 Okay, we're going to go ahead and call the Metro meeting for September 27th to order. Can we have a begin with the roll call? Thank you Today our Spanish interpreter will be Mindy Esqueda and I'd like her to come up and make a brief announcement For anybody that needs assistance Good morning. I'm in the Esqueda. I'll be the interpreter here today. Buenos días. I'm in the Esqueda I'm here for your service. Thank you. Thank you, Mindy If you want to make a comment today during any communication of the board there are comment cards in the back that you can fill out and then That way we'll cast by community television of Santa Cruz. Our technician today is Mr. Kingston Rivera. Thank you for your service There will be no items discussed in closed sessions. We'll have no closed session today. So we'll move to the next item which will be Board of Directors comments any comments from the board of directors and then any oral or written communications to the board Now the written where this is now time for oral communications This is if you want to come up and speak on something that is not on the agenda morning And I'm here just to read a letter from Marilyn Garrett to Isaac Holly From the Santa Cruz Metro Yeah, there you go. Thank you. All right. Thank you We have had several conversations about the biological harm caused by exposure to our radio frequency Microwave radiation over the last couple of years and I sent you some literature in Substantiation bus drivers and riders should be in a healthy environment not exposed to wireless radiation which in May 2011 the Was catarized as a class to be carcinogen in the same category as lead DDT Benzene etc. Such toxic exposure violates right to health and accommodation. I took note notes on on our most recent phone dialogue on 822 19 when you inform me of the new Sequence, I'm sorry synchromatic AVL system which transmits with the Verizon 4g LTE poles on freedom Boulevard and outcasts and elsewhere You have been informed of the documented damage to health and yet you install a system that increases such dangerous Radiation exposure. No one has authorized informed consent So Thank You Marilyn Garrett and then there's just some common Symptoms of microwave sickness and that would be when the brain there would be headaches and Sonia Concentration memory problems in the ears. You can have tinnitus humming pain Skin rash on the skin skin rash mood or irritability depression anxiety in the eyes Eye twitching deteriorating vision the heart it could be palpitations chest pain breathing blood pressure issues and That's and others. Thank you so much. Thank you Morning Marilyn. Good morning I've been here many times and seen you in different Positions on city council school boards, etc So you have been supplied with data on the biological harm of exposure to microwave radiation And if some of you have seen dr. Sharon Goldberg a medical doctor testifying against 5g she talks about major Illnesses we're seeing that are linked to these exposures Diabetes heart problems mental health issues including suicide rates and I Do any of you ride the bus I? Haven't seen you on the bus I ride the bus and I get on with my detector microwave radiation and it's way up to the top and In the conversation with Mike with Isaac Holly He told me this new system that Rachel referred to in my letter Transmits with the 4g and tennis on the poles on the utility poles They're about six of them along freedom Boulevard So you are exposing everyone to additional microwave radiation with this Automatic vehicle location. It's called which operates by microwaves. So here are these lovely in training bus drivers and They are being exposed all the time as the equipment is in the cabinet behind the driver seat and the transmission that's going on all all the time. I think this is a Union issue a workplace issue of health and safety microwaves are not safe and to impose this on the public and The drivers and there's no informed consent. I think it is not only Unconscionable But to me it seems abusive now if we You all remember or many of you when there was smoking everywhere I lived in Berkeley in the 60s and the co-op stores are smoking over the food secondhand smoke secondhand radiation both the user and the non-user are harmed with Smoking you can see it and smelling it smell it but this is an invisible type of a salt nonetheless, it's well documented and I am calling for this to be removed as a frequent bus driver I'm discouraged from riding the bus Thank you Anyone else like to address us on something is not on the agenda But in closed oral communication. Is there any written communication from the Mac? Hey a time for a labor or organization communications anyone from labor like to address us at this point my name is Olivia Martinez and the internal organizer and Good morning to all as you know Our members did not pass the last best-in-final that management proposed on Tuesday of last week. I Think it's important for you guys to understand That that wasn't really true negotiations when there is no dialogue at the table And we are just giving a last best-in-final That is not good faith negotiations So let me tell you what happened Our members were given the boot allowance We had a verbal agreement Right that we agreed on the mount that our members were gonna get Then for the last couple months we've agreed on the 5% below medium CPS recommendation So a lot of our members Yeah, so a lot of our members have been Looking at those percentages, right and our main big issue has been the red line folks, right and the calm time Because we agreed to give away the borrowing of the PTO. We agreed to Paying more into the medical we've agreed to all of that So we were also told we think members should have an increase to uniforms Because they haven't received an increase for many years and Other members that are not getting uniforms should get them So they were giving these carrots, right show your carrots workers They were dangled these carrots and there was a verbal agreement at the table that this is what they were gonna get and These folks over here said You're not getting anything. You're red-lined right So then management this last negotiation says we're taking this we're taking this give me your carrots and I'm giving him to these workers and The workers are angry upset at mr. Clifford's leadership and We were not able to counter At their proposal because it was the last best in final we heard we were gonna be given different proposed different options At the table. I told mr. Glenn. This is regressive bargaining. He says I know I know But it's something different. We're trying to do let go. Oh, I've never heard an attorney Agree with the labor that this is regressive bargaining So now I have three attorneys of our law firm looking at all the proposals But let me tell you why members are more upset about this They are upset because last week there was an emergency at the Pacific station and there were there was gas I sent an email to mr. Clifford. No response Until Wednesday. I filed two OSHA complaints. Have they received an email? No To say you're okay. You're safe. There is also a shooting Are you safe? Are you okay? Do you need counseling? No There was also bad-based Negotiations when I was running around with Aaron trying to get the practice coordinators position We signed off on it This young man that his wife just had a baby was told most likely you're gonna get the position Angela comes and says just two weeks Aaron was there for like 18 years. I don't know how many years Says, you know, I'm taking it away I don't think we need this position and this young man turned out offers other offers Because he was wishing he was gonna get this position. This is what happens at Metro all the time these Leaders do this all the time to our workers and you have to get involved You have to understand and I'm coming to every single board meeting to tell you That there's always these kinds of situations happening of bad faith Negotiations and where we're told one thing and then taken away and this is why our members rejected That proposal Because there's something awful happening at Metro and you need to get involved Thank you The morning by the board members, I just want to say thank you for your support and Having to open dialogue with me during our contract negotiations and we reached that final agreement However, I do want to But I do want to say that we have a few outstanding issues that I've yet to be resolved and They're minor issues, but we're still airing them out right now And I think it was because we're my first time going through it in mediation We're relying on a third-party perspective what intentions are but behind what was agreed on it's not a You know, we we try to get a gotcha moment or anything like that It's more like we intended one thing to be one way and they intended one thing to be another way So is everything completely done? I Don't know yet, but we're still working it out. I'm having open dialogue with Alex So I just wanted to bring it to your attention that we're still trying to iron out the wrinkles of contract negotiations But also give you guys acknowledgement and say thank you very much for your support. So thank you Thank you for your efforts appreciate that Morning John. Good morning. Good morning. Um, I Just wanted to say that I am I am really disappointed that we were not at an agreement we were really really hoping that we would be there and When we went into negotiations last week At first things seemed pretty promising We were told that the district had re-evaluated the parts staff for example And they have been pretty badly redlined and after this re-evaluation realizing that they actually do a vast number of duties that are above above and beyond what other parts staff do the district Decided to benchmark them a little bit lower than our buyer because they do some of the functions of the buyer So that was fabulous. We were so pleased with that. They also agreed no more redlining and that was huge That was so important the problem is is at the very end we feel like we were thrown a huge curveball and It wasn't expected and it on top of that. It doesn't really make any sense It really doesn't it's not logical. I Would be happy. I don't want to take a lot of time here. I'll be happy. I understand the process of the how the district came to This final offer and the changes that they made but like I said, I we did not believe that they make sense and I Would be happy to go over in more detail with any of you later But I did bring a couple of pieces of paper I wanted to give to Gina to pass out and this shows the history of just one group the transit supervisors and The training coordinator positions. There's an assistant training coordinator and then the one above it the main training coordinator Now they were not grouped together in a series originally The the bender benchmarked the training transit soups Individually and they've been smart the training coordinators However, there is a report. There's a Ladder, it's a ladder. It's a promotional path that the transit suits can take it would make sense to put them together but we didn't do that at the at the beginning and so the end result is That the they are trying to Force