Denver.

It's time for this biweekly meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of Denver City Council.

Join us for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee starting now.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Today is Wednesday, October 15th, 2025.

And my name is Chantel and Lewis, and I serve the very incredible and impeccable residents of District 8.

That's where they all are in case you were worried.

And I'm excited to share this committee.

And we will start with a round of introductions and we can start to the fine gentleman to my left.

Good afternoon, Florida Vidres, representing Lucky District 7.

Kevin Flynn, Southwest Member District 2.

Great.

Thank you.

It doesn't look like we have anyone online, but if they do join, I will make sure we introduce them.

And we do have Councilman Heinz coming in, so I will let you introduce yourself as well.

Present perfect time.

Thank you so much.

So we do have a few action items.

The first one is 251486 through 1489.

I'm a presentation by Den regarding your janitorials contracts.

And so I will have you all introduce yourselves and then you can dive in.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Dave LePort, Chief Operating Officer at the Airport.

Kyle's for senior vice president of maintenance.

Lake Shaw, Senior Director, Airport Services.

And we'll start with Mr.

Lester.

So in front of you, Council members, we have four items.

This comes from when we debundled our janitorial contract quite a few years ago working towards this.

Now there's four contracts.

First one is the main terminal.

Second is the concourses A, B, and C, trash and treacherator rooms, is the third, and food courts.

Maintaining what we have, increasing our level of service, breaking out these contracts into more focus on each element, increasing our customer service experience, and kind of provide spreading out the workload amongst for these opportunities.

Also, we have our equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

We felt that providing more opportunity brings more people to the table.

I'll let Lakeisha take over from here.

So on these four opportunities, we did conduct outreach over the course of the end of the year.

We did conduct three outreach events prior to advertising in March.

We did follow the procurement process via the city ordinance and dens rules and regulations.

Proposers had just over 30 days to review, prepare, and submit their proposals.

The first one is approves a contract with Black Ship Aviation Services.

And this contract will support the main terminal airport office building and related areas within the terminal facility at the airport.

This is a standalone contract for the main terminal airport office building and areas within the terminal facility that are public and non-public.

It does provide cleaning services for the restrooms, office spaces, stairwells, floors, carpets, and conveyances on all levels of the facility and the AOB.

Each of the contract opportunities does include some type of autonomous equipment worked into each of the overall work plans.

Each contract will provide the ability to scale labor to meet the growing demands and the needs of the passengers and the facility at the airport as we continue to go through several redesign and remodifications of the facility.

And the scope will allow for us to manage the unique challenges that we see specifically in the terminal with passengers and families that come to drop off their passengers and pickup throughout the day.

The contract will allow the airport to incorporate the completion of the redesign mod three terminal once that's open in the next two years, and also allow us to elevate the level of service as we see the need to do so with the additional facilities.

For this opportunity, Flagship was the selected vendor out of 13 proposals received.

The terminal opportunity does have a MWBE goal of 25%.

Flagship has committed to a goal of 25.18% with three MWBE firms.

The overall contract value does include health care reimbursement estimated costs and contingency for the additional scope of services that we anticipate we will add with the completion of mod three.

They do have nationwide experience.

They have specialization in providing service to airports.

They currently have over 3,000 employees throughout the United States, and they have proven aviation experience through their 28 years of experience cleaning air side and landside facilities.

The next one is going to be our concourse A, B, and C contract, and it does include our airfield outline buildings.

This contract is in the amount of 203,340, 390,000.

All of our contracts are three years with two one-year options to extend.

This contract specifically will provide services for all levels of the concourse on each of the concourse to include our ramp and basement levels and again the airfill outline buildings.

This is a standalone contract for the concourses specifically for those public and non-public facing areas, also inclusive of restrooms, office space, stairwells, floors, and conveyances.

Each of the areas will be managed by the janitorial contractor and their subcontractor.

This particular contract has an MWBE goal of 20%, and the vendor has committed to meeting that goal of 20%.

The selected vendor on this opportunity is SBM management services, and they have partnered with one MWBE partner, Alba Organics.

Again, this contract does include the estimated cost of health care reimbursement and a contingency rate that will support an increase in levels of service based on the modifications that we're seeing to the concourse facility with the expansion of the concessions and as well as CWES.

SBM is a trusted leader within the industry.

They have a history of providing comprehensive service at various airports throughout the United States, and they are focused on excellence through sustainability.

Our third opportunity is the trash recycling, chute compactor rooms, waste treacherator rooms, and the loading dock areas located on A, B, and C concourses.

This contract is awarded to clean tech services.

Again, three years to one-year options to extend to provide janitorial services in the rooms previously mentioned.

That also include the loading docks, concourse ramp vestibules, and adjacent spaces located on the ramp.

This is one of our newer scopes of work at the airport, and it was added because we've seen an increase in the need to support the waste pile-ups and grease spills on the ramp levels of the concourse.

And so this expanded scope will allow us to focus on ensuring cleanliness on a 24-hour basis versus just responding when we have pile-ups or emergency situations.

This opportunity was awarded to CleanTech, and they've committed to a 15% goal for the MWBE, and their vendor will be clearly clean janitorial services.

This contract is a unique and differs from the two previous contracts in that one is based on a management cost plus model.

This will allow us to pay management fees that cover the vendor's equipment, supplies, chemical and management costs, and then the labor costs for the employees are a pass through to the airport.

With this opportunity, it's really going to give us an opportunity to ensure that we have the proper staffing, and as we see the level of service increase in the ramp areas with the new scope, we'll be able to modify the staffing levels without modifying the overall contract agreement.

Queen Tech is one of our current vendors at the airport.

They have over 50 years of experience at the airport.

They're trusted across all nations with extensive experience within the airports, and they were previously an MWBE firm that graduated into a mid-level size organization.

Our final opportunity is the food courts.

This contract approves a contract with Wayne and Sons Enterprises, and it is a three-year, one three-year contract with two one-year options to extend, providing janitorial services for all food courts on Concords A, B, and C.

They will provide cleaning and sanitation services in the food court areas on a 24 hour basis.

We currently only provide that service on first and second shift and depend on our larger janitorial contractor to come in and supplement the cleaning on third shift with the increased level of service that we're seeing and the need for janitorial services to be on site to support the open hours of the concessions.

It was in the airport's interest interest to ensure that we expanded and provided a focused contract to provide those services.

This contract has an MWBE goal of 13%.

Wayne is committed to meeting the 13% MWBE goal, but they are also an MWBE certified firm, and so this opportunity will meet and exceed those goal requirements.

Again, it's a contract that's management cost plus, so we'll also have the flexibility to adjust staffing based on the needs of the facility, whether that's irregular operations or changes in flight patterns or demands.

Wayne has been in the industry for over 40 years, and they've been with the airport since the airport opened.

Again, they're certified MWBE and they're really focused on finding tailored solutions that meet the needs of the client.

In conclusion, today we're asking for four actions to approve a contract with Black Ship Airport Services in the amount of 89,809,896,203 to provide janitorial services for the main terminal airport office building and related areas within the terminal facility.

Approves a contract with SBM management services for 203,340,390 to provide janitorial services for concourses A, B, and C to include the airfill outlying buildings at the airport.

Approves a contract with Clean Tech Services for 23,910,641 to provide janitorial services for the compactor, trash, and treacherator areas at the airport.

And finally, approves a contract with Wayne and Suns Enterprises for 14,977,280 to provide janitorial services for the food courts located on Concourse A, B, and C.

All contract terms are three years with two one-year options to extend.

Thank you.

And with that, I'm gonna welcome Council Pro Tim to the meeting.

She is online, and then Councilwoman Albidras here on the queue first, followed by Councilman Flynn.

Thank you, committee chair.

