Council meeting is now in recess at 1010 a.m.

Good morning.

This is a meeting of the El Paso Mass Transit Department Board for Tuesday, April 1st.

It is now 1010 a.m.

Present in presiding is board chair Johnson.

Also president council chambers are board members Chavez Acevedo, Maldonado Rocha, Boyardrejo, Nino, Fierro, Limon, and Board Member Canalis.

There's no public comment, sir.

Okay.

And all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by Mass Transit Department Board to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by board members.

Prior to the vote, members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda.

When the vote has been taken, if an item has not been called out for separate discussion, the item has been approved.

The Mass Transit Department Board may, however, reconsider any item at any time during the meeting.

Is there a motion to approve?

Okay, we have a motion and a second from Representative Nino.

Second.

Any discussion on the consent agenda?

Call for the vote.

And we do have a motion made by represent by board member Limon, seconded by board member Nino, and this is to approve item one, the consent agenda, the minutes.

Voting session is open.

Chair Johnson.

Thank you, sir.

And the item has been approved unanimously.

Item three is the first item on the regular agenda.

And this is discussion and discussion on a presentation to the El Paso Mass Transit Department Board by El Paso Area Transportation Services, EPATS, regarding its development and current programs operated under the name El Paso Transportation Authority, ETA.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor, City Council, Anthony DeKaiser, Director for Mass Transit for El Paso.

I just like to give a small introduction and say like why are why are they here today?

Um because we're here to talk about transit.

You know, obviously that's why I'm here to talk to you first about transit.

Right.

Um but but how do they intertwine with with us?

Um they provide transit outside the city limits.

And so we're intertwined with them.

Um we're intertwined with them because we have a uh membership on their board on the ETA board, a non-voting um membership, and we have for the last couple years.

Um we've been working very close with them to make sure that we have smooth transitions between our two agencies and how transit works in in El Paso.

We have interlocal agreement with them with our paratransit and how we um transport our passengers in and out of the the county.

We have a interlocal agreement with them for our transit centers and how we transfer passengers at our on our transit centers.

Um we also have an interlocal agreement um with um how we're gonna move our into the future with um putting uh electronic um not electronic but EV charging stations um on the west side as we as we move um forward um in additional we have an an interlocal agreement with CNG how we fuel the their their fix route operations so we're interlinked we're interlinked and in the future you know we we hope to move forward together to continue to provide good transportation um to the el Paso community so I'm excited about them I'm excited about us I'm excited about what we're doing together and how we're gonna move towards the future together.

So without further ado, Miss Jackie Butler, the the commissioner and chairman of the LGC.

Good morning, Commissioner.

Good morning, Mayor, Council, City Manager.

Um my name is Jackie Butler.

I'm the county commissioner for precinct one, uh, but I'm also honored to serve as the chair of the El Paso Area Transportation Services Local Government Corporation.

We recently rebranded as ETA to help save that long name.

But the local government corporation was established several years ago by the county as an innovative tool to bring together all of the stakeholders that use the county's transit system to have a collective effort and bring uh enhanced services to county residents.

Mr.

Banyalis behind me is going to give you a presentation on uh ETA and the work that we've been doing and those members who are comprised of the LGC.

Um but it's it's the county who is responsible for providing transit services to all of the unincorporated areas of the county as well as the other municipalities uh within uh the county lines.

Um Mr.

DeKaiser and Mr.

Rimkis have been involved with ETA and they've been very active on our board.

They're an ex-officio member, um, but they you know they they attend all of our of our meetings, and we've been working really diligently towards um what I think is the ultimate goal of ETA uh, which is to have a completely connected, equitable, efficient transit system from county line to county line.

And we can't do that without Sun Metro.

Um and so Mr.

Barnales is gonna give you uh an overview and more details about how we operate and what our goals are.

But I just wanted to come here and thank you personally for your partnership.

Um we're just getting started, and we have a long way to go, but we look forward to working with you all.

And I personally look forward to hearing any ideas or questions you might have about uh how we can work together better moving forward.

So thank you very much.

I'll introduce Mr.