Committee on Finance, Audit and Budget + Transit Board

The meeting can be viewed here:

There are 6 members of the committee present and they approved minutes from the last meeting.

They go into the finance report by Jeremy Fine, CTA Chief Financial Officer. Their revenue is better than expected. https://t.co/9nqvjF1wrx

For June, their expenses are positive by almost 19 million dollars. Their year to date also has positive variance. https://t.co/JddQ5D0sAc

https://t.co/vo1CoeQB2C

The CTA have drawn out about 40% of federal funding. https://t.co/qj1wIWPECk

The strategic way of purchasing fuel has benefitted the CTA. https://t.co/NooaknDFAN

Fine says they are locked in for 2022-23 in regards to fuel, and are preparing for 2024-25.

They move onto 4. Review of an ordinance amending Ordinance 021-119 approving the Fiscal Years 2022-2026 Capital Improvement Program. This amendment will provide an additional $40 million of CTA bond funds for the red line extension project & funding for RPM project.

A committee member asks if inflation affects the funds and Michele Curran responds they have accounted for inflation.

They have no further questions, the item is placed on the omnibus for approval, and they move on to 5. Review of an ordinance authorizing an intergovernmental agreement with Chicago thru its Dept. of Planning and Development (DPD) for the 95th Street Corridor.

This is part of the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Plan. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/equitable-transit-oriented-development/home.html

Several board members speak in support of the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Plan and say they are looking for more opportunities for such plans, including collaborating with the Department of Housing.

They move onto 6. Review of an ordinance authorizing an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Chicago through its Department of Police for Federal FY 2021 Transit Security Grant Funds, presented by Nancy Nancy-Ellen Zusman, Chief Safety & Security Office.

This is a yearly anti-terrorism fund and agreement (bomb detection K-9s, technicians, search operations) between CTA and CPD authorized by the Dept. of Homeland Security.

The item is placed on the omnibus and they move onto B. Infrastructure. The first is B-1. the Boiler Water Treatment Program. There are no questions & they move to B-2 a Track Hardware Contract. No questions & they move to B-3. Maintenance Construction Contracting Services.

The chairman asks if small business can participate in B-3 and JuanPablo Prieto answers yes.

They move onto G-1 Provision of software, Apple products, network equipment, servers, storage solutions, and related maintenance and installation services will be effective upon contract execution. There are no questions.

They move onto J-1 Consulting Services to Develop a Comprehensive Technical Specification for CTA’s Farebox Collection for two funded years and with two unfunded one-year options. There are no questions.

They move to approve the omnibus for board approval. The finance budget committee is adjourned and the regular board meeting is now starting.

There are 4 public comment speakers. The first speaker is Pamela Tate. They are deeply concerned about the CTA’s decision to purchase 500 more diesel buses, because of alternative options. They are in a chapter of Climate Reality Project(?) & suggest overhauling 960 diesel buses.

This is part of the speaker’s chapter’s plan, which would save money and benefit the environment, while decreasing the amount of diesel buses overall. They plead for the board to not go through with the purchase.

The second speaker is Scott Reed, a retired CPS teacher. They talk about the CTA’s decision to electrify bus fleets, and say that the CTA should be more urgent in this given the global warming crisis. They discuss how they wipe black pollution off their windows.

The third speaker is Brian, director for the Respiratory Health Association. He implores the CTA to decrease their diesel buses & increase electric, due to health & environmental benefits. He cites options for funding that supports this and reiterates the importance of change now

The fourth speaker is Karen, a psychotherapist, educator, and conservationist. They comment about the electric bus program by 2040 & reiterate the diesel bus overhaul plan. They discourage against the purchase of 500 diesel buses, saying CTA should only purchase electric now.

Members of the board say they appreciate the speakers’ work and research in this. The chairman says it is a complex issue and that they will explain their decision to purchase diesel buses better to the board, b/c diesel buses are still better than single cars.

Members of the board say they appreciate the speakers’ work and research in this. CTA Chairman Carter says it is a complex issue and that they will explain their decision to purchase diesel buses better to the board, b/c diesel buses are still better than single cars.

Carter says they have limited capacity for building electric cars, and they can’t necessarily buy the buses. They are replacing their most environmentally-dirty buses with the diesel buses.

The next order of business is the CTA president’s report. They are “moving thoughtfully” into improvements like more reliable/accurate service with more hiring, tech upgrades, & enhancement of partnership with CPD.

The president says they will announce a plan tomorrow that will better address the public speakers’ concerns. CTA will increase engagement to make sure they get customer feedback. The plan will be publically available on the website with a manuscript.

Carter says the CTA plans to have people on platforms soon in order to survey/gauge rider responses. Carter says the CTA is figuring out solution to pandemic-era hiring issues.

They move onto the next item, Executive Session, which is approved, and the board is in recess.

They return to an Open Session after 6 yes votes approve. They move onto Board Item 5, which is the acquisition of property to be a field office for the red line extension project. It is approved.

They move onto 5B, which is a security service contract with the CPD and City of Chicago. They approve and move onto the next points. There are no board matters, and they go over what omnibus points were covered in the earlier Finance, Audit Budget Committee meeting.

They approve the omnibus and move onto the Construction Report by Bill Mooney. Mooney covers the cutover for the Jefferson Park to O’Hare Signals Project. https://t.co/mxMPojNXvy

Mooney then covers the Irving Park station escalator and canopy placement, which is nearing its end. https://t.co/EFqxv5ngfu

There is a traction power upgrades project and a non-revenue rail vehicle facility project. https://t.co/JxlcPp2FAD

There are more traction power upgrades near Damen. https://t.co/bW2slDEMzP

Lastly are the updates on Refreshed & Renewed projects. The California/Green Line had LED lighting replacements & power washing of floors. The Moran/Green line station had replaced gutters & the ceiling will be replaced soon. At UIC/Halsted they installed higher safety barriers. https://t.co/HNz49nvv8F

UIC/Halsted also had LED light replacements. https://t.co/ODDERuemCe

JuanPablo Prieto now presents on the RPM phase one progress. This project straightens a curve near the Addison station for greater speed/reliability. https://t.co/gLYSF76WXU

They have also made an effort to be involved in small businesses in the community (Lakeview East, Andersonville, Uptown, Edgewater). They created Youtube videos, Facebook lives, street festivals, and flyers promoting small businesses and owners.

**Apologies, this was not Prieto but Chris Bushell

JuanPablo Prieto talks about CTA’s continued contact with workforce/contracts like open career opportunities. They had a virtual tour of a facility with sheet metal workers which is available on Youtube. He also reports some stats about jobs created/dollars earned/labour hours. https://t.co/4qMOfrGfrN

Chris Bushell shars the materials created for the community outreach. He will be retiring and this is his RPM presentation. The president and chairman bid their goodbye and congratulations to him. https://t.co/ZkGeDMxQTk

The board also bids Chris goodbye.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:08.

The next @CTA board meeting will be on Sept 14 and its schedule can be viewed here https://www.transitchicago.com/board/.

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