And received the National Safety Council patch pin and certificate.

So congratulations to all of you.

I'd like to highlight Mr.

Victor Garrett from the top of that list.

Mr.

Garrett has been working with us for 24 years and has had 16 years of safe driving.

So thank you for your service, Mr.

Garrett.

Our August operations employee of the month has quite a story for us.

So we received the following from her nominator.

She was nominated Ashley Jones as a coach operator on our fixed route.

Ashley was nominated for a very specific event where she demonstrated outstanding quick thinking and commitment to safety.

While driving her route one day, she noticed a three-year-old child wandering alone and unsupervised.

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, she acted quickly and without hesitation.

Ashley safely brought the child onto her bus, ensuring his or her safety, and immediately contacted her dispatch team as well as the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to report the incident.

Her proactive measures not only protected the child's well-being, but exemplified the high standards for safety and service that we pride ourselves upon.

Ashley's actions highlight the critical role of vigilance, responsibility, and quick response in public service, reinforcing the importance of every individual's contribution to community safety.

So congratulations to Ashley on this well-deserved honor, and thank you for your service to our community.

I keep saying tonight.

This afternoon.

The first, a very happy retirement to facility maintenance technician Daryl Carter.

After more than four decades of dedicated service, we recognize and celebrate the retirement of Daryl Carter, who officially concluded concludes his remarkable career with Indigo after 40 years, four months and three weeks of service.

Daryl began his career in March 4th, 1985.

He first served as a general laborer and then transferred to the role of facilities mechanic for the remainder of his career.

His work ethic knowledge and commitment to excellence has earned him the respect of his colleagues across the organization.

Over the years, he not only helped facility equipment helped keep facility equipment running smoothly, but also happily supported his teammates and the agency.

Please join us in congratulating Daryl Carter on a long successful career and wishing him health, happiness, and fulfillment in his retirement.

Thank you, Darrell, for your years of service to Indigo.

And our other retiree.

John began his career on February 20th, 1981, when the organization was still known as Metro, and we were operating at the site where the Indianapolis Zoo stands now.

He first served as an HVAC mechanic before transferring to the role of defect mechanic, a position in which he truly made his mark.

Known for his craftsmanship, John developed a reputation for doing the job right the first time.

It was well understood among his peers that if John worked on a bus, it would not be back in the shop for the same issue.

His work ethic and commitment to excellence earned him the admiration and respect of his colleagues across the organization.

Over the years, he not only kept buses running smoothly, but also contributed to the culture of professionalism and pride within the maintenance team.

Please join us in congratulating John Musgrove on an extraordinary career and wishing him health, happiness, and fulfillment in his retirement.

So John, if you would come up front, we have an award for you, and we'd love to get a photo with our directors if you don't mind.

All right, and I have one more goodbye tonight.

Aaron Vogel, our chief operating officer, joined Indigo on September 30th, 2019.

I did not calculate days, minutes, hours, but it's it's been about six years.

Um and he joined us soon after we launched the red line.

He came to us from the Valley Transit Authority, bringing a rich background in transit operations and benefiting Indigo in ways we probably can't even count.

Um of the things in his tenure besides the red line coming in right after the launch of the red line, he helped make sure that was successfully operating.

He launched the Purple Line service for us.

He registered three apprenticeship programs, started the mentor apprenticeship program, got three of them registered with Department of Labor, something that generates college course credits for participants.

He got two labor agreements ratified before expiration.

He started up a training academy for our operators.

Um and he delivered service reliability at over 99.8%.

So he is heading back to California, uh, where he came to us from to be with family.

We're gonna miss him a ton.

Um so on behalf of all of us at Indigo, Aaron, thank you for your leadership over the past years, and especially for me, thank you for supporting me the last couple of years in this role.

We put up some fun photos of you so we can all remember all of the fun times.

So thank you, Erin.

We'll begin with action item A one consideration approval, the minutes of the board's meetings of July 17th and July 31st 2025.

And uh are there any questions or comments from uh board members concerning those two meetings for the minutes.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion for consideration approval of the July 17th and July 31st, 2025 board meeting minutes?

Second.

All those in favor.

All right.

Those opposed.

Motion carries.

Next is item action item A two.

And that's consideration approval of the fiscal year 2026 budget.

And that is resolution number 2025-07 for a special tax levy.

Uh Director of Budget, Justin Ruku will uh make that presentation.

Thanks, Justin.

Justin Burkhoop, director of budget here at Indigo here to present action item A two.

Action item A two recommends that the board of directors adopt the operating capital and debt service budgets for 2026 as well as a resolution for living special tax.

In accordance with statute, the IPTC board is required to pass an annual budget, and the board may also assess a special levy each year in the event it determines that all of the revenue is insufficient to provide transit service.

You'll recall that the operating capital and debt service budgets for 2026 as well as the resolution for living special tax were introduced uh to the board on July 17th.

And then on July 31st, a public hearing was held here at the IPTC offices, and the public was afforded the opportunity to comment on the proposed budget.

