you you you you you you . . . . . So, we're going to wait for them. They're going to be about another 10 to 12 minutes. That's all we're waiting to be a by-side. Yes. Because I think some of the ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Thank you. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you All right. Thank you. Well, our only item on the agenda is an RTD update. I'm gonna hand this over to Michael to see if he has anything before we get going. I don't have anything else to add to this, but I do wanna welcome our guests where thrilled to have guests from RTD and I'll turn it over to Troy so he can introduce his friends. Yes, welcome. All right, Mr. Mayor, City Manager, Council members, the city manager. Thank you. His friends. Yes, welcome. All right. Mr Mayor, City Manager, Council members. Thank you so much for taking time on a 5th Tuesday. I know many of us would like to have this 5th Tuesday off, whether it's you folks here or us at RTD. But our schedules tend to not mess very well. We meet at the same darn time often. So this one popped up on our schedule and talking with the mayor and the city manager and with Deborah and I worked out for us to be able to be here and have a little more quality time than we normally would do. And so we appreciate that. And depending on the length of the meeting, we'll probably at least see the third period of the abs game. Maybe more than that, who knows? We'll see how it goes. But I am Troy Whitmore District K, board member for RTD. RTD is one of only about three or four entities in transit that have a governing board that's elected. Is that the right name? Three, so we're one of three. So it is a bit unusual. We have 15 board members that each represent that's elected. Is that the right now? Three. So we're one of three. So it is a bit unusual. We have 15 board members that each represent about 200,000 constituents. So it's a big constituency that we are responsible for. We serve geographic districts and district K, which Brighton is in includes Commerce City and Henderson area and Incorporated Adams County much of Thornton including original Thornton and kind of the Eastern portion of Thornton that's East of Colorado Boulevard but it's a bit of a jagged border. So and then obviously all almost 40,000 residents of the city of Brighton. So a big geographic district there are several like that. Southwest district is not much different now actually a little bigger land mass wise. Boulder County is a big district and there's several others that are large in land mass. We serve four year terms and eight of us are up for election this fall on the general ballot. have a meeting with the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the mayor and the that will be 15 board members right before the election or right after the election. That will be you know governing the functions of regional transportation district. I don't want to talk too much longer, be happy to answer questions if there's any that are appropriate for me, but I'm just very pleased to welcome to individuals to brighten tonight to visit with you and just please as prunsched that they will make this schedule work. Debra Johnson, our CEO and general manager and Michael Davies, our governmental relations officer. Both are here to visit with you and both fairly new to the team. I think what 14 15 18 months not even 18 yet. Deborah is that correct 19 19 months but it went by an breeze during covid right and Michael less time than that. So with that Mr. Mayor if you like I turn it over to Deborah for her comments all right let's do that. Thank you very much, Director Woodmore and good evening, Mr. Mayor and to members of the council and to all that are virtually assembled as introduced, I'm Deborah Johnson and serve as the General Manager and Chief Executive Officer here at the Regional Transportation District and it's my pleasure to be with you this evening to address things all RTD. I will start out very succinctly. I know there's probably issues and questions that you would like to be covered, but just to provide a broad overreach as it relates to what we are working on collectively just so you guys do have an understanding as direct to what more indicated. I joined the Regional Transportation District back in November of 2020 while I may have only 19 years, 19 years, oh my gosh. It's analogous. See, yeah, totally. 19 months, I'm not a novice to the transportation space, have the opportunity to be a public servant in the transportation arena going on 30 years come September. And I pride myself on being a public servant because I really believe that public transportation is the great societal equalizer and leacious people from their limitations and grants access to opportunities with that being said I've had the opportunity to work in the Bay Area, three different transit agencies worked in Washington DC and Los Angeles County at LA Metro and Long Beach Transit and worked on the private sector side as well. So I wanted to provide that as a backdrop recognizing what opportunities we have before us. One thing that for certain with the support of the board, RTD just recently in August of 2020 adopted a five-year strategic plan and that really is serving as the agency's North Star in relationship to outlining for strategic priorities consisting of community value, customer excellence, employee ownership, and financial success. It gives us the opportunity to ensure that we're meeting our day-to-day mission of making lives better through connection and in our vision, which is aspirational in becoming the trusted leader in mobility because I'd be remiss to stay during my onboarding process meeting with a myriad of different audiences. Both customers, elected officials, other stakeholders and regional partners that trust has been lacking as relates to RTD and the perception of what it is that we do. And I think it's important to point out that the operative letter in our acronym is our, in reference to us, being a regional transportation provider. More so as we look at where we're going from the vantage point of our strategic plan, some major undertakings in which we have, currently under our belts, would include our fair study and equity analysis. One thing that I knew from coming into the area when I first was appointed to the position, and before I started working, I, you know, take transit. I think it's important that I am very familiar with the products and services that we provide. I did find our fairs to be quite cumbersome and complicated and hard to deduce. And if I've been in this space for 30 years and I can't figure it out, how can the average customer determine what the fairs are? Recognizing that it's important that we look at a mirrored of different issues as relates to our first city and equity analysis. This is the first one in the history of the agency where we're taking an in-depth approach, looking at various aspects of what might work best, what the different types of services that we provide. We kicked off with our Fair Study and Equity Analysis a couple of months ago in March. We anticipated with the robust engagement that we're going to have, leveraging community based organizations and understanding people's pain points from the perspective of equity groups, pastholders, and customers as well. And with stakeholder groups, determine what might be the best approach by looking at different models that have been leveraged throughout North America as well as meeting our needs. Because one thing for certain, we have a very expansive service area. And oftentimes, people tout the large aspect of our square miles, which is 2,342 square miles. But within that, there's very disparate operating environments. And so oftentimes we have to make a determination about what might work best. Additionally, outside of the Fair Study and Equity Analysis, we are in the midst of the comprehensive operational analysis which has been coined as our re-imagined RTD. It's customary that transit agencies conduct a comprehensive operations analysis every three to five years. RTD basically hadn't conducted one in more than 18 years due to the fact that there were additional rail lines being added on so they were being done done in a very micro type fashion instead of a macro. And so with that as a backdrop, the operative word there and where references optimization is optimizing the types of services that we're providing going forward. Oftentimes people look at a rail car that comprises of what we call a conscious to train and buses and things of the like. But there's other mobility options. We want to ensure that we can leverage going forward so we can get people where they need to go when they need to get there. And so this undertaking has been important. But I want to call out that it is a plan just as none of us thought, you know, over two and a half years ago that we would be in the midst of