 Good morning we're going to call the Santa Cruz metropolitan transit district meeting to order for October 25th and can we begin with the roll call here here barely it is barely it is. Okay, Mindy Esqueda will be our Spanish interpreter today. Mindy could you come up and give us a few words please. Good morning I'm Mindy Esqueda I'm here as the translator to provide services in Spanish. Buenos dias soy Mindy Esqueda. Aquí estoy para servirle para ofrecer servicios de tradición en español. Gracias. Thank you Mindy. This meeting is being televised by community television of Santa Cruz County. Our technician this morning is Mr. Lynn Dunn. Thanks for being here Lynn. So to begin with the review of items to be discussed in closed session we'll be starting with a closed session this morning so Julie can you please give us a list of those items. Thank you Chair. We have three closed sessions this morning. Two on anticipated litigation and one on labor negotiations. And do we expect to announce anything out of that. So with that we will adjourn to close sessions so we're going to hold a closed session in this room so we'll just ask you to leave the room and we will try to be expeditious and invite you back as soon as we can. Thank you. Okay we'll resume a session and can we get a report on closed session. Oh I'm sorry hang on. Hold that. Okay we'll resume our session. Can we get a report from our attorney. Yes so the board received an status report on labor negotiations with SEIU. Can you hear me now. Yes. Excellent. The board received a status report on labor negotiations with SEIU and the board will now at this time discuss and consider for approval ratification of the tentative agreement reached with SEIU. Thank you. Any questions of the board questions. No question I'd like to open up to the public. Anybody from the public like to comment on this. Welcome Olivia. Actually I'll do it after you agree. Sorry during labor. During labor. Talk during the end of the labor communications. Yes sorry. Nothing to say now. No. Okay thank you. Anyone else like to address us before we discuss this item. See now we'll close the public session bring it back for a board discussion and action. We got a reporting closed session about the details of what the final agreement is based on. I want to say these were not easy labor negotiations for good reason. It was a very complicated issue particularly because of the comparable worst study that we've done and which was not frankly the best study we've ever received in this district. But I think thanks to the diligence of both teams we ended up with a contract that I think is good for the people that work here and good for the agency in terms of not taking more than a reasonable amount of the money we have to provide service to the public. So based on the report that we got and what's in this actual tentative agreement I move that we approve it. Second. Motion by Rodkins. Second by Leopold. Comment by Commissioner Leopold. Thank you Chair. I want to also acknowledge our staff and negotiating team. I think this agreement reflects that we were listening that we heard the concerns and I appreciate the work on our management to be flexible enough to find a way to make this work. I think that that works well in an organization of our size. I appreciate that we were able to do this and I look forward to the signing of the contract and moving on with our regular business. Thank you. Commissioner Lynn, did you want to speak to your lights on? Anyone else have a comment? Okay. Before I call for the vote I just want to agree with Commissioner Rock and Leopold. You know I really want to thank SEIU for continuing to go back to the bargaining table. I know that this process took longer than we all thought. But the effort to keep going back is why we're here today. So with that I would like to call for a vote. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you for that contract. Okay, that'll take us to Board of Director Comments. Any comments from any members on the board? Seeing none, we'll go to oral communications. This is a time when people from the public can talk to us on anything not listed on the agenda. Is there anyone that would like to address the board on items not on the agenda? Come on up. Okay. Good morning, directors, staff, public. My name is John Doherty. I serve Metro as accessible services coordinator. And I also serve in the community as the chair of the Santa Cruz County Commission on Disabilities. I've come this morning to acknowledge the passing and I have a hard time saying the death of Filippa de Leon. There's a picture of Filippa being projected on her screens. And for those of you who had gotten to meet Filippa, I just want to join you in really feeling the loss. I first met Filippa on the Santa Cruz County Commission on Disabilities. She was a part of a wave on that commission, the result of which for the first time in the commission's history, a majority of commissioners were women. And for a while, a majority of the commissioners were Latinas. But as far as, but I should really focus on Filippa, because I didn't just get to know Filippa as a commissioner, as someone who went to Watsonville City Council meetings, put across concerns when they were objects, when their sidewalks were being blocked, wasn't just someone who started at the Watsonville Library a story time, which was continued just a few days ago, involving people with disabilities, reading with children stories about people living with that experience. But also I wanted to, besides being a commissioner, talk about Filippa as someone who first of all, helped the training of our bus operators over about the last five years or so. She was there in the classroom, reminding operators of what she'd seen because she was a regular writer of our bus service and our Metro Paracruze service, how operators had helped people and untangled rough situations so people could get their ride. She was also part of our training of operators when we introduced them to the Americans with Disabilities Act. And Filippa also basically reminded me about the need to bring service to the people or to put it another way. Filippa was born in Texas, but made Watsonville her home. And when we met, she lived in Independence Square. And she asked me once to have a presentation at Independence Square. And I said, great. When would you like me there? She hesitated and then asked, can you bring a bus? So it wasn't just a talking head. We brought Metro to Independence Square so people could practice getting on and off the buses. Filippa did a little practice going backwards up a ramp. And I just want to close this by noting the last couple of times I saw Filippa were surprises. On the one hand, Filippa served on the commission. She also served as vice chair. But then she had to leave for health considerations, battling cancer. So I was a bit surprised to see her this last summer at a commission meeting, wondering what we were doing, looking to see if she can help and giving us brochures that she had gotten from other meetings on subjects including emergency preparedness, a bit of a surprise. Another surprise the last time I saw Filippa was because I was being treated after hospital, well, hospitalized in Dominican hospital. And one day, I had made it out of the hall. And I was talking with my partner and then I heard a familiar voice telling a nurse that she heard the voice of some friends outside. So to my surprise, I discovered that Filippa was also being treated at Dominican hospital. And she was just two doors away. So we did get to talk a bit that day of discovery and also the day I was discharged, which was October 1st. And I just want to share with all of you. And part of my last conversation with Filippa, she was mentioning that she didn't see getting back on the commission, but she'd like to continue to be involved. And I just said to her, well, just read the emails and just pick and choose. And so in the hospital was the last time and last place I saw Filippa. So I just want to share with you all of you that she did a lot for Metro. She did a lot for the people that she has met. And she will be missed. And if I could ask after oral communications, if it's our if it's the word's pleasure, could we have a moment of silence? Thank you for that for sharing that story, John. Welcome Veronica. Thank you. I just want to tag. I'm Veronica Elsie from Santa Cruz. And I just want to kind of tag on to John's comments a little bit about Filippa. She always came to Metro meetings. She had a quiet way about her, but yet she always spoke up. And she was quite passionate about Metro and getting service where she thought it ought to go. She actually had a lot of involvement in kind of when the service cuts happened and a lot of the rerouting was happening with the 79s and the 71s. She worked a lot with Barrow and other people to make sure that the needs of Watsonville residents were being met. And she at one point was putting in an application to be a member of the Metro Advisory Committee. She came to several of the Mac meetings. She was always a very willing participant. I got to share the experience of being on the team that helped with the bus operator training. She was really helpful. They're very involved and she's really done an awful lot for Metro. So I would just like to take this moment to publicly say thank you for Lepa for your service. Rest in peace. Thank you, Veronica. Fortunately, I can't wait for labor communication. So I'm going to go ahead and say a couple of things regarding