Thank you.

I know on the first slide it talks about wanting to unbundle and your goals, but it looks like a lot of these are going to big national corporations.

So how does that align with the goals?

Yes.

So while we unbundled the contracts, we did offer those opportunities out to all firms, and it does align with the goals because it increases the opportunity for MWBEs to participate on multiple contracts versus one.

What we saw on the existing contract is that contract was one large contract, and they set the work out to six MWBE firms, which did create challenges for us operating throughout the facility over the course of five years.

This method will allow those small businesses to focus in the areas in which they're assigned with their vendor versus being spread across the entire facility and having to take on the additional costs.

So it was six firms or four, and now it's how many?

Now we have three, four, five, six, seven, seven.

Seven small business firms.

Okay.

And one of them is priming the food courts.

Okay.

And um what's going on with the procurement?

Because my understanding of these these proposals were due in April, so why are we here in October?

Yes.

So we did run all of the procurements simultaneously, so it just took time to go through the interview process, the review process, as you saw on the slides, each of the opportunities received more than 10 proposals, and so we have panels reviewing each opportunity of the 10 proposals each.

One of them did have five proposals, which allowed us to have a completion of that opportunity a little bit sooner, but it made more sense to just gather them all together and bring them through at once.

So some contractors submitted more than one proposal for this.

So there's four contract opportunities.

So vendors did have an opportunity to propose on each of the opportunities that was out, as long as they didn't propose us prime and sub on one opportunity.

Okay, and they couldn't propose twice on one opportunity.

No, okay.

Um flagship is the current provider, correct?

Yes.

And I'm curious if you can tell me what penalties they have received during this contract period.

I've been alerted that they have some concerns with them not being fulfilled, with the contract not being fulfilled, understaffing, not cleaning restrooms, frequencies, and not responding in a timely manner.

Is this true?

Yes.

So at the start of the contract, we did have challenges with meeting frequencies and the expectations of the contract.

Over the course of the first three years, they did exceed the amount of penalties that were assessed.

I don't have that value, but I can provide that once the meeting is concluded.

We did assess all of the penalties associated with any of the deficiencies that the contractor faced.

And over the course of the last two years, we've seen a significant change in how they operate with the changes in their management from their executive leadership down to their site leadership.

And as we just move in a different direction, we're hopeful that with the new management that we'll be taking on the terminal that they'll have an opportunity to turn it around with the new contract terms that are in place.

Okay, and so have you seen an improvement already, or are you hoping to see an improvement?

We have seen an improvement.

So we've seen a significant decrease in the missed frequencies throughout the facility.

We've seen a significant decrease in the complaints that we receive for restroom cleanliness, and we've seen a modification in the frequencies and the methods in which they're using to clean our facility.

Right, yeah.

If you could share that, that would be great.

And my last question is just on slides 12, 12 through 7.

This is the largest contract, and the concourses obviously require significant work to be a great front door to Denver.

If you can tell me more about their experience in cleaning airports and keeping airports clean.

Yes, so we can bring SBM on.

They are online and allow them to speak to their experience if that's okay.

Yeah, sure.

If the producer can print up, okay.

No crystal.

Can you bear with me one moment?

Okay, we can move on and come back if you would like, Chair.

Um yeah, okay.

Um that's okay.

So I'll go to and I'll come back to you on uh fun.

All I can do.

Okay, sir.

Uh just so I understand uh these four contracts include all of the scope that was that's being performed right now under the flagship contract, not any of the other outer landside facilities.

So the concourse, the terminal and the food courts is inclusive of what flagship is currently performing.

The trash treacherator and compactor rooms is a new scope of work that was previously handled by um various on-call contractors and janitorial on an as-needed basis.

So we've added that scope to this contract.

Okay, because I was I was just kind of stunned by the dollar amount, the flagship, and I remember the how difficult that process was uh that their total contract max right now I think is about 196 million for the five years that end the end of this year.

These four contracts together are about three hundred and thirty-eight million.

Yes, including.

So seems to be an increase.

So I want to try to understand.

Yes.

We we've added some space.

We've expanded the concourses so there's additional space, but that's also under the, I mean, flagship is cleaning those right now.

Flagship is cleaning those right now.

They weren't added until within that five years.

They were not added within the five years, are there the existing contracts?

Um, are inclusive of everything that we currently have in the existing staff.

Um, under this contract, we did expand the footprint of the facility and we added minimal staff to support it.

So flagship has been carrying the cost of some of the increases.

They did not get an adjustment to their contract value based on the increased levels of service.

Their increase in contract value was specifically based on the employee wages and the increases that we saw as a result of the negotiated CBA agreement.

The new contracts will provide us with an additional level of service.

We've added a floor care team to each of the opportunities, and they have a floor care team that is required to maintain the carpets and the hard floors, which has changed significantly since this contract was originally executed, and then it'll also give us contingency amounts to support any additional expansions that we know are anticipated while this contract will be in place.

Okay, uh the uh contract amendment that we did though a couple of years ago, two years ago maybe uh that brought it up to the 196 million.

That covered uh negotiated wage increases, but wouldn't that also cover increased staffing as well?

No, because they brought on more people.

It did not cover increased staffing, it only covered the increase in wages, and we did not account for the increase in staffing that we saw outside of what was already negotiated in the contract to add over the period of the five years.

Okay, thank you.

Good to know.

And in each of these contracts, we have a contingency slash health care reimbursement.

Was that uh, was there mu capacity money for that in the flagship contract, or is that a new thing?

Is that has that always been in this contract?

This is a new thing based on experiences and lessons learned from the flagship contract.

So does that does that account for some of this very large increase in the overall cost total cost of the four?

Yes, it does.

Okay, 338 million dollars over five years.

Wow.

Okay, thank you.

Helping you on for helping me understand where some of those costs arise.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yeah, sure, thank you.

Um councilwoman I'll be just we'll go back to you because it looks like we do have Crystal online lonely.

Is that our last name?

Yes, okay.

Crystal.

I said she's declining the promotion.

So we have to accept the promotion, Chris.

Listen.

Can you all hear me?

Yes.

Okay, wonderful.

Sorry about that.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Good afternoon.

Did you hear the question that was asked, or do we need to repeat it?

If you could please repeat.

Yes, um, we were I was asking, um, what is your level of experience in cleaning an airport of this size?

Absolutely.

Um, well, I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but um SBM has over 42 years of experience um cleaning, you know, complex dynamic environments.

Um, specific to um airports.

Uh we began our partnership with Delta Airlines in 2021, where we currently service, um, you know, LGA terminal C, we're at DTW McNamara Terminal.

Uh, we are um we service, you know, terminal space, below wing cargo space.

Uh we service um Atlanta's headquarters space and terminal space.

So um, you know, very uh experienced in um in air in airports.

If we could get that in scope comparison, that would be helpful.

Thank you so much, Crystal.

You're welcome, thank you.

Um, and then I did want to just up on that last question, if I can remember what it was.

We were talking about the different.

Oh, you said there was lessons learned, that's why there's the reimbursement.

What was that lesson that was learned?

So the healthcare reimbursement has always been a part of it.

The contingency was not something that we previously anticipated, and based on the lessons learned of how the CBA negotiations go, and that there could be wage increases that are not accounted for early on in the contract.

We've built in the contingency so that we can get through the minimum three years, and if we need to pull back on the extensions, we have the option to pull back on the extensions and not go full steam forward.

Um, but the contingency will allow us to ensure that employees are paid and that we don't have to modify school for a decrease in impact employees.

That makes a lot of sense.

Thank you.

Thank you, committee chair.

Thank you, Councilman.

Thank you, Committee Chair.

Thank you, Den, for uh your presentation and um and thank you for your commitment for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Um, I uh just add a placeholder, it would be lovely if the city also had the A in uh DEI.

