is in recess at 11 44 a.m.

in order to conduct the mass transit department board meeting good morning good morning this is a meeting of the el Paso Mass Transit Department Board for Tuesday October 14 2025 it is 1144 a.m present in presiding as board chair johnson and also present in council chambers are board members Chavez Acevedo Rocha Boyar Trejo Niño Fiero Limon and Canales Mr.

Mayor we only have the minutes on the consent agenda and we do not have anybody signed up for public comment.

Okay is there a motion to approve second all right there's a motion and a second to approve the mass transit consent agenda give me one second all matters listed under the consent agenda including those do a trick yes 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 meeting board may however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting and again this is for item one the the minutes and who made the motion board member fiero seconded by board member limon okay let's call for the vote voting session is open mr mr mayor thank you sir and the item has been approved unanimously all right let's take item number three item number three is discussion and action on the resolution that the director of purchasing and strategic sourcing is authorized to modify to notify Francisco Corral doing business as eagle janitorial service company that the city is terminating contract number 2023-0673 janitorial services mass transit rebid and this is for convenience due to an overestimation of service hours in the original contract scope of work and that the termination shall be effective as of November 3rd 2025 okay okay there's a motion and a second that represent chavez thank you mayor um and I know that we're going to be canceling this contract and awarding another one and I wanted um the presentation or Anthony to come speak to to the reason for that and I don't know if you want to do it on this item or the approval of the next contract if you could just go over the the reasoning behind canceling this contract and approving the next one please thank you so Anthony DeCogger the director of Sun Metro so the question is I think the question is why are we doing this particular canceling this one and adding the next contract so for this it the question um kind of reminds me of when Claudie was asking you were asking Claudia the question when she was presenting the contract um presentation a few weeks ago about um why contracts are amended sometimes and Claudia was saying that hey you have to in the contracts but the department generally knows the reason why so there's often two perspectives of why that and so they wrote in here the overestimate service hours and so for this particular contract is unique like all contracts are why they have to be um amended um so so for this one if you go back to um 2022 when we looked at this contract the janitorial contract is specifically tied to um ridership and so it was during covet but we had to project it out so we had to project it out so we had to look at we think ridership is coming back so we looked at 2017 when when ridership was higher because we had to say this contract has to cover that time right the time projected out three year contract plus um two years of options right and so we had to project it so would cover all that but it didn't cover that because it it would have if it would have gone back in fact the whole industry thought the time would have the ridership would have came back meaning we had janitory contracts that covered what need to be cleaned up with the ridership going back um and so the whole industry thought that ridership would come back but when it didn't we had to give it another year to to check right and so when it didn't then we had to amend so there you go it wouldn't a particular answer why why we amend so this is an example of why we would amend because we we needed to based upon the conditions so sometimes we have to amend when the conditions call for that

In fact, the whole industry thought the time would have the ridership would have came back, meaning we had janitory contracts that covered what needed to be cleaned up with the ridership going back.

Um so the whole industry thought that ridership would come back.

But when it didn't, we had to give it another year to check, right?

And so when it didn't, then we had to amend.

So there you go, it wouldn't a particular answer why why we amend.

So this is an example of why we would amend because we we needed to based upon the conditions.

So sometimes we have to amend when the conditions call for that.

Um so we did, but we also have other regulations like FTA.

And FTA says that we have to have uh where is it at fair and fair and open competition.

So we have to have fair and open competition.

So we had a um uh audit in 2020 2023.

So we had an audit in 2023, and the FTA said, hey, you have to do fair and open competition.

So after we amended one time and it said and FTA, we know FTA says you have to do that after we admit it twice, actually, and we know the ridership's not going up as fast as we thought.

Now we have other rules that we have to abide by FTA, fair and open competition.

The first time we had a bid, we had four bidders, right?

And since the numbers were so high, we only had bidders come in from out of town, right?

Because they could only that's who could handle the capacity.

But once we knew the ridership wasn't going up as fast as we thought, and we amended it twice, right?

Uh to the conditions, right, instead of doing the whole new contract.

This time we want to do a new contract because we know it's the right thing to do, and FTA is saying do fair and open competition.

So now we're doing doing that based upon the conditions and the requirement by FTA says we must do that, and we know that because the audit in 2023.

So now we have another audit coming up in 2026.

So we know we have to do this, right?

So then the question comes, I believe that you are inquiring, ma'am.

Does this contract make it so we have to pay more?

Well, in fact, we do have to pay more because the new contract says facilities by hours 21 when the old the older contract was 1875, right?

So there is is some increase to this, but it doesn't really matter because we have to do this by the FTA regulation.

So we're gonna have to end this contract and start another one, right?

