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Tensions between two regional transportation agencies have escalated in recent months after a Caltrain board member urged the rail line to eventually separate from SamTrans, San Mateo County’s transit district.
The dispute involves a decades-old relationship between two agencies that share some board leadership and has lately intensified with warnings about withheld funding, possible legal action and other sticking points.
San Mateo County leaders who oversee SamTrans have lambasted Caltrain board member Shamann Walton’s call for the railroad to become a separate agency.
Governance fight intensifies
SamTrans board member and San Mateo County Supervisor Jackie Speier, for one, portrayed that call as leading to “sabotage” orchestrated by one or more Caltrain employees.
Speier told her SamTrans colleagues during their March 4 meeting that they face “dealing with the sabotage (though) I don’t know if it’s just one board member. I mean, Walton certainly is the ringleader, but I don’t know if there are others. … It is shameful that they’re doing it because we are public officials that are supposed to be working together for a common good and a common purpose, and they’re talking about power grabs.”
However, Caltrain board Vice Chair Pat Burt told the Pulse on Thursday that SamTrans leaders have overreacted.
“They’re simply showing a reaction to what one (Caltrain) board member proposed,” Burt said. “They are reading into it something more than what it really is.”
Under a 1991 agreement, SamTrans has overseen many of Caltrain’s administrative and operational functions as the railroad’s managing agency. Caltrain – whose board directors come from San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties – has also received financial support from SamTrans.
But in a December letter to Bay Area and state leaders, Walton implored that progress be made “step by step” for the commuter-rail service covering San Francisco, the Peninsula and Santa Clara County to become “an independent regional agency. The path forward can build upon work already underway.”
Caltrain independence debate heats up
Part of that work involved a 2022 memorandum of understanding that allowed Caltrain to appoint its own executive director and other staff, though SamTrans remains the managing agency.
“As Caltrain continues to develop its own dedicated staff and capabilities, the managing agency function, as we have long conceived and structured it, is entering a period of transition where, eventually, it will no longer be necessary or appropriate,” Walton said in his letter.
A key step toward Caltrain’s development is becoming a “successor agency” or “its own entity under the CalPERS system” – the state pension program for public employees, he also said. In support of a “direct contract with CalPERS,” Caltrain seeks to establish its own salary ordinance “to specify compensation levels for the railroad’s employees.”
The current salary arrangement in which SamTrans approves rail employees’ compensation “is untenable more than three years after establishing Caltrain’s first management positions and during this time of financial uncertainty,” he said. “The Caltrain salary ordinance should support the progression of the agency toward eventual independence, including the important work to establish the next tranche of dedicated Caltrain employees.”
In the letter, Walton – a San Francisco supervisor – pressed his case by warning that his city would not support contributing funds for capital projects unless the rail line could resume “meaningful work to further develop Caltrain governance.”
During its Jan. 8 meeting, the Caltrain board acted on Walton’s letter and voted 6-3 to conduct a six-month study to bring forward “recommended amendments” to the railroad’s governance that would include addressing the management model, transition to becoming a successor agency and establishment of a salary ordinance.
Notably, all the dissenting votes came from San Mateo County representatives. They were San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa, Redwood City Councilmember Jeff Gee and San Bruno Mayor Rico Medina. All three also serve on the SamTrans board.
Before the Caltrain board’s decision, SamTrans legal counsel James Wagstaffe penned a letter to the other agency, cautioning that adopting a motion to become independent would “constitute a breach of contract (and) have no legal force or effect.”
For San Francisco to discontinue its contributions to projects would also be a breach of contract, Wagstaffe said in his letter.
But at the January meeting, Caltrain attorney James Harrison acknowledged that amendments to the rail line’s governing documents “are all subject to the approval of each of the member agencies, including SamTrans.”
Because of that, Harrison argued, “the consideration or discussion of these items does not amount to an anticipatory breach of contract.”
Also at that meeting, Walton expressed disbelief over how his proposal could stir up so much fuss.
“I truly don’t understand the uproar of asking for us to codify progress to move forward and come up with a plan to address outstanding issues,” Walton said, addressing his Caltrain board colleagues.
Dispute raises funding concerns
But during the SamTrans board meeting in early March, Canepa described Caltrain going independent as “not sound,” especially given the cost.
Caltrain currently is contending with a $75 million structural deficit, according to a SamTrans staff report. To sever its ties with SamTrans, Caltrain would likely deepen that budget hole “by at least $10 million per year.”
SamTrans board members also said the dispute could distract from a regional transportation sales-tax measure expected to go before voters in November. Senate Bill 63, signed into law last year, authorized a ballot measure that would raise money for transit agencies across the Bay Area, including Caltrain, SamTrans, BART and Muni.
“I wonder if someone is trying to sabotage SB 63 because why would you have this nonsense of not saving anybody any money when you’ve got, at the end of the year, a bill – a taxpayer measure – that is regional to help all the transit agencies,” SamTrans board member Marina Fraser said, addressing her peers during their March meeting.
Still, Burt insisted that Caltrain is not actively making plans to go its separate way. “There is no active pursuing or exploring of that at this time,” Burt told this publication.
He also believed that the apprehension over what Walton has put forth has been influenced by “past contentions” among the region’s transit leaders.
But Burt wants to move forward in cooperation with everyone involved, he said. “We need to work together constructively to address our common interests and challenges.”
Walton and other transit leaders couldn’t be reached for further comment.
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