these positions into a ladder for which there is no place the vendor recommended a specific ladder These are levels within a series that different positions can fall into you have like an admin series. You have a mechanic Each of these levels they recommend a specific spread in between them the percentage of the difference in between and the problem with having a Transit supervisors it is a supervisor and then the two coordinators above that position. They're all supervisors There was no allowance In this model for three supervisors. That's where the problem came in The first way that this was addressed was simply to give a nice even 10% spread in between these three positions. That was here. That was the district district's last best in final Sorry, that was here in August Everybody thought that worked out really well What they've done this time instead is decided that no We need to slot these three positions Force them to fit into this scenario. There is no place for three supervisors Therefore, we are going to say that the transit suit is actually a journey level Journey levels don't supervise and there's a 20% spread between the journey level and the supervisor once now they've increased this spread dramatically between the transit suit and transit suits 11 of them and his position and Leo's position above now because that increased spread meant that these two training coordinators native positions salaries went Super high. They said oops We're gonna lower the transit suit salary so that these other two don't go so high so What the transit suits were told from the beginning when this class and comp first came out back in May That the district kept saying vendor recommendations table nine. That's what's shown here Transit for getting almost a nine percent increase. Okay That's what they have felt they were going to get since May Now at the last minute They're told no our last best and final to you is that you're getting half of that All these 11 transit suits are now only getting half of that original increase worse than that The two positions above are getting even more of an increase than they were getting here So that's expecting Michael the PSA chapter leads to go back to his members and tell them guess But all of the transit suits are now getting half of their expected increase and me and Leo are getting more You put Michael in an impossible situation. It was horrible for him Okay, it didn't have to be that way. It doesn't make a logical sense if the vendors Methodology doesn't fit you adapt it. You do what makes sense. This does not make sense for anybody Thank you, John any other labor organization communication, okay? I want to thank Both of the units and the various people who spoke to us for the tenor of the comments They're important. I think we got important information and it's much easier for us to hear it Well, it's delivered as it was this morning. Thank you very much Good comments. Thank you, Michael Okay, that might take us on to our consent agenda. These are items we normally deal with in one motion Is there anybody like to pull anything on the consent agenda? 13 no one Do we need to pull that for do you have it? We're gonna pull it. Okay, we're gonna pull that and Depending on the public hearing I'm gonna put that in Right now, let's just say To do it at 21 a And that is 13 oh one Any members from the public like to make a comment on anything on the consent agenda See that move over to the Senate agenda motion for consent Second by McPherson any other discussion all in favor Against that motion carries unanimously We got time for this we're gonna go on to the presentation of longevity awards on the regular agenda Who do we have here of the people that are receiving awards? It's on the list here Okay, good Where's our board chair is gonna go out and make the actual presentations One of the people receiving award is Candice Almanza pair of transit supervisors. She's not here this morning and this is And then we have melody Martin customer service representative who's also not attending Sandra Howard customer service representative is here this morning. Sandra is also being honored for 15 years of service as were the other two With Santa Cruz Metro like so many of our customer service representatives Sandra started with para Cruz as a reservationist before merging with the Metro call center several years ago Sandra says the best thing about her time with Metro Has been developing a relationship with her co-workers. You particularly enjoy celebrating occasions with their regular customer service potlucks Sandra's not working. She enjoys house painting as a hobby. I got some stuff to do Sandra would like to recognize all the Metro drivers who she considers her adopted family And part of what made coming to work at for Metro rewarding for her Sandra shared that her biggest challenge came the day. She was helping a customer in person And they became suddenly quite sick right in front of her So she's been on the front lines feeling of the public and we appreciate her service and as gonna present her with the award. I Appreciate the work has been Good experience Just happy to be able to stay in a job for 15 years Appreciate it Also, she's here this morning Lupe Sanchez Lupe Sanchez has also been serving with Metro for 15 years Recently Lupe has been voluntarily working out of class to cover the senior customer service representative position She's really stepped up to the plate to help our customer service department address some temporary short Staffing challenges Lupe is a hard worker who enthusiastically tackles new challenges and learns new skills She says her favorite thing about coming to work is her team of co-workers and the friendship She's made it here at Metro when she's not at work. We'll pay enjoy spending time with her family When asked about the strangest call she's ever received as a customer service representative Lupe Ever the diplomat says you get to know a lot of new people While the job can be challenging we appreciate that people like Sondra Melody Lupe continue to bring their compassionate patient's dedication and dedication to the work They do on behalf of our customers every single day. Thank you for your service. Oh Well, thank you. I've enjoyed working with Metro for the past 15 years. I've also of course like I mentioned Been happy meeting making friends the current From para cruise to the current people I work with downtown So, thank you And last but not least here is I think I haven't seen him But I told these years Eduardo Mountesino badge number 584 and he was postponed for he was supposed to be recognized in August, but he's here was able to come today Not here after all I'm gonna read it anyway His career started as an operator always committed to them delivering the very best possible service in all areas of safe driving Professionalism and courtesy his journey for more challenges led him to become the chair of the United Transportation Union now smart Stint as council member for the city of Watsonville and then as mayor for Watsonville Since then he's been promoted to transit supervisor and is enjoying his new challenges always with a great attitude We want to appreciate his service as well Congratulations to Eduardo. We'll make sure we get them We're gonna move on to the next item. I think we have time for this is an introduction of a new mechanic Gabriel Moreno and fixed-groud operators I'm gonna let to zero you want to come up and introduce this large group of people or I don't know how many are here Good morning, sir. We're in operations sir just wanted to mention that I'm gonna have the Safety and training coordinator and the assistant safety and training coordinator come up and introduce this class We're very pleased to have them. It's a large class consists of 12 individuals for operators and one mechanic and we're very pleased to have them on board great We're excited to have such successful recruitment. It's really great Good morning board members Michael Rios assistant safety and training coordinator Morning the opinion safety and training coordinator Okay, so yeah, we will introduce our mechanic and then our 12 Trainee bus operators who are almost at the end of their training They have their DMV appointments next week. So We are finishing up the training with our highway 17s We will then take them to the DMV so they can go through their line instruction testing and then be out to serve the public So we'll start off with our mechanic Gabe Moreno Or if you guys all want to stand up and you guys can line up on this side here And then we'll have you guys make your way down. I'm Gabriel Moreno. Welcome. I recently hired Very pleased to be here today Thank you. Good luck in your future here, okay David DeMara, my name is David DeMara and I'm proud to be part of Sanctifist Metro Glad to have you here David. Thank you Darnay Stewart. Good morning once like you said, my name is Darnay Stewart and Look forward to working many years with Metro and thank you guys again for your time. Great Darnay. That's a good goal Daniela Leal Warning board members. My name is Daniela Leal. I am really really happy to be here. Thank you so much for this opportunity Thank you for coming to work here Cindy Farrell. I'm so happy to be here and I'm really really grateful for the opportunity. Thank you so much It shows. Thank you Cindy Bernabé Corranco Good morning You know my name is Bernabé Corranco. I'm happy to be with Metro And you know I've been I've been learning more about Metro. It's a mission So I'm very happy to be with Metro How Metro can help that community. Thank you. Good luck with the class Maribel Negrete. My name is Maribel Negrete. I'm very grateful and pretty excited to start this new chapter with Metro. So thank you. We're excited for this big group too. Thank you very much Yo, Cario Morning, my name is Pio Quinto Carrillo. Happy to be here. Love to be here. Thank you. Thank you Pablo Martinez Thanks, Pablo Martinez, and I am excited and grateful for the opportunity you guys giving me and my family Welcome to our family. Thanks Michelle Collins Hello, I'm Michelle Collins. I was born and raised here in Santa Cruz, and I'm really happy to have this opportunity to work for Metro Thank you. Thank you very much Teresa Lustig Hi, Teresa Lustig originally from Cincinnati, Ohio So glad to be in California and having this opportunity. Thank you. I had to have you here Miguel Avalos Morning, my name is Miguel Avalos. I just want to thank Metro for this opportunity Helping to save for a long time You'd like that too. Thank you and Hi, Mejimenez. Morning, everyone. My name is Mejimenez. I'm glad to be part of Metro I want to thank you all for this opportunity Good luck with your job here Michael, thank you. Yeah, what a fabulous group. Okay, that's the high note of the day so far, so Puts us right on schedule. We're here now have a public hearing on fixed route free fare program for legally blind Mr. Clifford, you're gonna introduce this I will introduce Jamie who will introduce the topic of our public hearing today Welcome, Jamie Good morning. Thank you board members This morning. We're asking you to consider public comment on Staff's proposal to amend its discount fare program The amended program would