(endorsed) Honorable Deborah Ryan Presiding Judge Sep 10 2019 Santa Clara County Superior Court*

The VTA Board, currently made up exclusively of elected officials from 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 of 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 (sic) fiduciary duties to VTA and its regional role, on the one hand, and the political demands of their local elected positions, on the other. Response: Partially Agree. While the finding correctly identifies many of the factors influencing effective leadership of the VTA Board, some of the broad generalizations are not applicable to every director. Specifically, some directors do have transportation experience having served on other VTA committees and/or being engaged in local transportation issues. In addition, some directors create the necessary time to prepare for meetings.