Just in – a new date, one week later than originally planned, for the West Seattle Light Rail Visioning Forum.

It’s now set for 5:30 pm Monday, November 24, same location – Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW) – and same panelists, including County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, outgoing County Executive Shannon Braddock, Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine, and Kirk Hovenkotter of the Transportation Choices Coalition (which just launched the “Build the Damn Trains” campaign advocating for building all currently planned ST projects as planned). Councilmember Mosqueda has told us there will be time for Q&A/comments toward the end of the event.

The West Seattle light rail plan might change when Sound Transit revisits its long-range plan next year. But how? Your next chance to hear what might happen has just been announced – an event at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW) one week from tonight. Here’s the announcement we just received from the office of our local King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda:

Learn about how plans for light rail expansion to West Seattle are progressing and what upcoming Sound Transit Board discussions mean for West Seattle residents.

Councilmember Mosqueda will be co-hosting the West Seattle Light Rail Visioning Forum with Transportation Choices Coalition, the 34th District Democrats, West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, County Executive Shannon Braddock, Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine, and Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka will be a co-host and there as well! This will be an opportunity to hear updates from Sound Transit about initial design work and possible cost savings analysis the agency has been working on for the West Seattle alignment, and to get a preview of the possible designs that may continue to be evaluated pending future Sound Transit Board analysis on possible options for light rail to West Seattle.

Date: Monday, November 17th
Time: 5:30 – 7 pm (Doors open at 5 pm)
Location: Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Wy SW

Organizers want to be clear – what you’ll see and hear will NOT be official proposals, at least at this stage:

This will be a preview of some preliminary cost-saving design work on options to bring light rail to West Seattle—and to inform community members on how to stay engaged and informed as the agency continues its analysis and Sound Transit Board discussions continue. Note: this is an early preview of some preliminary thinking on possible ways to move forward, with many discussions and much analysis still to be completed and authorized by the Sound Transit Board — none of these numbers are final and these proposals are still to be discussed with ST board members.

Of the announced co-hosts, one is a ST Board member – Braddock – but as she didn’t run for the permanent job as County Executive, that position on the board will be taken over by Executive-elect Girmay Zahilay, who is already on the board, meaning there’ll be a vacancy to fill.

Sound Transit Board members are still months away from decision-making on a revised long-range plan and ways to pop projects’ ballooning budgets. But their committees are getting briefings along the way, and the West Seattle Link Extension was one of the focuses when the board’s System Expansion Committee met Thursday.

Starting at 1 hour, 25 minutes into the meeting video (see it here), deputy CEO Terri Mestas led the briefing on the “cost workplan” for capital projects, then focusing in on West Seattle (followed by Everett), concluding at the end, “We’re really turning over every stone.” She noted that the West Seattle project is now at 30 percent design.

CEO Dow Constantine said that since they’re now using “bottom-up” cost estimating, they are more confident about their numbers. Shortly afterward, ST’s Brad Owen revealed that the West Seattle estimate has risen again, now $7.1 billion to $7.9 billion – potentially almost twice as much as what the finance plan from four years ago covers.

He clarified that the number includes “total contingency” as required by a particular federal policy. That represents more than a fourth of the estimated cost, Owen said.

Then it was on to possible ways to reduce the costs. The only way to get the project within what the finance would cover would be the most dramatic proposal, phasing – cutting the project down to the SODO and Delridge stations, building the latter in a way that would enable some future extension to The Junction (and possibly beyond). This isn’t a formal proposal right now, just an example of what’s possible. Here are the details on that:

(Note that ST says going only to Delridge would drop estimated ridership dramatically, and would change the type of station needed there. In Q&A, board member Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss declared it to be “one of the worst ideas I’ve ever seen.”) Meantime, Owen also brought up the idea of dropping the Avalon station, which has been suggested and studied previously, including in the official environmental-impact statement. This could, he said, mean less impact on Longfellow Creek and the West Seattle Health Club; possible savings could be nearly half a billion dollars.

