Reported by Mike Barnbaum, RailPAC Associate Director, Sacramento. NOTE: See a RailPAC photo report on Gene Skoropowski’s Capitol Corridor career on this site. (NOTE: Thanks to BART/CCJPB for the photo of David Kutrosky)
The 74th meeting of the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority began with a report of Chair Jim Holmes who referred to Gene Skoropowski as “Double O Skoro.”
The consent calendar was adopted unanimously, but Board Member Steve Cohn of the Sacramento Regional Transit District asked that Board Members bring back the calendar at the February Board Meeting so that a different date for April be discussed so that it is not in conflict with the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Annual Cap-To-Cap Trip, in which a great many in the Sacramento Regional go with the Metro Chamber to Washington, D.C. to bring back federal funds for key projects across the Sacramento Region.
Prior to the Administrative Support Agreement between CCJPA and BART Item came up, CCJPA Executive Director Dorothy Dugger announced that Deputy CCJPA Managing Director, David Kutrosky, will become Managing Director on Tuesday 1 December 2009. That announcement alone received a resounding ovation from the capacity crowd at the Suisun City City Council Chambers. Following that the agreement between CCJPA and BART gained unanimous approval and will be in effect until February of 2015.
Legislative Matters were approved, but members urged caution and had a great discussion regarding California State Senate Bill 409 by Denise Moreno Ducheny. Here, from the CCJPA Packet is the issue at hand for all to see so that all can become educated;
SB 409 (Ducheny) – Department of Railroads [CCJPA POSITION – WATCH]
This bill would create the Department of Railroads in the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and would transfer various state railroad programs currently administered by CalTrans, PUC, and High Speed Rail Authority to this new department. This bill would provide that the department shall be the only state agency eligible to apply for and receive grant and loan funds from the federal government for intercity rail, high-speed rail, or freight rail purposes.
Staff is recommending a “Watch” position because it is unclear where the CCJPA (and its state operating and capitol funds) will reside in the State’s transportation organization if the bill is enacted.
Status: On August 31, passed out of Sen. Approps. Comm.
The CCJPA also had discussion with the U.P.R.R. for one additional added Capitol Corridor Train to/from Auburn. The matter will be continued to the February Board Meeting, but this writer spoke on behalf of the CC Riders that ride daily between Sacramento and Auburn to get their feedback on times and train numbers that would be important to them for both weekday and weekend schedules. It was spoken into the record to begin weekday #527 in Auburn and extend #538 to Auburn. For weekends, it was spoken into the record that #727 begin in Auburn and #744 be extended to Auburn. It was also spoken into the record, by this writer, that all other schedules would remain as is so as to keeep the changes limited only to extending one weekday and one weekend roundtrip to/from Auburn.
After the meeting adjourned, board members, meeting attendees, and staff bid farewell to Gene Skoropowski with cake and coffee. All of us at RailPAC will truly miss Gene Skoropowski as he and his wife, Joanne, move to Florida where Gene will work in Orlando for the Kansas City, Missouri based HNTP Corporation. David Kutrosky will take over on December First. Folks can get a hold of David in the following way:
David Kutrosky, Managing Director
Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority
300 Lakeside Drive, 14th Floor East
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 464-6993
Email: [email protected]