Committee on Strategic Planning and Service Delivery; Committee on Finance, Audit and Budget; Regular Transit Board

First up is the Committee on Strategic Planning & Service Delivery and the Committee on Finance Audit & Budget. Then at ~10 a.m. the regular monthly Chicago Transit Board meeting is set to start.

Agendas and meeting notices are all here: https://www.transitchicago.com/board/notices-agendas-minutes/

While we wait, a little bit of background about the board: the Chicago Transit Board is the governing arm of the CTA, consisting of 4 mayor-appointed and 3 governor-appointed members. More on each here: https://www.transitchicago.com/board/

Committee on Strategic Planning & Service Delivery is starting now at 9:32 a.m. We have a quorum of the committee with directors: Barclay, Miller and Chairman Irvine present.

Chairs Barclay and Carter welcome Rosa Y. Ortiz as a temporary member of the board. She’s and urban planner by training and was a former development manager at the Hispanic Housing Development Authority, among other positions. More on Ortiz here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosa-y-ortiz-aicp-leed-ap-458a1525/

First order of business: approving an ordinance authorizing name changes for bus routes #146 Inner
Drive / Michigan Express and #147 Outer Drive Express.

Wait, there was a mistake in the script that included incorrect numbers, said Sec. Greg Longhini. Anyway, committee members vote to approve the measure for the board and to adjourn the Committee on Strategic Planning & Service Delivery

Next up is the Committee on Finance Audit & Budget. Jeremy Fine, CFO, reviews budget numbers for November and YTD. Here’s the YTD key takeaways:

Fare & Pass totals are down by $5.4m from the amended budget and overall revenue is down by ~$4m from the amended budget, said Fine. https://t.co/tKPp7C0hvJ

On expenses, on a YTD basis CTA has a ~$49m positive variance to the amended budget, noted Fine. The positive variance is based on public funding revenues. https://t.co/FeGCS4F1Ft

Here’s the details on the public funding revenues and federal relief funding draws. Fine said they still have $32m of CARES Act funds remaining. https://t.co/qyXed0laN8

Fine expect these funds to carry them from 2022-24. CTA is also actively competing for additional discretionary fund, he said. They’re the only entity regionally to compete for the grant funds and should know if they receive them by March. https://t.co/zk5Ifsq7S3

Silva asks how the recovery ratio has been affected. The recovery ratio is supposed to keep the CTA’s revenues in check with its ridership, said Carter.

“The recovery ratio is going to be out of whack until our revenue returns, and our revenue won’t return until our ridership returns,” said Carter. He adds that CTA is currently treating it as a negative number but it won’t affect funding they’ll receive from the state.

Moving on to the following: an ordinance authorizing a co-promotional advertising trade agreement with Bank of America, N.A. for the 2022 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle in March.

CTA will receive up ~$15k of promotional value through the Bank’s email blasts, etc. for the event. In return, the bank gets $12,992 in unsold advertising space and will buy the same amount in purchased advertising.

“It’s a fair trade, with us coming out a little bit ahead,” said Fine.

Board moves to approve this ordinance.

Next up for review: an ordinance authorizing a purchase and sale agreement with Sterling Racine, LLC for the sale of Authority property located at 120 N. Racine Ave.

No further questions, this item is moved and placed on the omnibus for approval.

Chugging along, up now is: approve an ordinance authorizing an amendment to a sublease between
Sterling Racine, LLC and Shipbob, Inc. for property located at 120 North Racine Avenue.

Board motions to move the ordinance to approve Sterling Racine’s request to sublease the building, which requires board approval.

Next up: to approve an ordinance authorizing the purchase of underground storage tank insurance for Policy Year January 28, 2022 through January 28, 2023.

Some background for Steve Wood, w/ the City’s Law Dept. CTA has 45 underground storage tanks (USTs) that store 10k+ gallons of diesel fuel for the bus fleet.

CTA staff has investigated insurance as an alternative way to comply with new state regulations for USTs. The insurance policy costs $30k, covering up to $1m for UST incidents and $2m for injury, legal defense costs, remediation costs for leaks, said Wood.

Wood isn’t aware of any spills or leaks from USTs installed, in response to a question Barclay asked.

Motion is approved.

The board approves five purchase and/or sales award contracts. They move to place all five contracts on the omnibus.

Here they all are: https://t.co/rGcahjrwF1

The board motions to approve the omnibus with five “yes” votes. The board approves a motion to adjourn the Committee meeting at 10:15 a.m. Next up is the regular board meeting which will start shortly.

The January board meeting is now starting, with a six-member quorum.

No public comment today. Meeting minutes are approved. No executive session today.

Motion to approve: an ordinance fixing the salary of Rosa Y. Ortiz as a temporary member of the Chicago Transit Board

Ortiz abstains and all other members approve. The salary details weren’t provided.

Motion for the following is approved: an ordinance appointing members and chairs to certain standing committees of the Chicago Transit Board.

Chairman Barclay acknowledges the retirement of General Counsel Karen Seimetz after 11 years, the longest tenured general counsel in CTA’s history. They’re honoring Seimetz with with a resolution of appreciation.

Among her accomplishments in the resolution: she created an Ethics & Compliance division w/in CTA, created a CTA legal intern program, and helped advise the $600m Red/Purple Line modernization project.

Members of the board are now giving their regards to Seimetz.

“Your shoes can’t be filled, but I do hope the next general counsel will follow in your footsteps,” said Director Jakes.

“Karen, we invited one other person, Joe Biden, but he unfortunately wasn’t able to attend,” said Chairman Barclay. Board members are still giving thanks for Seimetz’s guidance, friendship, quick wit, and ability to get things done.

The board motions to approve Seimetz’s resolution. https://t.co/Ri0ZCEn8hh

Dirs. Irvine and Silva give reports from this morning’s two committee meetings. Motions are approved by six board members. Chairman Barclay needs to leave early.

William Mooney gives the construction report. The Jefferson Park to O’Hare Signals Project is still on time, he said. https://t.co/GAVaa9wJhJ

Next construction update is the Refreshed & Renewed project. Here’s the update line-by-line: https://t.co/zJUmfd7ubs

Example from a paint touch-up on the ceiling at 63rd and Ashland https://t.co/WbmlDeNvLo

Moving on, the Jackson Park Track and Structure Improvements project is on schedule, Mooney said. https://t.co/p4idSeu10W

The South Shops Waste Material Storage & Sewer Upgrade is complete now. https://t.co/6taHMwhtsW

The Dan Ryan Line Inverters & Batteries project is still ongoing, with construction expected to be complete next month. https://t.co/EX0hpDsx46

The Irving Park Station Escalator and Canopy Replacement project is still on schedule. https://t.co/z4kMNPng3K

Last construction update: https://t.co/mjQYrbwgMm

Next order of business is the RPM (Red Purple Modernization) Phase One and diversity presentations. Details here: https://t.co/TBHL03COH9

Here’s an overview of the RPM community outreach efforts and employment stats.

Juan Pablo Prieto, director of diversity programs, noted as of Dec. 31, 71 DBE firms have been awarded contracts. https://t.co/8ePePHnlZR

Next order of business is new business. Barclay said there’s no new business. Board motions to adjourn.

Meeting is adjourned at 11:14 a.m. This concludes your Chicago Transit Board meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for February 9, 2022.