a pandemic and people were working remotely and things of the like. The plan basically provides a framework for how we want to move forward and ultimately as we talk about mobility plans for the future taking us into 2050. And so that's important as we go forward in the board will be faced with making some decisions as relates to how we optimize our transit service delivery model as we approach. Another aspect that I'd like to call to your attention just recently on Thursday, this past Thursday, Governor Polis signed into law of Senate Bill 2280. That is going to allow for a zero free transit month. And as we look at this holistically, the notion behind that is to help reduce our carbon footprint and greenhouse gases. But more specifically, I think it will give the opportunity for folks that aren't familiar with utilizing transit to be oriented to those services. Hopefully in the sense of looking at various metrics, so we can determine what might we be doing going forward to change the perspective about utilizing public transit services because one thing for certain we recognize that it was a vast economic generator as we look at what happened during the course of the pandemic and we do know that we have to be flexible and agile as we look at public transit service delivery as well. So I know I'm talking a lot. I want to give you all the opportunity to ask any questions or anything more specific the office of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of need to be pertinent, Michael. Thank you. Sure. Push the button. Hi, my name is with the council. Michael Davies, government relations officer at RTD. Just to add on, you know, I hope to be a good resource in the future. Please utilize me. I want to be that constant point of contact with RTD. So think of me as that person. One of the things I really want to focus on from that regional aspect is tying together all the different pieces of money that are out there to be able to do the things that we're all trying to do comprehensively, whether that's tying together how some of the federal grants can work with Dr. Cogmoney, et cetera, et cetera. I think that that's time to gather how some of the federal grants can work with Dr. Cogmoney, et cetera, et cetera. I think that that's a really big key to not only RTD's success, but success of the entire region is how we can all work together to accomplish leveraging the limited resources that we all have. So with that all, and thank you. Well, let's start off with questions from the council. We'll go to the council. It's been a blusky. You got to start with me. Because for your formation in 2004, when we passed this, I was a mayor of writing. And the group of mayors that got together, including Hickenlooper and Denver, we worked really hard to get this passed because the idea was we were going to have train transit throughout this whole area from Longmont Boulder down south, that was a concept. Well, we knew it was going to be a while before trains came this way. So the one promise that was made to me that I know doesn't exist today, but back then they promised they would at least the land was already purchased. I don't think that exists today. Is that right? Thank you very much. Councilmember Walsh, just for my edification, when you said we passed this, I'm assuming you're talking about the land that we have been able to connect up here, they'd have the land already purchased. And I don't think that exists today. Is that right? Thank you very much, Councillor that's fine. Yes. And so when you're talking about the purchase of the right away, I would have to double back on that, recognizing that I believe some of the right away is owned by a private entity and so forth. And there's discussions as it relates to what may be the right way to the right. And so when you're talking about the right way, I would have to double back on that, recognizing that I believe some of the right away is owned by a private entity and so forth. And there's discussions as it relates to what might the regional transportation district do. If in fact there are monies identified to bring that to fruition, working with the private railroad to discern whether or not that right away could be leased or would be a shared operational agreement. And the reason I'm speaking to it from that vantage point, because I know we are in the midst of doing a peak rail service study as relates to going to Longmont and in reference to the discussions that will be incorporated and to determine what might those costs look like, what might that delivery look like, so then conversations can ensue. So I just wanted to provide that context from my vantage point. Thank you. Thank you. Well, like I say, in 2004, we were way out here and the only way I got voters in Brighton to vote for it was the concept of buying the right away. And I can say, I don't and put that little piece of information. Therefore you thank you. Well, this is a question. Councilor Maria. Good evening. It's nice to meet you. Thank you so much for coming. I think that it's important to start the conversation. I'm sort of a little bit more in the way that we're going to talk about the issue. I think that's important to start the conversation. I'm sort of. I guess just pointed a little bit that I'm six months on council and this is when we're finally starting the conversation. So it feels that we're a little bit disconnected. So I do want to give you a few things that are on the minds of the people in the area. I guess you could put all of them into the form of the question of what are we going to do about it. So there's a lot here. I would start with fast tracks. That's absolutely a promise made and a promise broken as far as this community is concerned. In order to be part of the metro area and not be the excerpts or as Councillor Wolken-Kolaski will refer to us as the jumping off point at the edge of the metro area and not be the exerbs or as Councillor Womit Kulaski will refer to us as the jumping off point at the edge of the universe. In order to be part of the community, reasonable access into the rest of the region is really important. I've lived here for a good number of years now and have never been able to use public transportation for a commute. People here work in the tech center, they work in interlocking, they work downtown. During the time that I have ants who rode the commuter buses into downtown, the service here became less and less to the point that if they were caught after work with something, or even caught a little bit of rain, they'd lose the last opportunity to get home, because this was somewhere far out in the country instead of being thought of as part of the actual metro area. So there isn't bus service to get to the tech center from here without going downtown first, which takes the time to be an incredible amount of time. One of the things listening to Secretary Buttigieg a couple of months ago at the National League of Cities is he said distance is measured in time. People don't care that there's six miles, they care that there's 40 minutes. A long time ago driving or going from here to 120th and I-25 was a reasonable solution to get downtown. It's not. It takes 40 minutes to get to 120th and I-25. Brighton has to have direct access to where people need to go. You can't get to the airport, which is a 15-minute drive from here without going downtown first, unless you're taking one of the two odd hours short buss that are designed for getting employees to and from the airport. So Brighton is isolated and pays a pretty hefty sum of money to be part of something that we can't really take advantage of on a consistent basis. And if you switch off of commuter to, oh, and the last one there was the cutting of service to the Justice Center and to Adams County, it was really, really problematic for people who need access to the court systems without having to drive. So we had a couple of routes that I think would restore after in the long run, but we're a problem. Looking at things locally, the care and feeding of the bus stops, the care and feeding of how do you get onto the service. I'm certain that Councilman Kushin will talk about standing in the mud on a bus stop where there is no sidewalk and there is no cover and no adequate way to get around. So trying to put people and encourage people to use a sister who is blind who actually had to sell her house and buy a different house because getting local bus service to go to the grocery store was virtually impossible from where she was. And access to ride took too long. So a trip to the grocery store for a handful of items could take two and a half hours by the time you could get back on the schedule to get back home and then have the drivers complain about her trying to get her seeing eye dog in the bags of groceries back onto the bus. This has been a long time now. She's sold in the house and she moved to another one