VTA board approves new Caltrain governance agreement

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's board voted yesterday to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) of new governance for Caltrain.

The MOU will provide San Francisco and Santa Clara counties more power and oversight of the commuter-rail service by establishing a separate, permanent Caltrain executive director who will report to the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board. The authority will hire or terminate the executive, as well as set goals and conduct performance reviews for the director.

The VTA must pay $9.12 million within 12 months of the MOU's finalization to compensate San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans). The district will no longer have sole, final discretionary appointing power of an executive director, general counsel or auditor for Caltrain.

A majority of Caltrain's board now must decide on the executive director position, while Caltrain will maintain its own general counsel and auditor positions separate from SamTrans.

The SamTrans board voted to accept the MOU in June, while the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to accept it last month.