All right. Well, I think we're going to call this meeting to order of the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District Board of Directors June 24, 2022. And maybe we have a roll call, please Donna. All right. Director Brown. Present. Director Downing. Present. Director Dutra. Do not see him. Director Colin Terry Johnson. Present. Director Conig. Here. Director Lynn will be late. Director McPherson. Here. And Director Myers will be late. Director Pagler. Here. Director Parker. Not seeing her. And Director Rockin. Here. And ex officio director Henderson will be coming in late. Ex officio director North. Do not see her. Here. Okay. So we do have quorum. All right. Thank you. We'll go to announcements today's meetings being broadcast by community television of Santa Cruz County. Thank you, Walter. Go to item four, Board of Directors comments. Do any of our directors have any comments to make today? You can't see my hand. I'll just, I'll just say, Mike, for people who joined us late, we're having problems with the cameras. We're having problems with the cameras. We're having problems with the cameras. We're having problems with the cameras. Disappeared even though you're just seeing a photo or a name. Thank you, Mike. All right. Oral and written communications to the board. I know we've received the letter from on an issue in our packet. I understand there have been no additional written communications. We have members of the public who would like to speak on items. Brian, are you there? I see your hands going down, but I don't hear you. What's up? We hear you now. Hey, thanks a lot, everybody. This Brian from trail now. Great to hear your voices, but not see you. I miss seeing you. I'm actually out in Vermont. But I wanted to call in and just remind everybody that, you know, our goal and the community's goal is really to get the Santa Cruz coastal corridor opened as a transportation corridor. It's been sitting there for a decade. And it's a very important corridor for our community. You know, the enormous costs and physical constraints of using that corridor we've seen over the number of years now a decade and we're really need to look at how can we open that corridor for both trail and transit. You know, that's that's cool. And I want to remind you all that, you know, the state C level rising requirements is really a major restriction on how we use that property. And we got to find ways to legally use it. And speaking of legally keeping using it. It's very important that we keep this property as preserve it for as a public own publicly owned transit corridor transit and trail. And, you know, with segment 12 coming up, it's there's like five bridges and it's really important that the rail banking process be applied there to ensure that we keep that as a important resource. And then finally, you know, it's really important that we spend our, our limited resources effectively. And, you know, as we talked about in the past, we want to minimize the cost of opening that corridor as a transportation corridor. And, you know, that gives more resources for Metro as we saw with lift line and and transit. So anyways, appreciate your time. And I'm hopeful that we continue to move in a cost effective and timely manner for opening the coastal corridor. Have a good week. Thank you. Thank you, Brian. I see a hand from Tate bar. Would you like to speak please take right now take. There you go. You hear me. Yes. Yes. Hi, I just really heard the board member Brian mentioned the coastal corridor. I know I'm not supposed to ask questions but I just, I just need to find out like how I can be able to ask questions. At some point because I want to understand what that coastal corridor is all about because I think it's because I think it starts to sound familiar I'm not 1% sure though. The only thing I'd offer is that Brian is not a board director. I'm sorry, a member of the public who was speaking on behalf of his group trail now. Uh huh. Okay, well, sorry, if you'd like to know more about the quarter. I recommend that you use the URL. Hold on. Hold on. I'll go slow. Sure. I'm sorry. Hold on. I'm going to write this down as possible so I don't take up so much of your time. Give me a second. Take it down. You're good. Yeah, it's fine. You get two minutes. Okay, can you tell me. This is CCRTC.org. And that's the Regional Transportation Commission that owns the corridor. And on their website you'll find a lot of information about that quarter and some of the issues that are going on there. Okay, because I think it's starting to sound like it's the same corridor that could be the light rail, which is connected. It is exactly that. Yeah, next to the bike trail. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, because I'm going to, because I have some questions because I hear there's some rumors going on, which I don't know what it is. And the last thing I heard was there was a testing of that light rail last fall in October, which didn't last very long, like some kind of tour or something. Okay, anyway, we'll find out more about that quarter at that URL. All right, thank you. All right, I don't want to take much of your time. So just you can, that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Tate. Any other members of the public to have a comment or question. I'm seeing no additional hands rise. With that, let's go to Labor Organization Communications. Do we have any communications from our crew I see James Sandoval your hand is up please feel free to speak. Morning morning. Nice to see you and your pictures, I guess. Good morning. I feel like we're doing this every month but I still got to do it because a lot of good things are happening from what I heard Brandon did a good job capturing all the good things that are happening but there's been more things that are happening. Just working with Michael tree and just all the ideas that we have it's just been working great. I'm sure he's going to report on a lot of this stuff.  So we can start focusing on health a little bit more and just having it here in operations for, you know, easier access, you know, ice makers for the hot summer that's coming up. We had a really fun time at the bus rodeo. And we're looking to hopefully, you know, host our own someday. So we're playing that. We came up with a referral incentive to hopefully get our, you know, employees here at Metro recruiting and trying to get us a bigger class for bus operators. I think you've seen it on social media we're blasting it everywhere we're trying to get more people here. We got a company picnic coming up on July 30 that I'm hoping every board member could attend. We're reaching out to a lot of retirees and hopefully it's just going to be a place where we all could see each other in person. And the last thing that we know we greatly appreciate that's been going on is the fact that he's been out and about a lot of drivers seen them at operations quite a few times and, you know, being at the transit center and just, you know, really getting to know the ins and outs of what what it takes to run Metro. And the thing that I greatly appreciate is communication. It's been there. We've been talking about everything and we're working together on a lot of great things that are to come from Metro so, you know, I'll try not to do this every month but it's just been a good change. And as you can see we've been pretty happy. So thank you. Thank you James you're always welcome to speak every month especially when it's so positive and upbeat I really appreciate any other communications from labor. Seeing none let's go to additional documentation Donna I don't know that we have anything else for today's. Yeah there is nothing. All right, thank you. This is the consent agenda. Are there any questions or items that the board members care to pull or approve as whole. Any questions or comments on the consent agenda from the public. Looking again for hands to raise and entertain a motion. I move we approve the consent agenda this is Mike rockin. See that. That second person. Second, Bruce McPherson. Yes. Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, let's go to a vote. Okay. Director Brown. Aye. Director Downing. Aye. Director Dutra. Has not joined yet. Director Collin Terry Johnson. Aye. Director Koenig. Aye. Don't see Director Lindy yet. Director McPherson. Aye. And I don't see Director Meyers. Director Pagler. Aye. Director Parker. Don't see her. And Director Rockin. She's there. At least her thing is up. I'm here. I'm here. Thank you. And that's a yes. Thank you. And Director Rockin. Aye. Thank you. And the motion passes. Very good. That takes us to the regular agenda. We have a resolution of appreciation for retiree Jane Ng. Don't have any other information, but I believe she served over nine years with Metro. And I believe we have an action to approve that resolution. I need a motion. I will move approval of that motion. Mike Rockin. Thank you, Mike. Do I hear a second? Rebecca, second. Thank you. We have a motion and a second from Rockin and Downing. We've got another vote, Donna. Okay. Director Brown. Aye. Director Downing. Aye. Director Dutra. Director Cullin-Terry Johnson. Aye. Director Koenig. Aye. Don't see Director Land yet. Director McPherson. Aye. And I don't see Director Myers. Director Pagler. Aye. Director Parker. Aye. Director Rockin. Aye. And the motion passes. Very good. Thank you very much. That brings us to the Metro Advisory Committee. And I think I saw James Von Hendy, the chair available. We have a report from our chair for Mac. Yes, we do. I had trouble finding my unmute button. That's okay. Take it away, James. All right, great. So I'm going to report on the first half of the year. The Mac meeting, Mac met twice in February and in April. And in the first half of the year, we continue to be fierce in our representation of the needs and requests of our