so that she could walk the half mile to the grocery store instead of being dependent on a bus service to get her there. We can't get people in this region. If we think of the hopskipping a jump over in Boulder as a model, Boulder and IWad Longmont, they have a relatively good short distance commuter service. But for people who live in Hudson and Keensburg in Johnstown and DeCono up here, there isn't an adequate service. And one of the challenges here in Brighton is that there aren't enough people who can afford to live here, who can work in the service industry here. If we could bring people in reasonably, then and get a little, a short distance commuter traffic going, we could provide services to the rest of the people in the community more effectively. But instead, the response very frequently seems to be, the numbers don't support it. It's not worthwhile. There just isn't sufficient ridership. I think this is a case of if you build it, they'll come, but it hasn't come. And I guess I didn't realize how widespread district K is, but as I look at district K and you think about service and the bulk of the people. So if you think of the bulk of the people, the services you're providing are probably very, very good for the people who are in Thornton near i25 and right off of the i25 quarter. They're probably pretty good for people in Commerce City where there's direct highway access in and out. But the services fall far short of the needs when you get farther off of the interstate and farther out into what has been considered rural community but we're not. The city has grown to this stretch. If you look overhead coming down at the number of houses and how far out they stretch we're being dismissed as a low population rural center and not getting in return what we were investing into it. So that's my disappointment in all of this. And I guess I would want to ask out of all of that, what are we doing about it? How are we going to change? Because either that has to change or we have to come up with a different solution. And that's difficult and expensive and complicated. But it may be worth difficult, complicated and expensive, if it actually meets the needs of the people around here. So, sorry to lecture at you, but that's the gist of it. No, thank you very much, Council Member Padilla. I understand your frustration and clearly about line while there's disappointment and reference to what it is that we're providing. So I don't dismiss that. I don't think you're preaching. You're speaking to an individual that grew up taking public transportation. And I do understand the complexities with all of it. I think that's one of the reasons why I'm doing what I'm doing. So with that as a backdrop, just a couple of things. And I hope my comments are accepted with the intent in which I want to provide them is just to provide, you know, some edification as we go forward and then talk about what it is that we can do because I'm a firm believer in design thinking once we are empathetic to the pain points and then basically be able to collectively define the problem then we can ideate and come up with a solution but I think it's incumbent upon all parties as we go forward with that. So as we talk about RTD, the one things for certain recognizing the broad service area is that we are a regional transit district and oftentimes when I've engaged with communities just collectively there is an expectation that there's localized service and I'm not saying I disagree with that but I'm just saying as the district operates currently that is a barrier for all intents and purposes and so with that as well as we talked about you made reference of infrastructure and I'm talking about the sidewalks and things that alike as relates to customer amenities and that's something too RTD there could be an opportunity to partner because we don't put in that infrastructure, the sidewalks. But of course, to access travel, you need to have safe paths of travel as you go forward. So it gets to that precarious position about what might that be, right? As we look at that, when things for certain as we talk about transit service and what that might mean, because I recognize as well, oftentimes there's this question about, okay, build it, they will come, but on the flip side of it, as we look at the constrained environment in which we are in, we need people power, right? And we need vehicles. And how do we deliver that? And oftentimes everybody wants a 40 foot bus or a 60 foot articulated bus, but providing mobility options, you know, they are scalable. That could be an opportunity going full steam ahead as we look at, you know, micro transit being flex right and things of the like. And what I wanted to call out as we look at our re-imagine RTD in the system optimization and you made reference to Boulder, Boulder does operate the services that you outline, right? But what we're trying to do as we go forward is really discern how can we be a partner in this because we know that we can't provide a cookie cutter approach where everybody's going to have a 60 foot articulated vehicle. But on the flip side of that, recognizing what could be done. And as we go forward, what we're looking to leverage is a partnership, a call for partners. So if in fact there is a need where we're trying to get people to, perhaps we can use a different mobility model to ensure that comes to fruition. To the point about building they will come, then that can be scalable. And if in fact it creates a need for a 40 foot bus, there can be adjustments made going forward. Also, as we talk about pair transit service, pair transit services define basically is factored in under the American with Disabilities Act of 1990, pursuant to the Federal Transit Administration, is that we provide that service within a quarter of a mile of the service that we're providing in order for people to access. And so I provide those, you know, provide that information just to ensure that everybody has an understanding that there's parameters in which we can work within and we can be creative. But then there's these other aspects of federal compliance that does not allow for us as we go forward and we look at service equity because we have to ensure that we're adhering to the Title VI, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but collectively, I want to say that there is an opportunity we can talk about what it is that we can do going forward. What we hope to do collectively is ensure that we have monies that are outlined so every jurisdiction has an opportunity very analogous to the doctor call process where there's a call for projects that will be a call for partnerships and if there is a need there then there could be conversations that ensue going forward because as we look at a standard service model you know in reference to service planning we have to look at costs quite naturally with anything. And it's based upon revenue miles per hour. And what we mean by that is if it costs $100 to put out a bus right and you're only picking up one person per hour, really does that yield a good return on the investment? Are we optimizing that service model going forward? So I'm not sitting here saying that that's why I said take my comments with the intent they're given. Not to say we can't do this, but it's like, okay, we may not be able to provide the service in such a way. And I understand as I've come into this region have been here for 19 months that there were promises made. First question I ask in which I think I got myself in a little trouble. I was asking the question, why I wasn't there a partnership with the federal transit administration because typically there's new rail starts and federal full funding agreements as we go forward. And as it relates to the modeling and the criteria, the boardings weren't there to support that. So I do know from my research that there was this notion that there could be, you know, this sales tax referendum that would pay for this. But as we know going forward, that has a materialized and now we're left trying to mitigate all of those promises that were made and I'm the lucky person here sitting here with you trying to make you know, lemonade out of a moldy bag of lemons with no sugar. But that doesn't mean that we can't have a discussion around what might happen. So with Michael being here with me tonight, it's intentional, would like to work with staff. As we talk about what could be going forward. So I would look to city manager, assistant city manager to help us ensure that we're working with the appropriate staff to discern what might this be going forward. Perhaps there's engagement we can have with individuals that are yearning to use transit options. So we can garner a better understanding what are the problems we're trying to solve for. So that's what I would offer up. But and totally amenable to having, you know, my team work and earnest trying to figure