allow legally blind Santa Cruz Metro customers to ride for free since introducing our ticket vending machine several years ago Metro has worked closely with members of Santa Cruz County's Commission on Disabilities to address accessibility questions related to the new TVM's Working with the equipment vendor GFI. We have addressed many of these issues But there remain enhancements to improve the usage for the visually impaired that our vendor is unable to implement with the existing equipment While we believe the TVM's meet all state and federal regulations We do not have the funding at present to upgrade the TVM's to address the enhancements requested For that reason, we're proposing a free fare program that would allow legally blind individuals to ride for free Riders who are eligible for the free fare would receive certification in the same way individuals eligible for the discount fare currently do Currently elderly or disabled riders qualify for the discount fare in several ways If you are elderly and you have proof of age You can come in to our customer service department Demonstrate your documentation and you'll be given a discount card to ride the service at the discounted rate If you are disabled similarly you can come to our customer service department or call us And we'll send you a form that you would take to your medical provider It would be filled out. You would return it to our customer service department and again. They would give you your discount fare pass We're proposing a similar system for the legally blind individuals who would be eligible for this free fare Legally blind individuals would download the certification form from our website or call customer service or come to the customer service booth They could have any medical professional involved with the treatment of their condition sign off a primary care physician Optometrist ophthalmologist, etc. They would then return the form to us We would produce a card just like our discount card. This would be our access card that would grant customers access to the free fare program Santa Cruz Metro would grant the free fare program to any legally blind out-of-town customer if they hold a discount card so most Disabled individuals have a discount card for the region that they live in That's issued through their RTC if they can produce that they would be able to enjoy all of the benefits of that are Community of legally blind individuals enjoying Santa Cruz County Santa Cruz Metro would work with customers who may need some time to make the necessary appointments with medical Professionals to ensure that they have access to the system while they complete the necessary paperwork for their free fare card As part of the public hearing and open house outreach process Santa Cruz Metro advertised in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on September 6th and September 13th in English and in the Registered Pajaronian on September 6th and in Spanish on September 13th We posted notices about the public hearing at each of our transit centers and facilities We posted information on our website and the public hearings and open houses were also posted on social media on September 18th, we hosted two open houses at Pacific Station in the morning and evening Five customers attended in person and provided public comments all offering support for the free fare policy We received several public comments via the outreach at SCM TD email address that we created As well as by US Postal Service We also received several comments and supported the proposal from members of Santa Cruz County's Commission on Disabilities They were not able to take it up as a group because unfortunately at their most recent meeting They didn't have a quorum, but several members sent in their comments separately All supporting the free fare proposal while the comments favored the implementation of the free fare program They also suggested that we streamline the process To make the process as easy as possible And finally we also received a letter of support which you should have in your packet from the Santa Cruz County Seniors Council If you have any questions, I'm available for comment Any questions? Okay, thank you for that presentation. I'm gonna go ahead and open it up for the public hearing to the public for people like to comment Anyone like to comment on this issue? Take the time Good morning and welcome Good morning. I'm Catherine Fisher an attorney at Goldstein Borgans are dealing in hope a public interest class action law firm We represent long-term riders of Santa Cruz Metro who have been denied access to its services on numerous occasions Because the ticket vending machines are inaccessible to individuals who are blind Metro's ticket vending machines allow the general public to use cash or credit cards to buy tickets or reload their passes to ride Metro in highway 17 buses Metro has five ticket vending machines in total each of these machines operates outside of Metro customer service hours With three of the machines open 24-7 in locations that have no Metro customer service on staff The machines are the only way to use a card to buy or reload a bus pass when Metro's customer service windows are closed Or the location is unstaffed and this system works if you can see Folks who can see can go up to one of the five machines make their purchase and get right on the bus But the same isn't true if you're blind The current machines audio is difficult to understand provides incorrect information and sometimes stops working entirely The inaccessible fare vending machines violate the Americans with Disabilities Act in California law and Metro should fix them Rather than fixing the current machines to make them accessible Metro has decided to provide the free fare program as an alternative until it decides to replace the machines Which it doesn't want to do for several years We support a free fare program. That's a true alternative to the inaccessible ticket vending machines But this means that the free fare program must allow blind customers to access the same rides at the same times With the same level of convenience that sighted customers are able to enjoy by using the ticket vending machines The policy is currently drafted does not meet this standard Instead it requires blind individuals to obtain medical certification and go through an application process Just to ride the bus We strongly object to that requirement No sighted individual is required to schedule an appointment pay a copay or risk having to pay out of pocket Just to use the ticket vending machines No sighted person from out of town is expected to travel with the appropriate Documentation to ride the bus and the current policy doesn't actually provide any provision for out of towners It's limited to out of state visitors Nor should individuals who are blind be forced to do so instead we advocate a policy that would allow any blind person To board a bus for free without delay burden or expense until Santa Cruz Metro fixes or replaces the inaccessible ticket vending machines What that means is allowing anyone who is obviously blind who's using a white cane or Skyded by a service animal or who already carries some form of identification Showing that they qualify for the free fare program to board the bus Anything less than that is not a true alternative to the inaccessible ticket vending machines and Metro will remain in violation of the ADA in California law Thank you Okay, there we go. Yeah, welcome that working. Yes. Thank you. So my name is Len Burns. I have been a blind user of Santa Cruz Metro for almost 40 years and Roughly 10 years ago when These ticket vending machines were rolled out. We became very concerned because we simply could not use them There's been some limited progress in resolving that problem over that 10 years But to say that what's remains to be done is an enhancement is inaccurate these machines do not meet Standards of state law or federal law at this time. They are in violation of the ADA We support a free fare program until Metro can sort this out either by fixing these machines or replacing them I think that's correct the policy in the way It's written that would require us to go through an entire medical certification process when I am quite obviously blind Notice what's in my hand Is ridiculous and it would place an undue burden on those of us who all ready ride the bus and simply routinely are trying to get our daily business taken care of That is actually un unreasonable unfair and an undue burden upon us and an undue burden upon us is not going to resolve the ADA issue that These TVM machines present At this point in time. So that is actually not a solution as it's written. I strongly encourage you To rethink the way that you're rolling this out I'd like to see you do it because clearly there's a problem and we are tired of that problem at this point But the way you're proposing to do it right now is not going to legally or otherwise solve the problem It is simply going to lead to more difficulties. I Have no need to go to a doctor to go know that I'm blind and you have no need for me to do that either It's rather obvious and with most people who are blind or visually impaired It is quite obvious either because of a serviced animal an Identification cane or a few other possibilities You are also doing one more thing. You're adding adding an administrative burden upon yourselves Because to administrate that is going to cost you money a Lot more money than you might lose if once or twice in this process if you blind people or who aren't actually blind slip by you That's happened in this district in the past by the way. It's rare. It's very rare You would lose a lot more money trying to run this and set this up than you would By simply saying okay if you're clearly and obviously blind you just get on the bus you ride free until we solve this This is a temporary measure This is not a lifetime thing. It's not a perk a benefit. It's a mitigation It is supposed to simplify a situation Not complicated further and as it's currently proposed It's going to complicate the situation further and that does not meet the measure of the law in terms of Resolving the problem that you've had for nearly 10 years Thank you. Thank you Welcome Veronica Sometimes if it's an inch it may as well be a mile I'm Veronica Elsie and just for clarification. I'm here representing myself as a fixed route transit user I too have been using Metro for almost 40 years and I am here to ask you to please not adopt this amendment to your fair structure policy that you have before you as Len and Catherine said this is not a perk So you're basing your model on what they do in Boston But this Boston model is to accept and receive a discount fare not to mitigate an ADA problem We don't have time in this three minutes to talk about what's still wrong with the machines But they do read the wrong expiration date on our cards and in fact they change it And we can't even get out of the volume menu So it's really important to understand the difference here that this is not a permanent discount fare But you are still requiring a permanent card For me as a transit user What this feels like is exchanging one set of onerous burdens for another I actually checked