negotiations. I want to thank my team, all the members for their efforts during negotiations. I also want to thank the management team. I think it was really hard negotiations. It was mostly because of the salary study that complicated the situation. I'm hoping that we can move forward and create better labor relations these next three years until we get to the next negotiations. I think that's important for our members. Our members showed that they were not willing to go on a strike because they care so dearly about the services of the community. And I think that's important to notice. But I'm hoping that we can work closely to avoid grievances and arbitrations that is a cause to the public and continue working on our labor relations. But thank you. Thank you also to the board for supporting and listening to our members. It was difficult, but thank you. Thank you. Anyone else have any public comment? I think if you all join me right now, let's go ahead and do a moment of silence right now. Thank you for that. Okay. That'll take us to a written comment. Oh, I'm sorry, Cynthia. Go ahead. Quick question or comment. I noticed on the slide I didn't know that she has family members and I think it'd be appropriate for the chair just to write a letter to the family expressing our appreciation for what she did with John's comments. I'd be happy to do that. Thank you for that suggestion. Okay, that'll take us to a written communications from the Mac. Any written, no, any other labor organizations want to address us at this time. Good morning, Michael. I just kind of want to mimic Olivia's comments. I want to thank you all for listening to us when we are during these negotiations. I know it was a battle, a long battle, but we do feel that you guys did listen when we had concerns. I do also want to thank my team, the bargaining team and all the members and all of the management bargaining team as well. Thank you. Thank you for those comments. Any other labor representatives? Welcome, John. Well, thank you. I just wanted to second that. And again, thank you, everybody. Thank you for encouraging everybody to continue to try and hash us out. We really appreciate it. And here we are today. Successful. So we appreciate it greatly. Thank you. It's great to have a contract. Any other labor organization members? Seeing none, we'll close that additional documentation. I just have one thing here announced that news clips are now available. So that will take us to our consent agenda. These right as we normally deal with in one motion. Is there any board member like to pull anything from the consent agenda? Seeing none. Anybody from the public like to comment on anything on the consent calendar? Seeing none, I'll bring it back for a motion. Motion by Leopold, second by McPherson. All in favor? Opposed? Consent calendar carries unanimously. That'll take us to a regular agenda. We begin with a presentation of employee longevity awards, and I believe we have four. So I'll let Commissioner Roth can read these and I'll make the presentation. We have quite a few people who have served the district and the public for 15 years, not all here. I believe we've got this in the right order. Esmeralda Arias, I think is not here, but Paul Camacho is supposed to be here. There he is. Please come on out. Paul worked in IT accounting as a dispatcher at Lifeline prior to coming to work for us and he's been serving the public here for 15 years and we want to appreciate his service. I can say thank you for the board and the public. I've been working for a matter of 15 years serving the community like Philippa, bettering the lives of the people who live in this county. You don't realize that Metro makes people's lives in this county better. Going to the doctor appointment, going to church, going to grocery stores, buying food. Without Metro, the lie will be less. I'm happy to be working for Metro for 15 years and helping the community here in San Cruz County. Thank you for hiring me and thank you to the board directors and Metro. Thank you. I'm hoping to have you for another 15 years. So next, Planita Kramer, I believe is not here, but Miguel Escarcega is. Miguel is a paratransit operator. He was the youngest employee hired. He was only 20 years old when he began here at Metro. His dad, Mr. Scarga senior, worked for Metro as a vehicle service worker. And Miguel enjoys watching Netflix and traveling. Good morning, everybody. I almost didn't make it to see this. That's another story. First of all, yeah, I'd like to thank the Bachelor for recognizing us to stay. And second of all, for giving me an opportunity 15 years ago, because what you see stand right here, I'm aged and worn out because of the word because of the word. But now they the the company Metro Paracruz 15 years ago was new. Desperate. So they took a chance on me. I guess it's no, but honestly, it's worked out, I guess. If I'm still here, like the rest of my colleagues, if we've been here for so many years, 10, 20 plus years, we're obviously doing some right. But it's not so much the years. So I focus on the I honestly don't want to come into work just dragging my feet and letting the years decades pass by. I'd rather put like value and hard work. And to my upcoming years, I think that's only fair for everybody and for the community. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, I'm a Gutierrez dispatcher scheduler. I think it's not here. Robert Aldenado, another 15 years bus operator. I think he's also not here. Luis Rocha mechanic to is also I think not here. But Brenda Romans here and she's a paratransit operator. She likes spending time with her grandson, with her dogs and going to musical shows and movies with their daughter. I'm not used to speaking in public like this. It's always like a one in one with our clients and all. But I thank you for the recognition of 15 years. And I was 34 when I got hired and at 34 was like a job, right? I had to support two kids. But I've learned from from working here. And it's changed the way I view life and the way I choose to live my life. I'm more considerate towards other people with disabilities, my elders, thinking about my dad and my mom, if they were put in this position positions, writing with us and struggling to maybe get the stairs to get in our vehicles. And it's made me a better person and wanting to be a better person every day and remind myself when I'm driving out there and everybody's cutting you off or having a triple double. And people are not always here where we get a little bit more than we can. Well, we can handle it. But, you know, it's just a little tight sometimes. But yeah, thank you and for the opportunity to have been hired and looking forward to retire from here and physically thank God and that I'm able to stand here today and be recognized for these 15 years. So next we have Daniel Zaragoza, who's the operations manager for the paratransit division. He's worked as a paratransit operator, bus operator, assistant paratransit superintendent and now operations manager for Paris cruise. He likes traveling and watching baseball, but I'm going to go on for a moment. He's also served as a union officer, which we want to appreciate. That's an important part of the work here as well. When he in his career went back to Mexico for law and studied law, which people may not be aware of. He's been married to Luce for 26 years and has two daughters, Alexandra and Montserrat. And his favorite team is the LA Dodgers, which I think is a big mistake. It's a big mistake, but we have free speech in this country. Well, like Miguel said, I guess they were desperate when they hired them. But the way I view my 15 years here at Metro is, you know, if I could put it in one word, it's lucky. I've been lucky. I've been lucky to work here to find the job that I enjoy and my community being able to help the community. I've been lucky to work with all these great people that are here. I've been lucky to be a part of Paris from the beginning. I've just been lucky and I hope to continue that luck for the next few years. Thank you. And last but not least, even though he's not here, Dennis Baldwin is being recognized this morning for working 35 years for Metro, providing service to the public during that time. We want to recognize that. He works as a bus operator for us. Thanks so much. Okay. Thank you for that. That takes us to item 17, which is the CEO or report. Thank you, Mr. Chair, directors. I have a number of reports today. Please bear with me. I'll start off as usual. Promotions new hires. We don't have any in this particular period, but we will for next month's report. Quick update on the federal authorizations, appropriations for FY 20, the year to come up. The report that I gave you last month is relatively unchanged as it relates to the House bill. They're proposing a plus up over the FASTAC authorization as is the Senate. So that's still the same as it was last month. Of course, that plus up is a plus up over the FASTAC authorization, but it is less than what was authorized last year for us. Selfishly, the hit was taken in places other than bus. So we're still on the bus side being proposed to be plus up for the various programs that we apply for. Rail and some others are suffering that part that is less than last year. So that's pretty good for us at this point. I will point out that there has been a new wrinkle entered into the equation. This is the federal government and there's full of wrinkles. There is something called the Rostinkowski test for the transit account in the Highway