Fully installed on AC Transit and GGCOAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 28...

Fully installed on AC Transit and GGC

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Napa County Supervisor Bill
Dodd took the reins of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)
today after his fellow commissioners unanimously elected him as chair at
their regularly scheduled monthly meeting. At the same time, the MTC
commissioners unanimously elected Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty
to the vice chair slot. Both officers will serve a two-year term.
Representing District 4 on the Napa County Board of Supervisors since
January 2001, Dodd was first appointed to MTC that same year, and has been
twice reappointed to MTC by the Napa County Board of Supervisors, first to
the four-year term beginning in 2003, and then again to the new four-year
term that began in February 2007. At MTC, Dodd has been chairing the
Administration Committee while also serving on three other standing
committees.
Beyond the Board of Supervisors and MTC, Dodd sits on the Napa County
Transportation Planning Agency Board and the Napa County Flood Control
Board, and serves on the Local Agency Formation Commission, the Napa County
League of Governments and the Napa Valley Housing Authority, among other
bodies. Dodd was born and raised in Napa, where and he and his wife Mary
live and where they raised their five children. Prior to his election to
the Board of Supervisors, Dodd was the president and general manager of
Diversified Water Systems, Inc. (dba Culligan Water Company).
At the top of Dodd's agenda at MTC is prompt implementation of the
infrastructure bond package passed by the state's voters last November.
"The stakes are high, with nearly $20 billion in new transportation money
in the pipeline statewide," he said.
Transit efficiency is another interest. "The region has got to do
better to make our two-dozen public transit operators work together for the
good of the customer," said Dodd. Toward that end, he will take a
leadership role in deploying the TransLink(R) fare smart card regionwide.
To date, the system has been fully installed on AC Transit and Golden Gate
Transit.
Further on the horizon, Dodd said he's looking for a new approach to
formulating the region's next long-range transportation plan, which is due
for adoption in 2009. "Rather than being the sole province of MTC, this
edition will have to be more of a partnership effort if we're going to make
headway against regional problems with global implications such as sprawl
and traffic gridlock," he said. Those partners would include the
Association of Bay Area Governments, the Bay Area Quality Management
District, and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
This is also the beginning of a third MTC term for Haggerty, who
started on MTC in late 2000. Haggerty has been chairing MTC's Programming
and Allocations Committee while serving on three other standing committees.
He was first elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in November
1996, and currently is serving a third four-year term on the Board. In
January 2007, Haggerty's fellow supervisors unanimously voted to elect him
to serve as president of the Board.
Haggerty has extensive experience with regional transportation and
infrastructure policy. He is a founding member of the Inter-Regional
Partnership, comprised of 15 elected officials representing counties and
cities from two regions, and he is a member and former chair of the joint
powers authority that operates the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE). He is a
member and former chair of the Alameda County Transportation
Authority/Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority, chair of the
Alameda County Congestion Management Agency and is a member of the
Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA). Beyond transportation
assignments, he is a member and former chair of the Bay Area Air Quality
Management District and is a member and former president of the Association
of Bay Area Governments' Executive Board.
"My goals include making long-needed improvements in major travel
corridors, especially Interstate 580 through the Tri-Valley, one of the
most congested roads in the Bay Area, and expanding and enhancing transit
service," Haggerty said.
Haggerty was raised in Fremont and now resides in Livermore with his
family.
In addition to appointing new officers, the Commission welcomed six new
members to the new four-year term today:
-- Tom Bates, mayor of Berkeley, who is representing the cities of Alameda
County and replaces outgoing commissioner Shelia Young;
-- Sunnyvale City Councilmember Dean J. Chu, who is representing the
cities of Santa Clara County and replaces John McLemore;
-- San Jose Vice Mayor Dave Cortese, who is the Association of Bay Area
Governments' appointee (and the chair of that agency's executive board)
and replaces Pamela Torliatt;
-- Federal D. Glover, who has been appointed by his fellow members of the
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors to replace Mark DeSaulnier,
who recently was elected to the California Assembly;
-- Orinda City Councilmember Amy Worth, who is representing the cities of
Contra Costa County and replaces Irma L. Anderson; and
-- Ken Yeager, who has been appointed by fellow members of the Santa Clara
County Board of Supervisors to represent Santa Clara County and
replaces James T. Beall Jr., who recently was elected to the California
Assembly.