yesterday to see what I would have to do to comply now I already do have a metro discount card which I got in 1980, but it doesn't say I'm blind on it In order to do this to comply The earliest appointment I could get with my primary care is in November I don't have an ophthalmologist or an optometrist because frankly I don't even have eyes So Would be November she would not fill out the form without seeing me because I've been pretty healthy and I haven't seen her in a long time They will not let me return the form So now I have to track to see if she returns it to you Then I have to come down and do what I have to do with customer service and make the appointments to get the card Also, if I want my insurance to cover the cost of me coming in to see her It has to be classified as a physical that would mean that if I wanted to get or needed to get a Physical later in the year. I couldn't have one because my insurance only allows one a year. So I could Possibly be jeopardizing my medical care in order to fill out a form to tell you something that is obvious Just from looking at me If someone wants an ophthalmologist because their visual acuity is a little more complex to describe the appointments are being made now for like February March and So this is many months before we can avail ourselves of a policy that's supposed to take effect on October 1st and I think what you saw in the support is everybody was saying yeah, we support the free fare But everyone I've talked to is not supporting this complicated This complicated procedure, so please Give us back your oops. We're sorry. We'll take care of you policy and please let us self identify Get on the darn bus and go somewhere. Please. Thank you. Thank you Veronica Good morning Becky Look like Listen to the people who spoke Before me and and have Bivers We fare when They bought the fastest Instead of having them have to fill out a form and stuff. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Becky. I appreciate that Anyone else like to come up and speak on this topic Brenda Freeman senior vice chair smart UT 23 I don't want to go over too much of the other stuff as far as Behind the scenes Not really interested in seeing any kind of identification for a protected trait period, so I don't think Identification card is a good idea You can handle it on the case-by-case basis you can handle it on the case-by-case basis, but Another card Disability cards that we have currently for the discount fare. It's very broad. It doesn't specifically say What this is or what that is we're not interested in knowing What anyone's disability is we don't ask that question. We don't verify that question. That's not a driver's responsibility so I Don't think we should go with another card Additionally I think we've had them for six years This the free fare thing and having us Decide whether or not someone is Eligible for a free ride based on disability That's not our job we should not be doing that in the first place we don't judge people period and I Understand there's issues with GFI, but it's not our job to fix your mistake with the poor equipment You need to just get new ones Take them out fix on whatever you need to do the burden of Identifying for free ride should not be on the driver. It should not be on the customer because it was not us who bought If the policy where I haven't spoken with anybody else, I don't know where we're going with this but If we had this policy to be talked about in place for people who have let's say not so obvious disability with blindness, but Drivers were simply took Instructed that a person had a white cane and or a service dog and were obviously blind And there would be some slippage and you to know ahead of time We'd have some agreement the drivers wouldn't be punished if they made a mistake or something because that could happen It would be rare, but it could happen would that be a problem for drivers to just sort of let somebody on with a cane or a dog So anytime we have any kind of fair thing We don't fight over there if someone comes in and says any kind of anything. We're just going to accept it and let them ride I mean we do it currently with the cabrio passes that we brought up with Alex We know that you don't get a cabrio. We know that it's three months old. We hit the button Let's you right anyways We don't get into conflict with our passenger over fare It does happen Unfortunately every once in a while, but both the union and management has instructed that we just we don't get into it So if something came down and said, you know in your best judgment if this criteria is met Go ahead and you know press the button on the third box. Let them go. We would comply with that And that would be that would I wouldn't be an issue for us My biggest issue with the free ride is I don't want them to have to identify or go through any identity additional steps Based on their disability. I don't think I heard As far as how we implement the free ride as long as they're not having to identify it doesn't really make any difference to us Thanks very much. We'll just hit the button and go. Thanks for your comments. Thank you, Brandon. Appreciate that Anyone else like to talk on this topic? So real quick, I just want to give a driver's perspective on another situation that this is going to bring on to us is that You know, we will have to be using our judgment again If they don't have identification card or if they do it's like the next passenger that gets on and say they claim They're visually impaired and they don't have their identification Now we're put in a situation where you know, do we let them ride? Do we not let them ride? What's gonna happen? It's just seems like a very complicated issue And it seems like the honestly the biggest or the best solution to this is to fix those TVMS These visually impaired, you know, come the visually impaired community should not have to go and do all this stuff just because we don't have the You know the machines working and I understand the the need to regulate it in the sense that we do have unfortunately, some people in this community that take advantage of these loopholes, but It seems like the best solution in our opinion is to fix the TVM So we don't have yet another situation where a driver is going to come across You know where they don't know what to do. So I just wanted to give you a driver's perspective. Thank you Thank you. We appreciate your drivers and not police. Okay, so thank you for that. Any other comments? Okay, I'm gonna bring it back and I think before I open up for discussion One of my senses is first of all, thank you for a great presentation Veronica and team It Catherine it was great. I think you made a good point to the board I think they appreciated all your comments and the way you delivered them And I think this problem needs to be kicked back to staff To meet with you and to come up with a better resolution, but I'm gonna take comments from the board Does anybody that would like to make a comment on it? Our intention is to pass this this morning Oh, I mean I'm making a kind of a plea here that does we make a motion to pass this back to staff and Have them work with the group and see if there's a better solution that works for the community The blind is the drivers and and Metro in general. I just wanted maybe I could ask our attorney It is waiting a month to make the resolution here going to be a significant legal problem for us Because I think we need to fix this quickly. Yeah, no waiting a month is fine I mean our whole point of having the public hearing in the open houses was to get comments And so if we hadn't had substantive comments today would have been great to adopt But since we have had substantive comments, it's good for us to take another look at it Okay, so my only comment is to thank the drivers for their Flexibility and professionalism and trying to figure out how we might at least in the interim resolve this and The risk of cutting things short I'll make a motion that we put this off to next month and ask staff to come back with a different Solution than the one proposed today second that motion by rock and second by tagler Any other comments by the board? When it comes back and be good to have some idea of Estimated numbers. I think it's definitely small. That's my impression and the other just on the service dog issue Some dogs are obviously service dogs and then some people buy the little service dog jacket and again, it's probably a trivial number But that's the only other issue that occurs to me comment Okay, I have complete faith and the staff will reach solution that makes everybody happy and we could not do that without the Comments that we received today. So I appreciate all those comments. So all in favor. I oppose motion carries unanimously. Thank you Okay, this is item 17 consideration. Oh, no, that's We're gonna go to the CEO report mr. Clifford Thank You mr. Chair directors if you don't mind all combine Both 18 and 19 together in one presentation First of all, I always like to talk about promotions and new hires in the last 30 days. We have had One promotion Monique Delfin has promoted from an HR generalist to our new HR deputy director is Monique in the audience There she is welcome Congratulations Monique I'd like to start off with just a quick update on what's going on on the federal side I'm not touching any of the controversies on TV lately just dealing with our transit stuff FY 20 budget house bill Everything these days is is taught talked in terms of plus ups That is you have the fast act which created a baseline of funding that should occur for transportation in transit And then the last couple of years or so it's been plus ups How much more can we convince Congress to add to the fast act minimum thresholds? So in this year right now the house has proposed to plus up $485 million that's pretty substantial They would propose 383 million of that to be in the 53 39 be competitive program where we compete for money for buses and Then another hundred and two million dollars in the 53 39 see Which is the low-no program as you might recall in 2016 We obtained a grant through the low-no program On the Senate side of the equation They too are increasing bus and bus facilities a slightly less 470 million in their proposal and Their proposal looks at both the 53 39 a and b now a is your formula money So we get formula money about $450,000 a year that we use by all sorts of smaller capital types of items like for example When we need to replace one of our relief vehicles that the bus operators used to go out and relieve operators on the line That typically comes out of the 53 39 a program So they would they would increase $390 million in the a and b program and split at 5050. I will tell you I have advocated for Money to be increased on the formula formula side because at least we can count on that money coming in We can program it in out years. So personally, I like the Senate version a little bit better than the House version They too would increase the C program, which is the low-no, but only 40 million instead of 102 million That one probably needs a little bit of help Given it in the state of California where we're going with electric vehicles in the future So we want to keep seeing