[Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we have six re yeah we're ready one more coming [Laughter] ready we come on we live so how long will the cat budget presentation uh it's it'll be about uh 20 minutes all right because if we're losing uh is that literally 6:45 James I think we should did cats first here huh cats first I want to cats first but I just don't want to make sure we don't lose you cat first cats first right yeah yeah okay all right are we ready all right good evening everybody and welcome to this April 1st meeting of the Charlotte City Council uh tonight's session is an informal session we'll get a presentation on the cat's budget and we'll hear from committee chairs uh all here in room 267 the mayor and the mayor proem are traveling tonight so I will be conducting the orchestra my name is Ed Driggs and I chair the transportation and planning committee and development and the first thing we will do is introductions starting with the city attorney good evening Patrick Baker City attorney good evening Lana Mayfield council member at large Marcus Jones city manager Ed dggs acting mayor I love it is that is that is that being recorded yeah dmle asira not not acting as mayor good evening everybody James Mitchell city council at large good evening I am margerie Molina I represent East Charlotte District 5 good evening Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4 good evening Tiana Brown representing District 3 Ariel Smith lead city clerk great so uh we're going to flip the order tonight and uh start off with the cat's budget Outlook and then go to the committee report outs so uh Mr Kagel welcome which one is it is it this one so it came in last week I had water I don't know it's under budget yeah it came in last week for the workshop we got B it's not none of these where would it be to the should be in the where's the budget Workshop folder I didn't know that one was needed I don't think you have access to it did you not you didn't save it on the thing did you save it on the but y'all had it on y'all you need to log [Music] in restart no no no change just change user can you get in yeah we're coming counc M I didn't know we [Music] needed be go the out I can go get my computer I had them on the flash drive hold on there we go she she has it but it was just a need to change the order until we get this up oh may we start with another order I got the flash d get that [Music] yeah oh your microphone yes thank you not used to this right okay Mr JS you want me to yes please go ahead okay so report out for the budget governance and intergovernmental Relations Committee at today's meeting we had council member Mayfield and council member Mitchell and council member Brown joining us virtually uh we had covered three uh agenda items first we worked on our performance measurement uh that was just a fall off from our conversation at The Retreat so you will see of uh as we at some point staff is planning to bring a comprehensive policy measures so that we can all see comprehensively what each committee has approved um but for for our committee we looked at um goals for City Services and how do we compare our cost with other cities comprehensively we also looked at our investments in our seap uh es especially our Fleet and energy consumption and then total cost of city services comparison to Pure cities so those are our performance measurements that we have approved uh council member Mitchell had provided feedback on sharing collaborations with our partners at federal state and county level so that uh that would be something good to share with our constituents so I don't know how we could include that as part of our dashboard but that's something Julia is looking into uh Julia Marin with the city manager's office so that's on performance measurements anything I missed committee members on that before I move on to the next topic no ma'am okay uh second item we had was presentation from storm water and water uh as you know this is just our annual presentation as part of the budget process to ensure that um we continue to provide clean and safe Safe Water both of those are Enterprise funds which means they're not subsidized by property tax dollars uh Revenue covers all the expenses from both of those stor Waters uh both of those Enterprise funds for for stor water the focus continues to be on mitigating FLIR risk uh through projects that are designed to increase capacity as well as preventive maintenance um there U Back in 2018 when Mr DRS was chairing this budget committee we had a billion doll backlog in our Stone water and there have been some uh policy changes and as a result um there is no waiting list right now I think just tremendous also they're taking proactive approach to investing in our storm water system they're installing cameras um so you can actually see and they're taking proactive maintenance approach to addressing storm water so maybe that's the reason some of us are not getting as many storm water calls as we used to uh but I think that's certainly a sign for um for or that we are heading in the right direction let's see oh so there is a financial modeling for 10 years into the future like we do every year uh to ensure Financial viability and because of that uh where we had to take into inflation um inflation inflation and other factors of cost increases there is an increase of 3.7% that will be proposed as part of the budget for for stor water uh and that's equates to about 53 cents per month on average for single family customers and our committee requested some additional information based on council member Mayfield's feedback on residential versus commercial strong water rates currently it's all the same so it's based on Square Food uh so we would like to see if there are any um if we can look into legal as well as legislative framework um for this change in methodology but that's on strong water uh next any questions on storm water Madam chair I'll just make uh an observation uh for one there's no waiting list as such however uh storm water does prioritize projects that are reported to them so there is a triage sort of thing which means you don't necessarily immediately get service on the other hand I think what's remarkable from what my constituents have told me is the Urgent stuff is attended to within hours like it's amazing how quickly they show up the other thing I wanted to note also from my district is there are a lot of complaints that are reference in terms of the 10year storm and the 50-year storm is a little out of date uh in the sense that we're getting 10e storms every two years so I think it's not a budget thing so it's not for this but I I think we really do need to examine whether we are current as far as our assessment of likely rainfall is concerned and Mike Davis told me today that in fact there is federal analysis going on that will inform our future assessment of the needs uh the capacity of the system and how we can address some of these areas that seem to keep flooding even though they're technically in Spec exactly I think that's a good point Mr DRS I see Mr Heath is there taking notes uh as always so uh that will be part of our followup report it could be part of our budget Q&A as a followup Mr Heath because Mr DXs is right uh we need to plan ahead uh as we are seeing tremendous growth in all districts so I think M Johnson did you want to speak and I just want to highlight one thing um for strong water that uh Udo has certainly provided more tools um for to our stor water staff that we didn't have before so now there are over, 3,000 some requests that are being reviewed so every plan they are having to review which certain only helps address Stone water um issues that we often hear about I think that's a step in the right direction because of the tools that are available under the Udo let's go to Miss Johnson please yeah yeah quickly uh thank you um one of the things that was mentioned during our transportation and planning meeting we were presented with this blue print for Charlotte um which is a great great resource and I know you'll go over that but when we were presented with this information I said that this feels like a direct response to our infrastructure discussion and wouldn't it be nice if all of the Departments gave us something like this Mr Jones so storm water if we had this type of Aid uh the storm water um status and the blue print and the the different projects this would be so helpful if we got one of these for storm water and Sea Dot and and all the Departments that we could really kind of overlay it would really give us an idea of the cumulative impact and the and the cumulative needs so um I I think this is a a wonderful tool and I would love to see see this for for storm water as well thank you thank you m Mir yes um for Charlotte water again you know water stone water are not really glamorous topics but it's certainly very essential to our everything we do if you don't have safe and clean water everything falls apart so we have an award we have an award-winning water department uh I take great pride in drinking Charlotte water um we all got this cups from Charlotte water um today but yeah you for Charlotte water the projected budget includes $2.2 billion in the capital investment plan over the course of upcoming 5 years and uh that's consistent with other water utilities and Charlotte water just like other municipalities is is facing significant regulatory pressures around pasas I'm sure you probably heard about pasas is this lead and forever chemicals so our water director Miss Angela Charles talked about how it's a very exp it's very expensive to invest in this new technology that we will need to invest in uh to identify this P fast uh forever chemicals and it's in everything it's in lot of things it's in cake is that right Mr Mitchel lipstick lipstick and everything you can imagine so um certainly we are trying to stay ahir of our regulatory requirements uh so that pressure along with inflationary pressure on capital projects has pushed our anticipated rate further uh so we are looking at about 4.37 to 4.55 per month increase about $4 and5 doar for uh increase uh that was proposed by uh Charlotte water but let's let's put let me put some context behind it um Charlotte water continues to be one of the lowest uh Nationwide in terms of um water rate um I I don't have the comparison but uh we can get we can pass that on thank you Mr Mitchell