Good morning.

I'm Council Member Gil Schussler, the Hart Board Chair.

Please silence all electronic devices for the duration of the meeting.

Welcome to the March 2nd, 2026 Board of Directors regular meeting, which is now called to order.

The meeting hybrid, the meeting format is hybrid with board members physically present at the Hart Administrative Offices, 1201 East 7th Avenue, Florida Conference Room, and participating via communication media technology.

Everybody should have a uh the uh flag in front of them if you can please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Join me.

I pledge the flag of the United States of America and two public for which it's one nation under ground indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you very much.

Um staff could you take attendance, please?

Yes, sir.

Uh Director Cameron Cepeda indicated her absence.

Director Clendon Director Hobbs?

Here Director King.

Present Dr.

Knight?

Here Director Mack Alpatrick.

Here Director McCannick.

Commissioner Miller indicated her absence.

Commissioner Myers also indicated she would be absent.

Director Niebrick.

Here Chair Schisler.

Director Smith.

Here.

Director Vieira.

Director Williams.

Commissioner Wolfson indicated he would be absent.

Oh, and then I do see uh Director McCannick.

Are you uh could you announce that you're here?

I I am here.

Thank you, sir.

And you do have a quorum.

Very good, thank you.

Is that feedback something that I did or you okay?

All right.

Um next is public comment.

We'll start with a statement from board council, Miss Jan McClay.

Welcome to town.

Good morning.

I love my button pushing habit there.

Um members of the public have the right to speak on any relevant issue during the public comment process.

However, certain items may be rooted in contract, pending legal recourse or prohibited by the board's policy, which prohibits involvement by this board in the normal employer employee relationship between the CEO and the other employee or employee from union from the union of heart.

While the public could address those matters, board members are advised not to discuss them during this meeting.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms.

McClane.

Um, the heart board of directors welcomes comments from citizens about any issue or your or concern.

Your opinions are valued in terms of providing input to the board members when addressing the board, comments shall not be directed personally against the board member or staff member, but rather directed at the issues.

This provides a mutual respect between the board members, staff, and the public.

The board has set aside a 30-minute period for public comment as stated in heart board policy 2104A.

The chair will call on the speakers by name in order that their request to speak has been received.

When addressing the ploy, please state your name and speak clearly.

Up to three minutes are allowed for each speaker.

Please refrain from any discussions on any matter brought up during public comment until after all public comments has been completed.

The I have two requests.

That's your OCC supervisor dispatcher sleeping on the job.

Right.

Um this is for words how management can be so hard with policy on the employees on the barter unit employees, but let this supervisor stretch out sleep on the job while getting paid as a dispatcher.

But kudos to the administration, just diabolic by diabolical administration here.

Horrible.

And uh the scales of justice is stacked one way.

And how proved my point.

Yes, I got the uh ruling from the arbitration.

But one thing that was interesting to me is this, and I want to read this because um it's it's it's disturbing how management and ATU, high-level officials work against his own employees and union members when they should be protecting them.

So the arbitrator said, I infer Mr.

Mr.

Howard's declining to testify that his testimony would not support the union's claim.

And this makes sense to me, which is the arbitrator, because testifying otherwise would have torpedoed his credibility and uncut the effectiveness for professionalism relationship he has with Hart.

This is stacked against the employees.

I applaud the employees for pressing the issue to go against Curtis Howard, who is the international vice president who initiated the taking of the hazard pay from the employees.

And then I want to put the onus on the local president, the local president of ATU 1593, because she knew that when the when the employees was pressuring this issue, that it was dead on arrival because of her mistake that she made.

This is unacceptable and disciplined the OCC supervisor dispatchers who's supposed to be there for the employees.

So if somebody jumping on the bus with a gun, that they'll be able to get her instead of her being knocked out sleeping.

Thank you, sir.

Appreciate your comments.

Next, we have Chantill Simpson.

Good morning.

How are you doing?

Good, how are you?

You all should have a copy of the emails that I had between the director and uh Mr.

James Sequoia and Matthew White side.

I highlighted all of our conversations to who was saying what.