And “optimization” of the Junction station could save almost a quarter-billion dollars (stations are the costliest items on project lists, Owen noted) – one component of this would remove “tail tracks” that currently would stretch underground construction all the way to SW Hudson, a removal that they now believe would not have an operational effect, with benefits including less right-of-way needing to be obtained:

Other cost-saving possibilities included design changes in the SODO station and “aerial guideway and foundation optimization” for the entire WS project. No board member questions after the presentation, which again was just a briefing, not a formal proposal nor anything requiring a vote. Here’s the full slide deck (including the Everett project info, for a project that also could cost nearly $8 billion, though it’s a 16-mile extension, four times the SODO-to-WS Junction distance).

WHAT’S NEXT: It was noted in Q&A that the board will have to authorize more money and time before year’s end for the consultant that’s working on cost savings, if they want the consultant to keep ferreting out more possibilities. More discussions are ahead at other board/committee meetings as they move toward revising future plans next year.

11:43 AM: We’re about to head back from Ballard, where Mayor Bruce Harrell led a lineup of local leaders in insisting that all of ST3 – including light-rail extensions to West Seattle and Ballard – must be built. The exhortation “Build it all” came from another speaker, regional labor leader Katie Garrow, but others said it in other ways; West Seattle was represented by County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, who declared, “Voters said yes in 2016; now our job is to deliver on that promise … if we fail [to complete all of ST3], we fail the entire region.” There was no hint of anything dramatic such as new taxes; there was some talk of what ST board member and King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci mentioned at last week’s ST board meeting (WSB coverage here), looking at whether the second downtown tunnel could be dropped, and the mayor noted that city councilmembers are about to take up legislation allocating dozens of city jobs to speeding up permitting and otherwise assisting with the project. (We asked if the city has estimated how much that might save ST; the mayor said no.) More details when we get back to HQ, including video of the event.

2:46 PM: Adding video as promised. First, above, Harrell’s opening remarks; below, the other two elected officials who spoke, City Councilmember Dan Strauss (whose district includes Ballard) and County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (whose district includes West Seattle):

As Harrell remarked afterward, Mosqueda “brought the fire” – she was the most fiery speaker at the event. The ST “spine” does not work without strong connections such as West Seattle and Ballard, she declared. Of note: Strauss is on the ST board; Mosqueda is not, though she told us afterward she has long wanted to be (no openings currently but that could change considering that two other County Councilmembers who are on the board are candidates for County Executive in the November election). Also of note, two elected officials stood behind Harrell but did not speak – Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson (who like Harrell faces a come-from-behind re-election fight in November) and County Councilmember Jorge Baron.

5:02 PM: Adding the final section of video – the two non-elected officials who spoke, Kirk Hovenkotter of the Transportation Choices Coalition and Katie Garrow of MLK Labor, plus media Q&A:

If you want to read the mayor’s-office version of what today was about, go here. As noted in that writeup, the proposals for city-staff resources will be presented at tomorrow morning’s meeting of the City Council’s Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee (9:30 am; documents linked in the agenda). Speaking of the council, one more note – if you’re wondering why West Seattle’s City Councilmember Rob Saka was not at today’s media event – it was held at the same time as the meeting of the Transportation Committee, which he chairs.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

After Sound Transit discovered West Seattle light rail’s potential price tag had swollen to $7+ billion, the agency examined the rest of the ST3 plan … and now reveals another big number: The overall cost of building out the system could be up to $30 billion more than last year’s Long-Range Plan estimate.

That was the biggest news from the Enterprise Initiative briefing at this afternoon’s Sound Transit Board meeting (which also noted cost-projection jumps in other aspects of the transit system, such as the cost of providing service, and a drop in expected revenue). No new project-specific estimates yet – for West Seattle or any other ST3 project – but staffers promised they’re coming and will be provided to board members as soon as next month.

One of the Seattle reps on the board, City Councilmember Dan Strauss, asked how the estimates could jump that much in a year.

