STAR sent the following letter (pdf) to Steve Miller, Board Chair and Henry Li, General Manager:

Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) requests that the General Manager’s Report provided at board meetings be in text and/or presentation, as appropriate, and be included in the agenda.

The General Manager’s Report is often the agenda item of most interest to the public, as it usually contains updates on SacRT projects and initiatives, which are not on the main board agenda as they don’t require decisions of the board.

By not providing the General Manager’s Report ahead of time with the rest of the agenda, the public is left in the dark, and if they can’t attend the board meeting or have time to review the board minutes that come out well after the meeting, never receive the information at all. This is not the level of transparency that the district should be aiming for.

We realize that sometimes current issues come up between the publication of the agenda and the board meeting, which of course should be added to the report, but most of the information is known well ahead of time and could be provided. We are not requesting that up-to-date information not be provided, simply that all possible information be made available ahead of time.

Thank you for consideration.

This is not the first time that STAR and other transit advocacy organizations have made this request. We will keep asking until a change takes place.

• SacRT