And if you read from the bottom going up, I'm not sure why I printed out that way, but if you start from the bottom going up, it'll just basically let you know how everything was going in order and how I requested for a meeting about this B infraction that I'm still talking about, and that that's still on my record.

And if you go through the pages, it's basically just setting up schedule time so that we all can meet up, and by the day that we were supposed to have the meeting, Mr.

White Side was unable to show up for the meeting, as you can see on page three.

But we did have the meeting on January 29th, and we came to a conclusion that the C infraction will be coming off of my record, and that he was gonna be doing further investigation on the B infraction.

And I've been waiting patiently for Mr.

Sakura to do his job, and I've been reaching out to them, and I haven't got any response.

The last time I heard from him was on February the 2nd, where he told me he was still doing further investigation on the B infraction, and I reached out to him Friday, February the 27th, and nobody replied.

So I'm here today to figure out if one of you guys could have a meeting with him and Mr.

White side to see if he ever came to a conclusion with the investigation because I still have his B infraction under my name, and I'm not sure why it's still under my name.

The person who wrote the infraction, Sherno Wilburn.

Uh I'm not sure why she still has a vendetta against me or anything like that, but he's not doing his job, and he's not doing the investigation.

And I need one of you guys to step up and see what he has to do to take this being fraction off my name and my record.

And I feel like it's not fair because employees are fraternizing outside of the workplace that they're supposed to be able to save another employee who is misusing and abusing their authority as management.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

We appreciate them.

Okay, um, doesn't appear to be anybody else.

Anybody else public comment?

Appearing to be none.

We'll move forward with the agenda.

Um next, we'd like to welcome the board member.

Mr.

Rodrigo Rico Smith is a third generation Tampa native, steadfast leader in the community with multiple years of successful experience in sales and product management.

He has effectively advocated for health care issues to federal defense and state officials on behalf of medical device companies.

Rico brings valuable board level experience to both the government and health care sectors.

Currently, he serves on the corporate board for the Boys and Girls Club's Greater Tampa Bay and previously served as support treasurer for the Hillsborough County Hospital Authority.

While serving on this board, he oversaw the land use of Tampa General Hospital and the approval of 550 million dollar capital improvement plan.

Rico enlisted in the U.S.

Air Force Reserve in 2016 and was commissioned in 2022 as a finance officer.

He assists with the formulating program policy, manpower resource allocation, and budgeting for total force integration.

Rico Warren's associate's degree for the community college of the Air Force and his bachelor's degree from Trida University.

Alongside his board service and professional work, Rico volunteers this time with local veterans groups and the Congressional Veterans Advisory Committee for Councilmember Gus Pilarakis.

In addition, he managed mentors junior investors of real estate and retirement planning, and in his free time with Pulver You Must Have, he enjoys golfing and traveling with his family and friends.

Welcome to Hart.

Would you like to say a few words?

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I look forward to working with each of the board members here.

Absolute honor and pleasure.

And look forward to engaging with the community on best solutions going forward.

So thank you all.

Welcome aboard.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um item number four is a follow-up to board members' request for the arbitration decision.

Um Miss Brenda Bailey, Director of Legal Services, you are recognized to present good morning.

How are you today?

Good morning.

Good.

Good morning, everybody.

All right.

So it is a rare opportunity for the Hart um executive team to have an opportunity to respond to topics that have long been the subject of sensationalized narratives, urging this board to take action based on claims that are baseless and unsubstantiated.

The claimants have oftentimes bypassed established contractual provisions, board policy, and also HART procedures while simultaneously asking this board to circumvent those same provisions, policies, and processes in order to respond to their demands.

Allegations that advance outside of these established procedures, particularly when they have not been properly raised or investigated, can have a damaging effect on the individuals as well as the organization's reputations.

Nonetheless, I am pleased to present to you all the outcome of a case that was not permitted to bypass those established contractual provisions, and that was the ATU HART arbitration regarding COVID pay.

Most attorneys have heard the saying.

Later that morning, ATU Vice President Curtis Howard sent an email to Hart Director of Operations as well as current ATU president confirming the union's agreement, noting that, and I quote, we have agreed to waive the time and a half provision in the contract in order for all to receive a minimum of 40 hours a week.

