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CALTRAIN CENTRALIZED EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS FACILITY MONITORING COMMITTEE Apr. 26, 2006 Minutes Members Present: Michael Blackman, Kay Gutknecht, Art Lloyd, Michael Riepe, Michael Smith Members Absent: Cindy Chavez, Ken Yeager Staff Present: Jonah Weinberg, Nancy Wood Attendees: Megan Doyle (District 6), Jack Fleming (Ken Yeager’s office) Chair Michael Riepe called the meeting to order at 6:08 p.m. APPROVAL OF ORDER OF BUSINESS Order of business was approved by motion (Lloyd/Smith). APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Riepe asked that it be noted in our Feb. 22, 2006 minutes that he made an error in stating the streets that the contractors park on. The contractors should park on Cinnebar not Stockton. By motion (Lloyd/Blackman), the minutes were approved. PUBLIC COMMENT There was no public comment. STAFF REPORT Jonah Weinberg had nothing to report. Smith asked if the start-up date has changed. Weinberg said that nothing has changed. CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT Chair Riepe said that he received a call from Tessa Woodmansee, who lives at Stockton and Taylor, about the screeching. The dates and times of the incidents are: Mar. 22 at 11:05 p.m., Mar. 26 at 11:30 p.m., Apr. 2 at 11:44 p.m., Apr. 14 at 10:30 p.m., Apr. 18 at 6:30 p.m., Apr. 19 at 9:15 p.m., Apr. 20 at 9:45 p.m. Lloyd asked if it was an individual car. Gutknecht said this is occurring south of the signal at the curve. Gutknecht also had a list of dates and times: Feb. 23 at midnight, Feb. 7 at 9:25 p.m., Feb. 10 at 8:40 p.m., Feb. 14 at 10:42 p.m., Mar. 1 at 10:20 p.m. (reported), Mar. 8 at 8:53 p.m. (reported), Apr. 13 at 10:15 p.m. (reported), Apr. 19 at 10:26 p.m., Apr. 20 at 9:43 p.m., Apr. 27 at 8:45 p.m., Apr. 24 at 9:25 p.m. Gutknecht is concerned that people will be opening their windows at night during the summer and the noise will be even more noticeable. Chair Riepe also said that Woodmansee said that there is an outdated/worn sign at the Lenzen entrance that needs to be removed. Megan Doyle will arrange with the city to have it removed. Chair Riepe spoke to neighbor Dave Barry who said that there is debris (dirt and rock) on Stockton south of Lenzen due to construction. The street cleaners cannot clean since the construction workers are parking there. Nancy Wood will contact project manager Joe Siino to have the workers park elsewhere so that street cleaners can come through. Chair Riepe said there is a hazard on the construction site and not sure if it is Caltrain property or PG&E. There is a chain link fence north of Lenzen with barbed wire hanging. Wood will contact Siino to find out who is responsible. Blackman asked if the CEMOF records/public documents could be moved back into the library. Doyle will handle. OLD BUSINESS Bylaws Changes The subject of appointing alternates was discussed. Lloyd said that his alternate has to be approved by the Joint Powers Board. He can not just pick an alternate. Doyle is concerned about bringing this in front of the city council. She would rather that Ken Yeager and Cindy Chavez pick their own alternate via proxy. Chair Riepe proposed that the wording be changed to reflect that JPB would be required to appoint its alternate. Official name of the committee – Doyle will check with the city attorney to see if they have a copy of the signed MOU, and forward to Wood. Smith said the MOU is on the city’s Website. Gutknecht said they are an oversight committee since they make sure things get done. Gutknecht said “we don’t meet to listen, we meet to resolve issues and if they are not resolved, we will escalate to the higher ups.” Weinberg pointed out that the role of the committee is not consistent with the definition of the world “oversight” and that the committee has only the authority to monitor and make recommendations to JPB and the city, not to enact changes. By motion (Lloyd/Blackman) the bylaws were approved contingent on the official name of the committee. COMMITTEE REPORT The quarterly report was distributed and discussed. A motion was made by the committee to create the report and authorize the chair to release. The subcommittee will be Chair Riepe, Blackman and Smith. Gutknecht was concerned that this report is not given directly to the JPB/VTA and City Council. Gutknecht feels the secretary needs to mail it directly to those parties. Chair Riepe will provide the report to Wood who will distribute it with the minutes, as well as provide to the other agencies. Committee discussed item 1 – screeching train wheels: Lloyd spoke to Jerry Wilmoth at Union Pacific regarding the screeching. Kay Gutknecht says we are still getting complaints about the screeching. She says that this is a Caltrain problem since they moved the tracks which created the problem. Gutknecht would like to start mitigation on this issue. Lloyd will go higher up at UP to get this issue resolved. Gutknecht said the duration is less frequent but louder. Gutknecht is very concerned about the screeching. She feels that the JPB should purchase “white noise” equipment for each resident in affected areas to mask the noise, or get a noise consultant involved as soon as possible. Gutknecht wants an LEQ measurement not a DBA. Gutknecht said we need to get this resolved within the next 30 days. Smith said that this maybe something that we should be escalating to the city council level. Doyle said that we have been cautiously optimistic that the screeching would stop. Chair Riepe would like a meeting scheduled with Caltrain Chief Engineer Darrell Maxey to discuss analysis of noise, potential mitigation and potential solution. He would also like a formal report from Maxey or Siino at the July meeting. Item 2 – construction debris: item resolved. Item 3 – shared objectives: the committee requested a document showing how the shared objectives will be handled once the facility is completed. Item 4 – approval of bylaws: Smith will forward the bylaws to Ben Tripousis for approval by the city, but approval can not occur until the official committee name is determined. ANNOUNCEMENTS Next meeting was set for July 26 at 6 p.m. A special meeting may be called for May if Chair Riepe feels it is necessary after meeting with Darrell Maxey. Adjourned The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.