Trust Fund, which requires Congress to look at the projections of expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund over a period of five or six years and projected revenues against that. And if they're upside down, which they are, then the Rostinkowski test says you must reduce next year's allocation by 12 percent. Well, that's a pretty scary thing that's entered into the equation because for Metro that would mean about a million dollars less next year. That's a pretty significant amount of money. The nice thing is in the continuing resolution that we're under right now, they have held the Rostinkowski test in abeyance and now it just becomes a matter of what happens when they finally do the authorization. The House side has said let's, through the next appropriations, let's hold that test out of the equation and not penalize the 12 percent. The Senate side says no, let's penalize the 12 percent and anything we do must be in balance and it must be pay for us in order to cover that. And of course we want there to be pay for us. It sometimes becomes a question of whether the money comes out of the general fund or not. So that's where that stands. We're through APTA. We are lobbying very heavily for the ultimate appropriations when adopted to include holding the Rostinkowski test out of the equation. So I'll keep you informed as that goes along. Of course there's still at a step where the Senate and House need to come together and reconcile their two bills which are somewhat different but not dramatically different. On the state side a little bit of a more prolonged report because as you know we've gone through a process of the last several weeks of the governor either signing bills or vetoing bills. There was a, there was a bill called AB723 which was signed by the governor. It got on our radar screen only because it mentioned Santa Cruz Metro in the bill but actually doesn't do anything to impact us. And what it is, is it has to do with the cities and the county may be desirous of putting additional sales tax measures on the ballot in the coming years and having to deal with a constrained cap on how much sales tax you can have out there and what happened is the initial interpretation was you have to count Metro's 1979 half-cent sales tax which pushed everybody to the cap rather abruptly. And so this bill says no and when you calculate and add up all the sales taxes towards the cap you don't have to count Metro's 1979 half-cent sales tax. So that's how we got entered into the picture on that. No impact to us directly. There was SB742 which was signed by the governor. Now this one was one that I think we were the only ones in the state who were potentially impacted by it. I had to lobby heavy through the CTA to get language modified into that bill so that we could mitigate down the potential impact to us. And what it is, is there is Amtrak intercity trains operated throughout this state. They're all operated by Amtrak. They're all operated under JPAs across the state. And Amtrak today is allowed to fund or the JPAs are allowed to fund feeder service to those stations where you can board an Amtrak train. That's all fine and dandy but existing law says you can only do that for the purpose of your customers who plan to ride the trains. And so SB742 came along that proposed to expand that which made sense particularly to all the intercity JPAs across the state that in order to make that service more efficient they should be able to just run it open door irrespective of whether somebody is boarding that feeder bus to go ride an Amtrak train or just to travel to wherever they're traveling to. They should not be excluded from being able to ride that. That's all fine and that makes real good sense of public use of equipment and funds but this one gave me great concern relative to Highway 17 of course. We have a service that is jointly funded by Amtrak that provides feeder service to an Amtrak station and what we didn't want to have is the ability of a JPA or Amtrak to just come in and suddenly decide well we don't want to participate in Highway 17 anymore. We just want to overlay our service and we're going to run it even cheaper than you metro and they could end up damaging our service. So we simply argued for some language that made it clear that if they're going to ever do something like that they have to come talk to us about it. So we were able to get that language into that law and I feel comfortable. I feel comfortable it's not going to happen but if it were to ever happen we have some additional protection language in there. Another good piece that the governor signed was AB 784 which exempts zero emission transit buses from the state portion of the sales tax until January 1, 2024. I don't know the dollar amount of that but that certainly will help us in our purchase of buses and make it a little less expensive through 2024 or through 2023. There was a bill that the governor vetoed which was the public employment labor relations release time. This bill proposed now to at a state level try to dictate release time and that just was a bad bill. We as you know we have release time negotiated with our unions in both of our contracts that it's a local level issue it's not a state level issue and so I think it was a good veto actually because we we handle it locally. There was a bill AB 1351 a lackey which proposed to layer on to paratransit a whole other set of rules in how you deal with in particular how quickly you certify paratransit qualified riders and how you deal with somebody from out of area or out of state coming to your district in writing. We argued through cta that that was unnecessary legislation that there is a standard set by the federal government that we follow which includes how fast we certify and we already have a process as do other paratransit agencies across the state in dealing with people who come to your agency from outside your agency unfortunately that argument didn't prevail and the governor did sign that so we'll have to go back and look at what is in the detail of that and make sure that our programs match up to it. I think it'll be an additional layer beyond what the federal government requires and then I told you before about SB 397 public transit operators affected by it passengers with pets this had to do with the big fires in Napa Sonoma and people wanting to bring their pets with them when they were evacuated that we we offered friendly amendments to that just to make sure that we can we can be involved in that discussion about how those rules are developed through the Cal STA that was signed by the governor that's that's good legislation. Gina if you would put up the Sunline training we had this opportunity thank thankful to Ciro's employee Rena who latched on to Sunline Transit down in Southern California having gotten a grant to develop a program to help agencies begin to understand how to maintain zero emission buses electric buses and and Rena reached out to Sunline said hey we'd like to we've got electric buses coming next year and we'd like to be a part of that free program and and so Sunline said yeah we'll make Santa Cruz metro the beta and they came up here where they brought two hydrogen fuel cell zero emission buses up here the pictures are scrolling we went through zero three days of training yes three days of training through a wide variety of employees and departments and it's just a good way for us to begin to understand what we have coming next year which is how to maintain zero emission buses and sir would you mind showing the plaques that they gave us i think they're up at the podium there i will also point out that let me see if we could just look at the plaques real quickly i handed out must have been 14 plaques but they gave us some very nice plaques for completing their program yeah so we'll place those around the agency um i will just thank you and 10 more to go with those i'll point out that that if you asked me about hydrogen fuel cell buses um two years ago i would have said no i i think they're just really really expensive and and they don't they just haven't performed yet to where we would expect them to be and that was when we're making our commitment towards zero emission but battery electric buses um hydrogen fuel cells continue to evolve they they offer great opportunity now in range where battery electric buses are still constrained our buses coming next year are the newest and greatest thing from pro terra they're supposed to go more than what the buses are going in range today which is 120 to 150 miles we need them to go 300 miles um we think these new buses will go more than 120 150 but they certainly won't go 300 miles hydrogen fuel cell the next generation of fuel cell holds a good opportunity for us to achieve range um that is that is comparable to what we need to be able to run here's what sort of stimulated this discussion as we look at our super constrained yard and you can imagine at night when all the buses pull in we have 98 buses sitting on that tarmac you can visualize or try to visualize 98 charging stations also being in that facility not going to be able to do that and if we do it it'll it'll be a very costly structure that'll have to be built likely overhead so that coupled with the need for range is going to cause us now to go on a two-year journey to investigate hydrogen fuel cell and its viability here so at some point i may come to you and say we think this is a good thing and we should try to get some of them into our mix and at least start experimenting with