Supes fight for balance on transportation board Supes fight for balance on transportation board (January 26, 2005)

** SamTrans board is made up of four residents of Daly City and only two residents of the entire South County.

By Renee Batti

Almanac News Editor

In the aftermath of an appointment to an important transportation board that critics decried as back-door politics and cronyism, two San Mateo County supervisors are asking their colleagues on January 25 to support a proposal they say will help balance geographic representation on the powerful SamTrans board.

Supervisors Rich Gordon and Mark Church say their proposal will ensure better geographic representation on the SamTrans board, whose membership has been criticized for some time as imbalanced. The nine-member board for a number of years has been made up of four residents of Daly City and only two residents of the entire South County.

"The south part of the county is underrepresented," Mr. Church told the Almanac early this week. "Disproportionate representation presents the perception that bias enters into the decision-making process."

Some transportation advocates critical of the current appointment process cite the SamTrans board's general support for BART expansion as an example of a bias resulting from a north-heavy representation on the board.

Amendments to the law that governs the rules of appointment can be made only by the state Legislature, and the proposal seeks support by both the Board of Supervisors and the SamTrans board to appeal to the Legislature for specific changes.

But while a number of transportation advocates, including former Menlo Park City Council member Steve Schmidt, are lobbying for the changes, opponents say that asking the state to solve problems that could be addressed locally is a mistake.

Some appointments to the transportation agency board are made by the Board of Supervisors, and others by the SamTrans board. Both bodies had the chance to spread representation southward in recent weeks when appointments were made to seats being vacated by Daly City residents. Instead, the appointments once again went to residents of that city.
The Nevin connection

At the center of the controversy is Mike Nevin of Daly City, who as a member of the Board of Supervisors sat on the SamTrans board as one of two supervisor representatives.

Mr. Nevin had to give up his SamTrans seat after being term-limited off the Board of Supervisors last month, but his subsequent appointment to a public-member seat was seen by some observers as back-door politics. That's because the public seat had been held by fellow Daly City resident Al Teglia, a longtime behind-the-scenes political presence in the county, who had just resigned from the transportation board.

Then, when the Board of Supervisors had to appoint another supervisor-member to the SamTrans board at its January 4 meeting, it appointed Mr. Nevin's replacement, Supervisor Adrienne Tissier of Daly City.

Supervisor Gordon challenged the appointment at the time, citing his concerns about an imbalance in geographic representation. He nominated himself for the position, but was supported only by Supervisor Church.
Changing the rules

Supervisor Gordon said he's not convinced that the SamTrans board's lack of geographic representational balance has led to favoritism and decisions that shortchange the South County. But, he said, he's gotten enough feedback from his constituents and others to know that there's an appearance of unfair representation, and the proposal he is co-sponsoring is an attempt to address that.

The proposal would allow the supervisors to continue appointing two of their colleagues to the SamTrans board. But it would eliminate another supervisor-appointed board seat -- that filled by a transit expert.

A fourth public-member seat would be added to the board to replace the transit-expert seat.

Under the proposal, the SamTrans board would continue appointing members to the public seats, but with new requirements. The four public seats would be divvied up by region: one each for the north, the central county, the south, and the Coastside.

At this point, there is no provision to appoint public members from diverse areas. Of the three public members, two are from Daly City.

In the proposal, which should come before the Board of Supervisors at around 9:30 a.m. January 25, supervisors Gordon and Church write: "It is imperative that the public have confidence in their elected officials and the public decision-making process. ... Our proposal would provide the public with assurance that the SamTrans Board of Directors is selected in a transparent process that provides all areas of San Mateo County representation on this important transportation agency."

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