Jim Spering, Solano’s Longest Tenured Politician Recognized for His Exceptional Service To The County’s Development and Stability
Jim Spering, Solano’s Longest Tenured Politician Recognized for His Exceptional Service To The County’s Development
By Ben Edokpayi, Staff Writer ©
Word Count 1448
District 3 County Supervisor and former Suisun Mayor James P. Spering, who is Solano’s longest tenured politician, was honored at yesterday’s Board of Supervisors session.
In all, Spering aka Mister Transportation meritoriously served the County and region for 26 years.
Supervisor Jim Spering, who will continue as the County’s representative on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, MTC, began his public service career in 1986 as the Mayor of Suisun City.
He served in that position until he was elected to the Solano County Board of Supervisors in 2006.
“During his two decades as Mayor, he is credited with revitalizing Suisun City and making significant contributions to the city, including moving “City Hall” from a trailer into a newly constructed building and leading the effort to redevelop the Old Town Waterfront and the historic Main Street Shopping District. His efforts were nationally recognized for his innovative approach for the development and project financing“ County Supervisors heard in a proclamation in his honor at yesterday’s meeting.
Pursuant to yesterday’s resolution, County Supervisors last month, after a contentious debate, reached a consensus that he was the right person to represent Solano as our commissioner on the MTC Board.
https://mtc.ca.gov/about-mtc/commissioners/full-commissioner-roster
Last month’s action became necessary after a November 30, 2022 letter from Kim Ward, Secretary to the MTC addressed to the Board through the Honorable Robert McConnell, Chair City Selection Committee for the County of Solano c/o Alicia Draves, Secretary.
“I write to remind you that pursuant to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC) enabling legislation at California Government Code Sec. 66500 et seq., all MTC Commissioners are appointed to concurrent four-year terms. The current term of Solano
County’s representative on MTC, the Honorable James P. Spering is set to expire on February 9, 2023,” said Ward in the letter.
“I have been requested by the Commission to instruct the City Selection Committee for the County of Solano to begin consideration of whether to nominate Mr. Spering for reappointment, and to furnish the Solano County Board of Supervisors with the names of three (3) nominees from which the Board shall appoint a representative to
represent Solano County and serve a four-year term that will commence on February 10, 2023,” said Ward.
In statements at the December session the other two nominees Mitch Mashburn and Monica Brown opted for the continuation of Spering on the MTC for reasons that ranged from hundreds of millions of dollars on the horizon entangled in a major lawsuit known as RM3 about a $1 toll hike on Bay Area Bridges, The State’s High Speed Rail Project which has been in a state of flux and Rehabilitation of Route 37 predicted to go under Pacific Ocean water.
District 5 Supervisor John Vasquez acknowledged the decision to retain Spering as an MTC Commissioner as very important for the County.
“It’s not unusual for other electives who have served out their term to continue, and the fact there are non-elected officials serving on MTC Committees (This reporter was sworn in to serve as the Voice of Colored People on an MTC Committee on January 12, 2022 and stepped down in April after he started work at the Dixon Tribune) is very important, said Vasquez.
The importance of Spering’s retention on the MTC Commission was emphasized in his Decemberacceptance speech “At two recent meetings we found out there are hundreds of millions for Northern Counties. One of the Southern Counties wanted to borrow against that money and because I was aware of the deals that were made I prevented that. That’s the type of stuff we are worried about,” Spering.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/
https://mtc.ca.gov/funding/regional-funding/regional-measure-3
https://abc7news.com/rm3-san-jose-ballot-measure-francisco-bay-area/3739352/
Meanwhile, Spering’s noteworthy contribution to the County was recognized yesterday in eight bulleted resolutions.