ridership, also respecting the needs of the Santa Cruz Metro itself. We strongly appreciate how Metro has continued to strive to provide public transit service to Santa Cruz County, especially in these still lingering and ongoing COVID times. And in communications to the advisory committee in the first half of 2022, in February 11th, on our February 18th, Mac meeting, we revisited a ongoing request from the public to reconsider adding bus service to the Enterprise Technology Center in Scotts Valley. This is something that we've had a number of times brought up and discussed in the meeting. And once again, planning and development director, John Urgo, provided his detailed response regarding the several impediments that prevent adding such a service at this time, including an apparent lack of potential ridership. And in fact, we have not actually heard any support from the university itself since they would be primary candidates for that service. And at the same time, director Urgo also informed us that no response to a request from the public beginning in the spring of this year, Metro would add weekend trips on the Route 20 to help UC Santa Cruz students get to their research jobs at the Seymour Center. Finally, Mac member, Elsie asked that the Metro send text messages regarding the beginning and end of school terms and Metro staff agreed to review that issue. In the April 20th, Mac meeting, Ms. Elsie asked, said the election department would like to work with Metro to arrange transportation to 18 voting centers in the upcoming June elections. And Ms. Elsie requested a contact person for the election staff to consider, to contact about that. I don't know the upshot of that. That was what happened in the meeting. Member Mr. Pizano asked about measure D stickers on the Metro buses and vehicles at that time. Margaras responded that the Santa Cruz Metro, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Committee gave approval to cover up the 2016 measure D stickers until after the election. And then Mr. Martinez, also of the Mac committee, asked that the Paracruz van operators could be given cash to provide change to riders. Ms. Ross explained that it was not an option and Brandon Freeman bus operator added that will be a liability to the Metro. So that issue was dropped. In communications from the Metro Advisory Committee in our April 20th meeting, I reported on the letter I wrote to the board of directors requesting staff to create a section on the Metro's website to share the steps Metro is doing for sustainability and environmental issues as requested by the Mac in our February meeting. One of the things about that is that we know that the Metro already provides that information in various places, including in the headways. The goal there was to provide a single location for the public to see what steps the Metro is taking. As of this time, the board had acknowledged receipt of my letter at your February 25th meeting. But as far as we know, the board has not directed the staff to act in any way on that request. In updates from the Metro to the Mac in both February and April, Metro staff has always provided the snapshots of COVID-19 impact on operator staffing and the cost in some cases for the availability of services typically seem to affect the Highway 17 quarter at that time. Let's see. The board acknowledged receipt of, okay. In both our meetings, I said calling IT and ITS director report on the latest developments regarding the positive interactions with our new ITS vendor on clever devices with initial planning and estimated timelines. Committee chair and members, Elsie Pizano and myself as chair expressed our gracious director Holly's ongoing efforts in this regard. John Ergo, planning and development director provided quarter of his typical reporter on the quarterly ridership reports. And in February, updated the Mac on the cost of providing Braille bus stop signage, something that Mac have been asking about. Mac member, Ms. Tyler suggested providing only the stop ID be included to reduce the potential costs of that. And in April, Mac meeting, Ms. Taylor asked for an update about that signage. And after further discussion, Mac member, Ms. Elsie agreed to follow up offline with director Ergo. In the February meeting, director Ergo reported on the award of $30 million for the Pacific station North redevelopment project and expressed appreciation for partnering with the city of Santa Cruz on that project. You also responded to Mac questions about the access access to the Pacific station lobby. In both our meetings, reporting that the lobby itself was still closed, though the restrooms are accessible, the metro market is open and food vendors are also available. In the April meeting, director Ergo added that fencing at the Watsonville transit center would be removed. And finally, in response to a previous suggestion from Mr. Pizzano about supporting a bus route to the new Kaiser facility, John Ergo said that the new Kaiser medical facility was not on an existing metro quarter and metro is not currently planning to provide any service to that location. Finally, in other Mac discussions, Ms. Elsie suggested revisiting the abandoned bus stop committee in our February meeting and agreed to provide a historical perspective about that committee's role and its disbanding since most of the other members on the Mac at this time were not familiar with this previously existing committee. In the April Mac meeting, Ms. Elsie did provide a brief overview of the bus stop advisory committee. Some discussion ensued on the type of work that committee did before it was dissolved. For clarity, as chair, I asked if this was something that Ms. Elsie was hoping to have reestablished or revisited. And CEO, chief operating officer Ross said the issues of that committee are currently being handled by operations and planning department itself. And bus operator Mr. Freeman added that the customer service can also be contacted on information regarding bus stops. Ms. Elsie asked who the public should contact. And that was when both Ms. Ross and Mr. Freeman added their information. And that I think is a summary of the main content of our meetings for the first half of 2022. Our next meeting of the Mac will be in August. Thank you, Chair Von Hindi. That was a very thorough report. I see a question from Mike Rockin. I wonder, I know nothing about the construction of websites, but I wonder if our staff, not necessarily today, but at some point might respond to the issue about having a sustainability section that's sort of on its own that pulls together information about things like our move towards electrification and other sustainability issues. I have to say that that one issue is the main, you know, probably responsible for probably about 90% of my contact from the public about what Metro is up to. And I think it would be helpful to provide. We also have scattered through the website information about the role that the bus service plays in sustainability generally in our society and so forth. And I think there's quite a bit of stuff there that could be pulled together in that way. And I don't, as I said, I'm not looking for an answer this morning, but I hope that our staff would consider that. And if it's something that's feasible and doesn't mess up the way we're thinking about our website, I think it's worth a serious consideration at least. Thank you for that. Very good, Mike. Any other comments from the board? Any comments from our attendees in the public? Seeing none. Thank you, James. Please express our appreciation to the entire Metro Advisory Committee for their participation this year. Appreciate all their work. I will do so. Thank you. All right. And if there's no other need for me, I will exit. Okay. I think you can go. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you very much. All right. That brings us to item 8.5. Excuse me. 11. We're up to 11. Thank you. Public hearing, final adoption of Santa Cruz Metro's fiscal year 23 and 24 budget. We have our CFO, Chuck Farmer. Hi, everyone. Can we go ahead and bring out the presentation or should I just share it myself? Walter, do you have that handy? Nope. That's not the presentation. This is the short version we're looking for, Walter. I have to pull it up. I think I have it here. Let me see if I can share it. Is that coming through? Yes. You're going to get it full screen here. Okay. Awesome. Very good. All right. I'm going to move to the next slide. So at the last board meeting last month, I went through in pretty relative detail over the budget. So to spare the time and effort to kind of go through it again, I'm going to talk just about what has changed since the last budget discussion until now. On this slide right here for our budget, we have now balanced the full FY23 budget as circled in red down on the bottom right. That basically shows that we are now net zero on an operating surplus deficit after transfers. So if we move to the next slide, so on the May 20th board meeting, we had operating surpluses of $293,000 and 23 and then 482 and 24. Since then, we actually made some adjustments to our COVID ARPA grant. This is money that we'll be drawing down. We shifted about $375,000 from FY23 to FY24. We had two adjustments due to changes in positions. Our capital planning grants analysts to a manager as well as a mobility training coordinator. And then we also had to update our calculation for our capital and bus fund. So that made some slight impacts. So net net overall, our final operating budget now for FY23 bottom line is now zero. And our FY24 is actually a little bit higher now at 945, but we'll adjust that next year when we get into the FY24 budget. Any questions on that? If we want to move to the next slide. On our capital, on the other hand, on our May 20th board meeting, we showed $15.8 million for FY23. And then those projects