After tonight's meeting on September 17th, there will be a public hearing held by the City County Council's municipal corporations committee.

Uh in room 260 of the city county building.

And then the Indigo budget will be forwarded to the City County Council for final approval on October 6th.

That will be also at the City County Building.

If adopted, the FY 2026 budget appropriations will be as follows.

153.9 million dollars for the operating budget, 257.6 million dollars for the capital budget, and 20.8 million dollars for the debt service budget for a total appropriation of 432 million two hundred and forty-six thousand five hundred and fifty-nine dollars for fiscal year 2026.

That concludes my presentation of this action item.

Okay.

Thanks, Justin.

Are there any um questions?

Okay.

Uh motion.

So move.

You want to do a roll call book?

Yes, directors.

Since this adopt includes adoption of resolution, we'll need a roll call vote.

So please indicate your vote when I call your name.

Director slash director quick.

Director Fagan.

Director Wilson.

Aye.

Director Gardner.

Aye.

Director Han.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Next is action item 83.

And this is consideration of adoption of resolution number 2025-08, approving the fair policy update and fair equity analysis.

And uh Chief Deputy Officer Brooke Thomas, manager of special projects and regional mobility integration, Ryan White.

Serious.

And the Chief of Public Affairs Officer Kerry Black will make the presentations.

Thank you.

Chairman.

I'll read the recommendation from staff, and then we have a brief PowerPoint presentation.

It is recommended that the board of directors adopt proposed resolution number 2025 to approve updates to Indigo's fair policies and accept the fair equity analysis conducted in connection with the proposed changes.

Again, my name is Brooke Thomas.

I'm the chief development officer here.

At the June meeting, we came to you with the recommendation that is before you tonight.

It includes a single increase in the base fare from $1.75 to $275 and a few other changes.

Adjusting the price of other fare products accordingly with an effective date of January 1st, 2026.

This is the result of a year-long process of reviewing and analyzing our current fare policy that was put in place in 2019 and more than three months of public outreach, which Carrie will go over.

Do you have the presentation, Tamika?

She wrestles with that.

I'll uh start with uh the first slide.

Um, I think it's important to start with why always, right?

So Indigo has not adjusted its fixed route base fare in over 15 years.

The effects of inflation have eroded the value of the fair revenue that Indigo receives.

And over that same period of time, our operating expenses have increased uh drastically.

The increase in operating expenses are a result of some of the things that we've brought to you before over the last couple of years.

So there's the collective bargaining agreement, improvements to local bus route, and of course, our beloved BRT.

Uh, given the impact of inflation, the purchasing power of today's base fare is 67% of what it was when it was raised in 2009 to achieve parity with the purchasing power of $1.75 in 2009.

Today's fare would need to be $261.

At least that's what it was in August of last year when we started preparing for all of this.

I looked yesterday, it'd be $268.

So it feels like we're out trying to outrun inflation, right?

Um the impact of the dollar increase will vary by person.

Um, this is largely because not every rider pays full fare, and not every rider pays every time they ride.

Um, up on the screen, um, I think we've shown this before at public outreach meetings.

We are federally required to provide um half fare um to certain individuals, and then the green box on the right hand side are the ones we elect um to offer to individuals.

All these policies, the introduction of fare free rides to veterans, area high school students, free two hour transfers, and fare capping, they've all had a direct impact on how much revenue we're actually able to realize.

Because of all the discounts and the other relief that Indigo already provides, the average fare collected on $1.75 is actually 80 cents.

An 80 cents buys even less than it did in 2009.

The previous slide focused on groups of individuals that ride fare free or at a reduced rate.

But even riders who pay to ride full fare don't pay each time they ride.

And this is by design.

This is a matter of policy.

With the adoption of the 2019 fare policy and the introduction of bus rapid transit, Indigo launched the My Key fare collection system.

It allows customers to load or reload their My Key account with however much money they have at the moment, and they can still get to where they need to be.

When someone uses the same My Key account, it's automatic free transfers and the daily and weekly fare capping happen automatically as well.

These benefits, the benefits that exist today, and that we are proposing to continue are a large reason why we felt comfortable moving forward with the decision from 2019 to retire those mag stripe passes.

And I'll come back to that in a moment.

As a reminder, again, it's a proposed effective date of January 1, going from $1.75 to $275 for two hour unlimited.

This is our base fare.

So when we talk about indigo access in a moment, that's the base fare, the uh two hour unlimited.

Um, and then something that we've already done, but we'd like to make it happen permanently is we used to charge $2 at the ticket vending machines to get a ticket or to get a hard card.

Um, we would like to remove that altogether so that when people show up to pay, they're getting um transit value, don't have to spend two dollars first.

And then Indigo Access, increasing our base fare affects Indigo Access Fares.

Again, proposed date effective uh January 1st.

Um ADA the 88 area fare would go from 350 to 550, and then the premium fares would adjust accordingly, and those have been out there quite widely.

Um before I turn it over, I'll just talk a little bit about the elimination of the mag stripe passes.

Um, when I personally was at the transit center talking to some of our customers, I spent equal time talking about my key and then the pass elimination.