Deputy CEO Terri Mestas said the agency had been using a different methodology and hadn’t really taken a “bottom-up” look at the cost projections until after the West Seattle revision.

Before getting the new numbers, the board first voted on guiding principles for the Enterprise Initiative, after a spirited discussion over an amendment provided by the board’s other City of Seattle rep, Mayor Bruce Harrell. He wanted to be sure that decisions took into account the need to serve centers of growth and employment; some board members suggested that was a thinly disguised way to focus on Seattle, a perennial sore spot for non-King County board members, since ST is funded by and serves people in Snohomish and Pierce Counties too. After more reminders about the need to finish the system’s “spine,” the amendment passed 8-6, and the main motion with the principles passed too. (Harrell circulated this statement after the meeting.)

After that, CEO Dow Constantine began the update on the Enterprise Initiative, what it’s uncovering, and where it’s going. Most of what he said is in this memo. Here’s the excerpt related to capital projects including West Seattle light rail:

Capital Program: We are projecting $14–20 billion in added costs (2025 dollars), or $22–30 billion in year-of-expenditure dollars, for ST3 light rail projects. These increases are primarily driven by extraordinary COVID-era construction inflation, right-of-way cost escalation, and the added complexity of project design and delivery. The affected projects include:

o The West Seattle, Ballard, Tacoma Dome, Everett, Tacoma Community College, and South Kirkland–Issaquah Link extensions.

o Infill stations at Graham Street and Boeing Access Road

Constantine stressed that he believes they have plenty of time to “make a course correction,” but they’ll have to, because if they don’t, “we will eventually see our program become unaffordable.” He insisted that ST “is n strong financial shape right now.” And deputy CEO Victoria Baecher Wassmer added that “there is still significant financial capacity to deliver ST3.”

But in what form? That’s the multi-billion-dollar question, presumably to be determined next year. Deputy CEO Mestas elaborated that they obviously have more latitude over “pre-baselined projects” (of which West Seattle is one). Thoughg this wasn’t meant to be a meeting where cost-cutting ideas were proposed, one did emerge toward the start of the meeting: Board member Claudia Balducci, King County Councilmember from Bellevue, said ST should look at whether a second downtown tunnel is really necessary.

Meantime, deputy CEO Mestas went on to further elaborate about what ST says has pumped up the overall costs, including tariffs – though board chair Dave Somers, Snohomish County Executive, suggested it might be a bit too early to blame those – labor shortages, supply-chain disruptions, and the cost of acquiring right-of-way, and offered what amounted to a four-point plan on ways costs could be reduced:

It should also be noted that in addition to higher costs, today’s presentation also featured projections of lower revenue and financing:

Next month, board committees will bite into aspects of all this:

The big-picture decisionmaking is expected to be along the timeline on the lower half of this slide:

See the full slide deck here. Archived video of the meeting will eventually appear here.

When Sound Transit board members gather for their monthly meeting Thursday afternoon, one item on the agenda is of particular interest to those tracking the West Seattle light-rail plan: Another update on the in-development Enterprise Initiative. As we reported a month ago, this is now the name for the package of policies that ST expects will help it reshape ST3 next year, into something more affordable. That could mean changes for the West Seattle project, currently projected to cost $7 billion, far more than ST has budgeted.

At Thursday’s meeting the board will consider proposed “guiding principles” for the Enterprise Initiative, laid out in this document. It warns, “If the agency does not take proactive measures via this Enterprise Initiative, the ST3 program will become unaffordable, and we risk our ability to operate a dependable, resilient, and safe system.” Among other subsequent points, the principles charge CEO Dow Constantine with ” the goal of achieving a balanced and affordable long-range finance plan and a clear path to deliver the benefits of Sound Transit projects and services as quickly as possible.” It subsequently says. “The framework and its implementation will comply with the ST3 voter-approved ballot measure … and should plan for the following outputs: an updated System Plan, with modified capital and operating plans; an updated Long-Range Plan that looks beyond ST3; and a balanced and affordable long-range finance plan.” Then there are promises of “inclusive collaboration” and “transparent governance,” and a final section where you could read the most between the lines regarding where West Seattle fits in, as there is a reiteration of prioritizing completion of the system “spine” (which West Seattle is not on) and a nod to “fiscal integrity,” yet another indirect reminder of this project’s price tag. As of this writing, there’s also one proposed amendment, by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, primarily adding a goal of supporting future growth.