carried into FY24 and beyond of about $18 million. Since then we've made adjustments. We've added in two big items. This is the grant that we will not know until I think August, if we receive the funding, but it's for 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses, as well as a hydrogen fueling station. So those are the biggest changes that have been made. Since then, as well as we've adjusted our CNG and seven CNGs in one Arctic. So that's about 6.2 million in 23. So net net overall for on our capital, we increased FY23 by about $9.7 million to go to 25.5 million. And then 24 and be honest, this could be 24, 25 as we receive them in the future. That number dramatically increased by 43.5 million. And that's driven by the hydrogen fuel cell buses as well as the fueling station. And now we're at $61.5 million for 24 and beyond. So if we move to the next slide, give a little perspective. This is kind of the breakdown now of FY23 of the 25.5. Our FY24 is about 19.6. And basically 25 and beyond when all the hydrogen buses start coming in, this is a $41.9 million. And down below, as you can see, we put in the number of buses to be purchased. So this kind of gives a little perspective on how we're spending our capital. We're expecting to receive about 20 buses in FY23, 15 being CNG and Arctic, as well as five electric and 24, five CNG and one hydrogen. So the first one delivered. And really where we start to see everything are the rest of the hydrogen buses, 19, as well as five more CNGs. Any other questions on capital? So we'll move to the next one. And this is the last slide and we did not present this as a first time presenting it. So our operating reserves that we're projecting as of the end of this month, we expect it to be fully funded, the top four buckets fully funded. This includes our working compensation reserve fund, our liability reserve fund and our operations sustainability reserve fund and cash flow reserve fund. So the first two, we put those aside because we have to and then our operating sustainability reserve fund. So this is three months of operating costs. So if something were to happen and we needed funding to keep the operations running, this would provide three months, providing no monies coming into the agency, three months of operating sustainability. So that's the 15.3 fully funded now. And then our cash flow reserve fund, 3 million. This is money that we use. Think of that as your float money. So we would have dips and valleys where we'd be sending out a lot of money out the door but we haven't received money, for example, from our sales taxes. So this helps with the ebbs and flows of cash throughout the month as we go forward. On the bottom four buckets, these don't have minimum balances. These include our bus replacement fund, which is now fully, what I call is fully full right now, which is basically three million. So this is the three million we set aside each year. Our UAL and OPEP is now at four million. So this is two million every year that we're putting into this bucket. And there'll be more down the road talking about how we saw for OPEP and so on, but this is critical that we keep this bucket even though we did go out with a bond to fully fund our UAL, we still will end up having some kind of UAL or for that matter OPEP and we can use this money for that. Our COVID recovery fund, so this is money. So this money's gonna go away. This is one time use money. As you can see, we're gonna get ARPA funds over this next year, but then it's done. After that, then we are on our own and this money is gonna go help us extend our service before we hit that physical cliff, which is probably somewhere around 2030, 2031. And then our operating and capital reserve fund, so this is our 2.6. So this is our matching money that we use to match certain items or for that matter, little projects that are like below $500,000 that we need to fund such as replacing air conditioners and something broke that we got to fix and so on. And so I think we're in pretty good shape this year for our operating reserve buckets. And that concludes the budget. And so therefore closing out the public discussion period. If there's any questions or anything, let me know. Thank you, Chuck. Thanks. I appreciate the term pretty good shape. Yeah, I'm looking to the board and the public. Mike, I see your hand up. Yeah, I wonder, Chuck, on the board, all the board members understand what UAL and OPEB mean, but I bet members of the public don't necessarily. And it's a little complex, but I wonder if you could give people a basic idea of what we're doing there with that $4 million. Sure, sure. So UAL is our unfunded liability. So that is our pension. So we now actually, our pension was underfunded. We went out with a bond and now we're fully funded in our pension. So that would be our UAL. OPEB is basically benefits associated that we pay for our retirees. So when you retire from Metro, we continue their benefits like health insurance into the future. And that is an obligation of us here at Metro to pay. The reason why we have this bucket is to help, is that as we go forward in time, we know that our OPEB costs are gonna increase because healthcare costs increase and more people are retiring and they're living longer. As well as our pension, our pension is subject to what's happening out in the market. So when everything is going great, that's great because we have great returns and we don't have to worry about our pension. But when we start going where returns start dropping, what happens is if we're not earning a certain rate of return, we build up kind of a balance that says, hey, we need to go in and actually fund that balance. So between that balance when we have bad returns like CalPERS or OPEB for that matter that we have to fund our future obligations for health insurance, we're building up a balance in that bucket so that we can use that in the future to pay these balances as need be, as well as look at a strategy to take that money and possibly put it into, I'll just say an investment return and actually use those returns to pay for some of the OPEB or if there's a UAL that's outstanding. It just, it minimizes the risk that the agency is fully burned to have to pay all those risks at once. We have something to help offset some of that risk in the future. Thanks, I appreciate that explanation. I'm sure the public will have a better understanding of what we're doing with $4 million there. Yeah, very good. And Chuck, if I could, I'm sure on the reserve fund, the three months of operations, historically that's what we have done at Metro. Is that correct or is that more or less than we've done in the past? I think it's the same. Yeah, I mean, we've been trying to keep, we don't update it every single month. We update it like once a year based on what we expect our budget to be. We look at three months and then we update it. And yes, we're initially a little bit lower than three months because we didn't cover 100% but we're covering now 100% of our operations so that we won't miss a beat for three months. Thank you. Very good. Any other questions? Do we have an action here? Yeah. You have to hear from the public too. Yes, thank you. I'm looking to our attendees. Any comments from the public? Raise your hand. Back to the panelists. The answer rising and falling. All right. There we go. Mike, please go ahead. Yeah, this budget is recommended for approval by the Budget Finance and Audit Committee two weeks ago and I move that we approve it. Why don't you go ahead and close the public hearing? Thank you. All right. Seeing no other comment from the public, let's close the public hearing and we have had a motion from Rockin. I can second. This is Shebra. Thank you, Director Calantari-Johnson. We have a motion. Any discussion? I'll just say, it's great to be in this as good financial shape as we are. I'm sure we have some rocky moments ahead of us in our days or months or years ahead of us but right now we're in pretty good shape and working for a public agency it's always nice to know that we're not in desperate straits which do, does happen to public agencies from time to time so it's great to have our staffs on a great job and I particularly appreciate Chuck and all of his staff's work and getting a budget together that reflects this really positive situation we find ourselves in. Very good. All right. Donna, I think we're ready for a vote. All right. Director Brown. Aye. Director Downing. Aye. I do not see Director Dutra. Director Calantari-Johnson. Aye. Director Koenig. Aye. I do not see Director Lind. Director McPherson. Aye. And I do not see Director Myers. Director Pegler. Aye. Director Parker. Yes. And Director Rockin. Aye. And the motion passes. Very good. Thank you. Next item 12 consideration of adoption of Santa Cruz Metro's amended conflict of interest code and approval of resolution confirming this action with our general counsel, Julie Sherman. Thank you. Yeah, this is an item that comes before the board every even number of years. In fact, it comes before every local agency and special district. It's required by the political reform act and the conflict of interest code is a document that tells metro personnel who are listed in the code what disclosure categories they have to disclose on their form 700s. And so every two years, we have to take a look at the code, make sure it's updated in terms of any changes in the law. And most more importantly, look at the board chart and update the position titles. So that's all we really did this year. If you look at the red line of exhibit A, you'll see the changes in the code are just updates to position titles. And that is it. It's pretty straightforward. After the board approves this, it will go to the county, which is the code reviewing body and will be done with us for the next couple of years. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Very good. Any questions from the board? Comments from the public. Seeing no hands. This sounds fairly straightforward. Do we have a motion? I'm going to be recommended action. I'll second that. Well, I'll wait. Let's go. I'll wait. I'm not seconding it. We have a motion from McPherson. Right, correct. I'm happy to second that. I'll second that. Or you can, Mike. No, no, I'm seconding everything here. So that was directed. Director Downing jumping in with a second. All right, we have a motion. McPherson second, Downing. Ready for a vote, please. All right, Director Brown. Aye. Director Downing. Aye. Director Dutra not seen. Director Cullin-Terry Johnson. Aye. Director Koenig. Aye. I do not see Director Lind. Director McPherson. Aye. Director Myers, I don't see. Director Pegler. Aye. Director Parker. Aye. And Director Rockin. Aye. And the motion passes. Very good. And with that, we're on to the oral report from our CEO, Michael Tree, item 13. Michael. All right, everybody hear me okay? Yes. Well, hey, it's great to be here this morning, happy Friday, and I hope you're enjoying a good week. I have just kind of a handful of things I thought I'd share with the board. I think overall though, you know, it's, I'm enjoying the opportunity to continue to get to know the employees and the union representatives and community leaders. And so, still super excited to be here. I just want to make sure you knew that right up front. Good. You know, I have a slide deck that has like three slides and let me see if I can just share with you. And did that come up? Yep. Okay, let me put it into motion here. So, you know, the first thing I wanted to start off where it was on June 11th, for the first time in a long time, we sent a team to a rodeo. It was put on by Sam Tranz up in San Mateo at their South San Francisco yard. And I just wanted to make mention, I mean, this team did fantastic. And a rodeo, a bus rodeo, you have kind of two different things going on at the same time. You have some events for your drivers and some events for your maintenance team that you send. And so, in this picture, you'll notice the drivers are wearing the light blue shirt. You've got Mario Espinosa and Bonnie Ferris, you know, longtime really great drivers. And then you've got your maintenance team. You've got Cesar Alvarez there on the left, Ivan Ballesteros in the middle, and then Chris Lannard on the end.  Big picnic, the driving rodeo obviously, and then numerous events for the maintenance guys. Just to give you an idea of the driving portion of it, it's an obstacle course with like 11 or 12 different challenges.  You've got a fairly large crowd watching you. There's three different agencies there and they've all brought their families. And then you have an announcer who is actually critiquing your performance on the course while you're doing it. And so, there's a lot of things going on. And I just want to say the team did great. I think I have an additional picture here. So, this is a lot going on. I'll just kind of highlight the pictures. You've got, obviously the buses in the rodeo, you can see there in that event, the drivers backing it into a narrow set of cones. And of course, the challenges to not knock over a cone and they each have different point values. I'll kind of go clockwise. So, in the upper right hand portion, moving away from the picture of the bus is your maintenance team. That board is set up with all the elements of an air brake system. So, of course, they bug the system. They create problems with the system and the team has a defined time to go out and diagnose all of the problems with the air system. Couple other pictures, lower right. That's your team diagnosing issues with the air conditioning system. Again, they bugged it with like six or seven different problems and they have a certain amount of time to get those. In the middle, they're working on an engine that doesn't work, it won't start. So, they've got to diagnose all the problems and then start the engine and our team started it. So, it was really fantastic to watch them walk through that. And then, of course, we had, you know, we had Eddie Benson from our management team on the fleet. We had Tony Castillo and his family there. You had James Sandoval from SMART. And that lower left hand picture is a picture of James Jr., James Sandoval's son. They had a really fun go-kart out there that was electric and so he was having a blast out there. But, you know, I just want to thank everybody for that rodeo because it just, it was great to get back into competition and see the talent at the agency. I have just a couple other events and pictures. This is a picture of Candace Almanza. She's the one with the flowers on the dress. She graduated recently, it was June 16th from the leadership Santa Cruz County program. She's got her partner, Andrew, there to her side and then Anna Marie from our operations management. And so that, I think that picture on the right really shows, you know, really shows how excited she was to graduate from that program. And that was like a three-year program based on the fact that COVID was ongoing. I think I have one other picture here, and this is the last one, but I do have some other topics to cover, but we took delivery, as Chuck mentioned, the first of four new Gillig buses. These are CNG, they ordered about maybe a year ago, but I just wanted to let you know and see what Daniel did with the design of just these four buses coming in. This is spectacular. When you see it in real life, the colors pop even more, but it's a nice sub-fleague of just a fun design. So I wanted to make sure you saw them and had an opportunity to comment on them if you'd like. You got the big Metro logo in the kind of the rear side panel of the bus, but really a gorgeous design on the buses. So with that, I think I'll stop sharing, that was it. So just a couple of other things, you know, as you probably saw in your consent calendar, item 810 was in regard to the renewal of your insurance policy with CalTIP. And I just had a couple of follow-up comments on that. I sit on the CalTIP board and their steering committee and your insurance right now, as you compare it to the private sector, which is continuing to harden, is about 15% cheaper than what you'd pay in the private market as opposed to being in that insurance pool. And I just wanted to let you know, your safety rating in that pool is outstanding. You're in the top 10 basically of the pool in regard to safe systems. And that is rewarded on an annual basis with some dividends that you can draw down to offset the cost of your insurance. But it's a pool of 32 agencies, all different sizes. And I just wanted to let you know you rank in the top 10 within that pool. In addition to those buses that I just showed you, I just wanted to remind you, you have five battery electric buses. They're on order and you also have the grant out for those 20 hydrogen buses. So I think from here on out, your board or your executive staff is working really hard to see if we can pull together funding so that we continue to go zero emission on your future bus purchases. Your biggest challenge as mentioned before at this agency is new operators, operator recruitment. And the board authorized a pilot program where we took the wage from $19 and like 97 cents, up to $23 and 75 cents. And then beginning July one with some inflation kicking in or a bump kicking in, which is planned that wage goes to $24.58. So effectively coming up, you've got a $24.58 cent starting wage. And so we've implemented that pilot. We've been advertising for a week. It's accompanied with the hiring bonus and also referral bonus. And I just wanted to let you know the impact that that has had in one week. We've had 23 new applicants operate. Fantastic. Yeah, I think we're really turning a corner. You're in a new strategy or so to speak with that pilot program on the wage. So that's going well COVID-wise, another big challenge at the agency, the rolling 14-day number for the number of positives over at the operations is 16. So we're still in that minor outbreak category, which requires that they're wearing masks over at the office building. So I think it's been manageable, but it's certainly a distraction when you're putting together your run cuts and making your runs, which has been a challenge. So I'm hoping we turn the corner both on the operator recruitment and the COVID recovery. A couple of other things. The agency picnic was mentioned. We've got a little committee working on an agency picnic to get everyone together and to enjoy some good food, some games, some good music and a raffle. Let's send out to you this afternoon, basically a flyer that we've just put together on the picnic. Again, it's July 30th. It's from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Be a great opportunity if you'd like to come out and just mingle with the employees of the agency. Final two comments. We're still planning on working with the board to put together a board workshop and hoping for September or October at the very latest. But I just wanna remind you the topics we're honing in on are your operations. We think there's some opportunity to make some adjustments in your routes. And so we're looking at having a consulting team come on board and help us out with an operational analysis. We wanna talk to you about that at the workshop. We also wanna talk about the ADL and the APC, which is your automated vehicle location technology and your automated passenger counter technology. I mean, it really takes technology and makes the bus system perform better based on the fact that we can monitor and troubleshoot quickly. It'll give your customer the ability to look on a phone app and not only see where the bus is in its arrival time as it relates to the bus stop and where the person's going, but also see the number of actual passengers on