that program come up And then the Senate did something the House didn't do which is on the rural program And we do get some money through the rural program, which is the 53 11 program. They would increase that about 40 million dollars So as you can imagine it'd be nice to blend these two together and that's sort of the next stop in the journey The the Senate will now go into their appropriations committee to do the market process And try to reconcile the two bills and come out with something that they can recommend and send to the president The good news here overall if you take it at the high level and you look at the funding overall The 53 39 which is the A B and C program. We just talked about Would get under the Senate version about 1.23 billion dollars in FY 20 That's probably not an important number Does you don't have perspective on that number alone? But what gives it perspective is if you compare it to the fast act so the fast act minimum threshold is 808.6 million so plusing up to this 1.23 billion is going in the right direction and Remember the the beauty of the plus ups and what we have been arguing for particularly through the bus and bus coalition is that by plusing up the fast act. We're trying to set a new baseline For the future reauthorization next year, right? So we start we want them to work from the higher numbers to create new numbers as opposed to Trying to just roll over the fast act that we had in those numbers eight the 808 versus 1.23 billion So all of that will occur in the coming days Congress is also Sent to the president for his consideration a continuing resolution In this mix is the government's ability to fund itself And so that has to be factored into this too and we'll hope that the president signs that on the state side on September 20th governor Newsom issued an executive order aimed at climate change with a goal of reversing the trend of fuel consumption increased fuel consumption and he's targeting vehicle vehicle miles traveled VMTs and greenhouse gas Emissions and the result of this is is he envisions that is greater investment in transit among other things to try to sort of attack those two Areas so the devil's in the detail. We'll see what happens in the coming days relative to that But there is a substantial amount of money under control of the Cal Sta that I think he wants them to consider focusing in this area under his executive order Bills that were sent to the governor that I don't have any word yet have been signed One would exempt zero emission buses that we would purchase from the state portion of the sales tax That's a nice jaunt in the right direction and that would be through January 1 of 2024 As we're buying buses planned to buy buses in the coming years that that's a nice thing statewide and in SB 397 Glacier We offered some input on that this really had to deal with Some things that were discovered in the fires over the last couple of years in which as public transit is being used to Evacuate people from those areas In some cases they were not able to bring their personal pets aboard And so this legislation was created to try to facilitate a discussion statewide about a common policy To recognize that when you evacuate people you need to let them bring their pets aboard And as you can imagine that gets into an interesting discussion about all kinds of strange pets that people sometimes have so that that one That one doesn't mandate yet what exactly would happen, but creates a forum for some further discussion to occur there and Just in closing on the state side as you know, and I've reported to you before I Represent this agency as one of the few members across the state on the TDA reformed task force this was a task force created because Under TDA, there's a minimum fair box threshold that you have to achieve or you start losing your your TDA dollars We are not impacted by that particular performance measure Because we have a local sales tax and you're allowed to count the local sales tax in as fair box in that legislation Always has been the case But what's happened increasingly over the last couple of years is as transit agencies have lost some ridership and They have not been able to pass in their own jurisdictions local sales tax They're not meeting a handful of them across the state are not meeting the threshold the performance threshold And therefore are in threat of losing their money So what what occurred over the last couple of years is these transit agencies started going to their representatives and putting out Legislation to get these one-offs done you need to let us continue to get TDA because this that the other thing and Senator Frazier Senator Develle and and Assemblyman Frazier unless I have that reversed got involved in that issue and said Wait, we don't want to do a bunch of one-offs. Let's look at what is their problem with TDA so the TDA task force was created So we're looking at performance measures. I've also entered into the discussion The portion of TDA that the RTPA's RTC for example take off the top It's unconstrained in administration and across the state in varying ways. I think it's abused and so there is discussion about Whether the door sort of cracked open a little and we go in and tinker with it and maybe fix some of these performance things It may be a couple of the little things or Whether or not we go in a much broader way and just break it down and rebuild it from the start a much more complicated process Either one obviously can result in outcomes that reduce our funding. So we have to be careful We have to be watchful of that. So that's all I know on the TDA for now Now I'd really like to finish on a high note yesterday we completed our FTA Triennial review as you probably know every three years hence triennial the FTA comes in and reviews us because we are a recipient of federal money when you receive federal money Strings come with it. You have to follow a whole lot of regulations Just in the way of background Federal money provides to us $7.2 million a year or roughly 14% of our total operating budget. So that's pretty significant On top of that we compete in the competitive money that we talked about earlier that 53 39 B program in particular And the C that got us the the loan. Oh money a couple years back So we have received capital money at this organization that we are accountable to the federal government for and then of course I talked about the a program in which we get for about 450,000 a year in formula money So in order to do that we have to follow their rules and regs and they have to review you every it's not an audit They say it's not an audit. It's a review, but they come in every three years and they do that So it's really important for us to get that right this process this current process started about nine months ago About nine months ago. They send us a note and they say we're gonna come visit you we're gonna do our triennial review and Here's all the things you need to get done. So Angela and and Matt from Barrow's department were tasked with starting to work with all the managers and all of their direct reports to begin To pull together Volumes of information. This isn't this is a every three-year thing. It is very time-consuming It is very stressful for us as a small agency because you know, we're matrix We don't have a lot of people. We don't have a lot of depth and everybody is working hard at every level in this agency They're working hard to get their job done on a daily basis and every three years We have this this added sort of complication, but we got to do it because we like the federal money so we do it and we put a smile on and we get it done and We produce volumes Angela and Matt produce volumes of paper thousands of pages of documentation that they want to see and then they scan it into the system so that it's available electronically for those folks and then This year in contrast to prior years Three weeks out from the the review They the auditor the reviewers sent us a 29 pages of additional things that they wanted that they wanted to make sure We had on hand three weeks later that required a whole bunch of staff time Everybody dropping what they're doing and getting more information for them. And then of course they arrive On the on the our property and that's a this year. It was a two-day event with one one single reviewer So here's what I'm happy to report after the completion of the process and the debrief yesterday the FTA Region 9 was on the phone with us for the debrief and the and the reviewer Gave us really glowing comments. They had really positive things. We had two findings But they were very small They we have a HVAC system that we have to do preventative maintenance on and Our policy says we'll do it every three months and there were a couple instances in which we did it at four or five months We still got four in in a year, but they were not spaced three months apart. That was a finding They want us to to show that we're gonna do that in the future on quarterly basis Really really minor finding and then they want us to establish a policy which Freddie was already working on since he assumed the position of the the manager of that department and which for Facilities and equipment we have a clear policy about the frequency of that preventative maintenance a periodic maintenance So we have to do again very very minor findings for us in my Career of 20 nearly 28 years in this business. I have not seen a triennial review with these few of findings And so minor when they were For this agency This is something to be extremely proud of they used comments. I wrote a couple of comments that they Gave for us. They they they recognize the hard work that everybody at all levels put into the triennial review They said we are exemplary when it comes to a commitment and dedication to civil rights That is no small compliment from the FTA Because that is one area in which they focus greatly on when they come in and they do these reviews and for them to Acknowledge our commitment dedication to civil rights is really a really cool thing. I think They said it's not often that they see agencies with so few findings. They were pleasantly surprised job. Well done They recognized all of the planning that we put into this So with such a great Outcome we're gonna celebrate. We're gonna plan a nice big lunch for our employees far and wide in the next couple of weeks We'd like to invite the board to attend that to to acknowledge our staff for a job. Well done And and the the interesting and sort of ironic thing about this is the next triennial review starts today Three years from now they will review everything back to today So it it goes on We smile and we get it done and we have a great team far and wide from one end of the organization to the other job. Well done Thank you for that report and congratulations on the trend review I don't want to minimize it because I think it's a great accomplishment and I think everybody will appreciate the lunch So that's great. Any questions? I'm just gonna take this up. That's an incredible report. I've worked for an agency that has those kind of reviews Eternal And that's an incredible report I'm just gonna take the opportunity you talked about the state Policies for reducing