them and the two-year target is two years from now we think is a good opportunity to go for a federal low-no grant to try to obtain the money to buy some number of hydrogen fuel cell buses the regional transportation commission recently heard a presentation about a hydrogen fuel cell fuel cell train that's going to be up here as a demonstration sometime the next six months they're a firm based down in southern california do you know where these buses are produced well the fuel cells are produced by two right now new flyer and eldorado yeah we'll be interesting as as to see where this goes in transportation great to see the train as well it's exciting technology it's evolved as you probably know ac transit just north of us has been experimenting with them for a number of years it gets complicated and i won't go into that right now but just getting the fuel there to put in the bus is a really complicated equation but we'll work through that over the next two years and bring you something that makes sense if we do recommend it this this bus was really exciting we took it over highway 17 we had we had hoped that it would show a little bit more power than our cng buses do it showed relatively comparable power but that also admittedly is because it's tuned and adjusted for fixed route flat flat territory there are some things that you can do to potentially get more horsepower out of it but you got to sacrifice how the fuel cell works so those are things we'll work through in the next couple of years but we think that may hold some hope in the future for us to even address our power issues on highway 17 all right so finally in closing i'd like to see if we can put up one more picture and then i'd like to ask jamie if she'd come to the mic and talk a little bit about next year's pro-terra electric buses arriving on the scene so we are going to be wrapping the buses with a slightly new looking feel you can see it up on your screen there will not be any pink on the buses the pink is the no-go lines they're the areas where the wrap has to be seen but this i wanted to take an opportunity with these brand new buses to start to rebrand the look and feel of metro and so it's not a huge departure from our existing look and feel but i wanted to send the message that this is the first of our pushed towards progress and with these new electric buses as you know we'll be using the two of the four buses that we received to run the new rat in Watsonville we had talked about wrapping them to be specific to the route that that always has challenges because when bus goes down you got to bring another bus in and suddenly customers don't know if that's the right bus for them to board or not so we decided to keep the wrap uniform but this is the concept that we is currently in the draft stage so if you have any feedback that you'd like to offer i'm available but otherwise we are pushing forward with this look for our electric buses how does this feel with the advertisements on the outside of the bus where they go so on these buses for the first year we are not going to advertise on them because we want them to be an advertisement for Metro when we are ready to begin advertising on these buses because they are a wrap we'll rewrap them and make space available for advertising that's one of the benefits of going with that model so we're not looking for a vote but we're looking for reaction is there anyone that hates the scheme i don't think we can go there yet i will try try try not to to have my feelings no i'm kidding i think it's a great start and a good program so with the implementation i'm probably going to turn to Isaac on this one but with the implementation of synchromatics i know that the buses will all be wi-fi capable but i don't know if we're actually going to make it available to the customers that's correct and so the capability the capability will be there but it's it's really you know it's a matter of going through the process of you know board approval of and of course getting community buy-in and such so as you know it can be contentious with some members of our community so the capability will be there that's the important thing and if it ever is that would also be a very good promotion for people who want that while they're transporting absolutely we could include that on the wrap yeah thank you how many seats do we have left does that conclude your report it does okay great i just want to go back one moment our longevity awards we omitted one name and i'd just like to add that now yeah i was i was so excited by dad dad's fault when we were here for 35 years that it skipped over this round it's about like those you know you got a transit off me who's not here but we should recognize it's 15 years of service brandon you have a comment yeah i just wanted you know to let you guys know on the mission here mario espinoza 35 years we'll acknowledge him twice how's that yeah absolutely yeah we'll make sure we do that November thank you okay that takes us to item 18 this is a consideration for resolution to establish the board of directors i'm sorry yeah just a quick follow-up on alex's oh i'm sorry summary of all the electric buses etc particularly in the city of san accrues there's so much interest in the all greenhouse grass gas reduction etc maybe packaging some summary of all all that we're doing i mean just the awards here the training what's coming the the rap just a little presentation i think would be of real interest one of those little short presentations and i don't know about the other jurisdictions too but we're just getting constant um public pressure to invest every new vehicle is electric etc etc so this is this is a big step so i just think it'd be good cross-agency PR yeah yeah just a little short one summary yeah yeah when when would the next one be coming we can discuss that offline yeah but also we do little short presentations at the beginning of the meeting we can talk about it but this seems timely and of high interest great thank you for that yeah i'm sorry any other comments on the CEO's report i don't have a comment on his report but since we went back to acknowledge the 35 years i wanted to wrap that up and i wanted to first i did know felipa i worked at cabrillo and i had to coordinate her services with lifeline so i'm very thankful that we had that moment to appreciate her as a contributor to our community and secondly i wanted to thank you all for your hard work and effort as a former negotiator i know what that looks like to be in those rooms and i am thankful that we came to this place where we can get back to that place of serving the community as a representative of cabrillo we were hit by that and i'm just thankful that it was not as hard as it could have been and that since i was charged with a lot of that communications that we were able to do it in a respectful and a respectful way honoring the needs of both the service providers and the community that uses the service we didn't lose any riders that i know of to date our bus pass sales were actually stable and so i'm very thankful that we were able to get to that place and also i want to make sure that we honor and that i honor and respect those of you who have contributed those this kind of time to this service because it can get hard it is a taxing deal to you know listen to the people yelling and the griping and then you get that one person that just thanks you and so i just want to be that one person today that just thanks you for your service for your dedication to this you as the board for looking over this and making sure that it is honored and respected and is a viable part of our community so i just wanted to acknowledge that since we went back well said and we'll go back any time for comments like that thank you okay now we're going to move on to item 18 this is a consideration of resolution to establish the board of directors meetings have new locations for 2020 Mr. Clifford Mr. Chair directors annually at this time of the year you approve your calendar your meeting calendar for the next year and so this is here before you as planned i will tell you that there's a slight difference in our normal presentation i've given you an alternative calendar to look at so in exhibit a shows a friday board meetings for 2020 staying with committees on this the assumption it's not listed here committees being the second friday of the month and board meetings being the fourth friday of the month but i'm also also offering you for consideration exhibit be which would be to move in effect committees to second wednesday of the month and board meetings to the fourth wednesday of the month throughout 2020 with the with some narrow exceptions you know in may because of the budget cycle we moved the meetings up one week and in november and december i think we move them up because of the holidays but other than that we tend to run on the fourth friday fourth friday of the week and i'm proposing for your consideration a wednesday scheme why well from from time to time i'll hear comments from board members why do we meet on friday sometimes it can create complications so when it's going into a three-day weekend sometimes just because it's a friday it can create complications at my end of things a little bit selfishly you have allowed me to participate in apta and cta and cal act i'm i'm on the executive board of cta and i'm running for re-election right now unopposed i would expect to still continue to be on that but unfortunately all of their meetings happen on fridays and sometimes i'm just not