is the approval of travel expense reimbursements. They don’t go over details of what these expenses were. The approval passes.

The meeting adjourns at 10:48 am.