As a result, in exchange for avoiding furloughs and guaranteeing full employment of operators for 40 hours a week, the union agreed to waive time and a half for working during emergency conditions, even if they had not worked the full 40 hours.

So thereafter, Hart instituted a modified Sunday schedule starting um April 2020 with reduced operational hours and routes and paid ATU employees a guaranteed 40 hours regardless of how much they worked.

Fast forward eight months later, or about eight months later, the interim CEO at the time issued an advisory that Hart was set to resume normal operations effective November 15.

Sometime thereafter, ATU current president emailed the interim CEO asking if ATU would receive time and a half now that Hart was going back to their regular schedule.

The response was that the March 2020 agreement was still in place and the overtime was reinstated.

So after Hart resumed operations, the current ATU president filed a grievance November 16, 2020 for emergency pay regarding as a result of COVID.

A few days later, the grievance was denied.

A few short days later, the current ATU president filed a new class action grievance, seeking time and one half pay for essential employees working during COVID from November 2020 through May 11, 2023.

Hart internally denied that grievance.

Pay pursuant to agreement that they had with Hart.

As a result of those findings, the arbitrator considered the record, witness credibility, and all of the evidence, and noted that the grievance was determined to be procedurally and substantively non-arbitr arbitrable, non-arbitrable and lacking merit.

Uming specifically that the parties exchange exchanged written confirmation of their the terms of their agreements.

The parties lived under the terms of the agreement without objection.

The union members continued to receive benefits of that agreement.

The union president conceded in an email that read, I will say this again.

ATU forfeited our house our hazardous pay to keep all employees working.

All operators would have received 40 hours.

Some operators didn't work 20 hours, essential workers bonus paid $1,500.

Further, the arbitrator agreed that the 2020 and the 2024 grievance were identical, noting that the collective bargaining agreements language was clear and unambiguous, and finding that the union took no action to advance their 2020 grievance to arbitration, and that there was no mutual consent to extend that time.

And therefore, the ATU forfeited that subject matter of that grievance, and for the same reason that the 2020 grievance was denied and not arbitrary arbitrable.

The same was the case for the 2024 grievance.

And as a result, the arbitrator decided based on decided on both issues.

No.

That was a lot of words, but if you have any questions, I am here.

Thank you, Ms.

Bailey.

Are there any questions?

Uh Ms.

Bailey.

Thank you very much.

Have a great day.

Thank you.

Synopsis.

Okay, next next on the agenda is approval of minutes for the February 2nd 2026 Board of Directors regular meeting.

If everybody's had a chance to review it, is there a motion to approve the minutes?

Motion is second any discussion.

Appeared to be not all in favor, please indicate for saying aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Thank you very much.

Um item number six, the heart finance and audit committee battle February 16, 2026, and recommended approval of action item 6A.

Are there any questions for staff about the consent agenda items?

Appeared to be none.

Uh can we have a motion to approve this consent agenda?

So moved.

We have a second.

Motion is second.

Any discussion on the motion?

Appeared to be none.

All of all in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Thank you very much.

Um action items for presentation are next.

The Hart Strategic Planning and External Relations and Finance and Audit Committee met on February 16th, 2026, to hear a presentation about these action items and recommended approval of them.

Mr.

says Ms.

Jesus Perez or Garcia, Manager of Services Development.

You are recognized to present this first item.

Thank you very much.

Good morning.

Hey though.

Is anybody else warm in thinking?

Or is it just a lot more?

It feels a little bit warm as well.

Thank you.

First time in five years uncomfortable.

So you can hang me in here.

Okay.

Good morning, uh, Chair Schisler, hard board members, and Mr.

Drainville.

Uh my name is Jesus Brazar Garcia, manager of service development, and I will recap the service changes for which we're asking your approval today.

Um here is the timeline of the COA process today.

You're approving the service changes that you heard about last month.

If approved, they would be implemented June 7th.

Uh here's a summary of the proposed service changes for which we're asking your approval today.

We have three improvements.