Uh so thank you for um that's obviously not something that you can do, but uh but thank you for adding accessibility to the conversation.

Um my first thought was a hundred million dollars a year to clean the airport.

Holy cow, this is uh, it's almost like we're the sixth largest or sixth busiest airport in the world.

Um second largest.

Um, assuming you're gonna count in sand, right?

Is it I think it's Dubai is number one, uh, as far as um square mileage.

I'm gonna use miles instead of hectares because we're in America.

So um, but at any rate, a hundred million dollars a year.

That's uh, that's that's that's pretty impressive.

As uh Councilmember Flandard mentioned because the 196 million dollars over five years, it's a little under 40 million dollars a year.

So clearly that you know you mentioned there's um some floor scope that wasn't in uh included in the new contract.

Uh uh carpet and um tile or um and uh and then there was also you said that there was another um whole section that was added that wasn't um prioritized before wasn't in the contract before, is that right?

So when we put out the current flagship contract, we estimated what we believed the cost would be and what how much staff would be needed in order to support the concourse expansions and MAT 2 of the terminal.

Um all of that was based on estimates in 2019, and the actual facilities did not open until 2021 and beyond.

And so now that we've had an opportunity to operate in those areas and see what the passenger traffic truly looks like in those areas, this current contract will give us a chance to right size the staffing and ensure that we have the adequate levels of staffing to support the concourse and it's accounted for in the contract.

Um, another thing just on the wage piece.

So when the wages were modified in the contract in 2021, um the employees we the way that the wages were modified, it included the health care, the fringe benefits, et cetera.

When the vendors originally proposed on the janitorial contract that flagship currently has, they did not have an opportunity to build any of that in for the remainder of their contract.

On the new contracts, we have the wages for the first three years of the contract.

The last two years of the contract are the unknown, and so again, we're estimating 4%.

We did see about 15 to 20 percent increase in wages from 2021 to present, and so with that comes increased costs for healthcare and fringe and operating expenses, and so some of that is also driving the increased cost that we're seeing.

So the just shy of 340 million dollars is for five years, or is it three?

It's for five years.

Okay.

Ah, that so it's not a okay.

I was trying to figure out how do we go from 38 million or 39.2 million dollars a year to over 100 million dollars a year, but it's actually over five years.

Five years instead of a okay, yes.

Uh good good uh good to know.

Um Clean Tech and Wayne are both based in Denver, is that right?

Yes.

Um SBM and flag chip are both out of California?

Yes.

So um 80 uh 88 percent of the contracts are going to California companies.

Um did you look into Denver or Colorado businesses and there were just was not one that um could compete with California businesses?

Could you I mean I uh just curious about that?

Yeah, so we advertised the opportunities out um nationwide.

We did hold local outreach events, we went to local and national conferences to try and attract individuals.

Um in previous years, we've only received between three and four vendors that proposed on the contract.

So even having 13 companies that were interested in doing business has been a significant increase.

Um, as far as I'm aware, we don't have a multitude of large corporations outside of Cleantech and Wayne that are locally based, um, but both of the companies that we have selected do have a local presence and plan to have local staff here.

Okay.

Um I certainly um enjoy and and uh and celebrate that you're um breaking up the contracts to have more uh minority and uh and women um opportunities to be primes instead of subs.

Um I uh I I am I is it was this the best way to slice up the contracts to maximize, I mean, as a you know, you make a value statement that you uh on slide two about wanting to have more, you know, maybe we be minority women-owned businesses.

Um, was this the did you in your thought process was this the best way to slice up the contract so that you could have two minority owned businesses be primes?

Yes, so over a course of a year we looked at various options and various methods in which we could modify the current um larger contract, and the way that we unbundled it allowed us to have three contracts that don't require the high levels of bonding and the high levels of insurance requirements that are associated with doing business on the airfield, and so the three smaller contracts, although the terminal is still fairly large, terminal, trash treacherator, and the food courts do have lower bonding requirements and lower insurance requirements, which does increase the opportunity for small businesses to have an a chance at getting into the airport to do those opportunities, even as subcontractors because they're not required to take on the same um level of responsibility that they would if they were doing work on our airfield.

Was that the feedback from the uh small minority women owned businesses that the bonding is was one of the big hurdles?

Yes, bonding and the insurance requirement was one of the biggest hurdles, and so we made sure that we did opportunities that would reduce that or eliminate that requirement.

Got it.

Um that there are four different contracts and we've got food courts and we got the terminals.

What's to keep hopefully we have four vendors that are um you know that that share in the the ownership of um of the maintenance of our airport, but what's to keep one vendor from pushing the trash over into food courts and saying it's their problem and you know food courts pushing the trash into the um walkway.

Hopefully, there's there's you know, like some overlap so that everyone's responsible as opposed to spots where there's no one responsible, yes.

So um just with my team internally, we our team is actively involved with all of the vendors, um, and what we have found to be useful over the course of the flagship contract is to bring all of the vendors into a room for a weekly or bi-weekly meeting just to talk through challenges, and so everyone is meeting, we're talking, we're collaborating throughout the course of the contract.

It's not siloed anymore, and so even when those issues arise, it's not a finger pointing match, it's everyone coming into the room, have a conversation about it, and figure out the best way to move forward so that we don't have issues like that arise.

Right, thank you, thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions from you?

I do have a I do have a couple.

Um so the first one is uh regarding the autonomous equipment.

Um, what is the autonomous equipment and who is providing that?

So every vendor did propose autonomous equipment at varying levels depending on what their scope of work is.

Um, each of the vendors will be responsible for providing their own autonomous equipment, um, and it just varies, it's really focused on hard floor cleaning and vacuuming, and then those um various pieces of the equipment will be deployed throughout each of the shifts, just depending on what the needs of the organization are.

Does it replace any of the custodial staff?

No, okay.

Um, so you all talked about the management costs um costs plus the contracts, but if you could walk me through how that works again, because I don't know if I was following what does the management inclusive portion of the SBM and the flat flagship contracts cover?

SBM and flagship are flat um rate contracts, so it's just a monthly cost.

Those two contracts are not management costs plus, um so their fees are inclusive of their management supplies, employees, labor, everything for the trash and treacherator and the food courts.

Their management fees cover the cost of their equipment, their management, all of their supplies, um, any of their chemicals, and it also covers the cost for them to carry like their PTNI, their taxes, insurance, is all inclusive in the management.

The only cost that is separated out is labor, which is the hourly wages of the custodians and their fringe costs based on provelling wage rates.

Got it.

Is it because they have different scopes that those are that it's flat versus having the management piece?

Like what's the difference between those that the difference was that the two smaller contracts again was an opportunity for smaller firms to have an ability to come in, have a seat at the table, and not have to take on the burden of the full burn cost of the contract.

And so they're responsible for their management costs and the airport is responsible for the labor costs of the employees.

And so if there's challenges or issues with staffing, we're paying the direct cost for the staffing on those two smaller contracts.

The contractor is not carrying the burden of them.

Got it.

So the intent is to get folks, newer folks in the door?

Yes.

Carry those costs for them, yes, help them be able to stand up their businesses, and then maybe you could scale that down in the future once they are able to stabilize.

Exactly.

Right, okay, thank you.

Um with the the contracts, how many employees are being retained and are they adding um any for the two that are rolling over the so the two older contracts, and then for the new contracts, how many new employees are being brought under the um new agreements?

So the only contract that is considered a new agreement is the trash and treacherator contract.

Okay, um, that contract only has about 25 employees, and so there's no yes, it'll be 25 new employees that they're able to hire.

Okay, um, there is not a requirement to retain because there's no employees to retain on the other three contracts.