the bus of the bus that's coming. So it's got a lot of advantages. We wanted to make sure you knew all about the costs on that that you've been obviously budgeted for in that technology itself. We wanted to talk about the battery electric bus and the hydrogen bus, your two options for zero emission buses. And our game plan with that, the implementation plan. And then finally, we wanna make sure you know from staff's perspective and have an opportunity for the board to comment, you know, about RTC's planning efforts, that Santa Cruz branch, rail corridor, that Highway 1 corridor with the bus on shoulder project and how we view the buses will perform in that project and also the so-called corridor. So the final thing is we want to talk to you about the marketing program. We've got a really innovative marketing program coming up to kind of pitch the agency and a new view for the public, so to speak. So we're pretty excited to talk to the board about that and get your input on that. So if there's other topics on this and while we're working really hard behind the scenes to put together that workshop, you know we'd love to hear from you about that. And I think the final topic before I just end here is the state budget. You've been watching what's happening with that. There's a from what I'm seeing about 10.9 billion in that budget for public transportation and they're working through the details on that, you know, what'll get funded and so on behind the scenes. And then you've got obviously that large surplus that is part of that budget. So with that said, I'll conclude my comments but certainly you would love to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you, Michael. I see that director McPherson has raised his hand. I just want to reiterate a warm welcome to Michael. You've had a very positive initial impact all around and you know, that new bus design, it looks like it even has a smile on his face or the side, so it's even better. So come on in and welcome, we're friendly people but thank you for all your efforts. I know you've really been moving around a lot. So it's really nice to have you here and I just want to reiterate a warm welcome to you and thank you for your efforts and meeting with everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Bruce. Mike Ratkin. I just want to commend all of our staff particularly Dawn and Danielle but also particularly call out James and Smart for the work they've done on their recruitment. It's so fantastic to have so many people applying. We sometimes had five applicants or something when we needed to fill 27 positions or something outrageous. So it's really great that we're obviously making progress and this little pilot program we did obviously would help with that but it still takes people to get the word out and make it happen and our staff and the unions have done a fantastic job in advertising the fact that driving a bus is really a way to make a decent living. It's a career and we have some of the best benefits around and it's fantastic the job they're doing. I think the whole board really appreciates it. Thank you, Mike. I would echo those in comments. I also appreciated seeing the photos, Michael, of the bus rodeo. I'd seen some of them on social media from James and I wish we had one of those little electric buses to ride around the parking lot in. That would be kind of fun. All right, any other comments from the board? Leave with that. It takes us to the announcement of our next meeting which will be on Friday, August 26th at 9 a.m. We plan to continue to have it via teleconference. So we will be back in this format once again and I believe with that, it brings us to adjournment at 9.57. Thank you very much, everyone. Good job, Larry. Have a terrific weekend. Have a great weekend. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Take care. Bye.


Welcome to Independent Lifestyles sponsored by the Sheboygan County Aging and Disability Resource Center. We present programs that direct you to resources to maintain health and independence in our community. I'm Christine Jeske, an outreach worker at the Aging and Disability Resource Center and I'm your host for today. Our guests are Lisa Rader and Ed Gilligan of Fountain Park United Methodist Church. Lisa and Ed will be telling us about the Love Your Neighborhood program of Sheboygan County. Hi, everybody. Hi, Christine. So Lisa, will you tell us a little bit about yourself? I'm from Sheboygan County my whole life. I am married for 30 years and I have two grown sons and a miniature wiener dog, Oliver. And Ed, thanks for coming as well. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I'm also from Sheboygan County most of my life. I've moved a couple of areas and came back. My wife, Suzanne, of 21 years now and I have a lovely, a handsome step son and grand daughter and I also have two lovely daughters as well and a nice English Springer Spaniel pup. Oh, what's it say? Briar and she's just getting trained. She's very young, four months old. Wow, it's a lot of work. Yes, it is. So who is Fountain Park and what are you doing for our community? Who would like to start? Anybody? Fountain Park, we have been in Sheboygan County, the city of Sheboygan, for I don't even know how long, but we have sponsored, we have partnered with group mission trips from Colorado and with group we are working alongside them to organize a youth home repair work camp. It will be the week of June 21st to the 27th for Sheboygan County residents who with physical or financial need. And this is all at a minimal or no cost to the resident and volunteer labor. Nice. The kids come in from all over the United States to group missions, organizes this and they'll come in from all over the United States and they usually have to generate some money, roughly about $500 each through doing things at their church to raise funds to go on this. So the kids are kind of committed to this job when they come. It's not that you have a lot of kids just coming just for the fun of getting away. They're actually very committed and in the years that I've gone, about six years now, when you go on mission trips, it's just really exciting to see the kids get busted into groups and work individually. Like they are, there's 400 kids coming to Horseman and the 400 kids that are coming are going to be into individual groups of five or six people. Sorry if I'm talking a little too much. So can you kind of tell us a little bit about the group work camp again and a little slower? That would be awesome. Well, group mission trips, they've been around since the early 90s. They work with communities across the country and the world and they are a mission organization, a mission ministry of group cares. They've been doing meaningful service and community programs and they have also, I mean, they've worked with thousands, they've done thousands of these trips and racked up millions of volunteer hours across the, around the world and we just serve people in need. That's wonderful. And it's very Christ centered. Very nice. They have a strong belief also in providing teenagers to encounter Jesus through serving others either in their own backyard or around the world. Nice, nice. And what are the ages of the youth that are involved? Really about 12 to 19. The ones coming to Shambuiget here are 12 to 19 years old but group does do other age groups as well. They have a younger youth camp and an older youth camp of high schoolers as well. So like middle school to high school? Yeah. This is a middle and high school camp, okay. And they do this all on their own. Well, with their youth groups from their church, right. Yeah. And how did our community get, you know, involved with this work camp? Well, we've been doing this. I've personally started in 2005. I think our church has done a few of these before that and Ed's kids have been doing this for what, five, six years. And you have one that's aged out of the youth group already but she still stays very involved. Yeah. She's also helping out in ways where she can on this as well. And my youngest daughter is also very instrumental. I kind of drag them along but they're very instrumental in helping out with this as well. So I can imagine and they meet these people and they start working for them. And I bet you they become close to them and they kind of build a relationship with them. I think that's so meaningful. And then do they do these relationships that sometimes carry forward? Do they exchange emails or do you know any that ever happened? They exchange a lot of social media. And my oldest will be 30 and I know he still stays in touch with a few people. And he aged out pretty much at the age of 18. He went in the army after high school and he still stays in touch with a few people. So, and that's what kind of got us fired up about doing it. Every time we'd come home, we'd be talking about we really need to do this in our own area. Because so often we hear from people, why don't you stay in your own backyard and do this? There's people that need help here. And we finally just said, let's check into it. And is that when the two of you got involved together? We started checking into it about a year and a half ago. It takes a good year and a half to two years to plan. One of these, the first time especially. Yeah, and it's a big learning curve. There's a lot to learn in organizing it. I can't imagine. I mean, it's a year for five days, right? Right, six days, yeah. But there's a lot of behind the scenes for us. And if you're going to build a wheelchair ramp for somebody, you have to meet the building codes. So we had to talk to all 28 communities and their building inspectors to make sure that we're going to be meeting the codes that they need and that they're OK with this. Good, good. And could you tell me, either one of you, what does a typical work camp look like? It usually consists of three to 400 youth participants and their adult chaperones. So they come here, three to 400 of them? Yes. Yes, our camp is currently at 406 participants. They have stopped accepting people and they are wait-listing people. So if anybody drops off, they already have people to replace them, unless they've already signed up somewhere else. But yeah, and these people, it represents about 1,200 volunteer work hours for the community. In those seven days? In those five days, yeah. And right now, we have, from our 406 people, it represents 10 different states from Oklahoma to South Carolina and a lot in the Midwest. So do the children or the young adults, young teenagers, in our community also help or do they go to a different mission and work? We have one church in our community that is signed up with 30-some people. They just wanted to stay in their own backyard this year and just show the need that there is in our own community. Because so often, we don't see it.  