uh but you can see how we are doing even though it is an increase uh we are still one of the lowest and when it comes to sewer rate we are also we are we are somewhere in the middle so that speaks tremendously to our financial leadership at Charlotte water and Stor water and certainly Mr Jones so um for those of you who are concerned about citizens who cannot who can't afford to pay this increase a good news is that uh Charlotte water is introducing H2O Foundation uh so they're going to turn this over to um another entity so that there is no conflict of interest but this will leverage our city dollars uh and private dollars so that we can help our resident who can't afford to pay water bills I think that's a tremendous step I mean that's a big step in the right direction because if you remember back in 20 in middle of pandemic we had allocated um portion of our federal funds Federal uh covid dollars towards water relief not water relief but towards helping residents who couldn't afford to pay their water bill so this is good because now we will have other other dollars uh from Foundation or uh private to help with that which is great um and also this year there is a little bit of uh change where we used to have now there is a little bit of um higher percentage towards operations versus capital and I think that's good because as city is dealing with aging infrastructure uh pipes uh we got to invest more on operation side to ensure that we are providing safe and clean water that is going to be sustainable at the same time uh in at the same time increasing capacity so uh certainly there is always a debate about how do we balance that but I think they have they have come up with a good plan moving forward and I liked uh that they are investing more on operations and that that's all that's all on Charlotte water um any questions on char water before I wrap it up Molina thank you Mr chair I just I got a quick note uh just for the city manager um Angela and her team actually took me on about a three or 4 hour tour of all of the facilities and I think it's important for us to note that we provide water resources for the entire County right and and when we say um this as a city function that it's being successful I think it's something to say that this Enterprise fund this you know uh self-functioning Enterprise fund has the capacity um to actually do a multi- city and countywide um operation at the level that they do um but I I I just want to you know shout out that team because um they took me to the northern portions of our facilities where um I saw some of our I saw the storm water operation I saw our water treatment plant I saw just a number of things and I highly recommend it it's it's I don't know how many of our colleagues have actually done that um and I even um when I met Miss Gentry from the airport the other day because I kind of felt you know as as council members we really don't get to touch our departments in the way that we would like to we make a lot of abstract decisions without actually that touch point of understanding the inner workings of each department but um it was beneficial to me to have that touch point with you know that particular department and and even when I hear this now it's kind of tangible for me and I told Miss Haley she can hold me to it I'm going to go spend some time at the airport just to kind of see what you guys are doing over there because I'd love to you know as we continue those conversations have that understanding that actual tangible understanding of the work um that's being done at our different departments across the city so uh shout out to Angela and her team for the great work yeah I think that's a good point because uh we did bring that up because that was Charlotte uh Waste Water Treatment Plant was one of my first visits back when I was elected in 2017 uh certainly it's a very educational experience and I highly recommend that I know council member Brown we did bring that up because that's in her district and um everything is in my district um so yeah I highly recommend that well speaking of District 3 airport is in her District we couldn't get get to District airport airport presentation but it will be rescheduled at a later time maybe at one of the briefings um we just didn't have enough time so that's it but at our next meeting we will be discussing uh criteria for Financial Partners process I know we had a very robust conversation at at our last budget Workshop So based on that feedback we taking that feedback and coming with we'll discuss some criteria so that uh so that we are Partners moving forward um but that's all I have thank you Mr DRS so miss Molina you talked about touch did you actually touch the end product of the wastewater treatment plan no no I did okay so you go there it's this huge Mound and and the little bacteria have have and and it's pretty much odorless it's not toxic you can pick it up yeah so so they took me to this really cool facility that they have tours at for babies that babies can kind of walk through it's like a science museum you know which one I'm talking about um it's in MO it's close to moresville it's close to Huntersville you got to ask Angela about that they took me there and it it was actually it it showed kind of the entire process of what our Wastewater goes through in order to cleanse it so that it can be reused um so I think they gave me kind of the PG version of what they showed you but that's pretty cool we have a great track record and AAA rated debt Still Miss Johnson did you want to speak I did thank you it was it's good to hear about the H2O Foundation H2 yeah yeah for uh individuals who can't afford their water bill I'd like to hear more about that but I'd also like to just uh put a plug in for individuals who who've had a water leak or some catastrophe if you will um and so I have a a a constituent right now and she has a $1,400 water bill because there was a leak that the HOA is responsible to pay and they're not paying it and I know our city does a great job with the crediting the bills and everything but this is something that the homeowner is responsible for so I think as we're looking at the HTO H2O Foundation if we would um a lot some funding for when things like this happen so it's not just income based but it's all relative if you have a $1,400 water bill so I just wanted to make sure that we're not restrictive restrictive as far as income levels thank you Miss Brown thank you mayor dream tonight acting acting M dream for tonight um I was on the call with storm waterer and I was very impressed with the um h2l nonprofit organization for our leaders to think in that capacity for people that are underprivileged or maybe going through a time or Challenge and need to have some assistance in that time that to me was just just amazing one thing that I really um was concerned about it's in my district so I'm going to be signing up to go on a tour because I think it's very important to be on the ground understanding all moving parts and components when it comes to the work that they do their presentation today was just amazing it's hard work I know it's hard work I can see that it's hard work I mentioned to them on the call on Sunday I seen a few things on Sunday I don't know how good it is to be out in Charlotte moving around on the Sunday one of the water hydrants were hit by someone on sou water hydrant but water just kept going I didn't see the actual hit while so they really have um a challenge hard work to do get charged the same amount per square footage as people that right that owns their um home and we wanted to look into that and I just want to bring that up and make sure that that stays at the top because that's very important like I did bring that up did you bring that up okay I missed that I'm sorry uh council member Asia did a great job sure that we're being as Fair as we can be with that because water is a necessity for everybody and so some of the things that they brought up and they presented was their their ask is for us to support them but as a council we got to make sure the things our constituents bring to us that are very concerning and important like water leakage like council member Johnson said and then the cost when we're deciding on what we're going to do and how we're going to allocate the funds that's all I have thank you thank you Miss Mayfield did you have anything on budget in which case it is your turn okay to speak on behalf of chairwoman uh watlington on the housing safety and Community Committee thank you this will be a very short report I do want to thank our colleagues unfortunately Dr watlington is not feeling 110 today but she was able to preside over our meetings virtually I want to thank our colleagues on the committee council member TI Wana Brown asir as well as Renee Johnson we had a very robust conversation with we only had two items that we were discussing today our community safety framework referral where we received an update and I was really excited because Dr Alexander at UNCC had was in attendance today so there's been quite a bit of data research we know Dr Wallington and other colleagues really want us to look at the metrics and see how we're moving forward with really addressing the issues in community so they were able to bring some metrics everything today for our committee was just for information and discussion I will open the door for my colleagues to add a little bit if they would like but we really were able to get into our evidence based programs and looking at how our partners out there are attempting to do the work and we also had some recommendations like myself and Council M Johnson reiterated what we brought up last month regarding the CDC report on social norms and the impact of social norms not just Community Norms which we are looking at and encourage that we look further in how our partners are addressing the needs around our community and also recognizing that we have a number of award-winning programs right here in Charlotte that we can look at uplifting as well as looking at our youth program programs we have a great presentation that I'm not going to go through all of it it can be shared staff can send this out to full Committee of our different highlights but just as a quick snapshot we're looking at city of Charlotte and cmpd programs mecklinburg County which is our biggest partner and will continue to be our biggest partner attempting to ad