There are employees that work in the flu court, so they will be required to retain those employees unless the employees refuse the offer.

Okay.

And we are anticipating retaining 563 employees.

Okay, great.

Um do these qualify for the excellence and service program, or is that just for the concessionaires?

I'm not familiar with that program.

Um that is for the concessionaires.

Okay.

That particular program.

Okay.

Um so with the MWBE, we've seen the airport's contracts far exceed the MWBE goals, and I was wondering for these ones, they seem a bit lower in terms of the commitment to the goal that is being set, and I was just curious as to why I'm not sure why it seems why it came in lower, but I do anticipate that all of the vendors will exceed the MWBE requirement.

Just historically, that has been the case in our existing contract.

Even though that one came in high, that one is being exceeded by about five percent.

Okay, so another question in that in that same vein is is there a formula that you all have for the MWBE goals?

And does the shift are the reorganization with Disbo and Dito affect you all's ability to both um set and track these goals?

Um we disbo does set the goals for us.

We have not seen uh uh any negative impact with them doing that.

Okay, uh, and we didn't see it with uh the goals that were set on these contracts uh either.

And you don't anticipate that the shifts or the reorganization within the city will have an impact on the ability to be able to do that in the future?

I don't believe so.

And is there a formula that that um uh DO or Disbo utilizes in order to come up with those MWBE goals?

There is.

There is it's based on availability, it's based on NICS codes uh that uh are available um uh in the area or in the marketplace.

Okay.

So they do have um uh various metrics and various evaluative criteria that they use, okay.

Um, and then the the sub for or yeah, sub-max impact um seems to, as it is on paper, to be a consulting group and not necessarily a janitorial company.

Um, and I'm so I'm curious as to what the scope is for this subcontractor.

Um, it said subcontract payment reporting, community outreach, and so can you talk to me about this particular subcontractor?

That's a bit different than the others.

Yes, so Max Impact Group is a current subcontractor with flagship.

Um they do all of the outreach for flagship as far as um hiring events, um outreach events to support the vendors with their staffing.

Um they also support flagship with managing and monitoring the goal.

Um, and then they also do contractor education for MWVEs, so supporting them on prompt pay, um understanding the requirements for wage reporting for with the city, um, and then just various items based on what the needs of the some subcontractors are.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

And then I had some concerns that came from folks as well regarding um TAS and concerns about them owing 78,000 dollars to workers, and I was curious as you all have been negotiating these contracts, if that those concerns have come to you all directly, and how you all, if so, might be dealing with that.

Let me know that.

Um, so it is a concern that has that we've been out made aware of um with the janitorial contractor contracts as they are today and um working closely with DSBO.

Um, we do recognize that on the food courts opportunity, Wayne is a hundred percent MWBE.

Um, their partnership with Total Access Solutions was an opportunity for them to pull in an MWBE firm and allow uh opportunity for mentorship.

Um we are working internally with TAS to make sure that we can get the employees paid.

Um those employees are still with the city um on the current window cleaning contract, so it's something that we're actively working through, but it's very um specific to that vendor and that the window cleaning contract.

Lovely, okay.

I have a few more questions, and I can take those conversations this conversation offline um to chat just chat with you all more about some of those concerns so that when this does come to the floor um that we can have those kinks worked out beforehand.

That's all right.

Do I have any other questions for council members?

Councilman Cashman?

No, you don't want to get in there.

Uh I'm dying too, but I'm gonna pass.

All right, cool.

All right, um, with that, uh, we can move these forward as a block.

So if I could have a motion.

So, Councilman Flynn, followed by Hines, first and a second.

Um, do you need a roll call vote?

Great, thank you.

Um, um Director Washington, do you have any announcements?

Uh yes, uh uh just a very brief one.

Uh, but I did want to uh put a plug in from uh councilman Hines' question.

What's to stop the four vendors from cheating on each other?

I think was your uh is the leadership of Ms.

Shaw, that uh that will prevent that uh fantastic leader.

Um a couple of quick things.

Uh brief update on the airport's pena design and national environmental uh policy act on NEPA project uh for Pena Boulevard.

Um since initiating the NEPA process on Pena Boulevard last summer, uh the consultant that we have on this has been working very feverishly to get this NEPA process done for Pena Boulevard.

Um at present, uh the project is in the stakeholder and public scoping phase, and that includes um engaging a broad cross section of users, community members, agencies, uh documenting the project's purpose and need, and to begin to develop the alternative concepts.

Um we are looking to evaluate uh or accelerate uh the NEPA process to get to what's called a locally preferred alternative for Pena Boulevard, and we will keep this committee and the entire council uh informed on where we are on that very important project.

Right, thank you.

Um, is there opportunity for us to share information of how community members can engage in that process?

Sure.

Okay, so follow up with that.

Yes.

You send it to the entire committee.

Yes, thank you so much.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you all for your time.

Really appreciate it.

All right, and so those folks are uh headed out.

We will have RTD up in just a moment.

Thank you.

I get to see thank you.

See ya.

Um, yeah, we can do that.

Hi, good to see that.

Good to see you all.

Hello.

Um, so it's so good to see everyone.

Um, this is going to be a quarterly update from the regional transportation district, which I'm super excited about you all being in this committee on the opportunity to hear from you all.

Um, and so with that, I'll let you get into your presentations.

But if you can um start with a rounded introduction, we would appreciate that.

Yeah, so first and foremost, thank you very kindly, committee chair Lewis.

Uh good to see all council members here this afternoon.

Uh I am Deborah Johnson.

I have the pleasure of serving as the general manager and chief executive officer, and I'll hand it off to my colleagues to introduce themselves.

Hello.

Uh Bill Sarroy, uh senior manager of Transit Orient Communities in the Planning Department.

Director Michael Gusman, I represent District C in Denver's Northwest Corner, and Brenda L, part of Downtown Lodo.

Thank you very much.

Good to be here.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Council Members, and Ms.

Johnson.

My name is Jet Desai.

I'm the project manager for Don Don Rail Reconstruction project.

Beautiful.

So with those introductions, I want to take a moment to orient the committee on the topics of which we'll cover today, two of which are very important to the city and county of Denver as well as to RTD as a whole relative to our core business function of service delivery.

And first and foremost, I'll introduce the topic of downtown rail reconstruction, and then basically transition into our unfinished fast tracks report and where we are with stakeholder engagement.

Mr.

Desai will be elaborating on the downtown rail reconstruction more specifically as we talk about the work of Calamath, and then Mr.

Sarroy will speak to the unfinished fast tracks report.

So recognizing that RTD opened its inaugural light rail line on October 7th of 1994.

It's now 31 years old.

And just by virtue of investment relative to how the rail was reconstruct, excuse me, constructed downtown in the sense that it is embedded track.

We undertook through partnerships with the city and county of Denver, more specifically with Dotti and with Denver Downtown Partnership, whereby we leverage some work that was critical with five intersections of the downtown over the course of beginning Memorial Day, going through Labor Day, that was quite successful for us.

Capitalizing on the notion that we do have four seasons here.

Just the Tuesday after Labor Day, we embarked upon some critical work at Calamath, as we call the Calamath Crossing.

It's really a Calamath and Colfax, and it is an 86-day project.

We look to being quite thankful, recognizing that the date in which we anticipate completion will be around Thanksgiving.

And the project is 37% complete as of Friday, October 10th.

More to the point we just released information today via a media announcement whereby we have work that will require a full closure of Southbound Calamath between Spear Boulevard and Colfax Avenue for one week commencing on Sunday and concluding Sunday, that is the 19th, and concluding on Sunday, October 26th.

The agency, quite naturally, we are in close communication with stakeholders near the work zone.

Closer closure information, as I indicated, has been announced.