The meeting starts at 1:30 pm Thursday at ST headquarters, and you can attend in person or online, with public comment accepted both ways, as explained in the agenda document.

Related to West Seattle’s light-rail plan, here are two notes from the Sound Transit Board meeting that just concluded:

PROPERTY ACQUISITIONS: Board members gave unanimous approval to staff’s plan to pursue acquisition of three parcels, after hearing that these were all special cases and that the bulk of acquisitions will await further decisions on how (or whether) to proceed with the project. One – as noted in our preview – is a Port of Seattle parcel in the 1000 block of SW Klickitat that the board was told is needed for “load testing” that could assist in the staff review of potential cost savings; the other two are residential parcels in the 3200 block of SW Genesee whose owners need to sell and move due to personal circumstances but, with the project pending, can’t find any non-ST buyers. Board members, particularly Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss, expressed concerns about what would happen to the residences once vacated; he was told that ST will look into finding “quality tenants.” He was also told a meeting next Monday will take a closer look at ST policies regarding acquired properties.

‘ENTERPRISE INITIATIVE’: The board also got a briefing on the status of this review that’s been in the works a while now, figuring out ways to bring the ST3 plan into line with ST’s financial resources. This has its roots in alarm over the revised $7 billion cost projection for the West Seattle extension, but its determinations will be applied to other projects, ST staff says – saying today that in essence it will eventually bring a “realignment” of the future plan, but in a different way than ST’s done “realignments” before. Here’s the slide deck that was presented; it acknowledges that changes in scope, or even “reconsideration” of some projects, are options, as are “potential revenue enhancements.” Ultimately, they hope to have a new plan by the middle of next year.

(July 11 photo by Dave Gershgorn for WSB)

Planning continues for West Seattle’s Sound Transit light-rail project, though the big issue of how to cover the potential $7 billion cost remains unsettled. The agency had a booth at West Seattle Summer Fest earlier this month to answer questions, and the ST Board has a West Seattle-related vote on the agenda for its monthly meeting tomorrow: Acquisition of three more properties, two residential parcels in the 3200 block of SW Genesee and a Port-owned parcel at 1011 SW Klickitat. The Port-owned parcel would be in relation to the new light-rail-only bridge in the project plan, with the board resolution noting “an early need for a bi-directional load test”; the immediate need for the two residential parcels wasn’t clear, so we asked ST to explain. Spokesperson Henry Bendon says, “These two properties would be used for the construction of the guideway and Avalon Station.” The timing of the acquisitions is due, he says, to personal circumstances of the owners “that necessitate acquisition and relocation as soon as possible.” Tomorrow’s board meeting is at 1:30 pm at Sound Transit HQ downtown, also streamed online; the agenda has details on attending as well as on how to participate in public comment.

ALSO OF NOTE: Related to the aforementioned “bi-directional load test,” a recent city land-use bulletin circulated word of a shoreline-development permit application for a project to install a “test shaft.” See the notice here; comments are open until August 15 (the notice explains how to submit them).

(Full Seattle Channel video of this morning’s meeting)
Though the price-tag problem remains unresolved, planning for West Seattle’s Sound Transit light-rail project proceeds, and the City Council’s Transportation Committee got a status report of sorts this morning.

The city has to give its official blessing to the project’s current designated route, including “transit way” rights for Sound Transit to use it, and this briefing was the first step toward future committee and full-council votes granting those rights. (Just rights, not possession, it was made clear.)