address our violence preventive programs as well as to work at the meinberg County Criminal Justice Services and juvenile crime prevention but this can be shared with all of council and I will open to see if my colleagues council member Brown Johnson asir just stepped away if you had anything you would like to add I think we're good question she do we have she does no she thank you so much council member Mayfield I I just want to to say that we received it was a great presentation DC um we have list there's nothing data that 99% of the youth have history of mental illness there was a lady there from University of Denver that could validate what I always talk about injury up to 87% of individuals who are um criminal justice involved have some history potentially I would like to really seek transformational Justice and respond according to the data and not have a predetermined solution and then try to to meet that that solution I think we're we're seeing that there's a need for um less than a cookie cutter approach a a trauma informed approach and we cannot keep doing the same thing and expect something differently this is our chance to be Charlotte so um I really would like to see us follow the data and try something different from for these youth I said earlier I quoted Frederick Douglas and I'm going to get it wrong cuz it's not in front of me but it's easier to build strong youth than to repair broken men so I think this is our opportunity to um an opportunity to put our funding and our um and blessed to be in this environment with staff that really want to execute you know we continue the conversation um and actually for the community members in East Charlotte I'm going to do a town hall um and I'm going to have our stakeholders out there so we can go over exactly what we went over today um because some of those questions are starting to pop up and so um I've taken the Liberty to tap staff to say that something so stay tuned East Charlotte that's actually coming but I I I love the um the diagrams that Miss Craig and her team done today I mean that makes it so very simple to understand where we were what's proposed and where we're going it it it can't be more simple than that only other thing that probably could be add it is an index to understand what the N means or anything like that so that team did a really really good job um in in simplifying that so that we can attempt to try to disseminate that information too the community members that we represent um also I can't not say anything um I I can't speak more highly of of Mr Ed McKenna uh he is he is accessible he is committed I am a fan of his work um my community members have reached out to him personally and he is responsive to them you know he's used East Charlotte in some of our previously unan nexted areas to really highlight some of the extreme needs that we have in what we consider to be the Far East parts of Charlotte and I think it's a great example of some of the needs and how they are expressed and being extreme and like you're saying Mr chairman you know we have this information we got to figure out how to pay for it I think we got a a Citywide case study um that could help us make that case for why we need that quantitative um help so uh Mr McKenna I don't know if he was here okay him and his team uh they did an excellent job they actually this time um instead of using just the District 5 example they gave examples from the entire city and like you said Mr chairman they even you know he even laid out some of the he spoke about some of the smaller um projects that are ongoing and and have smaller needs throughout the city so um I'm really delighted at at what we have as far as information is concerned that's going to help us going forward making policy decisions great who else do I have you have council member Brown always I really um enjoyed listening to your your knowledge and your feedback this is really complex to me and for a lot of people I see the breakdown in District 3 I know that Mobility is for everybody people want to be able to get around the city effectively and efficiently so I I'm going to be paying close attention to this and how we deliver it and how we go out into the community and make sure we get the feedback from the Comm and that we're transparent and that they're able to understand what we are doing it looks good I love the work that Mr mcken and his team did I even love your knowledge of 10 years and how you deliver the information but everybody hadn't been here 10 years so we got to make sure that we have a play a a fair playing Ground that I'm able to go out to District 3 to communicate this information effectively and efficiently and Simplex as we possibly can even if it means bringing my colleagues alone so that I can deliver this information that's transform that's going to transformative to my people in my district and my constituents CU we have a big meeting coming up that's that's not orchestrated By Me but by the community and a lot of Community Partners are coming through on Nation Fort Road Airwood Corridor they want to see things done and so this is going to be good to be at my meeting so if I can just grab you with your knowledge and your expertise to come along for this cuz we all have our lanes right you've given me credit for my lane and what I do I'm giving you credit for your lane and what you do it looks really good but we're going to have to actually be able to deliver this in a way that the community can receive it and I would love to have you come along to be able to demonstrate that and to deliver that so thank you so much for that today Sir Mr acting mayor thank you so kindly for district uhuh yeah so do we have anybody else yes Mr Kagel is almost going to pass out over there but thank you Mr McKenna actually went out to make a copy of the Udo presentation for council member Brown because that was we we got some great information in today's meeting uh council member Mayfield did you get a copy of this yeah this was this is what we had this blueprint um and it it gives a a very great detailed report for all of the areas so this was great and also the um I'm sorry we Sorry Sorry that was an aside okay J thank you and the Udo presentation was great as well as a matter of fact and thank you there's Ed mcken let's all give you a hand he does a great job okay a great job so thank you so but I want to say this to you council member Brown This is complicated information the original 20 240 or Udo plan was over 600 pages and we've asked for simplification we've we' we've asked for that numerous times so even in today's meeting if you go back and listen to it we we talked about the need for this this illustration and and I ask that um this illustration along with the the details for the the place types be on somewhere on the front of the website right so you're absolutely right and we talked about that being part of the problem I believe why residents are now figuring figuring out how this applies to them no we're all busy adults we're busy in today's society so people want to know how does this apply to me so we need it's our responsibility communication's two ways so it's our responsibility to make this simple enough that our public understands so you're right and um and we all feel that way many of us feel that way that we do need this information to be more um more simple so that people can understand because I mean it's being presented by planning you know planning experts and so um it it has to be more clear for us us so thank you for bringing that up well I say yes but I can understand what in front of me I just need to get with Mr Ed and his team and see how we can deliver it in District 3 because they have start asking questions about Mobility you know the the leaks get out there people here and so I want to be able to deliver the correct information in the correct manner that's effective and efficient for all of us so I would like to say I'll yield to you on that and the experts in the transportation and thank you councel Johnson for sharing that information cuz is a lot of information and it is complex agreed and I'm very happy to help out in any way I can uh do we have anybody else so uh Mr KAG I bet you wish those slides would work so now we have pleasure that will learn you about the cat's budget all right good evening everyone I'll try to move through this pretty quickly um but happy to answer questions either as they come up or at the end one quick thing before we dive into tonight um going to go through the current state of cats our Revenue summary our operating and capital budget overviews and then and then really talk about the next steps but leading with the end up front just a reminder the cat's budget um and and how cat sets our budget is a little bit unique in that we have the Metropolitan Transit Commission um that also approves our budget before coming forward um as part of the manager's budget so um just bear in mind that that process is currently underway and we have conducted uh two budget workshops one in February one in March already with the MTC and we will be moving um in April to make um to seek final recommendation from the MTC to move our budget forward as part of the manager budget for the city council so a little bit about us uh moving people forward is our mission our core values safety employee Centric customer focused equity and inclusion Innovation sustainability and Excellence one of the things we thought is it's time these have always been core values but we really wanted to think um through these and state them clearly upfront as we as we think about cats moving forward so some of the accomplishments what have we done over the last um year one thing I will note is uh this time last year as as I was setting in my first cats budget I said there there are really three things that we're going to focus on um in the current Year's budget Safety and Security State of good repair which is really how do we maintain our assets uh and valuing our employees so that is what we focused on um Safety and Security we have funded two new security contractors both with increased spending um we have also entered into agreements to increase uh training for our operators specifically deescalation training not that they haven't had that in the past but we want to have more routine deescalation training for the operators that's really a key component of Safety and Security we also have our cats connect