We are sending out weekly updates and have a dedicated web page.

And so that's the introduction there, and I'll take the opportunity so we can continue on with our presentation.

Relative to finishing fast tracks, staff released just on uh God, it was a week ago.

Uh the unfinished fast tracks report that is required pursuant to SB 24230, which prioritize the completion of Northwest Rail and the N line.

The corridors currently served by what we deem as being the B lines and the Nline, with Nline being the most new rail line uh that RTD operates directly, which opened in September of 2020.

Uh getting back to the requirement in SB 20, which was amended uh with the advent of SB 25161, thereby extending the report's deadline to December 1st of 2025.

We're in the throes of engaging uh with a myriad of different audiences, uh, taking opportunities such as this.

My colleagues were just up north this morning at community solutions, providing information.

There'll be a Dr.

Coggs board meeting tonight, providing information on where we are as well.

What's critically important I want to touch upon is we get into the presentation, recognizing while we had requirements to put forward what it would take to finish the projects or the program, I should say, by 2034.

We are dealing with the here and now, and it is a snapshot in time.

So when you see dollar figures, it's contingent upon what we know today, and recognizing that we basically were able to uh capitalize on work that was done in or I should say a resolution and a resolution by the board and work that was done in 2019, and more to the point when I first assumed my role at um RTD, we did do a Northwest Rail Peak feasibility study.

For all intents and purposes.

There's been work done by staff and a consultant to update those numbers to the best of our ability.

But of course, we don't know what we don't know.

So I do want to ensure that there's an understanding as we move forward.

But further to the point, we have a six-week public engagement process and outreach events and public meetings, of which I referenced a few, and that uh period will close on February 14th.

We're happy to share that information with all of you.

So I will yield the floor to my colleagues who are the subject matter experts in these various projects to provide greater information, and we're happy to entertain any questions that the committee sees fit at the conclusion of the presentation.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, um, so like our uh general manager um CEO Johnson said, I'll be covering uh the overview of the finishing fast tracks report, um, provide some background on the report, which uh general manager Johnson just again did a good job of, a talk about the updated corridor costs, and then our our fiscal capacity, which are two of the areas that we focused on, and then kind of the T T cake, excuse me, key takeaways and next steps in the process.

So as most of you know, that the fast tracks ballot measure was passed in 2004, and since then we've actually completed a fair amount of work, as uh Councilman Flynn knows from his previous involvement with RTD.

Um about 75% of the program was was completed.

Um, but we do have four projects remaining uh the Northwest Rail Peak Service, North Metro, and then the Southwest and Central Extensions.

So as was stated earlier, um there was a requirement that first started with uh SB 24230, which said that they wanted RTD to do a report that would say how could we complete fast tracks by 2034.

Um that and I identified kind of a couple things.

One was that the main one was prioritizing the Northwest Rail and North Metro completion.

Um, but then that was updated then this past legislation legislative session with SB uh 25161 with some additional requirements related to the fiscal capacity of the agency as well as doing a robust um public engagement process.

So one of the reasons why we're here today.

And again, with that with the update, we we were given an extension to complete the report by December, and so we are on track to do that.

Um, in terms of the costs and and the assumptions that we have, um, what we focused on was really um costs that were really from 2015 but included in the 2019 report that is is referenced um that we did previously for the board, but we took those costs and basically increased those and escalated those to where we're at today, essentially in 2024.

Um we also were able to take advantage of the costs that were um completed or updated in the Northwest Peak Service Study.

Um but in terms of looking at that, like um General Manager and CEO Johnson said, I mean, those are a snapshot in time.

They represent costs as of 2024.

We fully expect, as you know, we would look to complete those projects when you look at actually when the money is spent, those numbers are gonna go up.

And obviously, we know from 2024 till now we've things like tariffs and other things that are impacting the costs of projects.

So we we fully expect those numbers to increase beyond um what we have identified here in the in the report.

So the the cost numbers as we um have um identified them, you can see between the four corridors there's a cost of about 1.6 billion dollars.

Um, and if you look at the annual operating costs, which again is a very significant, it's almost 23 million dollars a year to run those projects.

Um, and then if you look at the actual boardings um for the four quarters, it's it's total of about 3600.

Again, this does reflect um kind of where we're at today with with our system and with our rail ridership in particular, because you know the impacts of COVID have been pretty substantial on the agency and and on rail ridership in particular.

But these again do represent numbers that you know going through our process for calculating ridership are we thinking are reflective of what the numbers we'd see in 2045.

Um then looking at our fiscal capacity, um, you know, we we have um there's been discussion about our reserve funds, and our board is having a discussion right now on the budget, and um we have kind of the use of those funds in particular um has been um looked to draw down some of our debt and some of our operating costs, which are substantial.

So the actual use of those funds is really limited in terms of um ability to fund a capital project like any of the finishing fast tracks corridors.

Um on the debt side, um, our TABER capacity is essentially um uh basically done.

We have a little bit under $3 million remaining in bond capacity, according to the TABER debt limitations that was established with the ballot measure that was passed in 2004.

And then if you look at kind of beyond TAVER to the opportunity to issue COPS, which again are not subject to TABER, we do really have a limited opportunity to do that, partly because we don't really have the capacity to pay down the debt associated with those COPs.

And then finally, a constraint that we continue to have, as General Manager Johnson's CEO Johnson's described, and is Mr.

Desai will talk about earlier, our asset renewal needs are significant as we our system is aging between you know our bus side and our rail side, we have significant needs and needs for those costs in the future.

If you look at kind of beyond RTD and maybe some specific specific to fast tracks, we do have the fast tax and service internal savings account, which was established in 2011 by the board to really create a savings account for you know the hope of finishing the remaining fast-tracks quarters.

As of kind of our latest uh five-year fiscal forecast, um there's a there's about 145 million dollars uh projected to be in uh in that account in 2030.

So that again is an opportunity.

The three other um identified um sources of funds from the state, and these were these were funds that were identified as specifically in the legislation that we wanted they want us to look at SP 260, uh 230 and 184.

Um, those do present some opportunities for this on the multimodal uh on MLS side.

Um there's about 30 million dollars available um starting in 2030.

Uh the oil and gas fees, um we can expect to see um anywhere from um you know 20 percent of those funds dedicated to rail, and if you look at that, that can be a significant portion, and then uh finally the the congestion impact fees, which again, there's limited information on how those funds are going to be distributed, but again, there is an opportunity there.

Um and so, but then you look at kind of moving to the federal side.

There are some opportunities there.

We we constantly monitor those, but there is some significant amount of uncertainty, as we all know.

Um, and there's gonna be you know reauthorization coming up, and so again, there is a limited opportunity, but but again, in our view of this, they're very it's very limited in terms of our ability to use federal funds for any of these corridors.

So, kind of where we are with fiscal capacity, so obviously we have about a 1.2 billion dollar shortfall, which includes our assumption about the FISA, and then if you look at the state funding, there's a little under $300 million that we can assume optimistically that we could have access to over the timeframe of the 10 years.

Um, so again, we have a significant um gap.

Um, and so even looking at kind of the sources that we know of, we will need additional funding for both capital and operating costs because again, operating costs was kind of not looked at as directly as part of some of this funding.

So, again, it's gonna be a major challenge, and and we're looking forward to kind of having this being a point of discussion with our partners because again, we wanted to use this as kind of creating to level set everybody's expectations about what RTD can do and what we need in terms of partnerships with others outside the agency.

So, again, it's it's some pretty uh you know intense conversations that need to happen over the next little bit of time to really to move these projects forward.

So, in terms of key takeaways, um, again, we have a significant portion of the project complete.

Um, we do have insufficient funding to complete the program as defined.

