Board meeting

Hey everybody, I will be documenting this morning's Metro RTA Board of Trustees Meeting and the Robert K Pfaff Transit Center (631 S. Broadway) with @SignalAkron and #AKRDocumenters

08:16 PM Aug 27, 2024 CDT

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The meeting started at 9:01 am with all members present

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A community member said they are concerned that they are unable to communicate with Metro Leadership She said that people of color are not represented in RKP Transit Center Advertising. She said Metro has 30 days to correct the issue or they will report it

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Jarrod Hampshire (Chief Operations Director) recognized an operator for 25 years of safe driving Dawn Distler (Executive Director) recognized 2 staffers for representing Metro in Leadership Akron The previous meeting minutes passed unanimously leadershipakron.org

leadershipakron.org

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John Valle said during the Customer Service and Service Performance Committee meeting it was reported that on time performance is up and that there are 11,000 miles between interruptions

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Valle requested board approval to donate 2 Gillig Diesel Busses with over 500 thousand miles to Laketran after 1 of their busses caught fire, and other broke down Item passed unanimously

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Valle said the costs to build the new operations and maintenance facility has risen to over $59 million due to new federal requirements that federally funding suppliers must source 65% of their products from American Manufacturers acquisition.gov/far/subpart-25…

acquisition.gov/far/subpart-25…

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Gary Spring asked how Metro can prevent unexpected costs in the future Hampshire said they need to anticipate new regulations in future projects over the next 5-10 years Distler said it was a "perfect storm" that resulted in cost increases

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She said construction companies and suppliers are still standing up to this new requirement which puts American suppliers in fair competition with international suppliers. She said these costs could still change as regulations change

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Charles Rector said the Internal External Engagement Committee reported the new hire success rate dropped to 76% He said customer service call ins dropped slightly but there has been a jump in Facebook Engagement He said Metro select trips remain the same

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Robert DeJournett said during the Safety, Equity, and Planning Committee there was a presentation about how Metro collects and reports data to the FTA He said Metro reports yearly, monthly, and single route ridership He said data drives Metro's decisions

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He said Metro staff completed 2346 training hours in June, or 5.9 hours per employee He said there were 9 accidents and 3 were deemed preventable which is a 10% decrease from 2023

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Robert Konstand said the Finance and Technology Committee reported that sales tax collection is lagging but Metro ran under budget in June

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Mark Derrig thanked board members for attending an "informative" retreat He recognized Distler for receiving the Outstanding Public Transit CEO award from APTA Distler thanked her team at Metro which she said is "one of the best, if not the best" masstransitmag.com/management/pre…

masstransitmag.com/management/pre…

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She said the maintenance and operations crews will be ecstatic about the new maintenance operations facility and thanked the board for supporting the facility She thanked board members for participating and marching in Akron Pride Fest signalakron.org/photo-gallery-…

signalakron.org/photo-gallery-…

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She said the transit focuses on equity and despite her not understanding everything at pride, she is proud for everybody in Akron and said it is Metro's mission to serve all Akronites She said she wants Metro to participate in any events in Summit County

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She thanked the planning department for opening up possibilities with data She said data hasn't been used to its fullest extent yet and thanked the planning department for using the data to move the resources in the right direction

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She said she spoke with a new bus operator who said this is the best job she's ever had. The operator said they are buying a house in part because of the Financial Literacy Courses provided by the new Employee Resource Groups

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A community member approached the board and asked that Mark Derrig give his contact information to her directly Distler said she will send them his contact information They said Distler "does not follow through" and asked that he give his contact information immediately

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A transit police officer escorted them out of the board room

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The board went into executive session at 9:41 am The board Left executive session at 10:20 am

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The meeting ended at 10:20 am. The next Metro RTA Board Meeting will be September 24th at 9:00 am at the RKP Transit Center (631 S. Broadway). For more coverage check out Akron.Documenters.org

Akron.Documenters.org

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Have a question? Think we got something wrong? Send any questions about this meeting or these tweets to documenters@signalakron.org

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Attachments

MetroRTA

By Simone Walton 8/27/2024

Agency Information

METRO Regional Transit Authority

See meeting notes for details

www.yourmetrobus.org

boardCommunications@yourmetrobus.org

See Documenters reporting

METRO is governed by a 12-member Board of Trustees.

The Board meets monthly, on the last Tuesday of the month, at 9 a.m. at the Robert K. Pfaff Transit Center at 631 South Broadway, unless noted otherwise in the schedule below.

These meetings are open to the public. If you would like to voice a comment or concern during the monthly Board meeting, you must notify METRO prior to the meeting.

Persons wishing to address the Board may take two (2) minutes to speak on any given topic on the agenda. Anyone desiring more time than provided should notify the Board Secretary-Treasurer by the Tuesday preceding the Board meeting. He or she may then be placed on the agenda for a maximum of five (5) minutes.

Monthly board packets are posted below. Packets from the previous year can be found on our downloads page.

For inquiries or information requests regarding the METRO Board of Trustees, please email BoardCommunications@yourmetrobus.org