program this is a program that one of our staff uh really brought forward to recommend for cats to roll out and we started to do that and what cat connect does is is it focuses on assisting uh persons in crisis by directing them to available resources from our Community Partners what is that mean not everyone um that's experiencing hardships or crisis law enforcement isn't or security isn't the answer for every situation uh and so it's trying to put resources that aren't security where they're needed and where they fit best uh and then our ambassador program this is really bringing in non-security um Personnel staff who can assist customers it's all about customer experience we do see that sometimes customers become frustrated and that frustra can create uh um conflict on board um our vehicles so it's it's a way to try to head that conflict off before it even gets there um because that by far is the best way for us to address Safety and Security across the system is to deconflict right the the the experience um is to head off that conflict before it gets there state of good repair this is really about our Light Rail vehicle maintenance um and technology system we have a contract with Seamans a year ago we talked about some needed maintenance on the entire Light Rail uh vehicle Fleet that it work is underway with Seamans this morning I reported that the um Fleet is under contract Seamans has started the work we have received back five uh truck sets for for five vehicles one is uh and they are in service one set is received but still still in acceptance testing and then we have another I believe roughly six sets that are in either California or Florida uh being repaired we also talked about last year our bus and STS bus replacement we have create uh we have ordered significant numbers of vehicles we currently have 71 buses on order and we have 55 STS vehicles on order um both of those fleets were in desperate need of replacement um so we have been very aggressive in how we um how we pursue Replacements on the fleet we were also awarded a $30 million zero emission Grant that's allowing us to purchase additional uh battery electric buses and to invest in charging infrastructure um and we talked last year about our bridge and parking deck inspections our Bridge inspections as as Mr dggs stated are nearly complete we have about six Bridges left we are only waiting on flagging Crews these bridges are in uh railroad ride of ways and we cannot conduct the inspections until we have a railroad approved flag crew to to do that so we are very close to done on that valuing our employees we talked about um pay increases it was really all about how we recruit and retain our employees last last year when when we spoke cats in general had a vacancy rate of 20 to 25% I'm happy to report that our vacancy rate is right at about 10% today so a significant reduction in vacancy I will say there were certain work groups that have vacancy rates far higher than the departmental average all of our vacancy rates um have been reduced significantly through uh aggressive Recruitment and retention programs and one thing that we heard about and I think they are all directly related Recruitment and Retention morale was low and one of the reasons morale was was low is we were lacking communication or or robust communication tools with our employees um we're not perfect but we're much better um we spend time in the field talking to staff monthly um I would say that the feedback we getting is there's always opportunity to do better and we're always looking for that but um we have made significant improvements in um talking to staff letting them know what our values are what our expectations are what cats as an organization is about so that is um those have all been um successful in in my opinion so what are we looking at this year microtransit is a new mode that we will be looking to issue an RFP on this year and to roll out later in the calendar year better bus it's really taking a look at how we provide bus services and thinking about it in a different way not just a hub and spoke but also how we create better connections through Mobility hubs and other um access points throughout the system continued investments in Safety and Security continuing to focus on our employees new Revenue Partnerships marketing and education efforts I will say about marketing and education efforts one of the things we saw we had a perception issue there was a perception that cats um was not reliable in our service there was a perception um that we were um not doing our our maintenance right there were all of these perceptions about cats out in the community and we need to get out there and talk about what we're doing today and our commitment to customers and educate people on how to use the system we find that a lot people say I I just don't know how to it's confusing uh and it can be so we're talking about how we provide better marketing and education efforts around the services we provide uh technology process and projects and also our Transit Asset Management program little bit about ridership um our ridership continues to increase um right now year to date fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2024 we are at an 18% in increase in ridership all modes um total where are we at we are still lower than we were preco um but we're at about 65% recovery from preco which is in line with most Transit agencies across the country um everyone is still coming back from from the preco days so our revenues just a reminder we are our predominant Revenue source is from the half cent um sales tax dedicated Transit sales tax in FY 2025 we are anticipating $165 million of article 43 or Transit dedicated sales tax revenues that represents about a 4.3% increase over fiscal year 2024 and we worked with strategy and budget uh their Economist um to develop that forecast so another way to look at our revenues um is breaking it down again by far the largest area is our sales tax revenues we also have grants um and other agreements so in this the grants are holding steady I will mention that for FY 2025 FY 2025 probably represents the last year that we will have the various covid monies available for spending once we get into FY 2026 the variety of covid funding that cats receive during covid will be predominantly exhausted or very close to exhausted passenger fairs uh oh I'm I missed one uhe is maintenance of effort maintenance of effort is the Money Paid predominantly by Charlotte and it represents the cost of providing Transit before the sales tax the dedicated sales tax was passed so when you see that $31 million there is roughly um $20,000 of that that comes from Huntersville there is roughly 200,000 of that that comes from the county and then there's the rest 30 something million that comes from the city of Charlotte and that is uh because it was it represents the cost of Transit pre article 43 sales tax and that's required by Statue and then our passenger fairs our passenger fairs we're projecting to be relatively flat growth in fairs is simply coming from growth in writers ship um it has been eight years since we had a fair increase and for FY 2025 we are not projecting a fair increase in these numbers on the operating side so again there are National and Regional pressures um local labor Trends have increased our operating cost um the fair revenues have not increased in in many many years we have an aging system you know we think about the Blue Line uh the the original blue line is about 15 years old now um that's not old but it's solidly middle-aged just like me um it's middle-aged at this point or at least I think of myself as middle-aged the blue light truly is middle-aged so there are some maintenance things that we have to start doing that we didn't have to think about when it was 5 years old or six years old but now you have to start thinking about those things and I'll remind you the blue line extension will follow right on the heels of blue line um the original blue line so so we are thinking about what we need to do to maintain that a Aging in infrastructure and at the same time Capital costs have risen dramatically with inflation uh and then regional growth uh Charlotte continues to grow very quickly and that creates demands and need in our region um and and sometimes we struggle to meet all of those needs and we know that so next our operating budget uh in any service organization like cats the largest single expenditure is personal services or Staffing so we have um about $147 million in this budget for Staffing and we have about $104 million in operating expenses I will say our total budget um is going up by about $10 million which represents an approximate 3% increase over prior year inside of that uh personal services is that represents a approximately a 133% increase year-over-year but total budget is about three capital and I'll move through this pretty quickly key projects in 2025 Bus and Rail state of good repair again just more of investing in in the infrastructure implementing Bus and Rail Capital Improvements we're continuing that funding uh FY 25 through 29 and the CTC Redevelopment project I will pause here and say the CTC Redevelopment project uh a week ago um when this slide was prepared um the CTC project was was on track certainly we had some um we were closely monitoring the project there are two new development that occurred on Wednesday and Thursday of last week that I want to make you aware of uh one is on Wednesday of last week we had our um budget workshop with the MTC and at the workshop it was clearly stated by the county that one of the funding sources that we had been contemplating for the CTC that the county had made no firm commitment to towards that funding source that is a TIG um and we had always assumed and we still are hopeful um that a TIG would be possible of $20 million but that would require commitment from the county and there is no commitment at this point the second is as we have as we've been talking to our development part partner on the project they have indicated that just like all capital projects over the last five years they would expect some inflationary growth in the project cost so just as a reminder this project was initially uh envisioned as a as approximately 80 89 million doll of public investment um they would anticipate that that public investment to build and deliver the CTC um on its current site will be higher