I know there's also, I believe, Racine does this every year or Kenosha does it every year through group missions. And so does Green Bay is doing it the second year. They did it last year. And again, they're doing it this year. So this is our first year since it was here once before in 2006, I believe. I'm sure every year it just gets bigger. I can only imagine. So is there a cost or anything for the children or how does this all work for the work camp? There is a fee of about, excuse me, $470 for each participant that covers the cost of food and the lodging. Also the program that is done during the week. And then they also have a paid staff of about six that are on site, but then there's many in the background that help organize this. We personally are all, and about $30 of each participant money goes to actual materials. We then are responsible for raising $20,000, which we have pretty much reached. We've pretty much reached our goal. And those donations came from First Congregational Service Grant, Johnsonville and our own United Methodist Foundation. And then we have many individual donations that we've had also. So we wanna thank those who have donated also. So these kids pay $470 to come to this camp for a week to do work. And that includes their stay and everything, correct? Right. Okay. How do the adults get chosen for the youth group? That's yours. Usually oftentimes, in my past history, my daughters were going, and I just wanted to be part of what they were doing and learn more of what they were doing. So as a member of the youth group at our church, I tried to encourage the other kids to go as well and we all went. We have a young boy that goes quite often and his mother doesn't have anybody. So it's kind of helpful that way. They don't have a, she doesn't have a male counterpart to go sometimes. So grandpa has also gone a couple times, but it's something to help out that way too. I said, some kids, when we've gone on these mission trips, they get to see things they don't normally get to see. We've gone to Washington and they see on back from one of our mission trips and just allowed the kids to see the White House, Lincoln Memorial, things like that. They may not have gotten to see ever in their lifetime. So I apologize, they didn't really answer how I got, that's how I got involved those through my kids. But that's what happens. And then we've had our pastor go along, we've had other members who don't even have kids in the youth group that, we've had a year where we had, I think twice as many adults as we've had youth. So that's good though, right? Just because we're still on fire for it. When you go and see these kids and they light up when they're able to do something. One boy was just a matter of showing them how to use a drill and run screws into a board for a deck so that he was prepping the boards and getting them all ready. But it was something that for him was really a value. He had never done that before, never experienced it. And you could see his face just light up with excitement. And I says, that's what I enjoy about it. It's good for their soul. To see that they can make a difference. And I'll tell you the other thing that I learned when I go on these mission trips, when you sit down with devotions and see these kids discuss devotions, their commitment to Christ is amazing. We watch a lot of stuff on media that kind of makes me nervous about how we're doing. And when you see these kids, it really enlightens you and makes you feel like we have a positive future. That's right. I also want to add to that is the grandpa that went the one time, he wrote the most beautiful letter when he came home and said he just wishes the world could see this in our young people. Instead of just seeing so much of the negative all the time. That's true. And it doesn't, it's not as advertised either, because that costs money. Well, and that doesn't bring in big numbers of people watching you. What type of projects? We will do repairing and new builds of wheelchair ramps and porches, interior, exterior painting, skirting on mobile homes and like the rubber roof coatings, we will do a lot of weatherizing. There's a lot of little things we will do that we don't list. Do you clean their houses? Sometimes. Those are considered. Interior painting, you end up moving everything around. Yeah, you do end up moving everything around. But it's also kind of rainy day projects that if people need help with something, I mean sometimes people have just asked if we could help rearrange their living room so they can clean it. If you have a rainy day, there's other things that can be done. Going back to how you choose the adult volunteers, is there a background check that you do? Yeah, yeah, we do background checks on all the volunteers that go. Even if a youth is 18, they have to have a background check. So anybody 18 and older. So who's ever long is all good people. Yep. I hope so. Yep, and I believe we do background checks on the people, and I correct me if I'm wrong, but on the people at the work sites that we're gonna be working at too. Yes, the residents all have a background check. Yeah, we don't wanna send the kids into an area that could be potentially dangerous. Yeah. Yeah, and communities have been, one of my first ones was not a work camp, but it was a week of hope. And in that situation, we were just helping out at a park, letting kids play for the summer. They came to the, but there was also a police officer there just to keep an eye on things, and yeah, it was very interesting and very informative. Some of the kids coming to the park, you know, I mean, that was, they were just barely toddlers to adult teens, and keeping all them kids active, that was a challenge as well. Oh, I'm sure. I think I was more exhausted after those days than I was after the work camps. Yeah, because at work, when they're at the camps, they're working, so they're occupied, and yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good. And how many residents do you help in the five days? We're doing, what, 60 to 70? 60 to 70. Yeah. So how many groups do you have them that go to each? That's difficult to answer, and the reason I say that is, I'm gonna just give an example of last year. Of course. Last year, we were in Green Bay, and we were painting a home at my work site. And the work site we were at was a two-story home, and we were painting the whole outside. So you have a kid holding the ladder for either an adult or a kid that's up on top, and you're painting. So that's two people right there. So if you have a crew of five to six, you know, it starts, and then what happens is towards the end of the week, you may be struggling to get that project done because of all the up and down, and scraping and everything needs to be done. So other groups will show up to help you out. And a lot of times my site in Green Bay was the 39th site to be completed out of 42. So we don't want to leave the resident with an uncompleted site. You know, we want to be able to make sure they're done as much as possible. Did I hear you say you had 39? 39 completed, and I think there's 42 all together. There's 42 sites. Nice. So us on a local level have to finish them. Yeah. Okay. Even if the kids, even if their time is up. Yeah, well, if their time is up, they go home. They do. And we don't want to leave the residents sitting, you know. Anything that gets started has to be finished. Yeah. It's wonderful. And depending on weather, right? Yeah. Right. So let's pray for good weather. Yes, we want good weather that week. And how do you get residents who need the help? They go through an application process. It began this last October. We just closed it as of February 20th. It's for owner occupied homes. And they have to have, again, a physical or financial need. And then we have on our steering, our steering organizing committee that we have organized is somebody, a few people look at them and then a phone call is made. And this past weekend, we had four members of group work camps come to Sheboygan. And we looked at all of the tentative 93 sites that we have picked out. So we'll know in about another month or so who will actually be getting work done on their home. So tell me, what do you mean by a steering committee? Steering committee is our organizing committee. We've got about 16 to 20 members, I guess, right now. Are these all adults? Are they young? Yeah, these are mostly adults. Your daughters have been. My oldest daughter does come help out once in a while. She's an adult, but she's a young adult. She's a young adult. We have a few young adults.  