From hourly to every 30 minutes on weekdays.

Second, we have on time performance improvements for route seven and nine, which currently are late 40% of the time and need an extra bus in order to solve this problem.

And lastly, an extra morning trip for RAW 360 LX.

We have three route removals, routes 24 LX and 25 LX, which are limited express routes from the Brandon East County area to downtown and McGill Air Force base.

And the third removal is hard flag South County.

Uh these removals are due to their low productivity and high cost per ride.

And those resources are being put into the improvements, which will gain a projected 200 new rides per day and provide benefits to over 1900 rides per day.

And we have adjustments to the schedule of two routes, seven and forty-six, uh, removing the last trip in one direction due to extremely low ridership.

If you choose to approve all of these changes today, we'll do a full marketing and outreach plan to inform the public of these changes with enough advanced notice and provide education on the alternatives.

With that, I thank you for your time, and I'm happy to take any questions.

I'll put up the summary slide or let me know if you prefer to have the action item on the screen.

Thank you, Jesus.

Do we have any questions for Mr.

Garcia?

Any comments?

I have one comment.

Um, this has been going on for what how long we've been working on this project.

About a year and a half, two years ago.

It's really good about and he's done a great job with this because started out with the list this big and going through your the the internal mastonations and the public comments.

You were able to make adjustments that that really benefited everybody all up and down the line.

I think it's a it's a very good job.

And I think it's it's it uh it'll work out well for for our customers.

Thank you very much.

Um having said that, is there a motion to approve resolution R 2026 0311 to authorize the implementation of service changes on June 2026, resulting for the comprehensive comprehensive operational analysis COA and the public outreach activities.

Do we have a second motion to second any discussion on the motion?

Appeared to be not all in favor, but please get it by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion passes.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Ms.

Good job.

Thank you.

Final action right today will be represented by Miss Lauren Strope from Cherry Becker, our auditors.

Uh Ms.

Ms.

Strope, you are recognized to present.

Welcome.

Thank you so much.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Lauren Strope, and I'm a partner with Cherry Becker, and I got to serve as your partner this year.

I did a really detailed review of this presentation with the audit and finance committee two weeks ago.

So I'm gonna kind of take you through the high level, but if at any time you want more information, please don't hesitate to ask.

So we'll get right to the meat of it, the results of the audit.

So we have completed our audit and we are ready to render our opinion after today after your approval.

We are ready to render what's referred to as an unmodified opinion.

It used to be called an unqualified opinion, but essentially it's a clean opinion, and it's the highest level of assurance that we as your external auditor can provide to you that your financial statements are free from any material errors from gap or generally accepted accounting principles.

So it's a good thing.

So we actually follow a variety of different standards when we complete your audit, including government auditing standards, which allows us to take a kind of deep dive into your internal controls over financial reporting.

I'm pleased to report that this year we did not find any matters of internal controls that we need to bring to your attention that are raising to that level of a significant deficiency or material weakness.

So again, a clean opinion there.

We also issue your single audit, both federal and state, which requires us to look at compliance requirements, up to the 14 of them for the federal and up to 12 for the state.

And not only do we look at those compliance requirements, but also your internal controls over that compliance.

We are ready to issue a clean opinion there as well.

So we did not have any findings.

We also issue under the Florida General, we issue a management letter, and that is a no comment letter this year or a clean opinion.

Lastly, uh we do a management investment report.

And that is also clean or unmodified as well.

So these are the federal and state programs that we audited this year.

This is a good thing I get to flip over this because this just indicates that we noted no material weaknesses and there were no reported significant deficiencies in our report.

And then I just want to take you through as your independent auditor, it is highly important that we retain our independence.

We do perform a couple of non-attest services for you.

Non-attest simply means non-audit, but in all situations, management reviews our work and takes responsibility there, so we are able to retain our independence.

Things like looking over management stress uh judgments and estimates and testing of manual journal entries.

Um you issue a annual comprehensive financial report, uh, and that includes a lot of information other than the basic financial statements which we audit.

This kind of gives what uh the types of procedures that we do over that information.

And finally, there are two standards that will impact your financial statements next year.