Um, and so I wanted to give that due notice.

Um, as I mentioned earlier, the decision to retire those mag stripe passes was made several years ago when the 2019 fare policy was adopted.

It's why the seven-day pass is listed on the right, but not on the left.

Um, Indigo stopped selling the seven-day passes to the general public on August 31st, 2021, but they remain in circulation today.

So perhaps the most important takeaway from this information and how every trip is not a paid trip is that the fare capping, um, which we've talked a lot about, it's viewed in the transit industry as a more equitable approach to fare collection when compared to other types of fare products.

Uh, the elimination of the mag stripe paper passes does not mean the elimination of savings for our customers who ride frequently that get benefits out of that 31-day pass, for example.

So our riders who have come to rely on the 31-day pass can load $60, or if they ride at the half fare rate, $30 onto their meet Mikey account, and as long as their media is registered to a user account, which we help them do, they will have unlimited rides for 31 days or longer before they would have to top off their card.

And it doesn't even have to be all $60 or all $30 at once, right?

Once they are used, 31-day passes will eventually expire.

It doesn't matter if that's used five times or 50 times.

They will have to go spend another 60 or 30 dollars to get one.

But the balance on the my key does not expire.

They can keep that money and use it when they're ready to go again.

With that, I will turn it over to my colleague Ryan Wilh.

Thanks, Brooke.

Uh good afternoon, directors.

My name is Royan Willheid.

I'm the manager of special projects and regional mobility integration.

I'm gonna talk to you today about the federally required fair equity analysis that we uh performed on this fair policy.

Um a transit agency of a certain condition uh that's receiving federal funds makes a fair adjustment, increase or decrease, we're required to perform this fair equity analysis.

And then we're required to compare the fair changes for minority to non-minority and for low income to non-low income.

We're also required to compare these changes to the overall population.

A lot of the methodology and information that we put together for our equity analyses is actually contained in the program update that we also provide to the board as well.

Today, what I'm gonna provide to you is just an overview.

All of the detail of not only the results, but the methodology can be found in the document that supported the uh it's in the fair policy in the packet.

Uh if the change uh between, oh sorry, if the change uh is greater than 20%, if the impact uh to the protected population is greater than 20%, then we have a finding, and so then the staff will work to try and mitigate that finding.

And so for minority populations, we call that disparate impact, and for low-income populations, we call that disproportionate burden.

All right, let's go ahead.

For the fair equity analysis, we wrestled a lot with how to look at the methodology.

We looked at some other transit agencies, we looked at what we've done in the past as well to come up with a methodology.

Like I said, all the details of that are in the packet.

I'm gonna give you that overview.

We looked at this at a per-trip basis.

So there's different fair types and products that are available.

Somebody that's writing on a 31-day pass is gonna experience a different per-trip cost than somebody that's buying a single trip pass.

And so these are things that we try and consider when we're doing this type of analysis.

We categorize usage into three general categories: regular fare, reduced fare, and somebody who sponsored ride.

All of uh most of what we're analyzing is coming from our onboard survey, which uh come which is something that we do every usually at least every five years.

Uh, we've been doing a little bit uh more frequently, and we're we will be moving forward.

Um, and that is something that I typically present to this board as well.

So there's some pieces that come together here with the fair equity analysis when we're talking about this.

We also look at indie go data for fair box information on how often someone is using some of this fair type and product to get that to get that number.

Writers that were using discounted fair types, we try to understand what their future costs would be by assigning them into another category.

And in that case, we tried to go very conservatively to a more expensive cost, so that way we could make sure that we're not trying to discount the potential impact that might happen.

We looked at a couple different types of impact.

The first one I'm presenting to you is the combined impact.

This is the look at the overall minority low income, uh, sorry, minority, non-minority, low income, and non-low income.

So when we look at the combined impact, so all the different types of fare type, all the different types of payment that they might use.

So someone that's on reduced 31 day or someone that's on full 31 day, their current utilization versus their future utilization.

We found no impact broadly.

So this is one of the things that we have latitude in in this conduct and when we conduct an equity analysis is some of these little details.

The feds do tell us that we have to look at certain things.

Um, so normally we wouldn't compare overall to non-minority because a non-minority population would be included in the overall.

So we separate a lot of these things out in our analysis and we include that in the document for for the details.

Go ahead and move forward for me.

We also are required by the feds to look at these individual types and and methods.

That the um table is quite big, so I don't have it on the PowerPoint because it would be illegible to be candid.

But I'm gonna walk through how we tried to build this out for you.

And then I've got an example because I tried to do this with myself uh verbally, and it did not work very well.

So I'm gonna have the verbal uh part of this filtering that we work went through, and then I'm gonna show you an example of how this works out.

Um, so when we're considering uh type and uh payment method, um there's a utilization rate, and our 20% threshold means that passes that are utilized by a very, very small part of the of the population would automatically become uh just by a very small change, minuscule would automatically become uh become like a potential impact.

When in reality, we know it's an it's not an impact, it's a math problem.