able to participate because obviously i need to be here for our board meetings when they conflict so from time to time my you're allowing me to be out there representing this agency on these very important boards and committees does have a conflict on fridays but that's not necessarily a reason to make the decision if wednesday works for you it moves it away from friday we would love to do it but it's strictly up to you if not you have your friday calendar before you that you can consider so though this was brought to justice for discussion okay and it's about you know us getting most people at attendance whether it's regular meetings or these or committees so i'll just leave it to the board commissioner leopold thank you for recognizing me at the question about wednesday meetings versus friday meetings generally the board meetings don't conflict with any of the ongoing meetings that i have the committee meetings however might conflict on wednesdays because there are you know there's i have a lafko meeting in the there's just a number of different committees and commissions i serve on so that would be my concern as to whether i could i could do those meetings but i don't have a problem with the board meetings being on wednesday correct did you know by next month john whether there is a conflict and you said there's a potential conflict whether there actually is a conflict with lafko whether it's is lafko first wednesday or second wednesday lafko is the first wednesday so the meetings would be on second and fourth i have a creative career meeting on the second wednesday okay you know it's i don't want to get into your it's a i mean i don't i don't i don't you know what laid my life bearer but i'm just saying yeah that there are a couple of things that happen on wednesdays commissioner lian yeah wednesdays are not because they're not a good day for me um we don't go with the majority so it's definitely not my business okay i'm sure awesome today being an exception but i find that fridays tend to have less traffic i come from half the way over in naptas and since pebrio college often times is measured with classes on fridays there tends to be less traffic getting all the way across town she's like might i think you're done now we're traffic tends yeah i'm not usually accused of not being heard but um traffic tends to be a little bit less coming from naptas on friday than it does on wednesday i think it's primarily because there's not hardly any classes on friday at cabral college and so and that's a that's a real spot where it just really gets congested trying to get across town sure it's not a huge thing i mean i can do it took me a half an hour to get here today so i can do it it's just one consideration sure commissioner matthews the friday works perfectly for me in wednesday is just a mess i got so many other things going so okay that's it well this was a of her discussion and if it was a unanimous decision or something that everybody said wow that's great then i i think we proceed but we have before us the friday options so based on whatever the flavor is let me open it up to the to the public is there any one of the public that would like to weigh in on this just ask if i could for you is your zines with cta and so forth is that the fourth friday or is it i mean can we they conflict on both what i have done on occasion is to for the committee day to put cero and angela and others in charge and cover committees and i'll go to the cta for example but if cta has a meeting and they do sometimes on the fourth friday i come here and i don't go to those but i mean i mean do we do it the first first and fourth friday first and third or third she yeah we didn't survey that to see if there was any conflicts with other meetings jeena did a really good job of of surveying the ones that that we have but we could look at it and beside and not just that but i didn't reach out to the chambers to see their available on the first and third wednesdays and no Fridays but looking at the cities of capital listen and discuss on and lots and we'll most of their council meetings from your council meetings or in the evening as you know and the rtc seem to have most of their meetings on thursdays and then the board of suits other than budget week so if just briefly talking off the top my head if the different chambers could accept our request for either the first or the third wednesday or friday it's probably doable with that confidence you guys accept our stuff like maybe wednesday isn't worth it we were thinking i think if we went looked at first and third fridays but let me go and go over to the public then we'll bring it back for discussion okay i just want to get some way in here Veronica this is you go ahead now hi um this time i'm coming to you as chair of your metro advisory committee and i wanted to ask you a question my concern about moving to the fourth wednesday is this we meet on the third wednesday quarterly and it is codified like that into our bylaws so if we're coming close to a board meeting and we have a written communication that the committee wants to send to the board usually what happens is we have our meeting sitting there at 11 o'clock at night and i'm writing it because it's a thursday deadline to get something into the packet so if you moved your board meeting up two days we could never meet the deadline to get anything in the packet which presents some real difficulty since we only meet quarterly we really try to be current when we send you written materials to the board so and because that that wednesday is kind of codified into our bylaws it'd be a mess to have to open that up and redo the bylaws so just something I wanted to bring up this something to think about because we want to make sure we have timely communication back and forth thank you thanks Veronica appreciate that director Rodkin would there be a problem putting this off for one month to check on the possibilities of this first and third option sounds like the Wednesday one's got too many conflicts but I didn't hear anybody think there was a problem other than the last thing we just heard and that might be adjustable so they could be conversation with Mack about their schedule and you know double check that there's not some big meeting that would take a lot of our constituents away from our meetings if we met on the first and third or who knows I'd rather take a month to check it out if it's not a problem to put it off should be fine excuse me we can still bring it back in November move to continue the item till the next month meeting before I go I just want to director Matthews is it first and third for me so yeah it's good so moving to a different Wednesday doesn't necessarily believe anything and just to say it's really important that Alex be present that these meetings where he has a leadership role right I think we're all kind of making it work I'm just trying to see if there was any more latitude by changing those Wednesdays but like so we can bring it back and have the discussion other than that there were no other problems caused or any other board members yeah yeah I have a motion by Rod Kenser second second second by Lynn and so my question is when we come back in November should we also bring um red line in terms of of the bylaws proposing this change to you in the first and third Saturday based on whatever your vote send up space true I think that makes sense that would that would be helpful that we could tie up all the loose ends yeah we have some more changes to the bylaws as well um based on our legislation that we had passed this year that legislation is effective January 1 so I was planning to bring the bylaws anyway in November because we don't I think we're not meeting in December so we could do it all at the same time very timely okay good sorry I have a wrinkle with the first and third Fridays I'm just starting to look at it I can't Fridays or Wednesdays Fridays okay I'm not going to be able to do those two days I have work a work okay off well unfortunately and my Wednesday things can probably be worked around I mean I do think it's most important that Alex is present at the well here's the deal we're going to bring back the options at the meeting in November and we've all briefed on it now we can all scrutinize our schedules and see what doesn't work and with that what's possibly flexible so I think I think we all consider Alex's appreciation we recognize the Mac Becky I'm going to get you in just a second I see you there we're going to we're going to bring it back and have a discussion but now everybody's informed where we can look at it we can go Becky go ahead and give me your comments please I just want to say that the first and third Fridays would present the same problems for the Mac as the first Wednesday work thank you very much thank you Becky we're going to consider the Mac you know the Mac is very important to us and we do appreciate the timely information so we'll see what whether this is possible or not but it's just something we're going to discuss Director Rockett one thing we could think about during this month would be what if this were put change were proposed to start a year later which is that ultimately Alex would have a problem during this year but maybe if we could make the change with enough time people could switch other groups and so forth so we should look at that as well next month when we consider this item in other words if we decided it's not going to work to change it right now I don't want to leave a long-term problem here where Alex