South Shore bus system operating behind closed doors

By Kathryn Reed

A special closed session meeting of the transit authority that oversees BlueGo, the bus system on the South Shore, seemed to produce more questions than answers.

Lake Tahoe News normally receives notification via email of the South Tahoe Area Transit Authority meetings. Not so in this case. A phone call long after dark alerted this publication that a meeting had been called.

BlueGo Administrator John Andoh said the agency’s legal counsel put out the agenda on Tuesday. Apparently, not to all of the media as would be normal.

The agenda items listed at bluego.org says:

A. EMPLOYMENT APPOINTMENT

Title: Executive Director

B. EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Title: Transit Administrator

C. EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE/DISMISSAL/RELEASE

Title: Transit Administrator

D. ADJOURNMENT

Chairwoman Nancy McDermid said the meeting was to listen to a company the city of South Lake Tahoe wanted to bring in to give a presentation. Assistant City Manager Rick Angelocci, who is vice chairman of STATA, and Mayor Kathay Lovell, did not return calls Friday night.

McDermid said the city took it upon itself without direction from the STATA board to bring the company in. She said the board members who were at the Friday morning meeting didn’t take action.

The finance and marketing committees are expected to analyze the data from the presentation.

McDermid said there is no direction to replace MV Transportation, which operates the system. She was evasive when asked if Andoh would retain his position.

McDermid said now that the agency is not under the umbrella of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, it is trying to figure out how to structure the organization, what type of staffing to have, how to increase revenue without fare increases, and to initiate an audit of its fleet of 43 buses.

“I honestly don’t know what was discussed,” Andoh said hours after the meeting concluded. “I’ve been pressuring them to get an executive director.”

For now, he still has his job.