I've outlined the state funding, which does provide us some substantial amount of revenues, but again, not nearly enough to finish the program.

Um, and then uh the again, the point in earlier I said which as a point in time, definitely a lot of additional design and work needs to be done on all these quarters.

They're anywhere from 15 to 30 percent designed, and a lot of them haven't been looked at in well over a decade.

And so we need to look at, and there's gonna be a significant amount of work that needs to be done in order to move them forward.

And like I said, we talked about main times the cost of are simply a snapshot in time, we fully expect them to increase um beyond what we've identified in the report today.

So, next steps um uh we uh will be doing a series of other meetings we've identified.

We're going to the state legislature and the transportation legislative review committee next week.

We do have a board meeting where we're gonna have an open public comment period at the board meeting on the 28th, and then after the comment period closes in mid-November, we will be pulling together the final report and submitted to the legislature just before Thanksgiving.

So with that, I will turn it over to Mr.

Desai.

I have the laptop or try not to break it.

Thank you, James Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um, thank you for this opportunity to provide a quick project update.

Again, I'm Sheet Desai.

I'm a project manager for downtown rail reconstruction project, uh, as we lovingly call it DRRP.

So you will keep seeing me or hear me say DRRP instead of the entire project name.

Um we have launched DRRP, uh this project to give a much needed upgrade to one of our oldest light rail tracks on Central Corridor, which opened in 1994.

13 years of continuous operations combined with weather and um impacts because of traffic.

Uh, we recognize that these tracks on central corridor require major rail reconstruction.

So, by undertaking this project, we are ensuring that our downtown uh rail system continues to provide and serve our community um efficiently and safely for decades to come.

DRP has four phases, but they don't happen sequentially, as Ma'am Johnson said.

Last year we finished five intersections as part of phase one, and this year we are more focused on Calamat crossing improvement.

I'm gonna get, I'm gonna talk more about KRRP as we go uh further into the slides.

Again, KRRP is Calamat Rail Reconstruction Project.

And again, if I'm talking too fast, just let me know and I will slow down.

You will often hear this phrase called full depth rail reconstruction, and what it actually means, what it actually means is we are taking out old concrete, old tracks, old ballasts, old ties, and replacing them with brand new ones.

At intersections, we are making them more resilient by introducing what we call um a pre-cast concrete panels or concrete tubs underneath the tracks, and they provide more stability.

So they bring more resiliency because the tracks can now take the impacts of the vehicular crossing more in a more advanced capacity.

So right now, KRP is divided into three sections.

Um the section area A1, area A2, and Area A3.

Area A1 is west of Kalamat Crossing, Area 2 is east of Kalamat Crossing, and Area 3 is Kalamat Crossing in itself.

KRRP is a 900 feet of double track segment that goes from Auroria campus or Aurora station all the way to Steel Spear Street.

The project includes 30 concrete tubs, which we're gonna be installing at Calamat Crossing, new train detection loops, new pedestrian crossings, and um 81 track wells.

It's an 868 project.

It started on September 2nd, and we are trying very hard to get it done by November 27th.

So far, we are on time, we are doing good.

Um as Matt Johnson said, we have 36% of the progress, and that is what we anticipated, and we are hitting that mark as of last Friday.

Um we anticipate having the entire project done on or before November 27th.

Uh, we always have this T-shirt printed out saying uh Turkey on tracks.

I hope that doesn't happen, but we're trying to get it in full.

Um these are the pictures actually.

Actually, the best way to go uh look at these pictures is from left to right.

And these are the status updates for Area A as of last Friday, October 10th.

We have finished replacing old concrete.

We have removed the tracks.

We have removed ties, ballasts and other track materials.

Um the black um layer that you see all the way on the right is a geotextile uh fabric on which we're gonna be installing new ballasts and we'll lay out new, we are laying out new ties, and the rails have been installed.

Uh we are actively doing the rail welding.

Um we have total of around 82 rail wells on this project, and we are doing really, really good.

We are all already done with 65 rail wells.

Um similar situation with area two, which is an area east of Calamat.

Um we have replaced the old concrete tracks, ballasts and other track materials.

Subgrade is being tested and expected and inspected, and it's already accepted.

Initial ballast layers are being laid out, new skeleton tracks are being laid out, and we are right now uh performing the welding.

Area three, which I.

We have three concrete uh panels or the pictures on the right shows the concrete tubs that are being delivered.

We have them on site.

Uh we are working diligently uh with performing traffic control plans, and we expect to start working at complete railway construction on Sunday and get it done by the following Sunday.

So uh we're trying very hard uh because we don't we are permitted for one week and we don't have we don't have any intention to go beyond that permit.

Um all the project details are on the project website, which is RTT-Denver.com forward slash rail projects.

On if you visit this website, you will see weekly uh reports that are being discussed being provided internally and also externally.

It gets into more details, and also my deputy CEO will kill me if I don't say it.

Please sign up for uh more updates by going on to this link uh so that you can be uh in the loop and we can provide you more updates.

So thank you so much.

Deborah, I've said it.

Thank you.

Any questions, please?

There you go.

And we have Catman Fine on the queue.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Um good to see you all again.

You all got a little bit older, right?

I don't know how that uh was covering fast tracks at the paper.

It was supposed to be done by 2017.

We're not gonna make that, right?

Okay, just checking.

Um Councilman Watson had a uh conflict and could not be here today, but he asked me to uh make an announcement about an upcoming meeting on the Welton Corridor, and we haven't talked about the Welton Corridor here, and I'm very, I read the presentation for tonight at Dr.

Cog.

So let me raise that.

Um, Councilman Watson asked me to publicly thank uh Director Deborah Johnson, uh RTD board member Michael Guzman, and uh Michael Davis for their support of District 9 and the Welton Street Quarter.

Uh he also invites everyone to a community meeting on the Welton Street corridor transit and beautification discussion on Wednesday, November 5.

That's the day after the upcoming election from 5 30 to 7 at Glenarm Recreation Center.

Purpose community meeting to discuss Wellton Street Transit options.

Uh Wednesday, November 5th, 5 30 to 7.

Well, at the Glenarm Rec Center, 2800 Glenarm.

I'm sorry, Glen Armbreck Center, 2800 Glenarm Place.

That all leads to my curiosity about Welton Street, because I'm hearing that uh maybe that won't be uh rail line.

Uh that's one of the options is to examine uh sort of a BRT type of service because one of the unfinished fast tracks connections is to connect from 30th and Downing up to 38th and Blake.

Uh such a short segment, but no wherewithal to get it done.

Um, Steaper.

So can you talk about what what that what those options look like?

Are we looking at taking out the tracks and so yes?

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Flynn.

And thank you for uh relaying the comments from Council Member Watson.

Had opportunity to run into them right before we came in here.

Um, so as a backdrop, quite naturally we're better together and having conversations as RTD doesn't have auspices over the arterials, of course, within the city and county of Denver.

Um, you all do, Dotti does.

And having had conversations with executive director Ford, uh, not to mention meetings with council member engaging with Director Guzman, um, and having had meetings with uh community members in that area, what we thought would be the most prudent course of action is bringing people together to discern what might be optimal because there have been one-offs, hence what we've done by virtue of Dr.

Cog with the joint letter that was submitted by me and Mayor Johnston was like let's leverage these monies to be intentional and purposeful relative to um ascertaining what might be feasible as we move forward.

Recognizing what Mr.

DeSai just showcased as related to the rail reconstruction program, it's intentional that that phase is the latter phase because as the accountable executive as FTA designates me, relative to ensuring our assets are in state of good repair, I have an obligation to ensure those assets are a state of good repair.

And when we think about the color of money, they can't be swapped unilaterally referencing to remove uh tracks.

And so collectively through our partnership uh with partners within the city, leveraging those monies to do a study to figure out what might be as we go forward.