due to inflationary factors so again don't have all the answers late breaking developments but clearly the project is under further evaluation and as we start to um consider our options more information will come before city council implementation of projects funded in Prior years we will continue those the South End station along the Blue Line uh is is continuing to be funded and and will be funded Hambright uh Road park and ride this is a park ride facility up in Huntersville uh supporting the um Express routes that we have coming out of the North part of the county and we also have continued funding for operator Comfort stations uh throughout the network uh 2030 Corridor system plan or advancing the plan uh we continue to do um design and some environmental work on Redline Gold Line phase three and this Silver Line we have not programmed additional funding beyond what we have already committed though for those projects uh pending um pending future Revenue the possibility of future Revenue sources so our capital budget expenditures just sort of as a graphic this should come as no surprise you can see the blue the dark blue and the light blue on these is uh basically uh rail is the dark blue and the light blue is Bod or bus Operations Division so again where most of those dollars are going throughout our C Capital program is in that state of good repair towards Bus and Rail the G gray bar that you see in the 2025 and 2026 is associated with that advancing the plan the dollars that we've already committed towards um future possible future projects with that just a reminder of the calendar as I said we've already had two budget workshops with MTC we will seek their approval or recommendation for approval of our budget from the MTC this month later this month and then it will be uh assuming uh that MTC approves and recommends the budget to move forward it will be incorporated into the manager's budget for your consider for full city council consideration as part of the manag budget with that I will hold for questions Mr Keo thank you sir one question in your presentation though I didn't see the Gateway Village project and so can you just give us update on the Gateway Village project the Gateway Village project is a future project and we are we have a P3 uh development partner on that we continue work on it um that was an oversight on my part I apologize but that project continues we continue to work with the developer as they develop a master plan for our consideration thank you sir yes Miss Johnson yeah I'm Sorry Miss Mayfield You Came oh oh I'm sorry I'm new at this thank you couple of questions for you Mr kago as we're talking about potential expenditures the first experience starts at our bus stops for our bus drivers so the manager and I had a chance to have our monthly meeting it will be helpful for me while we're looking at potential Revenue increase as for us to look at consistency in our neighborhoods which bus stops where that is is physically aign versus bus stops that have seating and covering we have multiple weather conditions sometimes in one day we may go through multiple Seasons I have gone driven by through community and seen individuals take a shopping cart and turn it on the side in order to have seating at the bus stop I would like Mr manager for us to be looking at that as a consideration versus some of these other funding line items that we may have in here because that is also a health a Ada at a safety need when we have high temperatures of over 100 as well as the high winds that we have been experiencing not having a safe location that is consistent throughout the city where we have bus stops we know where our bus stops are located so we that should be pretty easy to look at when we look at these pressures and I am specifically just talking about city of Charlotte I'm not talking about the regional conversation for this conversation I'm specifically asking for the city I also as I'm flipping through this what I don't see is budgeted versus actuals of real Revenue we have been having commers I see the expenditures in here I see a operating budget summary with a pred projection for 24 and planning of 25 but what I do not see I see Revenue estimates but the actuals of light well revenue and the reason I would like to see that is we should definitely see a uptick whenever we have an event above town with Revenue that is being brought in but more often than not where they there is a report or interview or even when I have WR taken the rail myself there are more individuals that are not paying on the rail whereas for bus there is no option you're not getting onto that bus without paying that fee once you come on we don't necessarily have a system like dcing others that it's more of an honor System especially along the Blue Line there honor System with getting on and off the rail for events coming to work whatever it will be helpful to know our actual Revenue versus budgeted and not just this operating expenses and Debt Service expenses what is the actual Revenue that we are generating with the on the usage of our light will yes so I apologize we we'll provide you the breakout it's it's inherent in Fair revenues Fair revenues is Bus and Rail um and so we we can provide you the breakout we can get you that inform that would be very helpful thank you anybody else oh I've got a whole list here we are uh I think that the next one up is Miss Johnson thank you for the presentation Mr Kagel so um we also talked about in the committee meeting um the ability to have the reports available and accessible to Residents uh can you just share that with the council sure sure this morning at uh tpd and and um via email through a variety of conversations there's been a desire to provide sort of on the website more accessibility or an easier way for folks to find the community to find information related to some of our ongoing efforts and again as we said this morning um Mr Hunter who's right behind you um and I have discussed this and we will be working through that to make it available on our website related to uh the vehicle maintenance and and other efforts that we are undertaking that's awesome we also talked about the Udo or information being available so today was a great day for the residents of Charlotte so good um and then so have you seen this this is just wonderful it's it's a Strategic investment uh blueprint and I was saying to Mr Jones it would be great if all the Departments right could give us something like this as far as a breakdown in our district uh you know what the plans are uh what that looks like what the needs are I think this is just great and it's it's comprehensive and it's easy to follow and it really helps I think it's a direct response to the infrastructure discussion um speaking of uh infrastructure and District I saw that the one of the needs I think on one of the slides was Last Mile Transportation or micr Transit that's what it is was so one of the things I said because District 4 we have so many jobs and we also have the blue line I it seems like a lwh hanging fruit to provide a solution to get folks from the train to the research area um so I wanted to know if that's part of the ongoing and planned initiatives I just think that last mile solution to the research area and Wells Fargo and all of those jobs could just be a a great solution it would help with traffic on the on the highways and you know pollution and just everything so is that a part of the plan U that last mile solution we've been talking about this for a long time so so yes that microtransit there there's not an area in the uh service region that we have that couldn't benefit from microtransit it is a new mode um uh University City as well as the northern and southern regions all of the regions benefits so as we build out the new you know better bus microtransit is a pie of that and there are 18 or 19 different microtransit zones across the entire County all right everywhere the first three zones to implement will be in the northern part of the county Huntersville Davids and Cornelius um after that we will start to look at as uh revenues allow continuing to expand microtransit but the first three are really Huntersville Cornelius Davidson um and the reason for that one of the reasons for that is we we do have Financial constraints um and we wish we could just add more and more service but at this point because of constraints our our ability to just increase service is limited um so we have to be cognizant of what we can provide in those in the northern towns there is already a service called The Village Rider and we believe that as we implement microtransit we will be able to replace the village Rider with microtransit and so while it is a new mode it has a cost savings they are uni unique in that way because of the cost savings generally speaking everywhere else that we talk about microtransit it is just additional service and so we will have to be um we will be committed to Rolling it out but it will be an increment a very incremental roll out depending on our ability to fund the service so you mentioned P3 which is public private partnership um this might be an opportunity for some of the Employers in the university area maybe they're I know years ago that they were interested maybe supporting a shut shuttle or something for that last mile that was preo but now that folks are getting back to the office if that's something that you could maybe contact Keith Stanley of University City Partners or or and meet with the employers and see if there's something that they're willing to contribute to I I think that that would just have a huge impact we have this resource of the blue line and if we could just help get you know thousands of folks to that research area that would just have a a great impact I think on the city absolutely all right thank you and and then speaking of bus routes how are bus routes determined is it simply on ridership level no uh so there is an MTC policy it's called MTC 5 and that is the travel markets policy and the travel Market policy is the MTC sets the MTC policy but it divides travel markets into primary and secondary markets primary of course being the first area to serve and in primary markets there are five um determinant and they are in rank order so I won't waste all of you know I won't waste a lot of time giving you all five but here are the first two and they're really the most important the