Santa Clara County Grand Jury • 2018-2019 • Agency Response
Response to: Town of Los Altos Hills

Inquiry into Governance of the Valley Transportation Authority*

Published: September 05, 2019 3 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 1 findings

F1 Page 1
- The VTA Board, currently made up exclusively of elected officials from the Santa Clara County, Board of Supervisors, the City of San Jose and the other smaller cities in the County, suffers from: A lack of experience, continuity and leadership; Inadequate time for the directors to devote to their duties to the VTA Board due to their primary focus on the demands on their elected positions; · A lack of engagement on the part of some directors, fostered in part by the committee system, resulting in VTA functioning largely as a staff-driven organization; Domination, in terms of numbers, seniority, and influence, by representatives of the Santa . Clara County Board of Supervisors and the City of San Jose; and Frequent tension between the director's fiduciary duties to VTA and its regional role, on . the one hand, and the political demands of their local elected positions, on the other. 26379 Fremont Road Los Altos Hills California 94022 650/941-7222 Fax 650/941-3160 Honorable Deborah A. Ryan September 5, 2019 The Town of Los Altos Hills agrees with this Finding.
Related Recommendations (3)
R1c
Page 2
- As constituent agencies of VTA, each of the cities in the county should prepare and deliver to VTA and the County Board of Supervisors a written report setting forth its views regarding VTA governance. With specific reference to elements listed in Recommendation la. These reports should be completed and delivered prior to December 31, 2019. This recommendation has not yet been implemented but will be implemented prior to the December 31, 2019 due date. At the August 21, 2019 Special City Council Meeting direction was given by the City Council to respond to the County Board of Supervisors' letter to explain that Los Altos Hills agrees with its constituent agencies in the County and the fact that the VTA should improve its governance.
R1d
Page 2
- following the completion of the studied and reports specified in Recommendations 1a, 1b, and 1c, the County of Santa Clara and/or one or more of VTA's other constituent agencies, should propose enabling legislation, including appropriate amendments to Sections 100060 through 10063 of the California Public Utilities Code, to improve the governance structure of VTA (which potentially could include an increase in the director's term of service, the addition of term limitations, and the inclusion of appointed directors who are not currently serving elected officials). This recommendation will not be implemented by the Town of Los Altos Hills because it is not warranted or reasonable. The Town has a population size of 8,500 with minimal knowledge on VTA transportation services. However, the Town believes it is more appropriate for a larger constituent agency to take the lead role of implementing legislation amending the California Code. The Town can offer its participation in the review of any proposed legislation at the time it is presented.
R1e
Page 2
- In order to provide more continuity in the leadership of the VTA Board, following the completion of the studied and reports specified in

Agency Responses 1

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.