They will not actually implement how anything is accounted for, uh, but they will expand on some of your disclosures, particularly in management's discussion and analysis.

We'll be working with management throughout the year to make sure they're ready to hit the ground running with that.

And with that, I am happy to answer any questions that you might have over the audit.

Thank you, Mr.

Are there any questions?

Director King.

Thank you, Chair.

I don't have any questions.

I would just like to say it's an extremely laudatory outcome and compliments or uh well deserved by our finance department for the hard work I know they've done.

Being married to an accountant, I can well imagine the level of stress they went through to achieve that.

So uh thank you very much for such a clean report.

Mr.

Hobson.

Thank you.

Uh quick question.

What other agencies like ours do you do audits for?

And if so, how are we performing compared to other agencies that you have looked at?

Sure.

Um, I think in terms of transit agencies, you're right on par.

I've worked with um PSTA.

I've worked with quite a few entities in both North Carolina and Texas that are specifically transit as you are.

Any other questions?

Or have a comment, or if not?

Um I just wanted to uh uh congratulate our staff.

Ms.

OK, everybody.

Thank you very much.

And I know it's I know it's a huge team effort, um, but uh I also know what it takes to have this come to fruition and to have an unmodified audit.

We've had problems in the past and all the findings have been addressed and taken care of.

And I know it's uh I know the new CFO is gonna be real happy to take care of to hear all that, so we're we're we're in good shape.

Okay.

Therefore, do we have a motion to approve resolution R2026-03-42?

So moved.

This is moved.

Okay, we have a motion to second any discussion on the motion.

Appeared to be not all in favor to keep us saying aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries unanimous.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Lord.

We'll see you next year.

Have a great day.

Okay, next a presentation that is given on that was given on the February 16, 2026 Strategic Planning and External Relations Committee.

Mr.

Perez Garcia, you're recognized to present the 2027 to 2036 transit development plan major update.

Um thank you.

Uh good morning, Chair Schisler, Hard Board members, and Mr.

Drainville.

My name is Jesus Preser, CEO Manager of Service Development, and I will provide an introduction to the 2027 major update of the transit development plan or TDP, which is another team effort we're working on.

We're kind of transitioning out of the COA and into the TDP, and I'll talk a bit more about how those two connect in a little bit.

So, what in the world is the TDP?

It's a multi-year financial and operating plan for a transit agency.

FDOT requires public transit providers who receive state funding to develop and adopt a TDP.

Major updates are required every five years with annual updates required during intermediate years.

So a year from now.

Aside from being a requirement, the TDP is an opportunity for HART to work on our vision for transit service over the next 10 years.

It's an opportunity to think big, looking at what are the needs of the community, what projects would best address those needs, and how do we prioritize those projects?

So here's a soup of letters.

A lot of acronyms you may have heard about before.

So how do they come together?

You've been hearing about the COI over the past year.

It involves short-term improvements, no new funding is assumed.

And this COA sets the foundation for the TDP we're working on right now.

But the TDP goes beyond that, laying out a 10-year vision that will guide HART on how and where to grow.

It includes unfunded needs.

So for example, if new funding were to become available, what projects would we spend it on?

And how should we prioritize those projects?

Resulting in a tangible list of transit needs over the next decade.

And last but not least, you have the long-reach transportation plan or LRTP that is put together by the Hillsborough TPO.

The TDP is the first 10 years of the transit component of the LRTP, but the LRTP goes beyond that.

It's a 25-year plan.

These are the required components of a TDP.

First, there needs to be a public involvement process that includes a plan explaining which activities will be conducted to gather public feedback on the needs and solutions.

Coordination with the local MPO is paramount, partially because of how the TDP and the LRTP come together.

As part of the operating context evaluation, we will conduct a review of other local planning documents to understand what they have laid out over the next 10 plus years to make sure we're all in sync.

The land use and quarterly development section looks at elements like density and development to identify where in the county transit is most needed and which areas are more ready for transit service.

And lastly, the main piece of the TDP is a 10-year operating and capital program, which involves identifying and prioritizing projects as well as estimating costs and ridership and developing a financial plan.