first is need we serve communities where there's the greatest need and when you think about need when we think about need we Define that in a couple way ways predominantly where there is um where there is a higher concentration of zero car households or one car households um zero or and one car households and two um income right um and so we look at where communities or areas in the community where incomes are lower right I won't say below poverty or anything it's just lower income um and we know and the and the reason that's so important we know that uh predominantly other than express bus routes when you talk about fixed route local service and Light Rail um predominant the Riders who who rides um a majority of our Riders come from zero car households a majority of our Riders make less than $60,000 a year of those a majority of them make less than $30,000 a year and a majority of our writers um predominantly African-American but other people of color as well predominantly African-Americans so that's the majority of our Riders and that's true for Rail and local bus it is not true for express service and so when we think about that and we map out um communities it looks a lot like um well something we used to talk more about and you can see this in our Network it looks like the crescent right when we talk about the crescent and when you look at our routes that's why a predominance of our local routes are serving those areas so the first priority in a primary Market is need the second is how do we connect those who need the service to we call them activity centers but let's say jobs uh hospitals grocery stores to the places they need to go right and so those are the first two um criteria in primary markets now we also talk about our trans our five Transit corridors and other things but those that drives our decision making when we start thinking about where should we have routes or when we start thinking about um are there routes that we need to modify to serve more folks okay right and so th that's um the short I guess MTC 5101 and we can talk offline you know there's a there's a bus stop that you know we we've talked about um one of the things I will say is that council member ashme and council member Winston and I were part of the equity the the equity committee govern yeah and governance committee and one of the things that we committed to was was taking a look at developing our policies and procedures through an equitable lens so I would I would ask that we also consider uh looking at the bus route planning through an equitable lens as well we we absolutely will do that continue to do that and do do that so when we talk about what council member at um Mayfield said the Ada and just things you know those intangibles or those those Equitable considerations that we need to make and we can get a list of planned uh shelter improvements uh because we do have that list we can hap happily get you that list and and again shelters are are like service we would love to have full amenities at every bus stop right um we don't um and it it's it's will be a long time before we do because of financial constraints but again we do have driving overall policies and we can get you the list of where those improvements are planned so when I talk about the equity also the the whole criminal justice piece I think that from a public safety perspect perspective that might be something that's not on a list but that we need to make sure we're considering and then my last question the CTC project I want to keep that one is that still planned to be underground the current con cept yes is below grade okay is below is below grade yes you need to get an update on that because that that was presented last time okay thank you thank you that's all I have thank you Miss air you're up okay apparently I was going through a long presentation there okay okay I have two d in front of me so I'm trying to bear with me here I'm trying to figure out which deck to use for my questions uh but first let me just thank you Mr Kagel for your leadership and for prioritizing key Investments to restore public trust in cats uh last year I think all of us when we were on the campaign Trail we got questions asked about cats reliable trust in the system Effectiveness efficiency and since you have been brought on board we have made significant improvements in that uh especially when we look at Safety and Security for our operators and our passengers uh making increased investments in our Recruitment and Retention and also Expediting our repairs and capital planning schedule uh kudos to you I think you have certainly checked off checked off all the key Investments that we needed to make to restore our public trust um I was going through uh this PowerPoint deck where you got this ongoing and planned activities and this second slide about accomplishments it's just it's perfect it's like summary it's like Cliff Notes um I think that this is the type of how powerpint presentations we should have like a summary version cliffnotes version where you got two slides and you can if you can tell me what you need to tell me in two slides and we clearly got an issue um so this is great uh but I I wanted to sort of dive deeper into um see okay if I don't get the acronym correctly uh correct me is it CTC the Charlotte um Transit Center Transit Center the CTC yes um what's the latest update on that I know we were planning um based on what we had approved with spe Spectrum Center back in 2022 or a couple of years ago let me just say that uh and certainly plans have changed now so how does that affect our timeline for the CT C and our investment into the CTC so Mr air he did actually comment on CTC uh funding and the fact that it's still under evaluation so I I just you don't need to repeat everything you said before but yes ma'am as as we said uh the the county TIG the county has not made a firm commitment to to a TIG uh on that and and that was part of our funding deck if you will um and we know after discussions last week with the develop veler that it is likely that the project cost will increase so we don't have a firm answer today other than to say we continue to evaluate it now I will say there is a rezoning moving forward for the property that provides us the ability to continue moving forward with the current concept if ultimately that's the decision um and so actually city council will see next week I believe or or in two weeks that that zoning that rezoning request um and we know that we need to move forward with obligating the grant through the FTA and again that will take city council approval both of those things are predicated on the idea that the current preferred alternative so cat speak Transit speak is a locally preferred Al alternative um so the current locally preferred alternative for the CTC is onsite um below grade with private um investment above that continues to be the locally preferred alternative and we continue down that path but there are some headwinds that we need to figure out as as we go forward on that project there's some Financial challenges that we see there got it okay so in terms of the timeline uh it's still up in there we do not know because of some of the financial challenges that's what I hear to be determined okay yes ma'am okay and um cats is an Enterprise fund it's got its um we um so once we approve the budget would would go back to MTC to so tell me cuz I know we got two board two MTC and the council that'll be approving the budget if you can just walk me through what that process would be yeah via the interlocal agreement that's been in place for 25ish 22 23 years um there is a process that is very unique in our budget the revenues because they are countywide revenues um the MTC was created to represent all of the quote unquote members of of of the county everyone who's in the MTC it's all of the towns uh plus the county um and ncdot and so our process starts in January and we launch our budget process with the MTC this year for the first time ever we've done budget workshops with the MTC and we did those in February and March February was the operating budget March uh was the capital budget and and the March meeting was last week um so in in this month for MTC in April we will take a final recommendation to the MTC for their consideration knock on wood their approval once they have approved the budget recommendation it is incorporated as part of the manager's budget for your final consideration okay so that'll be before May 6th yes ma'am okay cuz May 6th is when Mr Jones is presenting uh his recommendations to the council it'll be in there okay it will be in there okay not before May 6 it'll be in the budget that we received from the manager on May 6 yeah that's right yeah all right well I that's all I have thank you so much good Miss Brown thank you so much acting mayor council member dggs so Mr Brent Kel thank you so much I um really appreciate you your presentation and especially coming out to the halfway house with us to speak in detail about the bus stop and the needs of the people in that community and what they need you and your staff came out and y'all were phenomenal patient and just showed that you really were concerned about how we want to move forward and addressed all questions and concerns concern so I want to first thank you for that you came out with no problem so that meant a lot to me councilwoman Johnson and the other Community Partners that were in the room so thank you so much with um MTC you said MTC it it has to approve the budget first correct is that correct is that what I heard correct yes okay and so when um when you have when will you have that budget available that you want to present I'm looking up a date right now it's this we will take it for consideration with the MTC on April 24th okay and when will we have it will we have it it will be part of the manager's recommended budget okay all right no problem so that's one of my questions that I had and um your core values I like your core values that you implemented um safety being number one for every company um in Blue Collar work what you're doing employee all of that I just wanted to acknowledge some of the things that I saw with my eye as I was listening to your presentation um I had a question aboute um I know you said more uh was it more of an effort maintenance of effort mainten a really weird way to say that's the cost of Transit before there was a dedicated sales