can rarely or often has conflicts with his other responsibilities that we're serving this agency so that's another option for us to consider not do it you know this is starting next January that started January after something to think about before next month Director Rockett I don't think that the chambers will know the schedule for the next year if we're going to do this it's going to be it started in January so that's that's a it's actually going to be again for 2020 I don't think they'll have the end of the 2020 what are the changes I think I'm looking for a fall back at the terms that we can't make the change because I don't want to just leave this to the situation where the conflict goes on forever for our CEO to try and serve two needs at the same time we are only going to be able to do what we can do Director Rothwell are we locked into Wednesdays being the only alternative? I think that there we'll complicate this a whole bunch more and maybe like a Thursday that's a conflict for me that's an RTC okay, I thought it was Monday I think we should all come back seeing whatever flexibility we have for Wednesday or Friday and if there ends up being no alternative and we'll just deal with that but let's come November prepared to see what we can do okay and so we had a motion and a second all in favor aye against okay that motion carries unanimously to table the items for November 8th thank you for that discussion okay so this is the item 19 world Pacific Station update barrel ever second welcome thank you chair board staff and public and I'll make this very quick I just have four points in my update on Pacific Station as I gave you a hint last month city staff is preparing a draft MOU for Metro review and the two parties will meet on November 4th for an initial discussion number two remember that the big picture strategy here is to apply for a California affordable housing and sustainable community grants you hear us throw AHSC around quite a lot but the strategy that we've come together with the city staff is to instead of apply in the early 20 cycle we're going to apply in the early 21 cycle that allows the city get some of some of the criteria accomplished and just couldn't be done this quickly and the point is we're looking to probably apply for 10 or 15 million dollars and that's the scale that will be necessary to make this a reality point number three once an MOU is agreed upon one of the important early actions will be the selection of a private development developer partner that the two agencies will work with lastly I will be able to provide you a further update at the November 15th board meeting following the early November staff meeting on the draft MOU that's the end of my presentation right any questions for yeah we just moved to put on the ballot for the city of Santa Cruz the capability for design build contracts and is that a possibility I'm just looking forward to a great big huge project that might be something to consider if it's a joint project I will ask Dave McCormick how that relates to the rules and the structure so when I see your staff I'll bring it up is something our water department asked for because of their great big huge projects yeah now I get that yeah I'll bring it up and see who will probably already know this but yeah okay just thank you thank you any other questions for Barrow anybody from the public have any questions on this update this is just a presentation so no action necessary um take us to item 20 this is an adoption of amendment to Metro's discount fare policy to include a free fare program for the legally blind okay me welcome good morning thank you for having me following last month's meeting we revisited the procedure for accepting free fares for the legally blind community to incorporate some of the feedback we received we want to ensure that the community's access to the program is streamlined to the greatest extent possible while we also mitigate some of the concerns that were raised by our bus operators regarding potential ADA violations or customer confrontations because of course we want to minimize that to the greatest extent possible so we continue to support the provision of a card as a means for an individual to choose to take advantage of the access program but we will also continue to train operators to observe visual cues regarding customers who have service dogs or have a cane a white cane with them as a as a means of accepting that individual on the bus if they do not have an access card we will also continue to work with customers who are in need of a card or have a desire to carry a card to obtain them if they have difficulty getting medical certification in a timely fashion we can offer offer them temporary free passes or we can pair them with our eligibility coordinator to be evaluated through Metro to be part of the program so that they don't have to seek medical certification and finally we will consider this program a pilot program we will come back in the next six months to report out on the results of the program and how it's proceeding and we'll continue to take public comment regarding the application of the program and make adjustments as we deem necessary as we implement the new procedure the specific details regarding the changes to the policy can be found in the policy document on page 28.7 if you'd like to review them directly and once the board has made a decision about the policy we will in implementing the final policy language elevate that in the document so that individuals who are interested about this policy change will see it right away when they go to review the policy and with that I'm open for questions Any questions for Ms. Acklin? Okay, is there anyone from the public that would like to weigh in on this? Good morning Catherine Fisher from Goldstein-Borgh and Darderian and Ho as you know my firm represents long-term metro writers who have been denied access to its services because metro's TVMs are inaccessible to individuals who are blind it's still our position that the inaccessible ticket vending machines violate the ADA in California law and that metro should fix them however as I said at the last meeting we support a free fair program as an interim solution to the inaccessible ticket vending machines but only if the program is a true alternative to the inaccessible TVMs meaning blind and visually impaired individuals can use the program to ride the bus at all the same times and with the same level of convenience the sighted individuals get from the TVMs we appreciate the board declining to pass the free fair policy as drafted at the last meeting and encouraging metro staff to work with us and other community members to come up with a better solution unfortunately the policy before the board today is not yet that solution although with more time input from all stakeholders and for the revisions it might be as written the policy still requires a blind access card to participate in the free fair program and says that to qualify for the card an applicant should provide medical certification as a rule it's only if the individual takes it upon themselves to express difficulty obtaining a blindness certification that the policy provides that metro will work collaboratively with them it's more difficult as a rule to obtain medical certification and go through an application process than it is for a sighted person to use the TVMs so the burden shouldn't be on the customer to express that difficulty to metro to avoid the medical certification requirement and the alternatives listed like the temporary pass and metro staff certification show how the separate blind access card and application process will create unnecessary costs and complications for customers and for metro whether you decide to go ahead with the blind access cards or not the policy should be clear that neither medical certification nor a blind access card is required to access the free fair program as the draft policy acknowledges metro's bus operators are already trained to allow blind individuals to ride for free without a pass particularly where an individual's disability is obvious we simply suggest that the policy build on that training allow individuals to board the bus for free if they identify themselves as having visual disabilities whether by presenting metro's blind access card using a white cane being guided by a seeing eye dog or because they say so even if they aren't traveling with the appropriate documentation this is the only way that the program will allow everyone who's denied access to the tvms to ride the bus at all the times and with all the convenience that the tvms would allow if they were accessible it's the only true alternative to replacing the inaccessible ticket vending machines that deny individuals who are blind or low vision access to metro's services in violation of state and federal law so we ask that you don't adopt the policy as drafted today thank you anybody else like to speak okay well I got the mic there it is never quite sure where to stand with these things you're perfect that's the first time I've heard that for a while I think there's somebody behind me that might deny that good morning stand before you again as I did at the last meeting and at the end of the last meeting I was quite hopeful because metro staff received direction from the board to do some outreach to the community and pull together those of us who will be impacted by this situation have been for many years to come up with a solution that would be viable for everyone and make everyone happy