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AN ORDINANCE authorizing the county executive to execute an agreement between King County and the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority for operations and maintenance of the Link light rail system.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. The Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, also known as Sound Transit, contracts with King County for the operation and maintenance of the Link light rail system.
2. That operations and maintenance agreement, originally signed in 2003 and administratively amended in 2009, with five allotted one-year extensions, will expire July 17, 2019.
3. Sound Transit and the county desire to enter into a new agreement, to begin on July 18, 2019.
4. The agreement will benefit of the residents of King County. During the 2009 agreement period, King County worked collaboratively with Sound Transit to successfully open the University Link and South 200th extensions. King County Metro transit department rail staff supported a significant increase in Link ridership while maintaining almost zero accidents and customer complaints. In 2018, while being operated and maintained by the King County Metro transit department, Link light rail recorded zero missed trips and over twenty-four million boardings.
5. Under RCW 39.33.050 and other authorities, the legislative bodies of King County and Sound Transit may enter into a contract for public transportation services, such as Link operations and maintenance services.
6. The Sound Transit executive board authorized the chief executive officer to execute the new agency agreement with King County on xx xx, 2019, through the approval of Motion XXXXX.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings: The current operating and maintenance agreement between Sound Transit and the county expires on July 17, 2019. Unless this ordinance takes effect before that date, it will not be effective before the current agreement expires. To ensure that Link light rail may operate without interruption, this ordinance must take effect before July 18, 2019, so that the executive may execute the new agency agreement.
SECTION 2. The county executive is authorized to execute an agreement with
Sound Transit, substantially in the form of Attachment A to this ordinance, to provide Link light rail operations and maintenance services.