out what we can do going forward. It's good. I entirely empathize with the revenue needs to somehow map to the cost at some point. You have financial accountability, you have responsibilities. And yet there's a backwards level of trust where there's actually some acquisition of trust that needs to take place as well because of the amount of investment, the amount of money that goes out. And there's a kind of investment, the amount of money that goes out. And there's a kind of think, I'm out of analogies, so I can't illustrate a good picture, but what is a lot of money to us to invest into RTD may not feel like a lot of money against RTD's total budget. So what feels like a lot in a sacrificial level of investment on our part may not compete against what some of the other areas in the region may have to offer. And that's where the perception of the value of those dollars is not the same to us at a huge But I think that this is good to open the conversation in all of the quiet before people start throwing things at me. Well, if I could add to that, council member, you bring up great points. We've had that conversation prior. And I really appreciate that. I don't want to lose this evening without Michael's appearance being here intentional as Deborah said because of the need for partnerships what when we look at the Programs hop skip and jump or whatever it is in Boulder, you know There's some local funding there, but there was partnerships crafted by both staffs both entities over the years to to make sure they worked flanged well together. And I think where we see the most successes when we have those kind of partnerships. And so we need to work towards that. And that's part of my calling as board member, but certainly it's more important to the staff, the professionals. And that's why I'm glad that Michael's here to meet Michael in person or other Michael back behind me or whoever the case may be to look at those partnerships, whether it's cleaning up a bus stop as simple as that, but it's very important, or something more like, a microchance at cooperative or partnership so you know that is certainly on our high priority list I think as a board in general and it's in our strategic plan partnering. Mayor Brutten. Thank you Mayor. Also second thank you for coming. This is the and we're going to be able to get the information from the community. We're going to be able to get the information from the community. We're going to be able to get the information from the community. We're going to be able to get the information from the community. We're going to be able to get the information from the community. There was pretty reasonable connection to downtown Denver. You could pretty much, I could walk about 15 minutes, catch the bus, get downtown about 45 minutes. The last time we all met, the big savior was the 520 bus. It's going to run around Brighton and it's going to connect everyone inside. That's an improvement. We have a good bus that runs around Brighton. But the regional part is what we sacrificed. And I believe that happened when the end line opened. The thing that could make this a whole lot better is if that 520 bus connected to the end line so people could just get on a bus anywhere in Brighton pretty much and connect to the light rail. But instead what we have in the ridership will never improve with what we have right now. If you're a commuter and you're going to Denver, you're talking two hours because you've got to take at least three buses now. You have to take the bus to the park and ride. Then you've got to grab a bus downtown or you've got to run out to the end line to get downtown. But that puts you on the wrong end of downtown. And then you had to catch a bus back to get to where most people work, which is, you know, not usually over by union station. So it's just too long. No one's gonna sit on a bus for two hours when they could drive for in 40 minutes. And it's just worse than it was before. We also had the Broncos bus on the weekends. I mean, I used to take the bus every day downtown and catch the Broncos ride on periodic Sundays. And now I took the end line once from downtown and it took well over two hours. So that's the commuter aspect. from downtown and it took well over two hours. So that's the commuter aspect, but the bigger problem I have is the social equity aspect. We're the county seat for Adams County. There's government buildings in Brighton. To get to our government center in Brighton, it takes 45 minutes from most parts of town. It's two buses. The 520 bus was supposed to go to the government center, and it was changed and that stop was removed. So now you have to take two buses just to get to the government, our own government center in Adams County in Brighton, to get to the human services of Adams County building, two hours and 15 minutes. Children's Hospital, two hours and 40 minutes. The airport is a good, I don't know, two hours. I mean, there's nothing regional Brighton can connect to in a reasonable amount of time. And it didn't used to be like that. And so that's my biggest concern is people being able to reasonably connect to the rest of Metro Denver in a reasonable amount of time. I know ridership is always the reason sort of cited, but I just don't see how that's going to improve with those kind of times. I mean, who's going to look at the RTD as an option to get anywhere? I guess I don't know what the answer is, but it seems like sort of a council member Padilla alluded to. People in Brighton, they see that hotel bill with the RTD. They see the RTD taxes they're paying. And it's a lot. And it should, feels like it should be enough to at least get us a connection to the end line that, that's there, like at least our bus should connect to it. Then, at least within two buses you could get to downtown Denver. I don't know what the answer is, but I don't know that, unless you're taking a bus across Brightonon that there's many options to use RTD anymore. I just, I'd love to hear some solutions that I've suggested before that that 520 bus, you know, it would be more productive for that thing to run every two hours if it actually connected to the end line and to the justice or to the government center and actually you could get on one bus and get somewhere within a reasonable amount of time. It's only an extra 15 minutes to the Thornton end line stop. So anyway, that's just my comments I appreciate you guys being here. If there's anything we can do to help bridge that connection to the rest of Denver, be all for it. Thank you very much, Mayor Pro Tempere, our comments. A couple of things that I would like to share and I will reiterate my statements that I made to Council Member Padilla. I think there is an opportunity as we look at how do we leverage partnerships because I do recognize that there is the feeling that you're paying for something and you're not getting something in return. And with Director Whitmore's opening comments talking about the vast district. that's one thing that's a hindrance because we have to look holistically as a regional transportation network. So when you talk about social equity issues, when we do equity analyses as relates to service and things of the like, we have to ensure pursuant to Title 6 and that's why I approached it that we're looking at it regionally. We can't look at it just independently in relationship to Brighton because we are a recipient of those federal dollars. So I broached that intentionally just so there's an understanding going forward that that's what we have to adhere to, but that doesn't mean that we can't be creative about what services we provide. I do recognize as well prior to me coming on board that the in line was open during the course of the pandemic and I did have a conversation with my staff and it was intended quite naturally that this would be phased and there were some services quite naturally as we look to optimizing the service delivery be a commuter rail being bus there should have been this feeder and that has a materialize as well due to outlying issues that we've had relative to resources more specifically as, as we talk about the Broncos ride, I'd be remiss and director Whitmore and I have had conversations about this, but I'm going to be very transparent in my comments. The Broncos ride, recognizing that that was a service in which people were being a specialized fair. That violated the fair equity policies as it relates to Title VI. Moreover, RTD as a public entity accepting private dollars was contracting with private entities. There are certain things that we should not have been doing relative to providing that service going forward. And with that service being halted, recognizing that there was a contract with a third party couldn't operate in that same vein in which we did. And I know people don't like to hear that, but I be remissed in my role as being the public administrator of