They read:
WHEREAS, Supervisor Spering has served on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) since February 1987 — the longest serving Commissioner in MTC’s history. Known fondly as “Mr. Transportation”, Jim Spering worked diligently on behalf of Solano citizens to improve transportation and was successful in garnering millions of dollars in funding and highway improvements over the years that greatly benefited the residents of Solano County and the Bay Area. Projects included widening Highway 12 through Jameson Canyon, widening and resurfacing of I-80, the redesign of Interstate 80/680/Highway 12 interchange, creating the Suisun Valley Parkway and the Jepson Parkway reliever routes to I-80 to name just a few; and
WHEREAS, as an MTC Commissioner known for his ability “to deliver projects”, he led many significant initiatives at MTC including facilitating the merger between Association of Bay Area Governments and MTC to achieve better collaboration and operating efficiencies. In response to the pandemic, when transit ridership plummeted to historic lows, he chaired the Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force to assist with equitably distributing federal recovery dollars to transit operators and developing a major transit recovery plan. Through his leadership, the Task Force focused on ways to achieve a stronger, more connected mobility network than before the crisis; and
WHEREAS, locally Supervisor Spering was instrumental in founding Solano Transportation Authority (STA) — to better manage, prioritize and fund transportation projects in the County — as well as the popular Amtrak Capitol Corridor intercity rail service (CCJPA), linking Sacramento and the Bay Area. He championed the Clipper Card system to allow easy access from one transportation mode to another. He delivered the critical final $9 million to allow the Fairfield-Vacaville Hannigan Train Station to be built; and
WHEREAS, as a strong advocate and ardent supporter of Travis AFB and veterans, he helped to improve and solve access issues to the North and South Gate entrances to the base. He also championed policies and land acquisition to protect the base against encroachment, establishing buffer areas and facilitating conversations. Under his initiative and attention, the Suisun Veterans Memorial Hall was remodeled and improved to better meet the needs of local veteran organizations and members; and
WHEREAS, during efforts to implement a Solano County Family Justice Center, he initiated the formation of a stakeholder group consisting of county staff, non-profit staff and members of the public to develop a White Paper to conceptualize how to meet the needs of domestic violence victims and subsequently co-led the effort to find a building to house the Solano Family Justice Center; and
WHEREAS, recognizing transit as a social equity issue, he championed the transportation needs of seniors, people with disabilities and low income residents by convening public summits to identify and address the issues. Out of these efforts, emerged the on-going STA Transportation Advisory Committee, the implementation of the Taxi Scrip program, an intercity reduced-fare taxi service, and a host of other initiatives to improve mobility options and the quality of life for seniors and other vulnerable populations; and
WHEREAS, he was instrumental in championing the reconfiguration of the Napa-Solano Area Agency on Aging by working with Napa elected officials and staff to establish a new and stronger agency. He also saw the need for a strong homeless services shelter system and convened city and county staff and private citizens to find a way forward. These efforts contributed to the formation of Shelter Solano; and
WHEREAS, he recognized that the existing joint powers authority, Community Action Partnership (CAP) Solano, could be the way to deliver a more coordinated, robust regional approach to homelessness by adding elected officials from the seven cities and the county to provide oversight and policy direction, and he helped build the consensus to approve the new updated CAP Solano Joint Powers Agreement; and
WHEREAS, he was a master at bringing meeting participants with opposing viewpoints and interests together to deliver a consensus vote. He will be best remembered as someone who mentored and 2 coached countless elected officials, staff, and constituents. He was willing to meet with anyone to discuss their views and share his insights and expertise as a seasoned elected official; and
WHEREAS, recognized throughout the region and state for his leadership, vision, and ability to get things done, he served on some of the most influential local and regional commissions, such as Bay Area Regional Collaborative, California Council of Governments, Association of Bay Area Governments, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, and Metropolitan Transportation Commission, as well as countless subcommittees and working groups at all levels of government. Through his efforts,
He helped create policy, projects and tangible outcomes. His mantra was that a modest county investment would reap much benefit for the community and that projects needed to focus on results and outcome, not on process.
This is the front page lead in the Wednesday January 25th edition of the Dixon Tribune, the newspaper of record for the city of Dixon, population 21,000.
Pictures include Jim Spering, former District 3 Supervisor and Lisette Estrella-Henderson, Solano County Superintendent of Schools.