The first “transit way” rights were granted in 2000, it was explained, and this will be the fourth time the agreement has been changed.) Here’s the full slide deck from the briefing, which included – in case you’ve forgotten or are just catching up – succinct descriptions of each segment of the West Seattle Link Extension, still projected to start running in 2032.

Two numbers of interest – Sound Transit says they’re currently projecting the West Seattle extension (SODO to The Junction) will force 150 residential households and 130 businesses to move. But they insist they’re trying to find ways to lower those numbers in the final design, which they said they’re starting on “soon.”

And what about that price tag, last estimated around $7 billion? “We do have significant cost pressures on all our projects,” the ST team acknowledged. “That’s a risk.”

District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka, who chairs the committee, asked when the agency might decide on scoping changes required by those pressures. The ST team said they’ll be talking about it at next week’s board meeting (Thursday, June 26) but not expecting any changes in the “near term.”

No vote followed today’s briefing – that’s expected to happen at committee and full-council meetings in July. (Other related documents are linked from the agenda for this morning’s meeting, including the resolutions that would put the city’s “approval” of the plan on the record too.)

The Federal Transit Administration had most recently set today as the target date for its Record of Decision on Sound Transit‘s West Seattle Link Extension project, and at day’s end, ST announced the FTA has indeed just issued the ROD. As ST explains in its announcement, this ends the environmental-review phase and allows the project to move into final design. As noted at last week’s ST Board meeting, though, the agency has some milestones of its own ahead, including revising cost estimates and making funding decisions.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Back when the Sound Transit Board first learned the price tag for West Seattle light rail could pass $7 billion – the original combined estimate for the West Seattle and Ballard extensions – some showed signs of nervousness.

A new round of nerves has erupted this month, continuing into today’s full-board meeting.

First hint came at the System Expansion Committee considered proposals earlier this month to spend tens of millions more on early-stage work for the West Seattle and Ballard extensions. The committee sent the proposals to the full board without a recommendation to pass (or not). One of the city of Seattle’s two current board reps, City Councilmember Dan Strauss, warned his council colleagues at their weekly “briefing” meeting that “tensions” were showing on the ST board, particularly regarding the West Seattle costs.

Despite those tensions, the proposals to spend $68 million more – 90 percent of that for the West Seattle project, which is projected for completion seven years before Ballard – were unanimously approved today by the 16 board members at the meeting. (The full slide deck with the proposals’ toplines are in this slide deck; the individual resolutions are linked from the meeting page.) But that was only after a discussion in which those “tensions” were definitely on display. “A lot of us are nervous,” said board member Kristina Walker, a Tacoma City Councilmember.

First, the proposals were presented by an ST team led by Brad Owen, who’s currently in charge of the West Seattle project. “This is needed work,” he contended, to get to the heart of the cost-saving measures that staff has contended they could deploy to shrink the cost and shorten the timeline of the projects approved by voters back in 2016. In essence, the contention was that they’d have to spend money to figure out how to save money. And the contention is that what they learn about cutting costs for the West Seattle project will make it “a vanguard” for savings that can be applied across the entire ST3 plan.

Some board members said that’s the main reason they’d vote to authorize the spending. Board member Christine Frizzell, Mayor of Lynnwood, wondered: Since there had already been previous conversations about “exit ramps” if they decided West Seattle (or any other) project was just too expensive, could this possibly be a case of throwing good money after bad – forcing them eventually to say, they’d spent so much, there was no choice but to plow forward? Other board members’ concerns included the possibility that so much would be sunk into this, it would affect the rest of the ST3 project list and timeline. (With today’s vote, as the slide above shows, they’ve now authorized spending a third of a billion on the West Seattle extension.) Another board member, Fife Mayor Kim Roscoe, was assured by staff that this work also would show them what “pieces” of projects would be possible, if they couldn’t afford to build what was originally proposed.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: New cost estimates are scheduled to be brought to the board this fall, and then they’d decide whether to spend more money – or not.