until the PBMs can be replaced to my knowledge at this point that directive was not followed there was no outreach certainly nothing I'm aware of at least and I did not hear Jamie mention any either so that is concerning to me that that was not followed so the draft policy that has been reworked is actually so confusing if you listen to Jamie's presentation it's not really clear even what anyone needs to do second of all I do not need a car to certify that I'm blind it's pretty obvious and also we should not be paying the price for Metro's ADA violations might as well just call this what it is with this TVM that have been going on since it's been in place actually we've been trying to solve this for a long time we continue to and that's all we want we're just trying to ride the bus just like everybody else does but I find no reason that we should be in any way inconvenienced or asked to do anything extra in order to accomplish that so I'm asking you to once again direct Metro staff to do outreach to us to work with us collaboratively to solve the situation that's what we want it's what we've always wanted actually we have tried to achieve and continue to achieve and I would ask you to put this on hold until such time as we can all come back together here and with something that is acceptable to everyone involved and there will be no certification with me I just need you to know and be clear that I need no medical certification to solve a problem that I did not cause this is not a program of convenience this is a mitigation this is a work around to a problem let's be clear what we're actually doing here that's fine until this can be fixed but I'm not going to carry the burden for that thank you for your time thank you hello again I'm Veronica Ilsey and this time I'm here is me you know at at the end of the last meeting I have to say I really felt heard I felt respected and I really felt hope I thought we have put in so many long hours and worked so hard to try to you know improve the TVMs and make them usable and I thought boy we're we're so close and you I are to be commended as a board for being such good listeners I really appreciate that as Lynn pointed out I couldn't find any evidence of outreach other than just the change in the month in your summary but there's no October dates I asked around couldn't find any meetings and so we didn't get that discussion and what we got was a revamped amendment that is even more confusing for one thing there is now no mention of this as a temporary policy so if someone comes in a year they're not even going to know that this is a temporary policy some of us already have metro discount cards so now it's unclear do we pay two dollars to get another one I shouldn't be asked to pay for a certification and pay for a card in order to mitigate something that just couldn't be brought up to standards and usable so again and I see additional requirements for visitors I know somebody who showed up on early Saturday morning because he wanted to go to the boardwalk and go visit a friend and he was gone by Sunday night he doesn't have any interest in seven day passes or temporary passes or things that he couldn't get because it was the weekend anyway so it looks to me like this policy has just been made more complicated and it strikes me it's just a little bit ironic that we're having so much discussion over a free fare when what we're fighting for is the ability to pay but I would really urge this board since the board did issue Metro a directive which it appears that Metro did not follow please as a board you have the opportunity to do the right thing here ask to to have the meetings with us let's look at 4.6 item three because right now well look you can either get the certification or you can go have meetings with Metro staff or you can just get on the bus what do you think people are going to do so please please repeat your directive from last month let's sit down with the bus operators because it's now it's more confusing and you've only got a week to implement it you can't train your staff in that amount of time on something this complicated so I would just really urge you to not adopt this resolution at this time we're willing to work with you we were in October we were looking for that opportunity and we're sorry that it didn't happen so again please please this is not a perk this is not a bonus this isn't something that is going to last forever it's a workaround for a problem that doesn't seem to be able to be fixed right now please treat it like a workaround and keep it out of the policy because then it's going to be a mess to rewrite this whole thing in whatever time you know three years or whatever it is you're going to create a bigger mess for yourself so please keep it as a separate item just list it as a workaround and then repeal it when you have accessible vending machines or whatever equipment available do not pass this resolution thank you so much thank you is there anyone else uh from the public like to speak on this thank you sir on jamie for meeting with us on the issue provided a lot of clarification they got good input from us I think we made a lot of progress on it at this time we've gone through all of what my concerns were what jamie's concerns were obviously the public still has some other concerns it's not really for me to comment on our training already includes having you know an awareness of each individual that comes on the bus so I'm not super concerned about being able to implement any kind of new training in this situation should be able to get done pretty quickly I think that this gives everyone a lot of option right it gives them a lot of options on ways that they can go about getting an access card or you know if it if it is something that's that's obvious we'll be able to handle that so I think that a lot of moves are made in the right direction and you know as far as me personally concerned not having the same perspective as some of the members of the public I don't have any further concerns with the program thank you thank you for those comments anyone else from the public like to weigh in on this okay I'll bring it back to the board I just want to ask a quick question to the city attorney based on the presentation was made were there nuances because it's very difficult okay just for me I'm trying to digest what the changes are based on what was asked for are there are there nuances that they presented that that we should be we weren't able to deal with is there anything else you'd like to give us guidance on before we have a discussion so my recommendation would be to move forward with that the policy at this time take a look and see how it works for the next several months see how members of the community are you know handling the changes to the to the discount program and then revisit you know it's a board policy you know you all are entitled to make changes to it at any time and if we get feedback from the community that there's any difficulties particularly with folks who don't have a card they won't be required to have a card and they should be able to get on the bus if there's an issue with that then we could look at making further revisions to the policy thank good input yeah go ahead Jane yeah could I add something um the card is not a requirement for individuals who uh can clearly be identified as blind by our trained bus operators but it is a protection for individuals who either do not wish to indicate that they are blind verbally or do not physically represent them so you know there's not a way to visually identify them as blind that having that card would protect them in the event that a bus operator was not clear that they qualified for the free fare program and asked them whether they have a card they would be guaranteed the free fare process however for customers who are able to be visually identified as blind bus operators would be able to allow them on for free good Don you have a question for Glenn and just yes to clarify if they feel comfortable in saying you know I have I I am blind or I have sight disability they would be admitted as has had been requested by a couple of our speakers they could simply say that if they're comfortable the card would allow them to be able to present something and not have to verbally claim that I think the reason that there's I appreciate the question director lend and I think that the reason that there are some nuance to this policy is because human behavior is not straightforward so certainly our bus operators make every effort to work with an individual when they board and and say that either they are not paying the fare they believe they're eligible for a discount fare and sometimes they will they will warn them like okay you know gonna let you on this time but you should try and investigate this program getting a discount card for example if they're eligible for that in the future so that you don't have this this incident again and that's what we would direct our bus operators to do and the reason that that's important is that while the vast majority of our customers are honest and just trying to get where they're going there are instances where people take advantage of our policies even today and we have to build in some kind of protections for the district to avoid individuals who learn that they can just say I'm blind and I deserve to ride for free from taking advantage of that policy I know it will happen in probably just a very very rare number of occurrences but the fact that creating that kind of a condition would create a