this organization, not stating that. And so as we look at it across the board, recognizing that you outline the burden that's been placed on residents of the city of Brighton that there could be opportunities because I'm thinking potentially that's where we could leverage micro transit as relates to the boardings that could be leveraged as we make a determination about the connectivity to the region as a whole and so I'm willing to engage and have discussions about what that may look like, but we're not gonna solve the problem by ourselves. You all are representing a constituency of what you're hearing from, and you understand the nuance problems that people are having their pain points. And I think what I can make a commitment to is that we'll be willing to sit at the table and roll up our sleeves, figuring out what might we do to help bridge these gaps to get people where they need to go. And you know, more so, I recognize that you all don't want to bear the burden of having your own transit service quite naturally. So it's incumbent upon us to have that conversation when we do have an obligation to this expansive 3,000, what is it? 2,342 square mile service area. Don't know where. Yeah. So as we try to figure out what that is in reference providing what may appear to be localized services. And we're up for that conversation, especially as we look to go forward with this call for partnership program. Yeah, I think what voters struggle with is that, I mean, if we went out there tomorrow and said, what would it take for us to do what we want to do in a public transportation for Brighton? And we asked our voters to put that bill. I think we'd be talking about it in 10 years because that's happened. You know, they've approved things, thinking these things will be coming down the road and they don't. And so then it's like, well, yeah, we understand all of the ridership and the big picture and the other parts of the city, but the voters don't because they're thinking if we just work over some more money, we'll get what we want. And so I don't know how to fix that. I mean, yeah, I just don't want to fix that, but thank you. I appreciate the answers. Well, and I appreciate Mayor Protang's examples. I mean, those are very helpful for me to talk to, you know, other staff members and you to carry back as well, the connectivity to the end line, for instance. And some of those others, Mayor Protang, that's been very helpful and something for us to spur some more thought. You know, one of the things that is a difficulty right now and people are getting tired of hearing it, but it's the truth and you face it in your places of employment. You face it here as city council members is this whole labor issue. And some of the direct line routes from Brighton, the RX and others, work cut back because of COVID, and then obviously we don't have the drivers. And we are hopeful the new management team has worked with our folks at the local labor union to craft a new collective bargaining agreement that went swimmingly well and mutually beneficial. We think to all involved and I just had asked Ms. Johnson the other night how soon do we know that we feel like we have a retention uptick because of the pay increases and other amenities that we offered there and probably this fall. Hopefully it will help with the hiring as well. And we see that as we move into 23 and 24. Where we do have at least that component, Mayor Pro Tem, to add back in for those commuter routes. And they're not just here. They're all over the system because of the lack of people going back to work. We're seeing some uptick and hopefully that will continue to grow. But if you don't have the drivers, it doesn't matter. So we're hopeful that we see a light at the end of the tunnel with with labor talent coming back into the fold and that will certainly at least take one of the obstacles away or at least diminish it a bit. And if I've spoken out of turn, Deborah, please heal the wound. I hope. I just, I'm just looking out at turn, Deborah, please. He'll heal the wound. I hope and no thank you so much for that director what more I just want to elaborate on that because oftentimes people only think it's about the operators. We need all aspects of people power. We need to have mechanics. We need to have street supervision. We need to have dispatchers and things of the like. But in an effort to manage expectations just to provide a little more detail as we do look at our collective bargaining agreement. We wanted to ensure that people had a livable wage, but also with the expansiveness of our service area. And it's written in statute that we contract out some service and there's service in your area that is operated by a third party. So as we talk about what we've done with our CBA, it is important to note that there are other service providers collectively that operate on behalf of RTD. And so as we talk about effectuating change relative to having our people power problems addressed, we are not special or we're not the unicorn as relates to these issues that we have that are prevalent, but one thing's for certain is we look at bus operators. We go through a process to hire them. There's an eight week training period for our light rail operators, for our light rail conscious. That's a 10 week period. The same is for our commuter rail engineers, which is a 10 week period. So as we talk about where we are, we will not see the fruits of our labor as it relates to, no pun intended with that, as we go forward probably until like October and November, as we hope people will come back and basically take on these positions. Just anecdotally, I make it a point of engaging with individuals that come in in these frontline positions and we've seen a slight uptick. I make it a point of engaging with individuals that come in in these frontline positions. And we've seen a slight uptick. Our classes are small. And when I say small for an organization that has, in excess of 2,500 employees with some of the classes, operator classes we have six. And then you have to think about how many people it's written, right? So customarily prior to this pandemic, we could have a class of 30. So as we go forward we see the numbers increasing and we're trying to look at recruitment strategies looking outside of the area to bring people in as well that may be looking for opportunities. And so we're doing a myriad of different things but it's you know if this juncture recognizing the contract was just approved by the board in late March and here we are in late May. We really haven't seen the benefit and then more specifically if I can just touch upon the requirements that we do have of operating on the right away as it relates to the rail and you brought that up. Councilmember Polowski about the right away and we deal with the third party entity. We have to adhere to the regulations set forward by the Federal Railroad Administration. And when we got that plan approved, there needs to be a second crew person. One thing that we're doing, it's coming to the board's attention in two weeks from today, is that we looked at those second crew individuals, it was written whether it was good, or good, better, and different, that they be armed security if you've taken Amtrak or other things you know you have a conductor that individual is not armed per se this will give us a greater opportunity to get in those individuals because we won't have to go through the city and county of Denver's license or process and so we anticipate that will make a difference holistically. And more so, we're looking to provide internal conductors as relates to the in line because we operate that directly and that's not done by a contractor. So just wanted to add that for point of clarification. Thanks. Thank you for clarifying that. Um, you mentioned that the service in this area is operated by a third party entity. Is that correct? Yes. In the instance, not the in line, but there's some of our bus routes are operated by a third party, a private contractor. Yeah. I'm familiar with, you probably have five or six contractors operate on behalf of RTD as a third party. So how would your latest agreement with the local labor union increase service for our area when that's operated by a third party entity? Thank you very much, Mr Mr. Mayor for the question. So as it relates to our collective bargaining agreement, we have our front line personnel represented by one local of the Alga Maita Transit Union. There is a contractor that has their employees represented by another local. And so when we look holistically at this labor union quite naturally when they're sitting at a table and I don't want to speak out of turn because we as RTD don't directly negotiate with them because that is not permissible as we go for it and we look at good faith bargaining. But the notion behind that is to ensure that there is competition as it relates to wage