We are starting the public involvement process of the TDP today, March 2nd, and it's going to go on for five weeks throughout the month of March.

We have a survey available online at a unique webpage, Hardvision Plan.com, which will ask people to rank their needs in different categories, such as potential frequency increases, new routes, different types of service, and overall improvements to writer experience.

This feedback that we receive will help us create that list of priorities of transit needs that I mentioned.

We will also be hosting 10 different vision workshops across the county to dive deeper into the priorities and have brainstorms about ideas for the future.

And those are the yellow stars on the map.

The venues have been booked already.

Additionally, we'll be at our transit and transmit centers with staff to inform people about the survey and answer any questions.

Throughout the year, we will have other involvement activities taking place.

We will be doing in-depth one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders and community leaders.

We will have a review committee made up of transportation stakeholders that meets routinely.

And we will be regularly getting feedback from Hard employees with their own workshops.

For Hardboard members, we invite you to fill out the survey and inform your constituents and your networks about this opportunity.

And you're also welcome to attend any of the workshops.

Special thanks to the Hillsborough TPO for their support to execute all of this outreach and marketing by providing us with a consultant.

Here's a timeline and next steps.

In January, we selected WSB as our consultant to develop the TDP to build on the work they did with the COA.

Today we're providing the Hard Board with an introduction to the process.

The outreach for effort will take place throughout March, kicking off today.

And then this item will come back to the hard board in June to provide an update on what we heard during public outreach.

And lastly, the TDP will come to the board in November for final approval and submission to FDOT district seven.

With that, I thank you for your time and I'm happy to take any questions.

Very good.

Thank you, sir.

Um, any currently questions or comments.

I have one.

Do we have are we going to get a we're going to get a schedule of the uh the outreach meetings and so forth?

Yeah, we'll have fires and we'll make sure the board members receive the academic as well as connecting to our opportunity for the survey.

Yes.

Okay, good deal.

All right, good.

Any other questions?

Thank you.

Uh, next we have the Chief Chief Executive Officer's report.

Mr.

Drainville, you're recognized.

All right, thank you, Chair.

Good morning again, board members.

Uh so starting off with some financial highlights.

I'd like to start by introducing our new CFO, uh, Ms.

Shirley Shu Hurley has joined our team on February 16th.

She is highly credentialed finance leader with 15 plus years leading fiscal strategy, capital allocation, and financial infrastructure and complex environments, partnering closely with CEOs, boards, and audit committees and translating complex financial information to clear actionable decisions.

Mostly most recently, she served as the vice president in finance and accounting at Trustbridge Global Foundation, where she led audit and compliance across multi-entity structure, managed a $700 million investment portfolio, and strengthened internal controls and reporting reliability.

She also led enterprise planning and performance management in capital intensive environments, including as an associate director controller and asset management division of China National Petroleum Corporation, where her work tied operational performance to financial outcomes and supporting meaningful costs and efficiency gains.

Shirley has a proven track record of modernizing finance systems and workflows to improve visibility, speed, and decision support, including real-time KPI dashboards and scalable reporting.

And she brings a practical cross-department approach to finding efficiencies that make it easy for teams to do their best work.

Shirley holds an MBA in entrepreneurial management consultancy from Durban University Business School in UK, a BS Financial Management, a minor in law from Northeast Petroleum University.

So please join me in giving Shirley a warm welcome.

Okay, moving on to grants.

So Hart submitted an application for the FY 2025-2026 build planning grant for 10.4 million to support the final design of the full buildup of the heavy maintenance facility campus, including the demolition of the administration building and portables, parking, resurfacing, consolidated maintenance facility, bus parking and resurfacing, construction of the new administrative building, staff and visitor parking, garage and surface parking rehabilitation.

The proposed HART maintenance campus modernization phase two design is estimated to cost $13 million and will include final design and project management and oversight.

Next, I previously brought to the attention of the board members uh in one of my weekly updates an issue of vandalism at the HARP public restrooms.

But public restrooms are a rider amenity at the HARP facilities, supporting comfort and a safer customer experience, especially at major transit centers and transfer points.