Greenhouse gas investing in transit and other modes and I saw Claire Fleece there come in we just launched the TDM program and the bus passes and she was coming to deliver bus passes I think the board might enjoy just hearing how that's going because it's going really well there come on up and tell Story Good morning Claire Fleece their transportation planner for the city of Santa Cruz and yeah, it was just popping in I was gonna tell Barrow that I'm physically out handing out bus passes right now and council member Matthews caught my eye So we as you guys know we've partnered with Metro on our downtown TDM program that involves an eco pass For all downtown employees. We have about 4,050 downtown employees They look like this our program is called ghost Santa Cruz and it also includes Benefits for biking carpooling walking Information carpool matching the whole gamut week. We call it meeting people where they are so finding the transportation solution That works for the individual to encourage them to drive alone less drive alone Not at all carpool with a friend or do anything else that works for them. So As you know, you need to have your pass in hand for it to work and as we're officially launching this program on October 1st. I've spent this week Proactively reaching out to our downtown employers starting with largest and working my way down the list to try to get the greatest saturation and Since Monday at noon when I sent out our soft launch email to just a handful of people We've had almost a hundred passes redeemed and so How how it works as you redeem it on the cruise 511 application We're partnered with RTC on that you verify that you work in the downtown and I physically come out and deliver The pass to you. So it's a really really high touch program But one of the good things there is many of the people that I'm handing this out to have never taken transit before and the first question is What do I do with this and as we know that that question of even how do I ride the bus? What do I do with the fare box? How do I know where it's going is one of the pieces of trepidation that prevents many people who would otherwise be Great people to ride transit from taking that first step And so because it's a high-touch program and because I'm physically going out and talking to every person that's receiving a pass I have the ability to do some education at the same time and also inform them about the other programs that we have So we're really excited about this partnership. I'm really excited to you know See the metrics from the other side on utilization and try to get as many of these passes into people's hands as possible So I'm available if you have any questions about how it's going or anything, but I'm really excited Perfect day for a meeting in Santa Cruz. A perfect day. I just happen to be walking by Right up there any other any comments or questions just opportunistic. Hey, thank you Thanks for coming up and sharing that's a great program. No problem You have any questions during the life of the program feel free to reach out. Okay. Thank you Any other comments from the board a question anyone from the public have a comment or question on the Presentation, okay, we'll accept that report Go to the next item 20. This is a oral Pacific station update barrel Chair board members staff and general public Thank you. Just a quick update today on Pacific station, which we will do every month at the board Just four points Metro in the city have been meeting recently on both senior policy level and technical staff level and have Finalized a game plan for pursuing the funding necessary to make this redevelopment concept a reality The city and Metro are intending to apply for a major grant from the state's affordable housing and Sustainable communities program in February of 2021 The next year will be spent finalizing design concepts project features funding package processing entitlements at the city level and Arranging partnership agreements a draft MOU between Metro in the city outlining the roles and responsibilities of the two agencies Should be coming to the Metro board in the city council in the relatively near future That's all I have on this topic today, but we'd be happy to answer questions. So maybe this is premature and you can't say any more, but What are we seeking funding for? We started with these sort of extreme yes We build the existing station versus go to the city's plan hopes of a much broader kind of redevelopment plan They would change everything down. There's a word. What I and I'll try to make this quick As we have all been talking for a couple of years There's our current property and immediately to the south or west of us is the nyak old insurance building in a small city parking lot The concept is that those two pieces of property or three pieces of property be combined together to create one site Imagine splitting that site in half with a Pacific face facing half and a front streets facing half on the front street State facing half there would be merely a bus surface tarmac on the Pacific's facing half There would be a building which would feature Retail on the ground for including many metro and cedar Lee functions like customer service security operators second story concept is commercial office space that the city is working with and Additional floors up or assumed to your residential there have been Proformers put together about how many different sources of money including metro Developers tax credits etc. You put it in a jar and shake it up And there is a concept that has a price tag which can't be met at the moment between the city and metros resources this ahsc program Traditionally and regularly and by statute offers up grants to help in the capital construction and in some cases ongoing operations of Transit-oriented developments as I said staff from both agencies spent a lot of time in the last two months at Ahsc meetings planning strategies And we feel like we will be a pretty credible Proposal when we have to and I don't want to minimize There's a lot of eyes and tees and dots to be crossed over the next year because you have to be so many steps down The path of reality in entitlements environmental clearance, etc But if it all comes together as planned, it's going to be a very competitive Proposal as compared to we've the winners We've seen in the last few years and the other good news is the ahsc program is Getting bumps in its funding levels each of the last three years and the year coming up 500 million statewide the one we're aiming for in 21 700 million statewide And there are even carve-outs for areas like us who are not large cities whose volume numbers would overwhelm Competitors from medium and small urban areas, so I think we'll be in good shape Thank you very much. I'm glad I asked that question. No, I know a lot more about what we're talking about Matthews, I really want to thank you Barrow and others for putting the time into this. I know It's an ambitious project It it does require a lot of work exploring all the possible resources agencies to interact with it's It's better than a leap of faith, but it's it's an investment in a possibility But to my mind and I've said this on so many times has so much potential for Improving our downtown and also the Metro experience So I'm just so pleased that the serious effort is taking place Just really appreciate it And all the signals from a variety of agencies is that we are at a good place in time for policy thought infill excuse, etc. And the funding that's becoming available to do that, so I Just can't say enough how much I appreciate the work that's gone into this I also want to mention and this board is all well aware of another mixed-use project Block away that will be coming Before the city by the end of the year, which is the library housing mixed-use project which would provide for additional parking Capacity in the downtown area Both to replace parking that we're losing and to create some additional parking for increased Residential density downtown all of these things to my mind are part of a whole vision for downtown That that proposal no secret to anyone here has a degree of controversy But I think the kinds of uses that we're anticipating at the Pacific station will benefit enormously From the parking capacity that's anticipated in this other project So I just say personally I'd like to have some indication from Metro that we see the success of the Metro base Pacific station project Definitely being affected Beneficially by progress on the other project as well So I'm not going to propose the motion or anything, but I think that might be appropriate for a future discussion Dr. Myers council member Matthews Covered some of my comments, but I mostly just wanted to thank the staff and I really feel like this project has started to really take off and We have a huge need and a commitment to build affordable housing in the city and I feel like this is actually going to be a landmark project. Should we be able to get it over the finish line? So I know it's a lot of work on our side here at the Metro So it's I just appreciate the partnership and really the work that's been done over the last last few months It's been been really encouraging. So thank you Alex, did you have a comment? just briefly Barrow may have mentioned this when when I stepped out But I just wanted to reinforce the city sort of brought into this partnership Somebody that they hired who is experienced with this particular grant program who has had success over the mountain On the other side of the mountain in San Jose with getting an award So I think that really helps to give us a little bit more optimism That combined with what barrel talked about the additional money. I think we've got the right target set as you know Through this process through the last couple of years one of my concerns has been can that building last that we get through a Grant process. I will tell you that that Freddie and his teams Have done a really good job. We've as you may or may not know we spent a lot of money recently taking drywall down and cleaning up the inside of the walls and putting new drywall up and Searching high and low for where the leaks are in that building We've spent a good deal of money the next winter the next winter will be a good test of that They've taken a hose. They've shot, you know water at it and tried to make it leak so far so good We'll see when winter arrives, but I'm hopeful that building will do fine and stay dry for that period of time As are we any other comments? Thank you for that presentation anyway from the public like to comment on this topic Okay, we'll bring it back. That's just a presentation Barrow stay there. We're gonna do except the file metro planning and marketing annual status report Thank you again chair, and I appreciate this opportunity once a year to paint the big picture of where we're trying to get to And how we're doing on our path there So this will be slightly long-winded But I've worked to make it concise to provide you just the level you need to know and share and and talk to other folks And I will be introducing and sharing this presentation with Jamie Ackman Who thankfully is here to lead and create our new marketing department as our