tax okay and the state statute it exists because the state statute when the taxes when the new taxes were passed the statute said all of the new revenues can supplement but not supplant Transit and so any Transit that existed before the sales tax had to continue to be funded through non-sales tax revenues and that generates maintenance of effort which is predominantly for Charlotte which means that Charlotte had Transit before there was a dedicated sales tax okay they had Transit before dedicated sales tax and so that goes under the maintenance of effort so that's what the mo is that's right and you also said in your presentation that there were two workshops one in February and one in March yes the workshops was that for the community for the MTC yes for the MTC but how was the turnout for that the the MTC meetings are live streamed like these anybody can go back and watch shows correct okay all right just wanted to ask that question too and so um moving on on down with the questions that I had let's see you talked about how you determine the need the zero to one household and income Factor um I want to get down to um the cats connect how effective has that been so it's just starting it is effective and we are working it is a new program it is effective it's modeled after other programs in other in other cities and other Transit agenes um I would say it's effective and it continues to become more effective as we build stronger relationships with nonprofits and County resources who operate predominantly in the social services space I think that's a great feature to have under Safety and Security so I just wanted to ask where it came from how effective it was you said had been how long has it been in effect uh we started it approximately 6 to8 months ago I I'd be happy to give give give you more information we have a program so Transit has a program where um upand cominging leaders they go through a program and they visit other Transit agencies and so they pick a project um what do they want to do and then they go out to other Transit agencies and they talk to them about how they do it and then they come back with a recommendation about how we want to do it so cats connect that was my long way of saying I'm really proud of our staff because our staff participated our Safety and Security staff uh participated in the program and they went out and talked to other Transit agencies and came back with cats connect for us um because Transit agencies across the country have realized that certain issues un being unhoused mental health addiction those issues aren't productively served with security um so it's trying to link folks to need Social Services or other services rather than a um a law enforcement response um if you will and and that's and so it's been about six months it is effective but it continues to grow I love that feature and wherever the research came from wherever you went to get that model and I would be interested because I know that you said that's something that is effective and is working where it came from and how is it working for cats here in the city of in meinberg county and I'm getting down to my last two employees um well I want to piggy back off council member uh Mayfield because she said about the bus stops that I want to Echo that that's one of the things on my list safety and making sure that we focus on the bus stops in area in the areas that we choose because of how we choosing the need making sure that the bus stops are safe and that they're attentive to so whatever it takes to get that done if we can also include that in that and then SE around and employees and aggressive retention and recruitment um that we've been able to maintain what was under 10% you said we are just about at 10% whereas a year ago we were at 20 to 25% vcy big difference in big increase so kudos to that um I really like to see the retention efforts and boots on the ground with employee morale and listening to the employees and their feedback and going out in the community and making a difference so with the with the emplo employees if that's working then that's something that we want to hold on to um and so with all that you know being said thank you for the wonderful job that you're doing but I also um am because I answer to my constituents and when they send in emails I just want to share something today that came through right around 5 something there was a constituent that sent in and said that she said I demand immediate action to address the the glaring disparities within our community and our city government the lack of equality is evident and unacceptable as a member of our community and participant in City and County government Affairs I was alarmed by a recent presentation from the cat CEO the data revealed that 70% of Transit Riders are people of color yet astonishingly the transit system leadership team comprises only of 16% of people of color that is one of the six one of the six I'm just trying to read it verbatim people on the leadership is people of color based on cat's website this disparity is not only shocking but deeply concerning how can a team predominantly detach from the experiences and cultures of the majority of its users effectively plans and provide for our community the issue transcends Beyond numbers it touches the very core of cultural understanding and representation when questioned at a community event cat staff offered no real explanation dismissing concerns with vague references to the executive team's composition they made it very clear that what I was talking about is the executive team so please understand I'm not talking about just any leaders within cast this respond is inadequate it reflects a broader issue of systemic neglect the current leadership does not reflect the diversity of the community it serves nor does it seems to grab the importance of cultural Insight in decision making the question that that stands before you council members is critical what immediate steps will you take to rectify this unacceptable disparity and representation within our Transit transit systems leadership the community Demands a leadership that mirrors its diversity and understands its needs change is overdue we need leaders who represent us and can genuinely relate to our experiences and challenges I urge you to take Swift and decisive action to ensure our community is led by a team as as as diverse and vibrant as the people it serves and that's from a constituent and so with all that being said you know I know we're 10% under we talked about employee morale we talked about um aggressive Recruitment and Retention and how effective we've been so I just wanted to share like some feedback that came in from a constituent and the email it came out to all of us but because I look at my emails and I respond to my constituents I we were on transportation and I just wanted to share that so that is kind of concerning to me um I know it's coming from one person but I think she's speaking from a broader group of collectively representation a group of people so I like to respond to her this presentation was amazing and I hope that she can go online and see it but you know we have people that don't see what we see when these presentations are here to my point that we got to be clear and explain and concise information that we're putting out there but my experience with you and you coming out and and doing your job you're doing an amazing job but I do want to address the concerns of the constituents when they arise and cats as an organization to welcome everyone um to be an organization that is committed to diversity equity and inclusion and I believe we are uh I believe that we can continue to do better and we have folks dedicated to making cats um even more welcoming right um I will also say that I think our leadership team is more than five people um and and cats is a very diverse Department um as our our writers and we are committed to that we I personally am and cats as an organization is as well and I and I can I would I would share that sentiment with anyone and everyone who asks okay well thank you so much for asking that openly and earnestly as you possibly can I've been invited over to cats um by some team members so I would like to go over and just speak to them and see you know what their concerns are and what their challenges are so I'm committed to doing that and I hope that that's okay because I'll be doing that within the next coming weeks and I like to give you the feedback that they give to me it won't be anything that i' be keeping a secret but I have been invited over to come and just see operational side of things by some of your leaders so I just want to take them up on that yeah the the one thing I would mention not that it makes a difference but it is important to remember bus operations is provided by a contractor I understand and so um but we work very closely with the GM his name is Shahi to understand what their values are and under and ensure that our contractor's values align with ours I understand that and thank you for providing that information to but to what you just said and to your point to that end um going back going and get the feedback and delivering it to senior management team then they can dis first and and use that information to whatever they need to use it for but I think it's important for us to understand and hear the concerns from a different lens and a different scope so thank you so much thank you uh Mr chairman um I just um I wanted to start by saying um uh thank you Mr kagum for stepping into this very tough role um I think I think what you came into was something that um I'm I'm absolutely certain you didn't bargain for uh leaving a well functioning airport um you know before you came over so I'm uh every time I see you I I wonder if you still want to come to work uh okay great I'm I'm happy to hear that um I actually I have a very simple question to start um and it's really on the third page of the slide in your vision statement is this a new vision statement as a result of your leadership or is this something that uh cats has always had it is these are new yeah so we thought it was time um to to look at our mission um to look at our vision and to really refine our core values and I think in you know just my observation you know not you know particularly um delving into the details I think that really in my opinion is where you're going to put your stamp on this