So it would be premature for me to say that there could be a bus rapid transit option for 1.2 miles.

We yet to know that, but what we do agree upon, let's see what might be optimal as we go forward and come back to the drawing board because as it states right now, we have federal dollars that we were able to obtain um from our delegation more specifically, Congresswoman DeGet, whereby we've been putting money aside from earmarks to do work that's needed for asset renewal, and those can't be flexed for something else as we go forward.

So I wanted to provide that.

I know that was a lot of information, and it may seem like I'm skirting your response, but it's incumbent upon me to lay out that framework relative to where we are, and so right now we're committed to doing a study to figure out what might be most prudent because right now we don't know.

Completely understood, uh Bill.

I was just gonna add, I think that the important thing that we've talked with our uh folks at Downey about is you know, the having that conversation with the community and making sure that there is a robust conversation about what could be so that we have that engagement and that feedback in terms of with this study to you know any future direction with that quarter.

Right.

My understanding is that through shifting the alignment of some of the already scheduled bus routes onto Welton, uh have converting Welton to two-way vehicular traffic, removing the track, and I'm not pre-determining it just so people watching don't get that impression.

Uh but that one of the options would be to uh, I mean, let's face it, we're not gonna be able to connect 30th and Downing to 38th and Blake for quite some time.

Gotta keep saying it.

It's cheaper, to say.

Uh so uh, I mean, there's a lot of options on the table, but uh uh Deborah Johnson, you said that uh you can't really take the state of good repair money and take out the track and not replace it.

Right.

So everything costs money, so you have to find new money for some other solution.

That would be correct, sir, because basically where we sit, it's recognizing to the point that Mr.

Soroy made during the course of this presentation.

We know there's a shortfall.

And in order for this program to come to fruition, uh recognizing that this was back in 2004.

There's been iterations in 2015, 2019, 2024 as it relates to the Northwest Road Peak Feasibility Study, and now we're sitting here in 2025.

A lot of different factors have come into play, and as Mr.

Sorroy was talking about, you know, reauthorization as we look at the Federal Service Transportation Bill that'll sunset September 30th of 2026.

We don't know what we don't know.

And so quite naturally, in the course of conversation, it is trying to identify monies, and this potentially could be part of that study to figure out what might be, because as committee chair Lewis indicated, when you have that um that bridge uh relative to the 1.2, and what I mean by that, bridging 30th and downing to 38th and Blake, that's something previous administrations would have rallied around because that makes most sense because you're talking about connectivity and then showcasing partnerships with various um public partners as we move forward.

So who knows, that could be an option.

It could be some other form of a circulator.

Um it could be leveraging autonomous vehicles.

It's all on the table right now to have a study in here from various audiences, and then ensuring that due diligence is done relative to what might be uh a solution relative to that connectivity to have enhanced mobility options along the Walton Street corridor.

Thank you.

That's uh I remember when that first went in and how difficult that was with the community, trying to figure out what's the best way to rather.

Well, I have one last question.

Uh, does the state legislation that you referenced from 24 or 24 session addressing Northwest Rail and the North Metro line?

Does that uh preclude completion of any like the Southwest extension or the 38th and Blake?

Does it preclude you from proceeding with those before the priority as it states in statute would be Northwest Rail and North Line?

Right.

Okay.

So Southwest to loosened.

But the requirement for this report was to look at all four and completion by 2034.

So there was a kind of identified kind of priority of Northwest and North Metro, but actually looking at completing all four by the next 10 years.

And further to the point, that would be within the auspices of the RTD board from a prioritization vantage point, recognizing uh the establishment of the fast track investment savings account, which we know um very well could not uh by any stretch of the imagination uh develop a program or complete a program such as that.

Um, it's account.

Yeah, excuse me.

May I, Madam Chair?

I remember chair.

Thank you.

Did you want to?

Yep.

Um, so I know you've all heard or used the phrase you got McDonald's money.

Correct.

That's what this conversation is about.

And I think taking a step back from uh, you know, identifying what the loudest voices in the room who are often not the only voices in the room uh would like to see along the Wellton corridor is the whole point of having this conversation, and so I'm happy that it's within my district and I get to enjoy uh community conversation and time about what's going on at Walton.

But I think we have to have a really serious conversation because right now we have uh we have comida la casa, we've got food at home, which is to say we can put things back into a state of good repair along the Welton corridor on the L line, but we don't have McDonald's money to fix the sidewalks and replace the pavement that would be otherwise disturbed by yanking those out.

And so I don't know, no T no shade on my comment here, right?

But fiscal reality being what it is, even the RTB board got some pretty severe news last night from the CU Leeds School of Business about what sales and use tax looks like, and Denver, by and large, still pays the largest amount out of all eight counties that submit payment to RTD through our sales and use tax.

You are about 20 percent of our total operating budget based on sales and use tax alone, a little bit more than that's probably closer to 24%.

Just sales tax, not use tax, just sales tax.

Denver needs to own that part of it, right?

Because we pay a lot into this system, and we also house a number of our divisions within my district.

Within the city and county of Denver, we have divisions that are running our rail and running commuter rail, bus, paratransit, and light rail, all within the northwest corner of Denver specifically.

Um the light rail station down on Yale is still within the city and county of Denver on the map.

And so allowing a narrative to run away from other parts of the district that they have paid so much money into the system over time while not recognizing that Denver by and far away has outspent them on sales tax every year for at least the last 10 years I can find.

By 2023, I think we were 67 million dollars more than the next closest district that paid next closest county that paid into the district.

So keep that in mind, right?

There's some leverage that Denver has in that conversation that has not been put forward.

And of course, we share with everybody because we're the capital city and we get a lot of benefit out of having those services and systems here and those divisions.

It's not about not wanting to build this out.

I think the conversation needs to look like what do we need and what can we do together?

A mile of track to connect Blake down to the end of the Line, it is affordable in the big scheme of things compared to other things, right?

And that project could be completed in some way if we work together.

On these other ones, we might have to lean in and leverage a little bit differently with other counties and how we do the financing for it.

But the board realizes that we are going to hit some sort of stagnation for the next few years until we re-increase job opportunities when tariffs perhaps get lowered.

And all of those calculations are going into how we create a budget to do three things.

One, keep the level of service we have currently, not cut.

We employ over 3,000 employees at RTD who operate, maintain, clean, and fix our tracks to be able to get this work done.

And then also to try and keep up with what the expectation has been for our strategic plan going forward.

We can't lose track now because we are gun shy on investing in the right places.

And so for me, having that conversation is good.

We need to figure it out, but I hear from very loud voices on one desired outcome, and it's not a full community conversation until everybody has a chance to speak.

And maybe that's my indigenous heritage coming through that everybody should have that right on the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month.

So that would be what I offer back.

Um, excited about it, but I think everybody needs to be speaking up.

The loop downtown on the Line would close that loop finally, and it affects the entire downtown area, the whole city of Denver benefits from that.

Not just the people along the Walton Corridor, five points all the way to the west side would benefit from that type of work.

So there's a lot of points and counterpoints in that nuanced, very nuanced argument.

So yeah, thank you for the director Guzman.

Now I just have a curiosity about the um potential alternatives, I suppose, for the Weltm Street corridor and how that would, if any of the proposals were to go forward, how that would impact the entire system because it feels more aesthetic than it does in terms of it feels more aesthetic in terms of um execution than it does in terms of usefulness for those that actually rely on or utilize the service.

And I think that disconnect piece from the end of the L line um at 30th to 38th and Blake to the A line is where you find that disconnect.

I think if we were making this this is my hypothesis, and again, I'm not trying to shade a judgment on anything, just uh as a citizen of Denver who grew up with the system, the oldest rail line we have never got to the A line.

