SMART

I joined the SMART Board of Directors in January 2009, shortly after the passage of Measure Q. As I promised before the November 2008 election, if the voters approved Measure Q I would work hard to make SMART a success. To that end I accepted the appointment to one of the two Marin County Board of Supervisors seats on the SMART board. To date, my work on the board has been filled with activity as the agency works to execute the plans outlined in the ballot measure, in the midst of the most severe economic downturn (and resulting impact on sales tax revenues approved by voters) since the Great Depression.

SMART is the largest public works project ever undertaken in the North Bay. It is exceptionally complex, with many diverse elements such as vehicles, stations, and operation and maintenance facility, multiple construction contracts, systems testing, employee training and many other key components and functions that must work together in order for the passenger rail service and accompanying multi use path to be a success.

My approach since joining the SMART board in 2009 has been this: Whether or not someone voted for the train, all are paying for it, and everyone’s interests are the same. Taxpayers deserve prudent management of their dollars, transparency regarding finances, and an approach that serves the most communities.

I’ve emphasized the importance of being proactive in communicating with the public, successfully pushing to webcast meetings so you can access discussions about our largest capital project in history. All board meetings are now webcast and archived and can be accessed via the SMART website at www.sonomamarintrain.org.

Following the sudden and untimely death of Supervisor Charles McGlashan in March of 2011, I was asked by SMART Chair Valerie Brown to fill the position of Vice Chair on the SMART board. After much discussion on what the agency needed to do to deliver on its voter-approved mandate, while living within its budget and achieving much-needed transparency on the project’s plans and finances, I agreed.

Over the last year, we have achieved the following milestones:

• Secured independently vetted cost and revenue estimates and a rigorous project review of the largest public works project launched in the Bay Area since the start of Great Recession.
• Executed a contract with Sumitomo of America (fully compliant with Buy America standards) to build the rail cars in Illinois, at a significant savings ($23 million less than the next bidder). These rail cars will set a new passenger rail standard for low noise and emissions and the best safety features available, with clean Tier 4 engines and Crash Energy Management, a critical safety technology that augments and exceeds the FRA buff strength standard.
• Secured $32 million for the project in additional regional funds, approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission with a specific statement from MTC that the project meets its Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Policy without a single additional unit of housing near any station. Note: For more information on SMART and MTC’s TOD policy, I asked my staff to prepare the following analysis, which provides detailed numbers and links to various source materials on this topic.
  
  • This funding ensures that SMART will extend to downtown San Rafael’s Transit Center in the First Phase.
  • As a result of its independent analysis of the project, MTC has, for the first time, designated SMART as a high priority project for state and federal funding grants.
• Approved the first major construction contract of $103 million, which brings a minimum of 900 jobs to our region, employs local subcontractors and saves the taxpayers more than $14 million over anticipated costs, while simultaneously restoring the Novato North Station and Novato Creek Bridge replacement (which will preserve service during heavy rains and will also improve flood control for several Novato neighborhoods) to the First Phase.
  • This contract also extends the First Phase to the Guerneville Road station in north Santa Rosa, a major employment center with existing residential development, which boosts SMART’s numbers vis a vis MTC’s TOD policy even higher, far exceeding the minimum regional transit funding threshold.
  • This means Phase I will also serve the significant number of residents, students and employees who commute between this area and Marin, and in total, Phase I will now serve 80% of the potential riders along the full rail line.
• Secured the highest available bond rating and issued $191 million in low-interest bonds (with proceeds of $171 million). Now that the repeal issue has been resolved, with the petition to repeal failing to qualify for the ballot, SMART is moving to immediately lock in a low fixed interest rate on the bonds and to issue additional construction and systems contracts for the rail and multi-use path, bringing even more jobs.
• Achieved an agreement with the bus transit agencies in both Marin and Sonoma to work together to launch express bus connectors in coordinated scheduling with initial rail service, to directly serve the stations not part of Phase I (Larkspur in Marin, and Windsor, Healdsburg and Cloverdale in Sonoma).
• Sales tax revenues have begun outperforming our now-conservative estimates, with confirmed numbers from the State Board of Equalization reporting a 7% gain (year over year) for April – June 2011 and a 9% increase for July – September (SMART had budgeted for 5% growth as part of our fiscal review)

SMART is a transportation choice, whose core mission is to complement existing transit options in an increasingly congested region. SMART is also a provider of jobs –ensuring that the project is conducted in a manner that will maximize public benefit, bringing people to jobs and businesses, and benefiting the communities it serves, remains a top priority.

As a result of persistent and ongoing effort, I am pleased to report that the SMART project is moving forward in a measured manner in which costs are carefully monitored, savings are maximized, funding opportunities are closely pursued and the public has consistent access to all available information as we work on your behalf to make SMART a success.