Re: C&TS Commission meeting videos

Steve and Sam:

I apologize for not high lighting your excellent contributions in videoing the C&TS Commission meetings

It is very interesting to compare the actual meeting minutes and the video recording to read between the lines....

I do understand a lot of things happen behind the scenes but when projects don’t get discussed/ vetted in the Commission public meeting it doesn’t leave me with a good feeling for the transparency of the project process and the public input thereon.

For instance, I have been trying to understand what the Historic Passenger Car restoration plan is exactly that Commissioner Love has been championing. Now I am all for restoring passenger cars but I have never heard “a restoration plan” presented/ and or published in public or a budget discussion of what the total capital outlay will be for these passenger car project(s). And further, what the potential for revenue/ marketing plan will be from these restored cars.

If you watch/ listen to the meeting video and compare the approved meeting minutes there apparently is information that is not discussed at the public meeting. Example: March 20, 2014 meeting minutes state: Item 6C: “Comm. Love – Looking to purchase a 5th car in Colorado Springs? The Historic Car Fleet is composed of 4 cars owned by the Commission and on which CTO will do the restoration and a fifth car being restored in Colorado Springs by the Friends. Ave worked with them to establish restoration standards so the fleet is compatible. Charise Boomsma is the project manager for the project and grant work.” Compare to the video of the same meeting 3/10/2014 (Clip 6) where Commissioner Love is discussing the Historic passenger cars but says nothing like what is recorded in the minutes.

Another example of an unclear (to this observer) Commission project is how the Railroad Visitors Center morphed from a Friends structure in the North Chama yard across from the water tank to a rebuild of the Chama roundhouse and now apparently is morphing again into the purchase of some type of Chama Gateway Visitors Center with money left over from the original NMDOT grant from the roundhouse design? Where is the discussion/ business plan/ action item for the purchase of a Gateway Visitors center in the public record?

Thanks again guys for doing the work of recording and uploading the Commission videos as it gives those of us who can’t be there a seat in the front row.

Rod Jensen