So we had to set a threshold for that particular part of the analysis.

So for uh types of methods that have lower than 1% of indigo writers using it, we say they're not going to be considered as part of this DIDB analysis.

That is all also outlined in the methodology as a as well.

Okay, so if it's above the 1%, then what we do is we try and understand does the minority or low low income population disproportionately use that type of fare.

Um and so if they do, then does the cost to writer to that population increase more than the 20% relative to the average cost increase across all passes for the non-minority population, for instance, if we're looking at minority.

All right.

So I've down here at the bottom, I've got the solution, so to speak here, which is when we run the it ran the analysis, we did have a finding.

Um the reduced 31-day pass did see a potential adverse effect for low income riders.

And we'll talk about that in just a second.

Let's go ahead.

All right, so uh I'm paid for my design skills clearly.

Um, and this has been worked on.

So you can see that um this is uh better than it was.

Um let's just say that.

But what I'm trying to walk you through is what it looks like in the spreadsheet and the decision tree that we go through for the two different, we're using two different examples.

So we have a single trip with transfer, these are full fare, and then we have a single ride trick it uh ticket, excuse me.

And so the single ride with cash on bus is used by 31%, and so it's greater than the 1%.

So we keep going down and looking at that.

The single ride ticket is not, so we stop there.

It's not considered a DIDB at that point from our purpose of our analysis.

Is it a disproportionate use for the single trip?

That is true.

Um, and so disproportionate use of the um minority versus the non-minority, and so we continue with that analysis.

And then is there percent change compared to the non-pro uh protected group higher?

Um, and the answer to that is uh no.

And so at that point, we determined that there is no DI or DB for that single trip.

In this case, we're looking at the minority population, so B DI.

So this is what we work through for every single one of these broken out full fare, half fair, single trip, right?

Full fair half for 31-day pass.

Let's go ahead.

The other thing that we had to analyze was open loop payment.

So we haven't talked too much about this, but a lot of other transit agencies and a lot of other uh services you've interacted with have um brought forward uh contactless credit debit and mobile wallets.

And so this is that technology uh termed open loop.

Um, and so in the event that we offer it, we wanted to package it with this equity analysis because we have to do that anyway.

Um, so we took a look at uh once again using our onboard survey data.

We took a look at um writers who do not have access to fair capping and who pay for their own transit use.

This is 73% of writers.

And of that subpopulation, we analyzed who had access for technology for tap to pay, uh, smartphones, debitor credit, or any of the above.

And we found that there was no DI or DB if we were to introduce this policy.

Um, thanks.

Uh and then let's keep going.

And there were some changes that we actually did not analyze because we did not have data available to it, and we didn't feel like we could uh make use of the existing data in such a way to try and overcome those limitations.

The card issuance fee and the card replacement fee changes just for um transparency were not analyzed, but we do address um why that was in there.

We've also tried to address these things in our onboard survey because that's where we get our data.

Let's go ahead.

So, as I mentioned before, the result of all of this analysis was that the reduced fare 31-day pass did see a potential adverse effect.

That's the disproportionate burden.

There's certain things that we're supposed to do at this point.

Go out to the public, talk to people.

Um, and so we did uh we are required to evaluate alternatives.

Um, when we did evaluate alternatives, we found that there were no existing or future alternatives that we weren't already proposing, such as a you know, weekly fare capping product that we already have that we one of the reasons why we're doing this that would allow Indigo to accomplish the goals of this policy uh legitimately.

And so, since there were no other uh alternatives evaluate, we didn't change anything, we didn't go back and change any policies and therefore did not run a new equity analysis.

Um, how we will mitigate is we'll mitigate through a public outreach campaign and by accepting the passes as we were already planning on doing beyond the policy effective date of 2026.

That is the end of the fair equity analysis portion of this, and I will now turn it over to Carrie Black, the chief public affairs officer.

Thank you, Ryan.

Um, and thank you, board, for the opportunity to to speak and to share a little bit about our campaign.

So our um communications and outreach and engagement was very robust from start to finish.

As we promised, we worked very hard to reach every corner of our community and make sure that all of our writers and all of our stakeholders had plenty of opportunity to learn details about the proposal and provided a number of ways for them to express their uh their concern, share their questions, and just provide general feedback.

So we did that a number of ways.

You see here, we created our value of transit web page.

We had a media release that we shared out following the board's presentation in May.

Uh, and then one of the things we did leading up to that board meeting in May was we really took the time to sit down with every single local media outlet one-on-one and walk them through the details of the proposal and give them an opportunity to ask questions and get those questions answered.

Of course, with the embargo in place, that they would not share the news until after the board presentation on May 15th.

Um, and as a result, I'm really pleased with the fair and balanced and most importantly, accurate reporting that we saw on that.

On top of that, we had information that we shared throughout our newsletters, our monthly newsletters to our 10,000 plus stakeholders, social media posts, and event reminders, all designed to drive people back to our website for more information and to provide them updates on the dates where they could engage with members of our leadership team in person.

