Transit- Meeting Agenda (12/18/1997)

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of a visible conscience over issues, it aiso needs to be balanced against -- the fact that it should not be done in a reckless manner which does not ~, take into account that there are organizations providing a critical, important service in a very professional manne~ fo~ a number of years. Sadly enough, the heartache he had with the expose was the innuendoes regarding this District, and fundamentally a suggestion that it was inept and incapable of doing its job when in fact on a daily basis he, as a member of this community and a user of this service, observe the professionalism and the high caliber of skill that all District employees have from the top through all levels of the operation. That was completely missed and ignored in the writings of these articles. He was disappointed because there has to be a clear understanding that that, while the Board is the policy body and has made the decisions and must be accountable for them, the effect of this goes far beyond just the Board. While the Board can certainly take the responsibilities where it is appropriate, it is also appropriate for the media to put into perspective that these issues dc, oftentimes become hannful in the way that the pub~~c then sees very talented employees and the labor force. That distresses him, and it seemed to have been done with total reckless disregard for the hard-working, quality employees of this District. Also, he cannot ignore commenting on the fact that the decisions that were talked about in the articles, apa~t from the e~roneous statements in many instances where they were applicable to the Ge~eral Manager, were not decisions made by the General Manager. He reminded the Statesman Joumal that the Transit District Board is the policy body. Those matters have come to the Board and have been deliberated by this body many times, and were not decisions the General Manager did on his own. They were brought to the Board, were prudently deliberated in open session, and were undertaken and implemented at the direction of the Board-by both its present and former members. That has been totally lost in the artiGes. He also found it somewhat puzzling that there needed to be an investigative ~eport process for this activity. This District and the County have been absolutely open from the first day when there were discussions on this matter regarding every activity undertaken. Every document has always been a public record, and many of the issues have been in the Board Agendas, which are routinely mailed to the Statesman Joumal. There has never been a need for an investigative ~eport. If there had been consistent and on-going reporting and attendance at Transit District Board meetings as opposed to "floating reporters," there would have been continuity and better understanding by the Stafesman Joumal of the transactions undertaken by this District through the length of this process. In fact, there never was a need for an investigative report. This has always been open to the public, and in fact, full of a number of public forums wherein these matte~s have been openly discussed and options shared. He has heard a number of individuals raise issue about why these dollars should not have been used in this fashion. He has to remind individuals that they must remember that those dollars made available to the District for this project were dedicated by federal mandate and can only be used for a specific purpose. When the District was having its financial difficulties before there was a stable tax base, many individuals in the community asked why the dedicated dollars were not being used for operating. It is a great thought, but federal law prohibits it. These dollars were made available to the District for single purposes only and cannot be converted for any other purpose. While to the common person this may sound good, this is not the policy body which has the authority to change that. If one thinks that is bad law and process, they need to address the U.S. Congress about it because those resources are made available through them arrd the federal agencies for express purpos~s- Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting Salem Area Mass Transit District November 20, 1997 - Page 11