At the Jan. 16 meeting, the SolTrans Board of Directors unanimously elected city of Benicia Councilmember Mark Hughes and city of Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis, as the chairperson and vice chairperson, respectively, for the 2014-15 term, which runs from February 2014 through January 2015.
Officers of the board are elected by a majority vote at the first regular meeting of the calendar year, and the designated chair rotates between each of the member cities. In addition, SolTrans honored Director Hermie Sunga for his service on the board from February through December 2013, which is when his term as a city council member for the city of Vallejo ended.
Subsequently, on Feb. 26, the board swore in two new directors from the city of Vallejo: Councilmembers Jesus “Jess” Malgapo and Pippen Dew-Costa. Director Malgapo will serve as one of two primary representatives from the city of Vallejo, along with Vice Chairperson Davis. Director Dew-Costa will serve as an alternate representative for the city in the event that the primary representatives cannot attend a given meeting.
SolTrans’ new directors will serve with the following board members:
- Mark Hughes, Board chairperson and councilmember of the city of Benicia
- Osby Davis, board vice chairperson and mayor of the city of Vallejo
- Elizabeth Patterson, mayor of the city of Benicia
- Jim Spering, Solano County’s representative to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Solano County supervisor
- Pete Sanchez, Solano Transportation Authority (STA) representative and mayor of the city of Suisun City
- Alan Schwartzman, councilmember of the city of Benicia
SolTrans thanks Mayor Davis for his leadership in 2013 during his term as Chairperson and Hermie Sunga for his commitment to SolTrans. We look forward to Chairperson Hughes’ strong leadership in the coming year and the participation of our new directors as we continue to pursue our Mission.
SolTrans also wants to announce the hiring of a new Planning and Operations Manager Helene Buchman. Buchman most recently comes to us from Gold Coast Transit where she served as their planning and marketing director for over seven years. She will be responsible for leading the planning activities for the agency, as well as for overseeing the operational activities of our service contractor, National Express Transit.