Uh, so that included audio announcements at the transit center and on the buses and lots of printed material that we distributed throughout the community to make sure, again, that everyone was aware of what was happening and had an opportunity to get those details.

Uh, when we look specifically at the outreach, we had a number on the next slide, thanks.

We led several partner briefings with key stakeholders, um, including those that you see there who serve a number of clients and members of the community that rely on Indigo.

So we wanted to make sure they were equipped to be able to share that information uh with the folks that they serve.

And then again, we talked about those virtual and in-person public meetings, the writer outreach, our transit ambassadors were tremendous in meeting our writers where they are.

So riding the buses and sharing information with riders as they commuted, spending time at the transit center talking with writers alongside members of our executive team that also spent time at the transit center.

Um, and I would like to pause here and just thank our executive leadership team under the leadership of Jennifer Pierce.

Um, Jennifer put in a lot of time, as did others on our team personally to go and talk with people and to answer questions and uh and and just listen.

And so thank you all for that.

Our outreach by the numbers on the next slide just kind of sums it all up.

So 25 more than 25 outreach events.

So that includes the virtual, the in-person meetings and the the CTC outreach.

To date, more than 220 comments received, either online through our feedback form, through email, or even handwritten for those who attended our in-person meetings.

More than 7,000 information cards like those you see there with English on the front and Spanish on the back, distributed on the buses at the transit center, uh neighborhood association meetings, and then a total of uh over 18,000 views on our the value of transit website, which again detailed all of the things, and finally a total of more than 21,000 writers and stakeholders engaged during this outreach effort.

Uh, at the finally, I just want to highlight a little bit of a summary of some of the feedback that we received.

So you can see there uh we had a number of folks that expressed that the increase was too high, specific to our Indigo access writers.

We also had a number of stakeholders express that the My Key Fair Payment System is great, but the validators don't always work.

And then certainly a number of people that asked that we reduce the increase or perhaps phase it in over time.

Um, some that wanted us to keep that indie go access fare at its current level.

Uh some expressed a desire to see us raise the free fare on youth from those five under five to uh from those 12 and younger.

Uh and then finally, there were a number of people that were concerned about us eliminating that 31-day pass.

Um, and as Brooke explained a little bit in her presentation, and as I will reiterate, uh, we started to further emphasize in our outreach and engagement um with people that even though that pass may go away, they could still experience those same benefits uh and savings through the my key fare system and taking advantage of the monthly fare capping.

So that's a general summary of our overall feedback, and I'll wrap it up here with the next slide.

Uh next steps.

So um, as you know, today is the board vote, and then um then the January 1st, 2026.

If the board votes to approve, then that's when the new fares would go into effect.

Uh, and then July 1st of next year is when we would no longer sell those passes, and July 1st of 27 is when we would no longer accept those passes that we have proposed to discontinue.

So that concludes our presentation.

Uh, we are now all available for questions.

Uh, if you should have any on any of the things that we've discussed.

Thank you, Brooke, Ryan, Carrie, uh, very much for this uh presentation.

And uh are there any questions or comments from the board members.

Thank you all for your presentations and for the hard work that you've put in over the past year and a half, at least since I've been a board member.

Um, but as a member of the board of directors, um, I recognize the financial necessity of updating the fare structures to ensure the sustainability of the fixed route and the paratransit services.

However, I also hear I understand and I acknowledge uh the public concern regarding impacts that the fare increases may have on low-income riders and individuals who ride the paratransit services.

The proposed increase uh to the fixed route service and the ADA paratransit service um represents a significant uh cost burden to some residents living on limited or fixed incomes.

Um, I do want to acknowledge uh the public comment that has consistently highlighted the hardships that these changes could potentially create, particular, particularly for those riders that I've mentioned.

While the fair equity analysis concluded that overall changes do not result in desperate impacts under Title VI, the discontinuation of the reduced fare 31-day pass was found to create disproportionate burden for low-income riders as Ryan mentioned.

As a board member, I affirm that equitable access to affordable transit is essential to Indigo's mission.

And I do want to acknowledge that the updates and the modern modernization of the fare policy does include positive rider benefits, including fair capping protections, flexible payment options, and greater rider convene convenience associated with both of those.

It has been shared publicly here in board meetings by staff that fare revenue is below projections, and it was mentioned in public comments as we heard today concern related to how fare enforcement is being handled.

I would like to request that Indy goes to go that Indigo staff develop a detailed fare collection enforcement plan that addresses the fare enforcement consistency, system reliability related to Mikey and other fare collection technologies, mitigation strategies such as outreach education and technical support to assist low-income and paratransit riders and understanding the available options such as fare capping and reduce fare eligibility programs as well as evaluation metrics.

Um I am uh confident that uh you and your teams will will uh will do this and that you'll share that here publicly and in the public as well.

Thank you.

Oh I was just gonna say I had uh a comment, but I also had what might be a proposed amendment to uh so what but I don't think we've proposed anything yet, correct, Bob.

Right.

We're still just paid for board members to you know ask questions or discuss openly.

So go right ahead.