first marketing? Customer service and communications director anyway in this year's annual report I'd like to touch on six points ridership upcoming bus service initiatives other non-service major initiatives our recent on-board survey Priorities for future additional service and as I mentioned marketing to support from our new marketing department First of all ridership as shown in the attachments to this report Which I'm not going to go into in the three years since our major service reduction in the fall of 2016 Metro ridership has stabilized over the last couple years at just over five million a year remember was five point five So yes, we did lose eight and a half percent over the three years, but have stabilized for the last two years This is in spite of the national trend of shrinking public transit use nationwide bus use is down 2.7 last year and it was even worse the year before So we're keeping our nose above water To be honest our growing UCSC and Cabrillo ridership has offset Similar losses in the highway 17 express and the other local ridership as you see every quarter We give you a report in the details and we explain the basis of the background on these trends be a car ownership Transportation costs etc. So always tracking this relative to nationwide issues UCSC with its growing enrollment always has steadily increasing ridership It went up 2.3 1% last year and it just goes like that The success of the articulated bus lease pilot project led to Metro acquiring four Articulated buses of its own and they're out there doing a job to UCSC every day with the also with the Fortunate passage of an increase in the student transportation fee in May of 2019 There may be an opportunity for the university to support additional services in the future They've got things to take care of with their campus services first, but we'll look down the road on that one Larry Thank you for all your work over the years Cabrillo in its third year of the student bus pass ridership increased over 4% over the previous year now That may be coming to a bit of a top up top off although as I've warned or told everybody before there's a Strong link between the state of economy and community college enrollments Economy gets poor community college enrollment increased right now. We got the best economy Cabrillo is struggling with enrollment shrinking enrollment which has unfortunately led to a minor reduction this year in the number of school Trips they were able to buy of the route 91x so it dropped from a 22 to 15 trips But this is an addition these are school trip only trip So we've served they and us are surviving in partnership a little bit of loss of revenue We're still delivering what they need so that's a good story Highway 17 this over-the-hill commuter service has continued to see a decrease in ridership over the last three years Albeit at a slowing rate. We only lost 1.7% last year the highway 17 behavior tracks a lot like the national use of public transit But Metro sees a great opportunity to attract additional choice riders to this service through the introduction of improved customer amenities and our newer buses Number two upcoming serve it in its Upcoming service initiatives the primary service initiative for FY 20 will be the planning for the introduction of the new Watsonville circulator using Metro's first zero-emission electric bus This service will hopefully begin in the latter part of next year It will start with either our fall or our winter bear bid This bus and the services are grant funded and the new services intended to improve mobility Between various local locations trip generators and origins So we're really looking forward to that initiative, and I think it'll make the red the key to it It will make the rest of our five local Watsonville routes function even better It's the concept of a circle route while all the rest of your service comes in radially Radially, but not everybody's going to the center people are going to places around the edge. It's a proven tactic in a lot of cities Number three upcoming major image initiatives I'd now like to introduce our new marketing director Jamie Ackman to discuss marketing activities that will support the introduction of These new services and what comes next for Metro's future Thanks, Barrow. I get to talk about my favorite thing So let me just sort of start by giving you the big picture this first six months since Joining Metro. I've spent a lot of time getting to know the organization Looking at our long-term plans and figuring out where I can best fit myself in to have some value But we also have some tools and resources that I've been working on building So for example, you may not have noticed but the logo up on the screen is slightly modified from our past logo That's going to be important when I bring to you later this year, maybe in October But Alex will tell me when the design for the new zero-emission buses Which we've just started looking at internally over the last few days We are going to be branding those buses with a new look and feel and that sort of leads me to what? 2020 is going to look like for us because it's going to be a big year and I want everyone to be thinking in those terms 2020 is the year we're going to mark our 50th anniversary and we have a lot of change coming to Metro in an important year Starting early in the year We'll be rolling out our new zero-emissions buses and we'll have a celebration event to talk about the importance of these New buses not just for our community, but for what they mean for Metro's future Following on that will be launching in early 2020 our mobile ticketing app in two weeks We'll be having our kickoff meeting with the vendor we've selected to start that process That app will form the basis for the marketing program for highway 17 express buses Because it will be rolled out as a pilot program for the highway 17 express buses But it's an opportunity for us to remind the community that it's not just about the mobile app It's about the service that's available to them and how much easier it will be to use with the new mobile ticketing app Later in 2020 we'll be rolling out our new real-time app and that's another opportunity Not just to talk about the enhancements to customer service But new reasons to come try Metro again because Metro is moving forward And then throughout the year we'll be doing celebratory activities to reflect on our 50th anniversary Including a big community event around July 2020, which is right about our 50th anniversary We'll be inviting the community to come check out our new facilities by then we'll have our new electric charging stations in place at our Brand new JKS facility. It'll be an opportunity to talk about what comes next for Metro with our riders and our community We are engaging in a number of partnership programs past partnership programs Which we're already seeing success from with UC Santa Cruz and with Cabrillo and now of course with the launch of the downtown eco pass These are opportunities to develop case studies with riders who've benefited from having access to those passes Those case studies are really important for people like me because I take them out to big organizations like for example We're taught, you know We're looking at whether or not there's an opportunity to partner with some other large employers on similar kinds of eco pass programs Showing them the results of those programs and the success that they can have for their employees is going to be really valuable and Finally in 2020 we will be conducting our first non Metro rider survey that we're going to be doing some market segmentation to understand where the future Opportunities lie not just why people aren't riding now But how much do they really understand about our service and what it can do for them and with that I'm open for any questions if you have them or I can turn it back to Barrow to finish up his remarks I have a question So we're on TV and I thought I would be asked this question the mobile app that you're talking about means that people wouldn't have to have $7 in cash in their hands to get on a over-the-hill route, which is If I understand it I ride that I've ridden that many times. I wrote it once a week last year for the whole year It not only makes it easier for the passenger getting on and makes it you know I have to fumble around for the seven bucks, but it also means that you don't have to wait for People to like borrow money from somebody else. I mean the line that gets on the bus slows it down So it means your bus will be able to get over the hill a lot faster. Why correct in my understanding You are that's one of the reasons that we're actually piloting the mobile ticketing app on the highway 17 Express service specifically because we do have problems with delays caused by dwell times and This will help to speed where we hope this will help to speed the boarding process But it's also a significant amenity, you know our customers Generally many of them board at the scots valley station. We don't have a staffed customer information booth there So this is another way for them to access quickly and easily The fares and information that they need to get on and get their trip underway I Just want to compliment you on the presentation that sounds like the year ahead is is really just going to bring a lot of really wonderful attention to the district and Really remind people what a wonderful system we have that they can access so thank you for that I'm especially Encouraged to hear about the the idea of sort of the case studies to try to really engage Businesses and others to kind of reorient maybe look at our services as a way to facilitate getting their folks to work and Also just very interested in the non metro user survey So those seems both of those things seem very strategic at this point in time So I just wanted to compliment you and thanks. I'm very thankful you're on board Any other comments Yeah, that was a nice report. Thank you And you know how your brain works while you're listening things So I think the new logo and I was just hearing a census presentation and their logo and the whole business of federal funding for Transportation and partnership. So, you know, we I think we've talked about But I'm just wondering how that ties in with your marketing and partnership thing for coming up So about a month ago, I had a meeting with our census representatives for Santa Cruz and Monterey County We talked through what ways that we can help support their outreach efforts You should see for example beginning in November Interior car cards on all of our buses that are going to be helping people to understand the importance of participating in the survey They've also sent us fliers, which we'll be putting up at all of our transit centers later this year So we're engaged in that process. I've also told them when we Let's say about March is about the time that their big push is going to start happening And that we would give them a bit of space in our headways Publication in order to communicate any messaging that they might have we have limited space But we'll make about half a page available to them to help communicate their messages That's a little more challenging because there's significant cost associated