benefits and things of the like. And so quite naturally, one could surmise that ATU holistically, as you look at the international, would ensure that there are aspects when they look at the bargainable subjects that they would factor in what's happening in the area and the market rates holistically. That's one aspect of it, if that made sense. And I'm being a little tongue in cheek because I have to be careful about what I say because I can't speak on behalf of a third party who has a unionized contract. You can't, but it was brought to light in this room that, you know, the service say the 520 or 120 or whatever routes are being operated by a third party. It's not clear to me how your latest contract increases the possibility of you getting more drivers for our service area to increase the service in our area. To the point director Whitmore was making that's why I was clarifying and I broached that intentionally so there's an understanding of what that could be. As relates to contracts that we have quite naturally we look at the bottom line as we go forward because we want to ensure that we're doing good business with our contractors. And so what I'm saying very tongue in cheekish is that as we go forward and make a determination about the next phase, quite naturally we recognize in order to ensure that service delivery is happening in the matter in which we anticipated it to be. There will be an adjustment in wages. I can't speak if in fact they will be comparable to what RTD is paying, but what I'm saying is that it's the same union but a different local that's representing. Different contract. Yes. Yeah. You know, most people that I've talked to about, you know, people say, you know, we pay X amount of sales tax in this area and I tell them, well, only a certain part of that goes to Brighton. We got, you know, certain part that goes to the state, the county. And I tell them a full 1% goes to RTD and they're shocked. They're shocked that 1% of their sales tax, whether they go to Walmart or wherever they're shop and goes to RTD. And I've looked it up and it looks like it's about 12 million a year. So that has a lot of money to a lot of people and there's one in the service we're getting versus that 12 million. It's almost like you might as well give everybody an Uber ride to where they need to go. But flex ride, I got questions about flex ride now. What is the criteria if I were to call and need a flex ride service, say I qualify for that service? What do I need to do to get service at my door? Do you have to be a certain distance from an RTD stop? What can you tell me? So thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, for your questions. Just for clarity, FlexRide doesn't offer door-to-door service or, and you said to become a member. So with X, the accessRI would spare transit service. Okay. One has to be eligible. So I don't know if we're conflating the two services. So I just want to see clarification before I attempt to address your question. Probably accessory then. I may not know the whole terminology here. Okay. So what would it take for me to get flex re- or to access a ride? Excuse me. Access a ride. accessorite accessorite. Okay so just for everyone's edification accessorite is the American with Disability Act of 1990 complimentary service that's provided as relates to when not being able to utilize fixed route service because they meet requirements of the ADA. And so there is an application and there is an assessment and evaluation that's done to ensure that one meets the criteria, but also as we talk about accessorite, generally it is within as it states in the statute a quarter of a mile within the service area that's provided. So just like a stop, like a nice stop, you're going to be a mile within the service area that's provided. So just stop. Like an RK stop, you're gonna be a mile from that stop. Okay. Because when you say service area, well we're all in District K, we're all in the service area. It's from fix route stop. If one is not able to use fix route service. Okay, so I found myself in a position where I was campaigning a few months ago. I happened to be in the neighborhood of our mayor pro tem. 678 months ago, whatever. Spoke with someone that's a host home provider for a group of special needs individuals, their adults that may need rides to doctors or activities, whatever they're going. And they did not qualify to be picked up at that door because of a distance they were from an RTD stop. I think it was like, they were like really close, like a .05 mile off of that criteria. And I thought if they lived six houses over the other direction, they would have been able to get the service. And I thought that is crazy. We can't even service the special needs community because we're that nitpicky about being six houses away from qualification of being picked up and having the special needs community service. How can we make that better for our residents? Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor Mills, for your question. While it may appear to be nitpicky, I would just qualify that as recipients of federal dollars, we have to adhere to the ADA. And as it relates to the federal transit administration and the guides that they put out, pursuantant to their circular it is a quarter of a mile in recognizing that that is door-to-door service just holistically there's going to be an instance where a line needs to be drawn. I'm not saying I agree with it but I'm saying holistically as we look at our service area and we look at the eligibility criteria there is going to have to be some demarcation as relates to what is permissible, recognizing on the flip side of providing ADA service for all intents and purposes when you look at the cost to provide that on average, that's about $65 to $70 per ride as we go forward. So if in fact we were in a position where we can say, okay, we'd make an adjustment for this residence and it's six houses over what does it mean for the 7th house? What does it mean for the 8th house? And so oftentimes I recognize these aren't the answers that people want to hear, but as we get these monies from the federal government and we have what they call a triennial review every three years, we have to ensure that we're adhering to that or we jeopardize the federal funding holistically going forward. But to the point that you raised, this doesn't preclude us from being creative as we talk about the different mechanisms that we can employ to help account for those outliers. And so that's what I would need from you all as we talk about getting our staffs together to be creative about how we can mitigate because I can answer the question in generalities but I don't know the specifics as it relates to this residents and with, you know, those residents with disabilities, why they can't utilize the service. I'm just going by what I know relative to the criteria to which we have to adhere to ensure that we are providing equitable services as it relates to the Civil Rights Act to which we have to adhere. So the review, if they were within a quarter mile of a marked stop, they would qualify. Let me be clear. Possibly. Possibly. Possibly, Mr. Mayor. And the reason I say that is that's one of a criteria, right? But we have to discern relative to the ADA. Do they need the threshold criteria as it determines what the disability is? Because it could be a cognitive disability. It could be physical. So I don't know. I have to ensure that there is an understanding. But potentially, but at the outset outset there needs to be that quarter mile because that's the radius that was determined when this came to fruition relative to the ADA in relationship to transit service delivery. Well to me a solution would be to put a stop in that area because for one thing I'll tell you the geographic of that area across the street is a seasonal water park. Next door to that is a farm, it's called the Brownway Farm and they have events year round there. You would think if people want to come to these events, come to the water park that's seasonally open, come to the Brownway Farm, that there, come to the Bromley farm, that there would be an RTD stop. I mean, we provide an RTD stop to certain shopping areas, government places. I mean, there's RTD stops to e-litches in a water world here in the area. Why not an area that attracts places people to come from afar? I would think that, you know, a stop in that area wouldn't be warranted. And I know you don't know the layout, but you know, director Whitmore, he would know the layout a little bit more. And that's just my suggestion to, you know, bring, let's bring the simple solution, you know. Yeah, they're not, they're outside that quarter mile fine. But what else could qualify bringing a stop to that area besides that? So Mr. Mary, you're asking some questions that that makes sense on the face of it But when you think about service planning