I'll I'll reserve time because I have something that might address some of Stephanie's concerns.

Um but if you've got a comment, I request Brooke.

gonna say I had uh a comment but I also had what might be a proposed amendment to uh so what but I don't think we've proposed anything yet correct Bob right we're still at the stage for board members to you know ask questions or discuss openly so go right ahead I'll I'll reserve time because I have something that might address some of Stephanie's concerns um but if you got a comment I just I just got a request brook um could I get a hard copy of the of the fixed route fair policy beginning on page 55 of our packet with the with the four attachments that would be very helpful for me thank you so what do we who we want to do then so um if you get an amendment yeah if I mean if board members have any more discussion you can continue to discuss if if there are no more no more discussion a motion can be made so we've got to make the you got an proposed amendment or proposed motion to yes we we're gonna we can do the amendment yeah that's okay yeah so I'm up all right thank you Mr.

Chair and fellow board members um I would like to make a comment on and a motion um uh but first I did want to echo Stephanie and uh Stephanie's comments in regards to just thanking uh everyone from the public uh who participated in the many outreach events and meetings that held by staff I also want to to thank the staff for putting up such a robust outreach effort plan to inform the public uh I know for me personally this has been a tough issue as I know it's been as I talked to many of my colleagues uh in part because we understand that this will have a major impact on some of our writers uh in a time uh where it's already challenging um we also recognize uh this has been an issue that we can't continue to kind of pick down the road as a as a body um but after taking into consideration uh the feedback that we've received on the proposed fair policy updates I would like to make a motion that we approve the updated indigo fare policy as proposed with one exception uh I am proposing that the effective date for the rate increase for indigo access service including a the ADA and beyond the ADA rates be uh rates be July um be enacted July 1 2026 rather than January first 2026 as proposed um I would also like to give our president and CEO uh the authority to make some minor substantive changes uh to that updated fair policy documents as needed when putting them into our final form uh following the approval of the board um I believe uh the six months that uh this time frame gives us will allow us to continue to educate uh uh these groups uh on the proposed changes as well as allow indigo staff and our foundation team uh to explore funding opportunities to provide some financial relief so uh I'll make that motion Mr.

Chair um there is um can I engage in a quick qualiquy with you on on this I just want to make sure I'm understanding this I'm not uh not in opposition but when you say um allowing uh uh uh CEO to make minor substantive changes if they're substantive they're probably not minor non-substantification I'm sorry that was still a little fuzzy non-substantive changes and so correct that is correct I just want to get that cleared one thank you I appreciate you for calling that out motion um I'll second the motion as amended and to do call yes uh uh a point of order and then we'll do a roll call vote so with this proposed motion presuming it may pass uh it differs from the draft resolution that was in your packet and is publicly available so um I I'll just have to draft a new resolution after this if if if this passes um just so you and every the public are aware of that yeah just again I want to be clear in my mind yes that the changes to the the changes to the resolution assuming that this amended motion passes it doesn't require another vote then when you amend the resolution correct correct because what what staff did was proposed a certain resolution you all are are voting on a potential different resolution right as to one point anyway and that's the delay of the implementation of the parent transit increase that's why I asked if we needed to have another vote on the resolution because we're changing it but what I'm hearing you say is no no okay all right thanks uh because again you're voting on what's presented to you with one minor change so I just have to make that change in writing um and then I just just a comment the proposed resolution does not say the second part of director Gardner's motion but um so once the once the resolution is if you adopt it today

That's why I asked if we needed to have another vote on the resolution because we're changing it.

But what I'm hearing you say is no.

No.

Okay.

All right, good.

Thanks.

Uh because again, you're voting on what's presented to you with one minor change.

So I just have to make that change in writing.

Um, and then I just just to comment that the proposed resolution does not say the second part of director Gardner's motion, but um so once the once the resolution is uh if you adopt it today as amended.

When we write the new resolution, right?

We will attach the policies to the resolution, and that's just where we thought.

Well, sometimes you find typos, you find you know, things that what was presented to you uh uh it would be non-substantive technical corrections only.

Uh, you may recall we did the same thing when you all when you all adopted our procurement manual, right?

We we'd allow minor technical changes that we may find um as we put the final document together.

Um so uh just to reiterate, I think the present motion, if if I may, Director Gardner, just uh for clarification as moved and seconded is to accept the staff's recommendation for the fair policy updates with the exception of delaying the implementation of the increase for paratransit services to July 1st, 2026.

Is that correct?

That is correct.

Okay, and Bob, just for the record, this is resolution number 2025-08.

Correct.

As amended, yes.

Okay, I'm just pointing that in the record.

Okay, okay.

All right, then on that motion, then directors, please indicate your vote when I call your name.

Director Slash.

Aye.

Aye.

Reagan.

Aye.

Director Wilson, aye.

Director Gardner, aye.

Director Han.

The motion carries.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks, everybody.

And thank you, guys.

Great presentation.

A lot of work into that.

Uh next we have action item A4, and that's consideration and approval of the purchase of one 60 foot diesel articulated bus from New Flyer of America.