EARLIER IN THE MEETING: West Seattleite Marilyn Kennell, who’s involved with the light-rail-skeptic Rethink the Link group, repeated a request the group has made, for a new community meeting with ST reps to listen to the information they proposed at their own forum in January (WSB coverage here). Board member Frizzell later said she’d be interested in “meeting with the people from West Seattle.”

3:42 PM: We’re in the Sound Transit board room at Union Station downtown, where ST board members have just voted unanimously to appoint Dow Constantine – the West Seattleite in his fourth and final term as King County Executive – as the transit agency’s CEO. The vote followed their search consultant’s recap of the process, including defense of the candidate confidentiality, and members’ reiteration of their confidence that Constantine was the most qualified and will “hit the ground running.” Board members’ remarks also acknowledged the big issues facing the agency, and one mentioned that Constantine “will not get a honeymoon” – those issues need to be addressed fast. As we reported yesterday, his starting salary will be $450,000.

He entered the board room right after the vote and is speaking next. (Added: Here are the 55 minutes of video including the discussion of his nomination, the vote, and his remarks afterward:)

4:14 PM: Constantine promised his new bosses that he will prioritize “regionality, transparency, stability, reliability, safety, and cleanliness.” He also vowed “we will navigate these choppy waters together,” alluding to the many intensifying challenges facing the agency, not the least of which is funding. We spoke to him briefly afterward; more on that after we’re back at HQ, but first, he confirmed that he’ll start work at ST on April 1 (next Tuesday) and that deputy county executive Shannon Braddock – also a West Seattleite – will take over on an interim basis until the County Council decides what to do until a new CE is chosen by voters this fall.

ADDED THURSDAY EVENING: Here are our two hallway questions, post-vote:

Here’s the Sound Transit news release with the announcement.

1:46 PM: Toplines of the contract Sound Transit is offering Dow Constantine to become its next CEO – pending a two-thirds-or-more board vote tomorrow afternoon – are now posted on the ST website, in this proposed board motion. The base salary is $450,000; the contract would start April 1 and run through December 31, 2026, “with two one-year renewal options at the Board’s discretion.” The motion also notes:

A market study will be completed at the end of 2025 to determine a base salary for 2026 that will be set, at a minimum, at the average of market comparable salaries, but not less than the current annual salary. The same process will be applied to determine base salary for 2027 if the Board, in their discretion, renews the agreement for the 2027 one-year term.

In addition to the annual market-rate base salary increase in 2026 and 2027, for each year, an annual 3% to 6%-Base Salary increase will be awarded based on Mr. Constantine’s annual performance rating.

Various amounts for incentives and expenses are laid out, too:

*”An Annual Contribution Performance Award of $30,000 may also be awarded on based upon the achievement of mutually agreed to goals”

*”Mr. Constantine will receive an annual taxable expense allowance of $24,000 to defray routine business expenses incurred performing his duties under the employment agreement”

*”Mr. Constantine will receive a one-time home office equipment stipend of $10,000 to facilitate the initial setup of the CEO’s technology and equipment needs and to further the performance of the CEO.”

The board motion also goes into details of health benefits, retirement-account contributions, and travel. It’s not the actual full contract, though; we’re requesting that. Meantime, Thursday’s meeting with the scheduled vote – which includes as usual a public-comment period – is set for 1:30-4 pm at the ST board room inside Union Station, or you can attend/comment online (the agenda document explains how).

5:23 PM: A Sound Transit spokesperson tells us we’ll have to file a public-records request to get the actual contract. … Meantime, looking around the ST archives, we found documents noting that former CEO Peter Rogoff was hired at $365,000 base salary in 2018; short-term former CEO Julie Timm‘s starting base salary in 2022 was $375,000.