in and of itself, we'd have to get a vehicle there And we're talking about deadhead miles when we talk about the revenue cost per hour just holistically How many people would we be carrying? How do we discern whether or not there would be you know an interest in utilizing Fixed-Row transit service to get to these entertainment or these specific venues. And so that's what I'm talking about. We would need to collectively engage with your staffs and engage with the venues to determine if in fact there is the propensity for people to want to use services to get to and fro. And what might that look like if we were just to say we put out a bus stop? Do we know the hours in which we would operate the bus stop? How will we reconfigure quite naturally the regional network to feed into that? Where would the bus come from? And how would that alter our contract with that third party provider? If in fact it is a third party provider in that instance. So there's a lot of different elements that have to be taken consideration. Because I know oftentimes when I engage with folks everybody makes an assumption yes you can just put a bus out there but there are so many things behind the scenes that need to be done in reference to how many vehicles do we have readily available what's our spare ratio what happens if something occurs with said bus how do you pull that bus out of service how do you deploy another one when the outlying areas how would you get a mechanic out there to transport that bus? If there's biohazards, there's a myriad of different things and I want you to know that I am here because I want to work and tandem to create solutions, but I also be remiss to I sat here and said, yeah, it's just easy. We can put a bus there because if that were the case, then we wouldn't be having this conversation, but need to balance it holistically as we look at the bottom line and look at what the costs are because I do recognize to the points that have been made. Yes, there are your constituents, there are paying sales and use taxes that RTD reaps $12 million from. But as we think about what it is collectively, we may be expending in excess of $1.5 million a day to deliver service. And so I don't say that in a way to sound as if I'm not trying to be cooperative, I'm trying to provide some context whereby we can create a form in which we can be creative and deduce the problems that we're trying to solve for. And perhaps in certain instances, there may make some sense to have some service provided, but we have to be careful as well that it can't be a special service. It would have to be integrated into the network and that's what we're trying to do holistically, especially as we look at our system optimization plan. Well, I would encourage you to work with staff and see if that qualifies. I mean, it's an area where the bus is already going down. It's just a matter of putting a stop in it. That's all. Oh, it's already an active bus. It's already going down that road. OK. Find out my knowledge. Isn't that right? That's on Broadway? Isn't the bus go down that way? At least that used to. OK. I could be wrong. OK. But no, but I'm just speaking here in general sense because I have some very dedicated, smart, you know, transit service planners that can engage in these discussions because quite naturally, you know, I'm talking here at 10,000 feet in relationship to what could be done and so I just hope my comments are coming across in that vein. And I respect you. I mean, you've got a big area. I've heard it was a size of Delaware, you know. Eight counties, I believe, right? So it's a big area. And I appreciate you really, you know, take the time to come here and get to know our issues too. Another thing, you know, we talked about transit time, you know, may have probably, you know, listed out how long it takes to get. Point A to point B, C, C and D where a lot of our constituents go. We're out lot of our residents go. I know of at least two families in this area that have to go to children's hospital for various issues. They don't have a car. They don't have any other way but to take the long ride out to downtown and then catch that. I think it's the 15 bus on co-fax and take your life into hands to get the childrens. And, man, it'd be nice to be able to find a way to improve that service. You know, one service idea I've brought up every time RTD comes since I've been on council is the... Director Whitmore might know this. I've suggested it, you know, since we're so downtown centric, let's get outside of that scope and let's get around that goes through Brighton Maybe maybe the 520 or 120 can adjust a little bit and go down into the reunion area of commerce city Get those folks down there. There's another 40,000 people down there and then head down tower road and eventually connect with the 61st and tower Rail stop and you can either go to the airport from there or you can go down to Aurora or wherever. And that's just one solution to bring more people and get them to where they need to go to cut some of that transit time to the Fit Simmons area or Aurora wherever else they need to go because not all of us work downtown or go downtown. So my suggestion, Mr. Davies can hear that. He's making a lot of notes. I mean, I see some smoke coming out of that pin Thank you for that Mr. Mayor and You know that sounds like a feasible solution But as I said before we have to ensure that we look at a service equity analysis is required by the Civil Rights Act of Title 6 So when you look at it holistically it may make sense. But then again, there's all these other nuances. And so one thing I will say, we're committed to looking at this because that's the one thing that we can, you know, say we can do going forward. And we'll see how that shakes out as it relates to the demographics and, you know, origin and destination information. And, you know, all these different factors are coming to play because we have to ensure that there's not a disparate impact or disproportionate burden on minority communities and low income individuals as well. And those are the key factors when we look at a service equity analysis. And everything that I think you've heard suggested tonight is trying to do what we're trying to do. We're trying to do what we're trying to do. We're trying to do what we're trying to do. We're trying to do what we're trying to do. We're trying to do what we're trying to do. We're trying to do what we're trying to do. We're trying to do what we're trying to do. We're trying to do what the city of the city. I'm not sure if it's a little Wyoming in my car, my truck. But if we want to get people to use transit, these are suggestions to find solutions. And that's what we appreciate here. Who else has any comment or question? Councilmember Plaski. Thank you for coming tonight to listen to us. Because when this all began in 2004, what happened was the strength of the southern end got together and they pulled so much of the monies involved in that direction and the northern end kind of got left out. So that's why you're hearing some of the concerns expressed tonight that you are just to let you know. And I'm sure in 19 months you probably heard that more than once. And that's how NATO got started. I mean, I think you've for coming to the NATO means I sit on that board and we feel like the love has been down in the South and we're not getting it up north. Yeah. How many directors, 15 directors you have? Yes, we have 15 directors. Five of them live north of I-70. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's what I mean. Talk about population disproportionation. We need balance. Thank you. I appreciate it. I appreciate you coming. They come from all ethnicities, all backgrounds, whatever. I mean, not everybody lives down south of I-70. Council Member Padilla. I do have a couple of follow-up things. The first, you mentioned several times service equity. We're a population of people who are greater than 30% minority. We have five Title I elementary schools and middle schools. Service to Brighton is not going to negatively impact your attempts to increase diversity and middle schools. Service to Brighton is not going to negatively impact your attempts to increase diversity and service equity. We are going to help you in that regard. Adding more service to us is not going to be a negative in that calculation. Second, I would say there are a couple of phrases that I heard tonight in this conversation that I think are exactly the point of why we're expressing some frustration. I have to think about the bottom line at the very top of that. We understand you have to think about the bottom line. We understand that our service today doesn't contribute to that bottom line. Again, it's that perception of how much are we investing and getting from that versus how much do you consider us to be worthwhile. And the same is my thought on hiring and staffing okay