And that'll be presented by our chief operation officer, Aaron Vogel.

Good evening, directors.

Aaron Bogle, COO Indigo, onto some simpler items.

Uh staff is recommending that the board of directors authorize the president and CEO uh to place a bus order with New Flyer of America for one 60-foot diesel articulated bus, including all the associated equipment and services required to make it ready for revenue service.

This is for an amount of 1,615,686 and 72 cents.

This includes a 15% contingency to cover cover us for potential tariffs that we're dealing with with bus purchases currently.

This is essentially a single bus purchase, and this is the replace of bus that we lost during the an incident last April in 2024.

Uh, this purchase would be paid for by insurance proceeds that we receive from this incident.

So there's no new expenditure uh on the organization for this at this time.

Um, and this, if the board approves this um this action item tonight, we would take this one bus purchase and and combine it with our 18 bus blue line bus purchase.

So this the specs of this bus would essentially mimic what we have planned for the blue line.

And so instead of having an 18 bus order, now we would have a 19 bus order because we're still working through the procurement on the back end.

Um, and that procurement methodology is using the Washington State Contract Cooperative Agreement, which is uh competitively procured.

And so we would essentially leverage what we've been doing with the blue line purchase, and we're just trying to slide this one on uh the timing of this is absolutely critical.

Our pricing quote right now expires September 9th.

So this is one of my last punch list items here on my way out to make sure we get we still have some administrative things to work through, but it's uh absolutely critical we get this moving forward sooner than later, given the volatility with tariffs right now.

So with that, that concludes my action item recommendation.

Happy to answer any questions.

Any questions, comments from the board?

I'm just gonna ask Aaron, are you sure this is the only bus we need before that time frame?

I cannot confirm nor deny, but for purposes of replacing the damage bus from the incident, this is just the one, yes.

All right.

Well, I suggest that we get moving then so that he has time to do this.

So I'll make a motion.

I'll I'll make a motion that we we approve the purchase of this bus.

Second, yeah.

All right.

Um got a motion and second.

All those in favor uh say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

No.

Okay, let the record show the motion carries.

Again, um, on behalf of uh the board, we just want to thank you for your tremendous service to Indigo.

You will you will be missed, my friend.

And uh good luck and congratulations on your move to uh the Bay Area.

You're welcome.

Okay, and that takes us to information items and uh item number five.

And that's the uh I I one is the finance report, and that'll be presented by Mr.

Burt Brown, our CFO.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman, and uh almost good evening.

Um this is the July 2025 financial summary in the uh interest of time.

I'm going to do an abbreviated version because I know we have two more presentations coming up after this.

Um so under revenue, uh federal assistance revenue came in over budget for the month uh by 373,906.

Other operating revenue came under budget by 159,638.

That's mostly that uh big due to um interest uh that we did not earn last month because we had some big payouts for BYD buses and also Gilly buses.

Passenger service revenue was over budget by 142,843 with for the month, and that is positive news.

Uh however, 211,000 of that was received from our school sponsored rides for the 2025-2026 school year.

PF PMTF grant has been all has been received, total received 11,369,828, and we will not be receiving any more for the year.

Property tax revenue uh was in but came out on budget for July.

Income tax also was on budget, service reimbursement program revenue was over budget by 1,638.

So for all revenue for the month, we were over 358,749.

And for the year, we're over budget 2,937,522.

Other expenditures personnel services, fringe benefits were under budget for the month, 1,039,740.

Overtime expense expenditures were over budget by 212,136, and the salary expenditures for July were under budget 1,084,177.

So for all personnel services category, we're under budget for the month, 1,911,782.

And for the year, we're under budget $5,675,752.

Uh other services and charges, claims were under budget by 281,833 for the month.

In July, uh miscellaneous expenditure category was over budget 57,218.

Purchase transportation category was under budget 17,899.

And that is a trend that has reversed that has been trending uh over, I should say, yeah, over budget quite a bit.

Um, and now that is being offset by the services expense category under budget 32,551.

And again, in the past, that's been really under budget.

So what we've seen here is a flip where we're we're seeing our new uh provider for paratransit has really uh picked up the pace, and we're spending less on things like tacky taxi vouchers, so that is positive.

Month for the month utility expenditures were under budget by 67,845.

Overall, other service and charges categories under budget for the month, 342,910 and for the year under budget 11,706, 447.

And again, a reminder the majority of that uh 11 million was brought over from last year uh for the paratransit contract.

Materials and supplies, fuel and lubricant categories under budget by 105,231.

Um maintenance materials categories over budget by 46,874, other materials and supplies category under budget by 20,381, and tires and tubes category under budget in July by 19,665 for the month.

The total materials and supplies categories under budget by 98,402.

Under budget for the year, 1,885,007.

And then for all expenditures, we came in under budget by $2,353,094 for the year under budget by $19,262,207.

We had no non-budget requests for last month.

Mr.

Chairman, that concludes my report.

Happy to answer any questions the board may have.

Thanks, Bart.