(WSB photo, March 13)

4:29 PM: It’s official – the Sound Transit Board Executive Committee‘s “preferred candidate” for CEO is outgoing King County Executive Dow Constantine (a West Seattle resident). That was finally revealed in this announcement sent this afternoon, almost two weeks after the committee’s vote to recommend what was at the time referred to only as “candidate C”:

The Sound Transit Board is scheduled to vote on the appointment of a new CEO at the full Board meeting on Thursday, March 27. The preferred candidate is Dow Constantine, and the appointment requires a supermajority vote at a public meeting. People can access meeting information and the link to watch it from the online calendar on the Sound Transit website.

The following is a statement from Snohomish County Executive and Sound Transit Board Chair Dave Somers, Pierce County Executive and Sound Transit Board Vice Chair Ryan N. Mello, and King County Councilmember and Sound Transit Board Vice Chair Claudia Balducci:

“We are pleased to put forward Dow Constantine for a vote of the Board. We are confident he has the knowledge, experience, and commitment to achieve Sound Transit’s goals and complete the ST3 package.

“Being CEO of Sound Transit is a tough job with many constituencies to serve, and Dow has proven over his career in public service that he can deliver large capital projects, successfully oversee a major transit agency, and foster partnerships across our region that are essential to make Sound Transit function at the highest possible level. We know this is a crucial time for the agency, and there are difficult and complex discussions on the near horizon, along with reforms that will require knowledge and commitment to continue forward. These include operational and maintenance challenges that need to be addressed immediately by an incoming CEO, increased accountability measures, as well as rising financial pressure from inflation and economic uncertainties. As Board leaders, our priority remains delivering on the voter-approved ST3 package, while operating a safe and dependable system.

“The search for a new CEO was competitive. The Board started with 60 applicants from around the world and narrowed the field from 15 to 5 to 3 and finally to 1. It was a thorough process with significant public input, vigorous discussions, and multiple panels that included transit riders, disability advocates, other regional transit agencies, and labor and economic development organizations.

“We are grateful to the many board members, agency staff, and community partners who provided valuable insights and have put their time and skills toward making sure we had an extensive and thoughtful CEO search process. We look forward to the Board’s decision on Thursday.”

Since the King County Executive has a guaranteed seat on the board (as do the executives of Snohomish and Pierce counties), Constantine has been an ST board member for 15 years. He announced last November that he would not run for a fifth 4-year term. That was 10 months after ST’s previous “permanent” CEO Julie Timm left. Interim CEO Goran Sparrman has held the job in the meantime but did not seek the permanent appointment. The proposed contract and other documents related to the proposed appointment are not yet available on the ST website.

ADDED 8:40 PM: An ST spokesperson tells us those documents should be available online by Wednesday. The meeting during which the hiring vote is scheduled is at 1:30 pm Thursday at Sound Transit HQ downtown; you can attend (and comment) in person or online, as explained on the agenda document.

Following a 48-minute executive session (non-public discussion) during a special meeting, members of the Sound Transit Board‘s Executive Committee have just voted unanimously in favor of a CEO candidate, without identifying them by name. Search consultant Gregg Moser reported having about 60 people apply (including some that he recruited), 15 who met qualifications, narrowed that down to five semifinalists, then three finalists, whom the board identified publicly only as A, B, and C, voting unanimously today for C. Now board reps will negotiate an employment agreement with candidate C, bringing it to the full board on March 27.

The recommendation for permanent CEO comes 14 months after the last permanent ST CEO, Julie Timm, left; she had held the job 16 months. Goran Sparrman has been serving as interim CEO. The executive session in today’s meeting was preceded by a public-comment period which drew seven written comments summarized as opposing choosing King County Executive and ST Board member Dow Constantine – the only candidate whose name has been made public (Moser explained the need for confidentiality in a national search) – as CEO, plus three “live” commenters, one of whom voiced support for Constantine, another who stressed choosing someone who would “prioritize nailing the fundamentals” of service, and another who urged board members to have a more “transparent” process.

ADDED: Several board members made comments before the vote, but none gave overt hints at the winning candidate’s identity. They mostly discussed their hopes for the new CEO – Auburn mayor Nancy Backus, for example, said the new CEO must be committed to “get(ting) the spine built.”