with that We've talked with them about it. We'll work that out Okay Any other comments? I just want to add in, you know It was probably been months ago possibly even a year when when Alex presented us with the option You know we express concerns about having marketing and then this is the fulfillment of that program And I'm excited that that you know where it's at and where we're going and and the fact that you're excited with the program And I think this is what you know when Alex was selling us on this necessity It's just good to see it all happen So I'm excited about that program anybody from the public like to comment on this topic Okay, we'll go ahead and close that. Thank you Thank you very much Jamie and like you all I am looking forward to our us just Up in our game planning and marketing in a small agency is one one team one brain one decision So thanks for that. So let me move on with a few of our initiatives And I did want to make one other comment. It's too bad Board member Leopold is not here you would remember that when we were discussing the eco pass earlier He said as soon as you work out the bugs with the city. Let's think about The employees on Ocean Street there. So there's the next big employer. So we'll be ready for that one when we're ready A few other projects We already talked about the AVL and the mobile ticking. I'll move along So Pacific Station I already shared with you and that so it's the words are almost the same So let's move along you've heard that message very importantly in the next one is the unified quarter investment study alternatives analysis Really important to Metro Metro planning staff will be heavily invested in the year in this year-long analysis To determine this is really important exactly what it's all about It's to determine which high capacity transit mode and or service will be the most effective for the community and The capacity of the county to fund any proposed facility and service While maintaining the integrity of the Metro bus system I know you all understand that but that's a really important message And it's one of the key early tasks to look at the reality of available money out there in the world for initiatives like this Microtransit another buzzword of our profession in the second half of fiscal year 20 Metro will propose an on-demand non-fixed-route pilot project Many transit districts around the country in the world are starting to implement Microtransit projects and are developing relations with companies such as uber and lyft to supplement their fixed route While other transit arrangements Other agencies have made arrangements with local taxi companies to supplement both their fixed route in their paratransit services in low-demand areas Another project which we started talking about a year or so ago But for the time being we said it aside said we'd come back to it is fair restriction Fair restructure and payment media study with information learned from the 2019 on-board survey Metro will analyze the potential for modifications to existing fares past types and probably most importantly Modernization of our fair payment media it will it goes hand-in-hand with our marketing efforts Next the 10-year strategic business plan update next spring will be the first Revisit an update of the initial 10-year plan which we established last year The purpose of which will be to review and possibly update the established seven strategic priorities and the many associated key tactical initiatives Now on the item for priorities for future additional services given Metro's budget limitations Opportunities for service enhancements are limited at this time However, if at any time additional recurring important recurring operating funding is available to expand service The planning department sees the following needs as most important following implementation of the Watsonville circulator First of all, we've talked about it for a year or so now route 35 and 35 a up the valley through scots Valley and through the San Lorenzo Valley We need increased evening frequency along the two corridors beyond Boulder Creek This could be accomplished along with along with possible improved service along scots Valley Drive towards Santa Cruz these two could come together at some point and Secondly additional frequency and daily span of service in areas of the county like the capitol at a downtown Santa Cruz corridor through live artwork that have transit supported population density and demographics Which could create additional ridership? That's the end of my presentation. I'm happy to take any questions. Yeah, I apologize for cutting you off I didn't realize it was a tag team coming back and forth. So any other questions or comments for? I just glad Mike. I just want to thank Barrow and the planning team and marketing. This is exciting stuff I mean, it's like we deal with difficult problems We still have a serious difficult problem with SCIU and the contract but to have so much of this is like This is what transit should be doing thinking about the future and planning expanding and providing people with the service They need to get out of single occupancy car traffic We talk in the abstract about global warming and climate change But this is on the ground and we can really make a difference and it sounds like we're gonna be playing a cutting edge Kind of role there. So I this is I love to come to a meeting like this because a lot of our meetings are difficult And we're struggling with hard problems, but this is great. Thank you so much You can thank you again. I'll open up to the public anybody from the public on anything else is commented okay, we'll accept that report and We're gonna move on to this is the one that we pulled from the consent agenda. This is item 21a I accept the check journal Angela. Oh, you know, I'll just raise no you don't have to talk. I mean Angela come on up I know you like coming up When you don't have buckets or something like that, so go ahead I've just mentioned this one before this last time. I'll ever do it. I don't know why we have to see this Honestly, just has anyone looked at the check journal. I read through it every time But I know that's it. I know that's the cup fetish in an obsession, so it's You'll explain to us why we see the check journal we have multiple Public people that want to see what we're spending our money on and so this is a very easy simple way It's a report that you literally push the button. Here's the report. This is what we spend our money on the last month We have instances where we had exactly what the words were but we had Hired some goats to clear off some land and one of the board members was concerned that we were now in the goat business And we said, no, we're just renting the goats to clear off the land. So there are some things every once in a while When we have big projects, you'll see in here that there'll be multiple checks to one company We actually had some board members question that one time. I said, well, it's this project. This is what we're paying This is what we're doing and so it is informative to the public. I Hear your comments, but there's quite a few people out there that do like to see what we're spending our money on And it's a transparency from finance's perspective where we're able to say this is what we spent the public funds on I was waiting for that transparency work. Thank you All right, any other questions from any questions from the public on this item? I'll take a motion on this thing I'll move approval second pushing by Matthew's second by rock and all in favor Against a motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Angela. I got to get you up here at least once But I think I'm bringing you up again. I'm gonna make you sit down. We're gonna go to item 22 This is an oral update of the public transportation safety plan Rufus Francis welcome Running board chair and members. I'm here today to give an update or heads up for the upcoming Requirement from FTA for a transit registration pertaining to public transportation agency safety plan also known as PTA SP This plan is required and by the FTA rule 49 CFR part 673 and this rule applies to all transit systems for a recipient of federal funding and This rule requires that those agencies must develop and implement the PTA SP and That PTA SP must be signed by the CEO general manager and approved by the board of directors This is the first time that FTA is stipulated this requirement that this plan safety agency plan has to be approved by the board of directors The deadline for the developing implementing and self-certifying this plan is July of 2020 so I'm in the process of developing this plan soliciting comments internally from all concerned departments and individuals and once it's ready and to be put before the board I'm planning to have it by December 13 board meeting So this is Justin heads up and if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer any questions Seem happy at this time. Thank you for that any questions from the public on this topic seeing none, we'll accept that oral update and Can move to item 23? Angela come on back up. We're gonna do 23 and 24 together. Good morning during negotiations We came up with some pay tables for a pair of crews and for the fixed route operators In the past we've only put forward the pay tables and we had a understanding of how the pay tables were put together Since then over the years that I've been doing this We've always had an understanding on our side understanding on the union side and then as new people were coming in The understandings were not the same and so what we did this time is we completed negotiations And then at the end we said, okay, here's our pay tables, but here's the process of how those pay tables are put together so Over the course of everything CalPERS now requires that we have a pay table that includes longevity And so we've included in in these pay than the documents that we put forward The calculation on how we come up with that longevity Then we also have pay tables that have certain percentages between the steps So now we've included in there the exact formula that we use to get those pay tables I will tell you that if you calculate it one way. It's X if you calculate another way it might be a penny two or three off in Y And so that's why we're putting this forward to the board who wanted adopted The unions have already signed off on it saying yes They agree with the way that we are calculating it It is the way that we are calculating it so we're not throwing something in there completely different than we're doing right now But we wanted to make sure that future people that come on board and see Their pay or their pay tables that they understand how those pay tables were created Any questions the board are we doing 23 and 24 together? Yes, please one is for perikers and one is for fixed route Questions okay any questions from the public Motion by rock and second by Rothwell any other discussion all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously. Oh, that was simple. Thank you That brings us to the end of our agenda the announcement is for our next meeting will be Friday October 29th at 9 a.m.. At the Metro office on Vernon Street and we are adjourned. Thank you