Meetings

Status Report on State/Federal Legislation

General Manager Celia Kupersmith distributed to the Committee copies of two illustrated status reports prepared by District staff entitled, Securing an Icon and Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Retrofit Project. She reported that during the week of February 28 to March 4, 2005, she would be traveling to Washington, D.C., with District Engineer Denis Mulligan, Deputy General Manager/Bridge Division Kary Witt, President Middlebrook, Chair Boro and Committee Member Reilly to meet with members of Congress. She stated that the purpose of this legislative trip will be to articulate the District’s need for additional federal funding for various District projects. She noted that the District is in a good position with respect to federal funding, and appears to have not lost any progress in acquiring funding during the transition between sessions of Congress.

She also reported on the status of the following federal legislation:

Reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) – She stated that this federal transportation funding bill has been reintroduced in Congress. It is expected that the Reauthorization bill will include a $60 million authorization for the Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Retrofit project through annual allocations of $10 million for each year of the six-year bill. She noted that it is hoped that Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi will request an additional $10 million allocation as she did last year. She remarked that with this $60 million in federal funding, combined with funding the District is seeking from the state, the District may have succeeded in its goal of getting Phase III of the Seismic Retrofit project fully funded. The House of Representatives will be marking up the House version of the Reauthorization bill on March 2, 2005.

Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill – She stated that this is another significant item of federal legislation for the District, and it is hoped it will be moving forward through both houses of Congress this session. She explained that the WRDA includes language that calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to perform a dredging study of the Larkspur Ferry Channel, and possibly take on permanent responsibility for the dredging of the channel. She stated that shifting such dredging responsibility to the Corps has been actively pursued by the District since the 1980s, given that the District currently spends approximately $5 million every three years to dredge the channel. If the Corps determines that it would be cost-effective for them to assume dredging responsibility, it would provide tremendous financial burden relief to the District and help reduce the budget deficit.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security –The District is requesting an additional $2 million in federal Homeland Security funding, on the heels of successfully applying for and receiving $2.1 million for District projects through the San Francisco Urban Area and Security Initiative grant program.

Ms. Kupersmith provided a memorandum to Committee relative to two items of proposed state legislation that would directly impact the District. At the meeting, she reported on the state legislation, as follows:

Senate Bill 238 – She stated that newly elected State Senator Carole Migden has introduced a bill on the District’s behalf to implement, on a permanent basis, the Safety Enhancement-Double Fine Zone on the Golden Gate Bridge. She noted that previous legislation had been in place designating the Golden Gate Bridge as a Safety Enhancement-Double Fine Zone, but only on a temporary basis. This original legislation, first introduced in 1995 and extended several times, expired in January 2004. She further noted that the District has continued to enforce the Safety Enhancement-Double Fine Zone due to the ongoing Seismic Retrofit construction on the Bridge. She stated that the Safety Enhancement-Double Fine Zone has proven to be successful on the Golden Gate Bridge, with statistics showing that since the program was introduced, the amount of accidents on the Bridge has dropped dramatically. She stated that the District is appreciative of Senator Migden ’s efforts on the District’s behalf.

Assembly Bill 372 – She reported on an item of state legislation recently introduced by Assemblyman Joe Nation, which deals with the issue of Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART) role in providing public transportation in Marin and Sonoma counties. She stated that as of the date of this meeting, the District has been informed that Assembly Bill 372 will be withdrawn. Chair Boro noted that Assemblyman Nation had assured Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey that the bill would be withdrawn if SMART was not in favor of the legislation. He further noted that the enabling legislation for SMART included a provision allowing SMART to provide feeder bus service to its train stations.

Action by the Board – None Required

Approve Actions Relative to Contract No. 2005-D-5, Printing of Golden Gate Transit System Maps, Timetables and Guides:

a. Reject the Bid of Fruitridge Printing & Lithograph, Inc.; and,
b. Authorize Award of Contract No. 2005-D-5 to Consolidated Printers, Inc.

In a memorandum to Committee, Marketing and Communications Director Kellee Hopper, Deputy General Manager/Administration and Development Teri Mantony and General Manager Celia Kupersmith reported on staff ’s recommendation for award of Contract No. 2005-D-5, Printing of Golden Gate Transit System Maps, Timetables and Guides. The report stated that the Golden Gate Transit system maps, timetables and guides (Transit Guides) have been in continuous publication since 1974 and are published each quarter. The Transit Guides are distributed on buses by drivers, mailed to customers upon request and distributed at various publicly accessible locations, such as public libraries, schools, ferry terminals and key transit hubs.

The report also stated that on February 15, 2005, bids were opened and publicly read for Contract No. 2005-D-5. The apparent low bidder is Fruitridge Printing & Lithograph, Inc., with a total bid price of $45,411.03. Staff and the Attorney for the District have reviewed the bids and determined that Fruitridge Printing & Lithograph, Inc.’s bid is non-responsive, as they did not submit a bid for printing of the Transit Guides in their bid. The report further stated that staff and the Attorney have determined that the second lowest responsive bidder, Consolidated Printers, Inc., with a bid of $166,423.38, has properly submitted all the required documents, and their bid is technically responsive to the specifications.

