The meeting was called to order at 9:35 AM and adjourned around 12:00 PM. The board received public comments, approved minutes, approved a funding conversion for Pembroke Pines, and noted two items for the record. Presentations included updates on the Port Bypass Road/Convention Center Connector grand opening, MAP Broward program updates, and the 2026 meeting calendar was set. A significant public comment raised concerns about paratransit (TOPS) service quality and contract enforcement.
Good morning, everyone. Um, it is now officially nine three, I think. 9 35, 9 35. Um, and the meeting is officially uh called to order. I want to thank all of those in the audience for attending this morning. And um, I just want to uh thank those that are participating um virtually as well. Uh to the board members, I ask that you speak directly into your microphones for the recorder and um so we can make sure we get uh verbatim minutes. Um if you are not speaking directly into the microphone, I'll have to ask you to repeat yourself, and I will only delay our meeting. So mics on, please. Um I wanted to start by just inviting anyone from uh the general public if you are interested in making comments, please. Um do we have anyone signed up to speak? All right, uh you're welcome to join us at the podium. Great day, and thank you for this opportunity. I am Aretha Wimberly. I am the founder and CEO of St. Broward Incorporated, which is a nonprofit organization working alongside neighbors and stake stakeholders to elevate concerns related to the quality of life for vulnerable and other marginalized persons in our community. One of our current initiatives is includes engaging community members and focused on the quality of service provided by Broward County Transit tops paratransit contractors and the opportunity to utilize the disincentives agreed upon in the contracts to improve performance of services and generate cost savings related from applied contract management processes that more accurately reflect the interactions between the drivers and dispatchers and the riders. In our talks with TOPS customers slash riders who are older adults and also visually impaired. We believe that we discovered considerable opportunities to improve the contract management processes and improve safety. Was that my dean? Okay, I thought it was my thing. I was out of time. Sorry. Our hope, our hope today is to gain access to guidance and how to access reports or other relevant information, including compliance to contract performance standards. Um, because as I said before, our interactions, our engagements with some of the users, particularly um older visually impaired riders, there are some definitely um deficits in the customer experience, and we believe that if the contracts were actually managed in a way that those disincentives were applied, that that would influence better customer service as well as generate cost savings by not um paying for things first um in full when they don't deliver the service according to the performance standards in the contract. So um our hope today is to gain wisdom, guidance, insight, and direction from you all on how we can verify um our findings to make sure that we are referring to the current contracts as well as the processes that are already in place to respond to customer and writer experiences. Thank you. All right, thank you. I have a question. Yep. Can you be a little more specific in what issues you're trying to get I think it's on, right? Oh, closer. Could you be a little more specific on what issues you're trying to get improved? Because I'm I hear what your words are saying, but tell me what pastors what you really need in common language to me. Okay, I just don't understand what you're saying needs improvement. Thank you for asking. Um we have some visually impaired, again, older riders, and some not as old. They're experiencing situations where they're um have safety concerns. There are um instances when you stop right there. When you say they have safety concerns, is they can't because they can't see the they're not given enough time or uh I'm I'm gonna get there. Um, as for example, as they're um getting on to some of the vehicles, the railings are not secure, and being blind, that causes them to question their stability if they're stepping up right and the next step, the confidence in moving forward. Um, there are instances where they've had to actually um encounter the vehicle with a hole in the bottom of the floor as they're getting on. They've had instances where the seat belts are not working. So imagine being blind and you're being tossed around and the seatbelt does not work. So there are vehicle standard standards in the last contract that I saw that for each instance, I believe that would be a $25 disincentive to be deducted from the contractor. So if these things are not happening, the disincentives are not being enforced, then the contractor has no influence or no reason to provide the quality of care to our riders that they should. Um there are other instances such as false reporting where they we've had blind persons be picked up and not be taken directly to their preferred or requested destination and essentially taken on a ride to wherever the driver has in their personal schedule without telling them where they're going. Um we have um, for instance, one um gentleman was leaving someplace it was 11 30 p.m. And his ride, he realized he was riding much longer than he should have been riding to reach home. He asked the driver, um, you know, you've been driving quite a while.