We look at the projects, decide what we really can and cannot do. And then the people that came from group work camps, they will decide, they don't really have the final, final say, but they are trying to budget based on money that we have and the materials that we need. We've kind of, we're probably got about two thirds that are mostly painting, and then we have a few other bigger projects that we're doing. So everything is timed out? Everything is timed out. Everything's figured out monetarily, so hopefully we stay within our budget. And is the work day eight hours, or is it 15 hours, or it depends on the job? It's about 8.30 to 3.30. Good. Yeah. There's a lunch time in there too. Sometimes people get those done really fast because they also want you to do a devotion with your six-person crew. I think that's another thing that's very important. These kids are coming based with a Christian ethic and to have that devotion time and make sure that that devotion time is there. Because it's one of the things I always, it's, I kind of preach to them, but I says as an adult you get busy in life and you sometimes don't have the time to open up that Bible and take a look at it. Or you can, yeah. That's sad because we get too busy, you know, and it's just showing them that, yeah, we're working today, we need to get this project done, but we also need to take time to just review and do a little bit of an devotion. Kind of get them centered for why they're there and the meaning of it. Yeah. Yeah, that's really great. That's wonderful. And you finalize all the applications by when? So when do the people know that, yep, they were coming and usually by May. I'm not gonna say for sure because I'm gonna say May, by the end of May for sure we should know. Because some of these people are working with violations on their homes and they're working with the city. The city did give us a great opportunity and they gave them an opportunity that if they are working with us that they'll extend their violation period. And that's wonderful. They're deadlines on their violations, so yeah. It's great when everybody works together, right? Yeah, the city's really been wonderful with that. That's wonderful to hear. I was on a mission trip a few years ago where the woman was about seven days away from losing her home and when we came in and did everything she was so pleased. By the end of it we had a little extra time so we painted an attic upstairs for her and she says because of that she may be even able to have her grandchild come back and move back in with her. So it went from almost losing everything to having your grandchild be able to move back in with you. So I mean, that's what's great about this. Yeah, I'm sure you see a lot and you got some really good stories to share.  Are they willing to allow you to come in? Do they want this, I would think. Most do, you find a few that afterwards just I think it intimidates them and since we've done the weekend I have had a few phone calls where they've backed out and I've tried to talk to them and ask where that problem may lie. And some it's just because they have to take the entire week if they have to take the week off of work because they're supposed to be there while the workers are at their home. And they have to be there? Well, they have to have someone there. They have to have someone there. It doesn't have to be them but they have to have someone there and for some people that's a difficult problem. And you don't want to take them away from work either but you can be there to help them out if they can work with you and somehow find somebody to be there for you. And that person has to also go through background check so whoever's staying at the home that there's not a person that's not been checked over. So what is your biggest project this year for this? I think a 32 foot wheelchair room. There might be a 40 something. Okay, I know there was one that we've been working on and I know I sent the information back to the group people that were here because we were looking at, because of the standards, we thought that it was five foot landing and it's actually a three foot landing and the room was very close as to how much room we had to put. We have to go back and forth three times so it'll end up being very close to the sidewalk. It's gonna take up pretty much of the front yard. So yeah, that one's gonna be a challenge. So these helpers that help you, they must have experience.  Yeah, you, I've been very blessed on my mission trips. There's always been somebody that has some carpentry experience. I can paint, but beyond that, I wouldn't say I'm a very good carpenter, I says, but because I'm able to learn through some of the other people that are there, that's another thing that's just amazing. As an adult, I'm learning things every time and I says it's nice for me as well. My matter of fact, the last week I was talking to somebody and we had so many projects at the house. He says you work on the painting and they were doing some stuff with a deck in the front and I wanted to learn it and he understood that. He says, we'll get together some other time. I'll make sure you and I work together. So yeah, you make those friendships along the way. Yeah, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. So tell me a little bit about what the week will look like for the workers in the camp. Well, on Sunday they'll arrive. They get checked into a classroom at, they're staying at Horseman. They, where they sleep on the floors and they eat in the cafeteria. They shower in the locker rooms and then they'll have dinner. They'll meet crews that evening and that's their five other people that they'll go out with on the work site all week. Let's go back to when you said, with the meals and stuff, who cooks those and who prepares those? They do keep some of the school staff on. That's nice. And they are paid their regular wage and also janitorial staff stays on and they get paid their regular wage during the week. Through their employee. Through group, well group, the money that, like we pay group work camps and that the participants pay group work camps. The school then keeps track of the, they keep track of the hours that they work and they will get paid from group work camps. And group work camps will bring in the food so that part of it is the actual food is brought in by group work camps. They purchase that as well. Yeah, there's a menu that's pretty much for each work camp during the summer. And you mentioned something about that there's showers there so every day they shower. There's shower times and they do differentiate. It's 18 and below have certain shower times and then adults have other shower times just because you still don't wanna be having adults showering with young people. And I think it's another thing that just outstanding but if you think about it, when we went on these mission trips and you sleep in a high school floor on an air mattress and get up and put in an eight hour day at work and then come back, take a shower and that's gonna be your place to sleep. These kids are impressive that way to me because I says that's something that, you know, I think that you're going home and laying in a nice bed. Yeah, the kids can handle that. Yeah, they can, but adults also have to do that. It's not five stars. No, yeah, we sleep on the classroom floors also. So you don't get to go home and sleep. And even the paid staff sleeps on the floor. So, three minutes, okay. Okay, so tell me about what time they wake up and. They wakey wakey. Yeah, about 6.45 is the wakey wakey song and they have sort of a thing. They play over the PA that gets everybody going and then they'll have breakfast. Usually about seven. Seven to seven, seven to five, yeah. And then they'll, after that they have program. They have like a morning program and then they'll go off to work at about 8.30 and come back at about 3.30 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  So after the 8.30 program, they go out and they work till noon, then they come back and their youth groups will go out in the community and see things that draw their interest. Whether it be golfing or windsurfing was somebody had listed. Just different things that the kids do, enjoy to do and then they'll come back and they'll be an evening program that night and this is on only on Wednesday but there'll be an evening program that night as well and most people make it back by that time to go. That sounds like a lot. Yeah. It's a busy day. Yeah, yeah. And are there any other ways that the community can offer support? The week before camp, we have a set up week and we will need help. Well, we do need some help with some of that. We will be delivering ladders and materials to each site that week. Along with that, we also need ladders donate to be that we can borrow. They will get them back. We need ladders to borrow. They can be of various heights, step ladders, extension ladders. So can people donate money, snacks, cookies? Yep, we already need a snacks for the youth during the week after they come back. We can always use, we're not gonna turn down any money that's donated either. And can they drop it off at Horseman or do they call contact? They would actually contact the number that was up on the camp. Or the email that was up there. You can contact and we will get you. You can also, if you wanna just send a donation, of course it's 828 Erie Avenue also. That's Fulton Park's address, so. It sounds like a fun day, but I wouldn't wanna sleep on the ground. Well, you don't have to. You can bring air mattress. I know, but still, I mean, that's a lot. We picked on one of our adult women because she brought one of those super high air mattresses the rest of us were practically on the ground and we called her princess all week and we had fun. And the kids get the camaraderie of each another. Yes, and they're resident. They really, they love getting to know the resident also. I would like to thank our guests, Lisa Rader and Ed Gilligan for sharing with us how important it is to help one another and to our audience. Thank you for tuning into our show. Please join us next month for another interesting topic on Maintaining Your Health and Independence.