Staff recommends that the bid of the apparent low bidder, Fruitridge Printing & Lithograph, Inc., be rejected as non-responsive, and that Contract No. 2005-D-5 be awarded to Consolidated Printers, Inc., in the amount of $166,423.38, including a successive one-year option, at an increase not to exceed five percent. The DBE Program Administrator has determined that Consolidated Printers, Inc., has complied with the DBE requirements applicable to the contract. In an effort to improve operating efficiencies and reduce expenditures, in 2003 the District automated production of the Transit Guide. This process utilizes a database publishing component to transfer schedule data from its Oracle database to a graphics file suitable for commercial printing. As part of this program, the Transit Guide was redesigned to integrate the system map. As a result of this project, award of this year ’s Contract is $123,331 less than 2002 budgeted printing costs. A copy of the report is available from the Office of the District Secretary.

Staff recommended and the Committee concurred by motion made and seconded by Directors STROEH/MARTINI to forward the following recommendation to the Board of Directors for its consideration:

RECOMMENDATION

The Governmental Affairs and Public Information Committee recommends that the Board of Directors approve the following actions relative to Contract No. 2005-D-5, Printing of Golden Gate Transit System Maps, Timetables and Guides:

a. Reject the apparent low bid of Fruitridge Printing & Lithograph, Inc., Sacramento, CA as non-responsive; and,
b. Authorize award of Contract No. 2005-D-5, to Consolidated Printers, Inc., Berkeley, CA, in the amount of $166,423, including all taxes, fees and charges, for a one-year term, including a successive one-year option, subject to the approval of the General Manager or her designee, at an increase in cost not to exceed five percent or $174,555, based upon a corresponding increase in the Contractor’s costs;
with the understanding that requisite funds are available in the Fiscal Year 2005 Administration and Development Division Operating Budget.

Action by the Board – Resolution
NON-CONSENT CALENDAR

AYES (14): Directors Cochran, Dufty, Eddie, Kerns, Martini, Murray, Pahre, Reilly, Sandoval, Smith and Stroeh; Second Vice President Boro; First Vice President Harrison; President Middlebrook
NOES (0): None

Status Report from the Board Appointee on the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority (WTA)

Chair Boro, the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority (WTA) Board Appointee, provided a status report on recent activities of the WTA. The agendas for the February 24, 2005, and January 27, 2005, meetings of the WTA Board of Directors; and, the agenda for the February 9, 2005 meetings of the Planning and Development Committee and the Operations Committee were furnished to the Committee. The minutes of the October 31, 2004; September 23, 2004; August 26, 2004; and, July 22, 2004, meetings of the WTA Board of Directors were also furnished to the Committee. Copies are available in the Office of the District Secretary.

Chair Boro stated that prior to its regularly scheduled February 24, 2005 meeting, the WTA Board of Directors held a special meeting which included a tour of a new potential facility site for WTA at Pier 54 in San Francisco. He stated that the WTA is actively searching for a facility at which to store its ferry vessels, and that WTA staff is investigating the feasibility of using Pier 54 for such a purpose. He reported that one of the items under discussion at the regularly scheduled February 24, 2005 meeting was consideration of which ferry vessel construction standard to use when building WTA’s future ferry fleet. He described the differences between the U.S. Coast Guard’s 46 Subchapter T (T Boat) standard and the International Maritime Organization’s High Speed Craft Code (HSC) standard, which had been presented by the WTA’s Marine Engineer. Due to the complexity of this matter, the WTA Board had requested that a special workshop be scheduled, with a panel of maritime experts, to further discuss which ferry vessel standard should be used by the WTA. He noted that there are only four vessels in the United States that were built using the HSC standard, and those vessels operate in heavy waters in Alaska and Seattle ’s Puget Sound, much different from the relatively calm waters of San Francisco Bay.

Chair Boro also provided an update on the status and implementation timeline for the WTA’ s proposed new ferry routes, a copy of which he requested to be provided to the members of the Board of Directors. A copy of this document is available in the Office of the District Secretary. He noted that he has requested that Port Sonoma, which has so far been excluded from the implementation timeline, now be included on the schedule of potential ferry routes, even though the WTA is not planning to necessarily start service out of Port Sonoma in the next six to seven years. He noted that since the WTA has secured $1 million in funding for Port Sonoma feasibility studies, it would be worthwhile to begin tracking the progress of a potential Port Sonoma ferry terminal.

Discussion ensued, including the following:

In response to an inquiry from Chair Boro to clarify how the U.S. Coast Guard was involved in the development of the International Maritime Organization’s HSC standard, Deputy General Manager/Ferry Division James Swindler stated that the U.S. Coast Guard simply reviewed the HSC standards to make sure they were equivalent to U.S. standards, but was not involved in developing the standards. Mr. Swindler noted that the District operates under the U.S. Coast Guard’s T Boat standard.

In response to an inquiry by Director Harrison regarding the potential costs of renovating Pier 54 for use as a facility by the WTA, Chair Boro replied that while there is ample funding through Regional Measure 2 funds to cover the costs of any necessary repairs to the facility, the WTA Board needs to determine its vision for how the facility would be used, and then determine if it would be prudent to undertake costly renovations.

Action by the Board – None Required

Comments by Committee Members

Director Sandoval suggested an item for consideration by the Committee at a future meeting. He described the difference between two types of pension plans: (1) defined benefit plans; and, (2) defined contribution plans. He stated that Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed a constitutional amendment for the November 2005 ballot which would prevent any agency in California from enrolling any new employee in a defined benefit plan. He noted that the Governor’s proposal fits into the current debate on Social Security, and would be a timely topic on which the Committee could consider taking a position.

Public Comment

There was no public comment.

Adjournment

All business having been concluded, the meeting was declared adjourned at 9:55 a.m.