new set of problems for our bus operator is the very thing that we're trying to avoid and it's one of the things that frankly created a bit of a challenge last month at the board meeting because one of the things that the bus operators said was we want to minimize confrontation but we also want to do our job which is to collect fares from appropriate passengers you know as necessary so this gives them a vehicle to do that while minimizing confrontation this question can you make comment about the outreach because we're hearing that staff were outreach but we're hearing that the public didn't feel that there was outreach since the last meeting so we and perhaps this was my misunderstanding of the direction that the board gave we did extensive outreach in September and I was under the impression that we were directed to attempt to make contact with the individuals who spoke at the meeting on the policy and I believe we did attempt to make that contact but none was that's not it the clarification is we sent the revised policy to their attorney we have through through legal I can't make contact with the individuals personally so we went to their attorneys Dr. Matthews did you have a comment okay good Director Wright I think in in effect we have made the changes that were asked for but they're buried in 4.6.8 and what I would propose is that we approve this but we look at number 2.2 which is right at the beginning about applicability before I make my particular suggestion I'm just going to say this is temporary but I don't think we need to make a big deal about that because when I think our plan is not to replace those machines but we're hoping and we'll find out but to hope that in fact what we'll replace the machines is the use of cell phones or you know smartphones or whatever to be able to make this access and if that's the case we've got a bunch of other changes we need to make and because nobody uses I mean there's a lot of other things those machines are used for that are not problematic now or whatever but there's going to be new policy language so what I think we should do is actually right up front in the policy under 2.2 and I'm I'm going to propose a concept but get if the and with a motion if it passes direct the staff to give the exact wording and the wording should be taken from the videotape being made of this meeting from the comments people made to us but under 2.2 I would say there are three ways for visually impaired individuals to access the bus this policy first of which should be if they present as obviously visually impaired or blind they should be allowed to enter the bus that's number one number which is what people are asking for number two they can get a card through the medical provider and number three they can get it in the through our staff if they're getting it through the medical provider is a problem and if that's done again with better language than I've used right here under 2.2 right at the front of the policy will be what people are asking us to do and I think that does address the issue then what I would propose is that after that like is that the staff go out with that language you know that the actual language not the concept that I'm proposing to the people that have spoken in our board meeting as well as their attorney or have our attorney talk to their attorney but how our staff talk to the individuals directly and just see is the is the is the language doing what I'm trying to do here in effect and they believe it's solving the problem the way they've asked us to do it if there's agreement there's no reason to bring this back to us but if there's a problem or issues and again we're going to if the policy recommendation here is to come back in six months and see how it's gone but if there's a problem in two months we should bring it back in two months and not wait six months for it to be worked out but that's my proposal I'm going to wait for other comments but I'm prepared with a motion that would basically say let's take the concepts that are what people spoke today and what it's over there in 4.6 point A and move them under 2.2 right at the beginning this is our policy for now rather than say it's temporary it's the policy and when we change the situation we'll have to change the this overall policy we'll get some other amendments as well I'm sure So there's a motion by Rodkin is there a second? There's a motion Okay I was going to wait for the comment I have a motion by Rodkin and the second was Thank you, Larry I just want to clarify summarize what Commissioner Rodkin said and that is is that we're going to adopt this policy with an amendment to the language to pretty much highlight and enunciate upfront in the beginning what the intent of this package is so that I think we understand what the public's commenting and we're trying to address that so there'll be some language created by probably by Jamie or by legal staff that highlights this So motion a second continue discussion Just for clarity's sake in my understanding with this language chain and everything else someone could still come up appear to bust up with their white cane or with their or acknowledging in some way or getting on the bus and they could ride the bus for free if they were blind Correct and there's also other things so they don't have to acknowledge that by they get a card or something else card in two different ways either by being certified by a medical practitioner or coming to see our staff and avoiding the necessity of having a medical person do it but they could get on the bus with no card or anything else that's the motion and I think just to add to that I think with the person comes onto the bus and they present as legally blind and is acknowledged by the bus operators which have now bought into this conversation and saying that's sufficient at this point there are additional things that we deem but that is sufficient to allow that person access to us Well I'd just like to add that it would be helpful to come back in January or February meeting with the folks who are here today an actual meeting and anyone else to just sort of see how that's going you know it would just be super helpful for us to know whether it's actually working or whether it's something we have to we have to adjust and would that be a friendly amendment to the motion and the second Larry that's good okay good I think that pretty much somewhere any other comments excuse me I know that staff had made the comment of the training that they're having I just want to make sure that we are adequately training the staff to be able to recognize those that may come forward and identify themselves as having this kind of disability so that we don't have any barriers if they have a new bus driver and they don't know what they're looking for or who acknowledge that that particular person would be eligible under this policy to have the free service provided I believe the bus operators acknowledge that was that part of your comment we are well trained in that area okay and all new drivers yes thank you thank you and once every year for our BGT service okay good so it's part of the education curriculum for the staff Donnie your light's still on or do you have a comment or any any other comments on this topic okay with that we have a motion by Rodkin second by Pagler and Friendly Amendment so all in favor aye opposed that motion carries unanimously thank you for that discussion okay um takes us to the brings to the end of the meeting here this announcement the next meeting will be next Friday it'll be on Friday November 15th at the Watsonville City Chambers and with that oh Rodkin go ahead it's a little retroactive but um we thanked the management team during the negotiations the SEIU was I think very affirmative in terms of how the final contract came out but I'd just like to recognize the fact that Alex took a tremendous amount of flak during the procedures and negotiations and I'd just like to thank him for not only taking it but coming up with what I think is a fair contract and I think he worked really hard to make it a fair contract in really difficult circumstances so I appreciate that we thank the management team but I'd like to thank Alex I'm not used to thanking administration and management no you're not especially coming from a strong union position and being a chief negotiator for my own union but I think Alex deserves our praise in what he's come through and the final outcome especially so I'd just like to recognize I will tell you I will tell you that I have numerous conversations with Alex during this entire process and what you what you identified was true and lots of extensive time Alex went back and forth creating trying to find a way to work to a solution which is where we are so I appreciate that you coming from you you make those comments and they're well said so thank you for those and thank you Alex and you had your before I was going to adjourn the meeting you had something you wanted to say that's correct okay and there's also a photo I think it's a photo a lot photo op is first well photo op if you're going to the Mac advisory committee please proceed we'll take everybody who is not in that committee first okay and if there's anybody who has a time commitment and needs to get out of here really quick let's put your hands up and we will take you very first so okay so Donna's first okay so and then so with that the Mac committee will meet the pictures will stay here and thank you everybody for staying for the pictures and with that we are adjourned thank you