What's up everybody? I'm Greg Sussman joined by Gabe Morenze Monday night football tonight The Dallas Cowboys host the Tennessee Titans in Jerry world depending on where you're looking They're anywhere from a six-point favorite to a five-and-a-half point favorite game. What are you thinking? You know what Greg? You remember but it was about three weeks ago. I guess Seattle and Oakland were playing in London I told you our best bet of the week. How do we not love this? They give me Seattle to beat Oakland. That was our isolated best bet of the week We had the Baltimore Carolina game We had the Indianapolis game last week that you liked as well against the Raiders. I remember two weeks ago I said our best bet of the week the isolated bet would be the Minnesota Vikings over gang green and the New York Jets This week. I was looking all right What's that one game that that's the one and you just know it it's organic, right? It has to happen naturally so I was looking at the screen. I'm going scrolling. I'm like, no, no, no, no hard to believe but This is the game that stuck out to me the most all week earlier in the week with six and a half points Dallas Cowboys Favored and they're mirror images of each other. You know, this is spider-man and spider-man Back press got Marcus Mariota.  They both play a slower tempo. They both run around the football They both have mobile sort of average quarterbacks that can be good But can't be average you can argue that all right Dallas have a better running back in Elliott and they do But Dallas also don't really have a distinct home field advantage and it's kind of strange They might have a you know a ton of fans and they might be the most valuable franchise in the world But that stadiums too comfortable Cowboy fans aren't insane. No one's intimidated going in there Cowboys even when the Cowboys have been good with Tony Romo and company in the old days You know, they haven't been a good home favorite since Troy Aikman was the quarterback and Michael Irvin was there, etc Now you're laying five and a half six points against a Tennessee Titan team that people are more negative On and I think they should be there are three and four football team because they've lost three games in a row They lost by one point to the Buffalo Bills and they lost by one point to the Chargers They got that two-point conversion and we're talking about a different situation at a different point spread here Right now. We should note that these two teams are a combined ten and four to the under as they both are very offensively challenged Tennessee Titans only average 15 points a game But they only give up 18 points a game Dallas score 20 points a game They give up 17 and a half points a game this game sort of has 2017 written all over it, but when you got an NFL total at 40 in today's day and age Hard for me not to want to take a look at the over in this game But I'll tell you what I'm all over the Tennessee Titans here I was I was dead wrong the Cowboys kicked the crap out of the Jacksonville Jags Three weeks ago whenever it was and I said our Cowboys are good. It's not gonna happen I was wrong. The Jags have been getting beat up by everybody though, right? You know, I was wrong about that game because I was wrong about a situation three weeks ago It doesn't scare me off this week scared money never wins. Who's scared homie? You scared not me. Give me the Tennessee Titans plus the points my best bet of the week Best bet of the week Monday night football Tennessee in Dallas. You gotta love game Marenzie. I know I do I'm Greg Sosman for game Marenzie. Good luck tonight getting the game We'll be right back here tomorrow to let you know on who you got to pick up off your waiver wire Thank you so much for watching. We'll see you then


But she's asking me if my vertigo is gone. No, it feels better today. But what I've been shown is that, and I made a post earlier today, is that for all of us that are experiencing vertigo, I'm guessing that we're all energy sensitives and we're picking up on these timeline shifts that are going on right now. And each time these timeline, time, easier said than done, each time these timeline shifts occur, we get that feeling of vertigo because we're moving in time. And it's so clear to me right now.


What are the roles and responsibilities of a locally elected official? Once you have taken the oath of office, clarity about your roles and responsibilities at the beginning of your relationship with local government staff can help to create a healthy working relationship during your time in elected office. The roles and responsibilities of elected officials and local government staff are separate but interdependent. The role of elected officials is that of governance. They make collective decisions based on the needs and wants of the community. Staff's role is the management and implementation of the Council or Board's policies and direction. The Council or Board's work involves developing and setting its strategic direction, allocating resources and adopting the financial plan, representing citizens, engaging the community and deciding what services are delivered. Staff's work involves working within the Council or Board's strategies, policies and direction to implement and manage the local government's resources. You have to appreciate and support your staff because they are the foundation. Politicians come and go a lot more than staff does and they are the history. When you have a vision and you collectively set the strategic plan in place and then you're able to find the funding and then to finally get that accomplished, what you're doing is setting legacies for your community for the future. Under local government legislation, the Mayor and Board Chair are responsible for facilitating collective decision-making, overseeing meetings and maintaining the order and conduct of debate. Liaising with staff and providing general direction about implementing policies and programs. The Mayor has the additional responsibility of creating standing committees and appointing people to these committees. So as the Mayor, something I find that's really important is my role as a facilitator and it's my responsibility to help set the table, if you will, for an environment that is conducive to respectful conversation and decision-making. It's the responsibility of every single person at the table to help hold that space, but as the Mayor, I'm the one who's truly facilitating and and keeping an eye on all of the conversation, calling on those members of council who perhaps have not spoken yet, asking the tough questions that sometimes need to be asked, but something that's really important in that is is encouraging every member of council to truly, actively listen. How elected officials fulfill their responsibilities also contributes to the culture of an effective organization. Elected officials are expected to behave in a manner that builds and inspires public trust in local government. This means calmly facing challenges and providing direction on issues while empowering colleagues and staff to do the same and creating space for open expression by others. They are transparent in how they make decisions, conduct their business and carry out their duties. They take responsibility for their actions and reactions and accept the decisions of the majority. And they make collective decisions for the corporation in an ethical manner by following the rule set out in local government legislation. Take a moment to reflect on what you think the rule of an elected official is. Are you able to help set strategic direction and let others implement that direction? Are you able to participate in collective decision-making and empower others to carry out those decisions? What are some actions you can take to prepare yourself to be effective in this rule if you are elected? It's important that a board or council shows their work to the public that when an item is discussed, debated or what have you, that all sides are visibly being considered because it's not just respect between the members of the board or the council, it's respect for the people that we lead as well. So we need to show our work and that's partly the job of the chair, but that's also the job of the members there as well. A healthy relationship between the mayor or board chair and the local government chief administrative officer or CAO is essential for effective elected official and staff relations and a strong organizational culture. Your CAO needs to get you all the information you need to make a really good policy decision. So I would suggest to people coming into politics, first of all, get to know your CAO, the most important person in your organization, quite frankly, does all the directing of traffic. Let your CAO know where your gaps and knowledge are. If the CAO will have a wealth of information to share with you. These relationships need to be strong because the mayor and board chair serve as a formal channel of information from the council and board to the CAO and the CAO in turn provides direction to staff. Our job is there to help them achieve the government that they want to achieve. So it's a lot about communications. It's a lot about talking and getting to know each other and setting out those expectations upfront and understanding each other's role. Your CAO needs to get you all the information you need to make a really good policy decision. As a CAO and a chair, it's really important that the process for meetings goes smooth. People expect to come there and be involved and engaged in there. And it's really important that the chair and the CAO ensure that those conversations start off on the right foot. I think it's important to take the time to understand each other. To talk, get to know each other, know the intricacies of how they like to work. Get to know your CAO. They'll serve you well.