And so, but there is good news to this because I know that we want to bring dollars back to the community, right?

So there's a when we have four bids before, but now we have 11 that supports the fair and open competition, but it also allowed because the number of hours went down, it also allowed local companies to be able to bid because now they can handle the capacity.

So we we made a good news story in two ways.

The first one was we're following the FTA regulations because we have to open the contract.

The second way is we made it so that local local businesses could compete in this, one because we had to, and two, because the conditions change.

So we're amending because the conditions change one to open it fair in competition, too.

It helped the the local vendors be able to bid and actually wanted the local bid um what one local business is actually won the competition, and the other good news is they actually pay a dollar more than the other company did.

So now we're bringing in more dollars to local community and the local people are getting paid more.

So did that answer your question right now.

Thank you, Anthony.

That's great.

And thank you, Tikal.

Yeah, I think I really think the work you're doing is great.

I I had originally just wanted to know why you were canceling a contract, bidding it out and going to pay more money for it, but that explains it perfectly, and I appreciate the work that all of you are doing.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Anthony.

All right, so there's a motion in the second on item number three.

And I do have a motion made by board member Limon, and who's seconded?

Thank you.

Seconded by board member Chavez.

Hold on, is there any further discussion on this item?

Okay, call for the vote.

Voting session is open.

Thank you, sir.

And the item has been approved unanimously.

All right, let's take item number four.

Item number four is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025 zero zero eight nine R transit fixed route service, LULAC project amistad, doing business as project amistad for an initial term of three years for an estimated amount of sixteen million eighty-three thousand five hundred and forty.

The award also includes a two-year option for an estimated amount of eleven million three seventy-five seven sixty, and the total contract time is for five years for a total estimated amount of twenty-seven million four fifty-nine three hundred.

This contract will allow Sun Metro to provide reliable and consistent transportation options for residents.

Second, all right, representative canales.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um Project Dummy Stat has provided, I think, in my opinion, wonderful service uh in their previous contract.

And so I'm enthusiastically support uh this this new award to to Project Dummy Stad to continue to operate routes uh for Sun Metro and they they do a great job of boosting the the connectivity within the the transit network and um so just wanted to say very happy with the the service that they continue to provide us um and if no one if if anyone on the council hasn't had the opportunity to check out Project Damistad's entire transportation operation, they don't just do work for us, they're doing all kinds of excellent uh other transportation uh helping community organizations and uh their own clients.

So uh please take the opportunity to go out and ride some of their vehicles.

They they do a great job.

Very good.

Is there any further discussion on item number four?

Okay, call for the vote.

And we do have a motion made by board member Limon, seconded by board member canales, and this is to approve item number four voting session is open.

Voting session has been closed, and the item has been approved unanimously.

Okay, let's take item number five.

Item number five is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025-0571 bus shelter cleaning to ACE Government Cleaning LLC for an initial term of three years for an estimated amount of two million nine hundred and eighty-one thousand six hundred and fifty-five.

The award also includes a two-year option for an estimated amount of one million nine eighty seven seven hundred seventy.

The total contract time is for five years for an estimated estimated amount of four million nine hundred and sixty-nine thousand four hundred and twenty-five.

This contract will provide regular and on-demand cleaning services for bus shelters and stops through the city throughout the city.

Second, there's a motion and a second.

Any discussion on item number five.

Okay, call for the vote.

And I do have a motion made by board member uh Fierro, seconded by board member Limon, and this is to approve item number five.

Voting session is open.

Voting session has been closed, and the item has been approved unanimously.

Okay, let's take number six.

Item number six is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025-0593, janitorial services, Sun Metro to ACE Government Services, LLC for an initial term of three years for an estimated amount of four million seventeen thousand nine hundred and forty-eight.

This also this award also includes a two-year option for an estimated amount of two million six seventy-eight six hundred and thirty-two.

The total contract time is for five years for an estimated amount, total estimated amount of six million six hundred and ninety-six thousand five hundred and eighty.

This contract will provide for daily janitorial services, Sun Metro Transit Centers, Park, right lot, Anthony Parking Lot, and Transit Terminal, Sun Metro Transit Centers, Park, Right Lot, Anthony Parking Lot, and Transit Terminals.

Move to approve.

Second.

All right, there's a motion and a second by Representative Trejo.

Any discussion on item number six.

All right, call for the vote.

And we do have a motion made by board member Limon, seconded by board member Boyar Trejo.

And this is to approve item number six.

Voting session is open.

Voting session has closed and the item has been approved unanimously.

Okay.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

I did want to comment, Mayor, that every time that they've got items coming up on the agenda, Mr.

DeKaiser, thank you very much for visiting with our office and all of you for really making us aware of what's going on and how things are happening.

So thank you.