With the Sound Transit board having already interviewed candidates for CEO – the only candidate name mentioned publicly so far has been board member King County Executive Dow Constantine – this might be your last chance to offer a comment: The board’s Executive Committee is having a special meeting 4-5 pm tomorrow (Tuesday, March 11). The agenda has a comment period followed by an executive session (non-public) and then possibly a recommendation of who the committee thinks the whole board should vote on. Here’s the agenda document, which explains how to participate either in person or remotely. (You can also email a comment now to meetingcomments@soundtransit.org.) Whoever is hired will take over at a pivotal time for the planning of West Seattle light rail, among other projects.

Three things to know from Thursday’s Sound Transit board meeting:

‘RECORD OF DECISION’ DELAY: We reported earlier this week on the Federal Transit Administration‘s new date for a “Record of Decision“ on the West Seattle Link Extension project, a milestone that allows the project to move into final design. This is what interim CEO Goran Sparrman told the board, in a ST-provided transcription:

We recently got word that the federal Record of Decision, which we anticipated at the end of this month, will likely be delayed 30-60 days to allow time for the Federal Transit Administration to work with the Office of the General Counsel at the White House to review and ensure consistency with recent Executive Orders. We understand that this added process step is not exclusive to the WSLE project and is being applied broadly at this time. We will continue to work diligently with FTA on next steps and look forward to providing you and the public updates as we have them.

BOARD APPROVES EARLY ACQUISITION: Board members approved the resolution authorizing “early acquisitions” in the 3800 block of Delridge Way SW (here’s our story from last weekend). That will pave the way for more North Delridge businesses including Mode Music Studios (WSB sponsor), nonprofit Mode Music and Performing Arts, The Skylark, and Ounces to work with ST regarding relocation assistance.

COST SAVINGS: The board got a technical-detail-heavy update from deputy CEO of megaprojects Terri Mestas and West Seattle project director Brad Owen regarding potential cost-savings measures – systemwide as well as on WSLE – mostly involving “design optimization.” Here’s the slide deck. They promised more cost specifics next quarter, but in the meantime, some of what they’ve identified includes:

-Precast (constructed offsite) components of guideways for elevated segments
-Seven “station prototypes” that could be used on projects throughout the system
-Measures to reduce station footprints
-Measures to reduce wetland impacts

Until those upcoming specifics are available, there’s no new overall cost estimate – though a possible WSLE savings of a third of a billion dollars is shown on one slide – but one board member, Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell, said she’s still worried about “off-ramps” for the West Seattle project, given the “sticker shock” of the most recent estimates. Mestas told her that once they hire a design firm – expected this spring – that team, for example, could do “limited design work” that would help zero in on cost savings.

Watch for the video of Thursday’s board meeting to appear here. EVENING UPDATE: It’s viewable here.

Thanks for the tip. Curiosity has run high about how the change of administrations in Washington, D.C., could affect local services that rely on federal funding, and now we have one sign: The federal “Record of Decision” for Sound Transit‘s West Seattle Link Extension has been delayed, again. The original timeline was that it could have happened as soon as a month after the ST Board made its final decision back in October about West Seattle light-rail routing and station locations; then the Federal Transit Authority‘s online dashboard showed a new date for the Record of Decision, due in late February, aka right about now – but a reader just pointed us to the federal website link showing it’s just changed again, to late April.

We have questions out to Sound Transit, including how, or whether, that affects work being done now on the project; the project website notes that when it’s issued, for example, final design can begin.

As we reported four days ago, the ST Board’s monthly meeting tomorrow is scheduled to include a vote on expanding the list of properties for which it’s pursuing early acquisition; the additions to the list would include the North Delridge buildings that house Mode Music Studios (WSB sponsor), Mode Music and Performing Arts, The Skylark, and Ounces, all on the site designated for the Delridge light-rail station. We also reported last week on Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, an ST Board member, issuing an executive order setting up city actions that might speed up the construction timeline.