work right you've come in you've stopped the bleeding in a few other places that you know weren't the result of your leadership but now this because I think it's very specific it leads with safety it leads with a lot of you know the deliverables that now we need to concentrate in order to build out a transportation and infrastructure system that is people Centric right whether it's our riders or our employees so I want to you know lift that up and say shout out to you and your team because I think that's you know very strategic I'm looking forward to now with this new vision this new Mission you know specific aligned core values how we can take this structure and move it forward as far as implementation is concerned so I think that's a great start um and to not keep us here any longer there I had more than one question but I'm going to bring it right back to one thing that is interesting to me and the first person who pops into my mind when I think about Transportation needs is a young man who volunteers on our bicycle Advisory Board his name is John Holmes he's one of the most dedicated people in this conversation that I can think of um and I lean on him for his perspective what does it mean how do you take a bus how long does it take you to get from your home to your work because he has with a wife and a small child decided to make you know Transportation um a multimodal transportation in his own life a commitment right so they did the critical mass ride this weekend they've done a different amount of things so I'm I'm always plugging into now that I'm partnering with my very capable chair um in in trying to make sure I understand what the needs of our entire Community are but one in in in that's specific in in my area where I represent and the City at large is the bus system I think that's one of those things that and again I think you mentioned a great Point um is that cats is not directly managed by the city of Charlotte we have a subcontractor that handles that work directly and I'm glad that you're in partnership with him so I think uh Mr chairman if it's something that would please you I think uh the better bus system I'm really interested in knowing a little bit more about what the vision is for that because I think that's a deliverable that is more of a short-term deliverable that if we can work with that contractor to see how um we can be strategic about how we you know take people from point A to point B in in efficient time and I'm sure you guys have thought that out so that's kind of an offline item you know and for the sake of time I would love to hear from you or even have you with you know permission from our chairperson to kind of present that at one of our meetings I'd be excited to hear and just for clarity I I happy to give you um spend as much time as you'd like going over better bus but just for clarity for Council better bus um is a better name for Envision my ride um we we thought it was time for vision my ride is better bus I think it's more clear exactly what the intent of it of it is so I I did want to mention that and and I did I was moving through it fast but but as we thought about reimagining and reenvisioning envision my r we we thought it was time for for better bus okay no and I'm glad you clarified that because I listen I just started having this imagination that was like oh my God better bus like what are we going to do with this like my my my engines are firing so we're doing the same thing better bus is all about how we how we rethink the system okay okay so I'm really excited to hear about how you guys are envisioning that because I think you know as we think through this like I said with a new vision a new stamp you know a new mission to move forward that says this is cats this is what we envision from this point forward and this is how we intend to serve the people of Charlotte in the Greater Community um I think it says a lot New Vision new Mission new core values you know from this point forward not withstanding anything that's been open-ended not withstanding anything that is still the responsibility of us on this leadership body but understanding that we have a plan to move forward is something that I'm excited about um one that's taken into consideration all of the people that we serve in the city so thank you for that that's all I have all right I wanted to say quickly from one some months ago the working group spent several hours at the uh operations and maintenance center met quite a number of employees and two overriding Impressions were for one their dedication and professionalism uh in spite of uh the turbulence uh and two uh they all said that things uh have improved a lot and they that they are appreciate of that and and of your management so uh that was a big take away from that uh I'm going to sort of make a few statements and tell me if I'm wrong they're not questions uh uh one is people have asked about how the repairs are being funded right and my understanding is the repairs are being funded from prior budget allocations that were made for repairs but weren't actually spent and therefore we do not have a big price tag ahead of us in terms of these repairs is that a fair statement correct good number one uh two am I right to assume that there are no changes in Fair policy or yield planned in the current budget correct okay uh and three uh we had a very upbeat report from the new management of national Express uh for the buff system and I assume that uh that is still proceeding uh smoothly and that they are settling in and uh are favorably impressed as they were with what they've seen correct okay boom um and Miss Brown oh you moved too fast I thought you had more no no I'm than you man problem we want to go home come on yeah I know we definitely want to go home but we also want to make sure we want to go home but we want to make sure we're effective and we're doing our job Qui Say What You Need to um thank you thank you Mr DRS acting mayor um so I wanted to go back to um I've been living in Charlotte all my life and um although as a child I didn't take the bus my mom did or she walked my family right now most of them take the bus I'm just being honest most of them live in District 3 and most of them are in areas that are challenged and they walk to the bus stop and they get on the bus so I hear a lot of stories about the transit they don't know that cats is contracted out so when we are making statements and people they send us emails they may not know it so they'll know it now because they hear it here in this meeting but I think the number one goal is it's us our reputation that cats belongs to us if they're contracted out we allow that right so it's still our responsibility yeah so I didn't mention that we were contracted out as a way to somehow imply that we weren't responsible I mentioned that because if you are talking directly to their employees to to a bus operator you may believe that they work for the city of Charlotte and they do not now that being said their concerns are real and valid and need to be heard but our response to their concerns would be slightly different if if it's a contracted employee than if it is a direct City of Charlotte employee that that was my only Point okay no problem so we both agree that their concerns are still valuable and that we can dissemble them to where they need to go absolutely and and we seek their input just the same as we would a a city of Charlotte rail operator who is a city of Charlotte employee for example but because because they're unionized they can't work directly for us that because of state law and so I don't say it to to try to say we're not responsible for that we we are it's a partnership and our contractors should reflect our values and and we we demand that yeah so thank you for the clarification cuz if online you know getting feedback I want people to make sure that they understand that although it's contracted the city of Charlotte they do have core values that need to be followed as as they would if they were an employee mhm and there's a relationship right even though they're unionized because I understand the union like different airport jobs are unionized out they don't work for American but all people see is American Airline is responsible for whatever happens at the airport so I just want to be clear on when we're giving that information out that they may be contracted but they're valued as well and you just clarified that okay we're on the same page yeah absolutely and so yeah again it's not to say that we don't want to know in fact I it's my opinion that one of the things about the last contract that had to change and will make the new contract more successful is cat's being more engaged with the contractor right because we don't know what their issues are if we're not listening and if we're not listening we can't share that with their general manager who is part of our leadership team again Shahi um so that was I think fundamentally in my view maybe it wasn't the only issue but it was a major issue with how cats approached the prior contractor they sort of said you're the contractor you do your thing and and you and you deal with your employees we're saying we're all in this together and there may be a different employer but we're all in this together to provide a needed service to our community well thank you Mr Kel and I think my first impression of you was when you came out to the halfway house and you did amazing job so I don't have any concerns at all with that but I do want to address the needs of the constituents as they arise and as I went through your presentation I gave you all the accolades for what I thought was very good for employment for the benefit of the company for morale moving forward and the infrastructure as it needs to be but also you know there sometimes there's tough questions that we just have to answer and we have to pull out so thank you so much for that understand very professional and moving cats forward in a positive manner so thank you I just want you to know that my first impression of you you're doing a very a phenomenal job and you're an amazing person thank you thank you any other comment mrar you make sure to tell Marcus that tell Marcus that a lot Mr Jones I'm sorry Mr Mr Jones for the record Mr Kel is very good and you're an amazing person thank you thank you any other [Music] comment marus tell Marcus that a lot Mr Jes I'm [Music] sorry [Music] a e e