And they're replacing them with uh existing reflecting sheeting uh to meet FDOT standards across our system.

So as much as as we can, we've been eliminating the lighting uh to prevent you know the issues with failing lights.

And so that project has been going forward and again that ties into our MRP uh push.

Seemingly uh roadway lighting, we're we're replacing our lights or repainting, uh replacing the entire quarter.

We're using smart lighting so we are able to access them and and and address them from headquarters sometimes if possible, so we don't have to send crews out into the uh live expressway.

We've been doing sandblasting to clean up our walls and our structures, again making a big effort to uh maintain and clean up our system.

So I stated uh you know our our GMX received upgraded credit ratings by FITS ratings.

Uh we believe this is a recognition of our sound fiscal management and strong financial outlook for the agency.

Now this improved rating not only validates the responsible practices that we have put in place with the direction of our board, but it also positions the agency to secure favorable terms when issuing bonds, allowing us to invest more efficiently in our long-term work program.

Um again, I our maintenance rating program that has arisen significantly to a 93.

Again, it's a clear indicator for us of the high standards that we maintain across our system.

Uh we believe this score reflects the condition, the safety and reliability of our expressways, and is a direct result of our team's commitment to preventing preventive maintenance and continuous improvement and managing our GMX assets responsibly.

We address the bond ratings uh and the MRP scores.

And so finally in closing, uh while the Greater Miami Expressway Agency uh may be a relatively young organization, our responsibilities are significant and our commitment uh to our public is unwavering.

We honor the trust placed in us by the legislature and by the people of Miami Dade and Monroe counties.

We we know that we are the stewards of an expressway system that millions depend on each year, and we are focused on building a future of safe, reliable and efficient mobility in one of the most dynamic regions of Florida.

Now, on behalf of the entire GMX team, I thank you for the opportunity to present to you today, and I look forward to working with you as we continue to advance Florida's transportation future.

Thank you.

Any questions?

So first off the bat, you survived.

Good job.

It's hard the first presentation.

Thank you for being here.

We're happy you're with us.

Uh Commissioner Laster probably has a few questions.

He's uh you're sort of the same area.

I lived in Coral Gables for a while also, so we all are fantastic.

You can get around the Raphael, uh special thank you to you and your whole leadership team for you know for what you guys are dealing with, and uh I'm excited uh for the bond rating upgrade and I'm excited for what what that's gonna do for the agency going forward.

Um that said, as you go forward, what are my big things uh that I'd love you guys to incorporate into some of these analyses are possible TODs, possible workforce housing opportunities on parking rides and things like that that you know Miami's in a housing crisis and uh some of these governmental agencies may provide an opportunity to help solve some of those issues.

So I'd love you guys to keep that in mind going forward as part of your efforts.

But congrats, thank you and congrats for the bond upgrade and for what you guys are doing.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Yeah, we have this we are having thoughts uh with our board and we might be doing workshops later on to address these issues.

Any other questions?

Other questions?

Roberts.

Thank you.

Uh thank you for the presentation.

You you may have noticed I have a singular focus in my questioning.

And uh so I just wanted to ask you, you know, um and you weren't weren't here last year, but um so you know the IBTTA uh says that the uh national average for uh successful collections and toll by plate is between fifty and sixty percent.

Um our other agencies here are running about sixty-five percent or better, which is above national average.

Uh if I'm reading right you're about 48 percent uh and I under I realize that over a two year period it takes just about two years really to get a major percentage of collections until by plate.

But are you addressing that to raise that number above uh at least in within the uh national average or what are you doing to uh to address that?

Commissioner if you mind if you don't mind my calling our COO who's a this is his uh you know his bailiwick and you know he's been around much longer than I have and we something that we've been talking about.

Pass the buck to the guy who knows about it.

So we report the number roughly at 52 to 48 percent it's actually closer to similar to the turnpike so what's happening is that what we're seeing we're still going through modernization process.

But ultimately for the customers perspective we're s we're around that 73 percent to when we consider the ITLs, right?

So if someone we read the tag because we haven't been able to go fully interoperable we are now we just uh we're accomplishing that in the next month or so.

So right now for a customer's sake they might have a different transponder like an e pass, easy pass.

We won't read them at the lane level we'll read them the back end and then ultimately it'll be converted through an ITL to a transition process we should be at the lane level what you would expect which is that 73%.

And I I guess I could all I can say to that is I'm looking for uh next year the numbers uh uh on this chart some to reflect that thanks Commissioner Mye CEO you know coming up thank you Raphael excellent presentation um can you tell me a little bit about the debt service code risk because right now it below you know two I uh uh my personal I mean I'm getting like to see the number more than two a you move forward with more you know initiative that gonna be drop you know low or so how in in your agency you're gonna try to bring that one uh so uh I think I mentioned this before I was through some some turmoil and and we really didn't have the ability to go back onto the market and I'm sure you were going to mention it but we are now now that our our financials are back in order and our upgrades we're expecting to go back into the market uh in the next 10 to 12 months and that we'll definitely see an increase in our debt service ratio for policy we we actually um have a 1.5 so we're above our our policy requirement of of that um but as right now we we're basically a new agency recreating our work program and as now our financials come back in line we're gonna start bringing in a lot of projects that we had in the outer years and so that number might stay flat for the first year or two.

We're also looking at potentially refinancing our debt so that's all going to be in flux and we anticipate that that um that number is probably going to stay flat for the next couple years just as we rebuild our entire work program.

But ultimately we do see very positive numbers in terms of our traffic revenue forecasting and and what we're seeing in terms of uh the toll collection so we do anticipate that those that that uh coverage ratio should go up Commissioner Lastra I think I think Rusty uh covered mine it was a about it was about the transponder numbers uh I'm assuming there's also a variance I know the Miami Dave residents are a little creative with their license plate so I'm sure that has some variance in that number as well so any other questions any other questions by the board since you guys are sort of rebuilding I would consider looking at the dashboard that the Central Florida Expressway Authority does.

I mean yours doesn't have to mimic it but there's a lot of interesting things that they do track and it's a very simple thing because their board is made up of you know a Seminole County person, a mayor of Orlando person, the mayor of Orange County, the lake county person the Bavard County and I know you sort of have the county commission people and the state people and everything's a quick snapshot that makes things fairly uh easy for more or less lay people to read and I'm not saying that's the way you need to do it and and yesterday I was telling them back when Laura Kelly was the head of CFX I was always encouraging them to say you know this is call times and the English call times would be X and the Spanish call times would be probably more than X in Orlando but then Alex pointed out after the meeting hey the English ones might be higher than the Spanish ones in Miami so but it's it's really sir the way they do track some of those items

And yesterday I was telling them back when Laura Kelly was the head of CFX, I was always encouraging them to say, you know, this is call times, and the English call times would be X and the Spanish call times would be probably more than X in Orlando, but then Alex pointed out after the meeting.

So but it's it's really sir the way they do track some of those items are real simple for their board.

And it's just an easy presentation.

And that's part of the challenge.

But you've done a great job today.

We appreciate it.