And so if we were able to connect that, what would that look like in terms of travel back from Den, who just met with you, to the southern part of downtown through five points?

Does that provide economic opportunities for five points that don't currently exist because it meets up with the A-line?

Is there a possibility?

Don't be mad at me.

I'm just thinking about the system, but is there an opportunity that a light rail train running from Holden through Denver bypasses Union Station and takes people straight to the A-line at 38th and Blake, which creates a redundancy we don't currently have instead of going straight to DUS?

What does the possibility of that look like if we complete that loop?

There's a lot there.

And of course, we know five points in particular that we're talking about over there at 38th and Blake has traditionally been a red line part of our community.

Strong history with the African-American black community in Denver.

And so why not be able to do that along there and provide a more robust rail line that works faster?

But that could be replaced with buses or alternative methods of transportation.

I think the community needs to have an opportunity to weigh in.

Not just folks that have unfortunately purchased a house online, moved here not realizing because they never did a site visit that there is a train that runs right by their house.

Yeah.

Right.

And that's no fault of anybody here in Denver.

Those trains have been running for 15 years.

Come on, give me a break, right?

Like let's be real for a minute and talk about what community wants because it's not just the folks along that corridor, but everybody around it.

And a lot of work has been done in this committee this year, uh, the previous iteration, the Ludi and before about development around transit hubs, and that is a really big factor in what we should look at, not just one corridor and the adjacent neighbors to it, but also how that affects going out several blocks into every direction.

Yeah, thank you so much, Director Gusan.

Casmin Hides.

Thank you.

Um and uh Director Guzman, thank you for your your comments.

Um, not only does Denver's pitch in um a sizable amount of money, um, you know, Catville and Uptown um are the densest neighborhoods in the city, uh cheesemen and golden triangle right in there in the mix as well.

And um they're also the neighborhoods that have the greatest percentage of people who have given up their cars entirely.

So a third of households in uh in Catville and Uptown don't own cars at all.

37% of the um households in City Park West don't own cars at all.

And so um that um density uh and um and dependence on alternatives to cars.

I mean, there you know, a lot of um there are a lot of things that the Denver contribution could go towards that could really help all those folks um continue to justify their um uh their decision because of economics or because of their uh impact on the planet to not have a car at all.

So thank you for that.

Um and while I'm thanking thank you.

You had a recent um board meeting with uh tough conversation.

Thank you for um that's a it's just a tough conversation.

We have tough conversations.

Thank you for your leadership and um and good luck to you for um uh figuring out how that pencils and um uh and implementing it.

Um what is a typical daily ridership statistic?

The north and northwest lines were about over a thousand and 1500 riders a day.

Um, like uh what's a ridership statistic for the 15 as an outlier or the or the mall shuttle?

Oh, I actually have that information.

I have to pull it up in uh an email, or we can circle back because I want to ensure the entire committee has the most accurate information.

Um but as you know, the 15 is the most productive bus route, or I should say transit uh service that we have within the entire network, hence um where we sit recognizing that we're working collaboratively on bus rapid transit because it has all the characteristics to be successful as we move forward.

So if you give me a moment, I could pull that up.

I can I can ask another question while you're searching, are you looking that up?

Um there, I believe the um Welton at Broadway station is temporarily closed.

That's unrelated to uh the Welton conversation, is that right?

Which which one?

Wellton at Broadway.

Uh, glad you're really giving me a quiz today.

20th and Walton.

Oh, 20th.

Wellton is closed because of the high block uh replacement.

Replacement, okay.

Okay.

And we aligned it with um with the DRP project, shutdown window with Garum, so that you're not impacting the same publishing twice.

Yeah, and very so the area next to the convention center is also currently closed.

Is that right?

We are not running the downtown loop operating downtown loop because of all it is shut off as of seventh and cold fax, so that any power going into the downtown is shut off as seventh and cold fax, and that's the safety mechanism we have for people to work on um Calaman project.

Oh okay, okay.

I was like, what's going on with the power?

Okay, that makes a whole lot of sense.

But the if no one had power, then we can walk safely because the equipment's short kind of like and um minutes.

Right.

So that's that's the extent of my questions, other than the ridership.

And you don't have to give it to me now.

Okay, we can circle back and shared with the full committee.

You have my commitment on that relative to the ridership numbers and what the typical, because of course it's seasonal, there's different factors, but I just don't want to sit here and give you a number that then isn't the appropriate one.

So we'll circle back and click order.

The nature of the question is that we're you know, these are on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars, and I wonder, I mean, the the north or northwest rail project to complete.

Um, what how much does uh you know, bus line cost?

Somewhat to the chairs uh comment about how it's cheaper.

Right, and there's a couple of different variables because when you think about the 15 bus route is directly operated, uh, when you think about the cost per revenue mile per hour, I'll just be very simple with an example.

So, say it costs a hundred dollars per revenue hour, and we get a hundred people that board the 15, right?

It's a dollar, versus some other areas that may not have the potential for the same type of transit utilization.

When you think about if there's only one person, that would be $100 per boarding, or if there's two, then it's $50 per boarding.

So those are the type of factors we look at as we determine what cost projections may be relative to um the return on said investment.

And when Mr.

Sarroy made reference to um even in these uncertain times relative to federal opportunities, there's different characteristics, of course, when you look at a federal partnership relative to ensuring that that investment will yield the returns, and just by virtue of where we sit, and I'll say this it preceded me but being in this space for a while, um, recognizing some of the projects that we saw listed there didn't meet the qualifications to have, you know, uh a partnership with the federal government through uh new rail stars.

There's been so many different names with the various grant programs, but for all intents and purposes, that's why we currently sit where we sit relative to not having that federal opportunity as we move forward.

Thanks.

Okay, thank you.

I have a few, and I'll just list them just for the sake of time, and then you all can follow up.

Okay, I was curious as to the um bond capacity that you all mentioned that it was a limited capacity, and I mean, curious is what was contributing to that, and then when does RTD expect to that capacity to improve?

Um, the second one is um you all mentioned that you have the presentation or meeting conversation with the TLRC, and I was wondering if you all could come back um to this committee once you all have that discussion just to see what you all learned and how we might be able to be partners um with you all for that, but as well as the legislative session.

Um, so we want to make sure that we are in lockstep as we um see in RTDville every single legislative session.

So we'd love to really um I was also curious about the uh the COPs.

Um you mentioned that there were limited opportunities, and I was just curious as to what are some of the things that you might utilize those CIP, those COPs for in the future.

Um then I'm always gonna ask about where you do your deferred maintenance.

I just want to know, you know, because we're always talking about nice shiny new things, but I think it's important for us to take care of the assets that we currently have, and so I'd be very curious as to what that dollar amount is.

Um, so that would be um very beneficial to me if you will let me know that.

Thank you very much.

I'm so tempted to answer those questions, but I know we're short on time, but we will circle back because as you know, we have to maintain what we've invested in that's right for future generations as we move forward and good, bad, or indifferent.

Uh, other decisions were made because you know, here we have we're living in a dilapidated house with an unsettled foundation and a leaky roof, and all the neighbors are like, let's put it a pool, right?

Come on.

So, come on.

Can I say one last thing?

Thank you so much for helping us keep Colfax Colfax BRT moving forward at a rapid clip.

It is wonderful to see everything going up and working on it, and so the board is working to make sure that we can be lucky and as well as in that project.

But I just want you to know that um it's not going unnoticed that we are making mad progress over there.

So let's keep it up.

It's cool.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, it's super exciting, so absolutely.

Thank you all for your partnership.

Yeah, all right.

With that, we have 11 items on consent.

No one pulled anything off.

Um, and with that, we are adjourned.

Thank you.