The Board of Directors of Metro met this morning for their regular monthly meeting. Below are a few of their more notable actions. Links to Metro staff reports on the various items can be found on the online agenda:

•(Item 19) The Board of Directors voted to approve an initial contract for about $2 million to expand an automatic license plate recognition program. Metro staff said the program is already in place in a few Red Line station parking lots and that it works. From the Metro staff report:

Create a capital project that will build a network of automated cameras will be strategically placed at designated Metro parking lots and structures according to priority. The network will be capable of notifying law enforcement of vehicles that are on the Terrorist Early Warning Group’s Watch List as well as any noteworthy vehicles, as designated by any government entity.

•(Item 22) The Board of Directors approved a nine-month federal lobbying contract with Manatt Phelps & Phillip, although the Board of Directors instructed Metro staff to try to shorten the contract to six months. In approving the contract, the Board of Directors rejected the Metro staff recommendation of hiring the Washington-based firm Patton & Boggs for nine months. Manatt has a local office in Los Angeles; Patton does not.

•(Item 37) The Board of Directors delayed a vote until next month to begin the solicitation process to purchase at least 78 rail cars at a price up to $335 million. A rail car purchase deal was abandoned last year with AnsaldoBreda, which said it would relocate its manufacturing facility to Los Angeles. But that deal ultimately fell apart over disagreements involving money and quality control.

•(Item 48) The Board of Directors approved a motion that would require that a wide area be considered for a tunnel as part of the scoping process for the 710 gap closure project. The scoping process will be considering a wide array of options for improving traffic in the gap in the 710 between Alhambra and Pasadena — the tunnel is just one of those options. The motion means that all five zones where geologic conditions have already been studied for a tunnel will be considered initially. Again, it needs to be emphasized that no decision on whether a tunnel will be built has yet been made.