it's hard to hire it's hard to bring people in every industry out there is having a hard time hiring people at the moment. But where are you prior to prioritizing the ones you have? Because we don't feel that we're sitting in that priority, high priority of where if you've got coverage for 85% of what you need to do and you're missing the hundred percent. Are we the first 15 on that chopping block? And are we the first area to be cut in order for you to get to that 85% whereas everyone's suffering relatively equally. Or because you have tremendous service from Highlands Ranch into downtown, that one's got operated 100% no matter what else happens. So I'm worried about that. Another of the phrases that Mr. Whitmore is back in the room, people are not going back to work right now, they're going back to offices. People had been working very hard for the last two years. They didn't stop working, except those who lost their jobs. That's a phrase that really should not be used. I have that conversation with executives, with leaders all over the place, especially when they realized that their productivity went up when people didn't go out. It didn't have to go to an office to do their work. People are not now going back to work. You talked about the service area for ADA and for access to ride, I think it's actually three quarters of a mile within a stop. I didn't think it was one quarter, but it also refers to core service area when we're outside of the core service area that actually is a mile and a half. I think that we've provided some anecdotal evidence that the least that we don't consider ourselves to be treated as part of your core service area. So maybe there's some definition there that can increase some of the service to some of the people who are in need. And then my last ADA comment actually has to do with some of the light rail when people do get onto the light rail. I realize this is a small technical challenge, but it creates a real problem for some of the writers. Again, the blind sister, when the light rail announcements start reading the wrong stop and they get out of sequence or get one ahead, and the operators hit one, then you end up with a stranded person who doesn't know how to get to where they need to be and can't get easily back on. So when my sister was commuting to Metro and had to take two buses and then take the light rail to get to the Metro campus, she ended up fairly frequently in the middle of a set of railroad tracks because the stop announcement was off and she had to figure out where she was. So I realized that small potatoes compared to the rest of this, but if we're talking about ADA and accessibility, I think that's a pretty significant thing and And if you've got operators on those trains, you can make sure that those are in sequence. But there are just some points there around conversing with and engaging with this community that I think the language tonight is showing that we're not necessarily talking on the same page yet. Thanks. If I may, Council Member P Padilla, thank you so much. The one thing that I do want to qualify, and I appreciate your comments, as we talk about the communities within Brighton and the demographics, I'm not disagreeing that there probably is very diverse individuals that reside in this area. The one thing that I'm stressing is as we look at service equity just holistically, we have to look at the entire region and I think oftentimes that may not be a point that most individuals that aren't in the transit space recognize. And then more so as you talked about the level of service that we're providing, there's 88 cities within the area in and of itself. And there's not a prioritization. You mentioned the 85% that 85% I want to just qualify as we talk about service. We're talking about revenue service hours. And when we talk about that, we want to optimize those service hours. So say we had 100 hours. And when we talk about that, we wanna optimize those service hours. So say we had a hundred hours. And there was, you know, a bus that we're providing, where nobody's getting on. And so that cost us more money to deliver. And what we're saying, we're optimizing the service because there could be more service at the 85% cost versus 100% just because we've done what we've called interlining, like a bus could leave one jurisdiction and go into another optimizing that so we're not incurring additional costs and you are correct, it's three-quarter of a mile. I had been saying a quarter of a mile when you said that so me a couple in relationship that that's why I said is very important for our staffs to get together because I'm sitting here talking and when you said that I said, oh, I didn't say three quarters. Yeah. And then also it's disconcerning in reference to what I heard as related to your sister. So I'd be more than interested in hearing, you know, when this happened, so I can address that. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Because that's something in it of itself as we go for it that if in fact we're having problems with the LED displays or the automated messages that our operators are supposed to announce the spot stops, and if they don't know what's operational, that's when we rely on others to let us know. So I just wanted to ensure that we were addressing that. So thank you very much. Anybody else have any comment or question for our reps from RTD? Okay. Any final thoughts? I'm not sure if you're sure if anybody else have any commoner question for our reps from RTD. Okay. Any final thoughts? Yes, one ensure you know as I said numerous times that it's my interest in us convening and working in tandem. So with that, would it be you Mr. City manager with whom we'll coordinate so we will ensure we circle back so we can get some meeting set up and so I just wanted to ensure that you guys understood that this isn't lip service that we are committed to doing this so I want to thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you with you tonight I appreciate the feedback it has hasn't fallen upon death years and I'm want to ensure that you know if we go forward and you know I'm amenable to coming out I. I can't come, you know, the Tuesday nights we have the, but whatever we could work out, I'd be willing to come out at least, you know, twice a year, you know, to engage with all of you in a forum such as this and welcome the opportunity for our staff to work cooperatively and collectively to see what we can do to mitigate. I'm not promising that we'll solve all the ills, but I think if anything to the point that you raise councilmember Padilla that we need to be aligned and reference to the nomenclature and what it is that we need to do collectively to ensure that we can get people where they need to go when they need to get there. So thank you very much for your time this evening. And thank you and we appreciate it when you do make time for our staff and get together. I mean I meet with our city manager weekly and he will let me know if we're having a communication problems. And then I'd direct away more. Did you have something else? Well, I just want to thank everyone for their time. I'm sorry for the little allergy attack there. And I guess I'm really sorry if I missed part of the critique of my speech. And I apologize, certainly no harm intended with that phrase and I've learned something and I thank you council member Badea you're exactly right. It's not were used in that vernacular that's that's not appropriate so we are you know a team we need to remember we're a team you know I'm a of this community. Very proud to be a member of this community. And so let's work together and see what we can do to craft some very creative solutions to some of these at least. And then we'll see what the future holds. I think we're in good stead with, I still call her new. She doesn't probably feel herself that she's new to RTD because she hit the ground running and it goes a million miles an hour and very proud of what she's been able to do in crafting relationships and certainly building trust. And a first name basis with city managers and council members and mayors is certainly what we want to have and sure she feels that same way. So again, thank you for your time. I left my cards. You know, things aren't moving the way that we have discussed the night. Please let me know and I have the ability to get a hold of Deborah and Michael very easily. Certainly with Michael and the mayor as well. Thank you. Thank you. I can't believe it's been 19 months. It just seems like it's flown really fast. Well, I mean, coupled with a pandemic, I did everything virtually. And so first time I'm meeting you in person, but we've been in so many meetings together. I mean, it seems as if, you know, as I get out. So yeah, it's gone fast. So thank you all. For sure. Okay. If there's nothing else before the body of the council, we are now adjourned. Thank you.