However, reoccurring vandalism continues to drive temporary closures and adds maintenance costs and reduces the availability.

Over the past two weeks, repeated vandalism resulted in temporary closures.

A wool-mounted toilet in the men's restroom was kicked off the wall and replaced on February 6th, and then vandalized again on February 15th.

The damaged floor was secured and isolated to reopen the remaining restroom area by February 18th.

Additional vandalism, including graffiti incidents, have also occurred in the employee areas.

In response, management issued a memo reinforcing that vandalism and damage to agency property are violations of the employee handbook and will be addressed through the appropriate disciplinary process.

This message is to provide to ensure the board is aware of the patent and the steps being taken to protect the agency's assets and maintain safe, functional and employee facilities.

Marking another important step in modernizing mobility for our community.

The first unit, 25430, is a 2025 Ford Interceptor utility from Ford's Explorer platform.

These vehicles expand Hart's ability to provide safe, reliable, and flexible ADA transportation, while improving response times and passenger comfort.

In addition to modern safety features, the new SUVs offer greater flexibility for navigating neighborhood streets, medical campuses, and residential areas where traditional cutaway vans are left inefficient.

As additional units are delivered, customers will see improved on-time performance, greater service resiliency, and enhanced accessibility options tailored to our riders' needs.

Moving on to safety.

This month, the safety learning and development and street car operations department participated in the annual Federal Railroad Administration or FRA, CR CSX Inter Interlock Testing.

The interlock is two sections of railroad track that cross many regulations and procedures must be adhered to when two train tracks cross each other.

vans are left inefficient as additional units are delivered customers will see improved on time performance greater service resiliency and enhanced accessibility options tailored to our riders' needs moving on to safety this month the safety learning and development and street car operations department participated in the annual federal railroad administration or FRA CR CS interlock testing the interlock is two sections of railroad track that cross many regulations and procedures must be adhered to when two train tracks cross each other this annual testing is required by the FRA with cooperation from Hart Streaker Amtrak CSX and FDA the preliminary test went well we will receive our official testing results in the upcoming weeks and lastly community engagement the annual black history tours have returned throughout February community engagement visited schools around Hillsborough County to display a special rap bus on campus this mobile outreach program brings history to life through a presentation around an inside the bus and introduces transit to the next generation the 2026 theme a century of black history commemorations Tampa Florida recognizes the Tampa communities hold it commitment to honoring acknowledging and preserving the history contributions and the legacy of African Americans this year's theme features Athena Joyner Chloe Coney Fred Hearns George E.

Edgecombe Lee Roy Salman Ruben Page and John Lewis with a seat reserved inside of all hot buses for roads of parks and that concludes my report thank you do you have any questions of staff for Mr Drainville anything Mr Hart you recognized I did have one question thank you for recognition Mr Drainville so when you were talking about the uh vandalism and the uh restrooms are those only employee restrooms no these are the public employee restrooms yes okay so is there obviously there's no cameras or anything to tell who who I can say who's doing it can do we ask him as externally and uh and we are doing an investigation and following up on it perfect great thank you very much appreciate the clarification and other questions or comments I don't see any hands raised okay very good thank you Mr.

Drainville um chair's report I just got a couple of things on to reiterate the welcome to uh Ms Hugh Harley welcome aboard look forward to working with you and another word uh welcome to director director smith look forward to working with you as well and on um uh the board and any committees who can get you involved with um again we re reiterate my congratulations to uh the audit team they did a great job with the ACFA and uh it it's it's tough slog to to to work through over here uh congratulations to team heart for your Casparilla work I hear you guys did quite well and then uh welcome to warm weather and enjoy the time change next week it's gonna mess everybody up um next is the board counsel's report miss McLean you were recognized thank you Mr.

Chair good morning and the good news is I have nothing to report this month very good thank you very much um okay everybody uh ever heart board committees are in section 12 of the packet and the reports from the heart board representatives are in section 13 of the packet and the information reports are provided in section 14 of your packet is there any old business is there any new business appearing to be none this meeting is adjourned thank you very much for your participation have a great day thank you