You got any questions or comments from the board members.

Thank you.

Okay, we'll accept your report into the record.

Thank you.

Uh next item is I two, and that's Indigo Foundation update presented by Emily Mew.

I think we're in evening now.

Good evening, directors.

I'm Emily Moe, the executive director of Indigo Foundation.

Today, rather than my normal presentation, I wanted to focus on some work we just completed with Indigo.

This program analysis was a big step forward in the foundation in Indigo, identifying what needs to happen for us to work collaboratively as we serve the community.

So if we can go to the PowerPoint presentation.

So you all should have this uh theory of change in front of you.

Keep going.

Um wanted to be sure you had that because it's a lot of oh, we don't have a PowerPoint presentation.

Okay.

Well, what am I gonna tell you then?

Um, I guess I will just walk you through then the theory of change you have in front of you.

I'm so sorry about that.

Sorry, sorry, Tamika.

I thought I thought I'd send it to you.

Actually, Rachel has it.

But the theory of change in front of you.

Let me give me a minute.

Okay, so we engaged Taylor Advising to guide us through this project as they worked with us last year on our strategic plan.

The program analysis was funded by the grant we received last year from Eli Lilly and Company Foundation.

So the purpose of this program evaluation is to help us do an analysis to guide data collection, strengthen our service delivery, and promote greater transparency with Indigo, our funders, and the community.

And there's actually three documents that are the results of this uh program analysis.

I'll briefly go over those with you today.

There's a lot of information, um, but the level of detail that was generated through this process is what funders um are asking from us.

So we needed this information.

Working together on it ensured that we're telling funders in the community things that Indigo wants us to tell them, and that we're working together on telling the same story.

So the theory of change, um, the piece that you have in front of you.

A theory of change is a roadmap that outlines how and why an initiative is leading to meaningful change.

So the it defines the problem we're addressing, the activities we implement, the short and long-term outcomes we aim to achieve, and then the impact we're all working towards.

And so you can see those sections on the document you have.

Um, it helps ensure alignment between goals, strategies, results, and supports clear communication, evaluation, and decision making.

So the theory of change is a one sheeter that captures all the programs and initiatives that Indigo Foundation plans to and is able to support.

The hope is that this provides an overview of all the programs Indigo Foundation can financially support, as well as provides clarity on the programs that whether the foundation's leading it, the programs Indigo is leading, or the ones we're working together on.

Um, ultimately, we're hoping to achieve the same outcomes, those six outcomes you see there, and impact in the community through all these programs that are on that document.

You'll notice some of the outcomes look very familiar as they tie in with the goals of both the foundation and Indigo's strategic plans.

So the first piece of the theory of change is the problem statement.

The problem statement, I'll simplify it, is that a portion of the community faces barriers to mobility, and we seek to um reduce those barriers by use of public transportation.

The next section is the activities section.

That's an overview of every activity that Indigo Foundation supports.

There's two primary buckets on that: the community engagement activities and operational support for Indigo.

Um under operational support, it says various operational initiatives impacting outcomes.

That's our catch-all for all the one-offs or projects that come up.

The uh Wi-Fi grant we got to support Wi-Fi on BRT buses would fall under that.

All the work we're doing with workforce development in the HR department, that falls under that.

Um, so those are areas that are needs within Indigo that we're helping to support the operations for the organization.

Everyone following so far.

Okay.

All right.

Next section, you're you're fine.

Mistakes are allowed.

Um, the next section is outputs.

So in this output section, you have the um, sorry, the outputs that we expect to see from the activities that are listed in the previous page.

So, examples of these outputs are the community learning how to use public transit, or the thing that we all want, increased funding for transit.

Those are outputs that should come from the activities that we have listed.

And then overall, all the activities should be leading towards these six outcomes and have an overall impact on the community that's aligned with the foundation's mission.

So the outcomes being increased stability of transit riders, greater trust in and affinity for public transit, the community feels safe and cared for on Indigo buses, increased community funding for public transit, increased Indigo ridership, and then increased safety for coach operators.

So while the theory of change provides an overview of all the programs and initiatives, we work to create detailed program plans through logic models for each program.

So I'm moving away from that one pager.

And you'll just oh, there we go.

Okay.

Just in time, right?

We're on the logic model slide now.

I don't have these numbered, so I can't tell you where it is.

Just keep on going and I'll tell you when to stop.

It's beautiful transitions that our consultant put in for you all.

We're getting close now.

Okay.

So we're on to the logic models.

There we go.

So the overall purpose of a logic model is to visually outline the planned work and intended results of a program.

It helps to clarify how a program is expected to work, enabling better planning, implementation, evaluation, and communication.

Logic models are something that funders love.

Even if they don't require us to attach a logic model document, the questions in a grant application pretty much follow these buckets of information.

And so they mirror these sections of a logic model.

Again, information that we need to know so that we can get money.

Next slide.

Each program or initiative in the theory of change has a corresponding logic model that outlines who at Indigo or the foundation are involved in carrying out that program, the activities of that program, how we're going to measure the success of it, and the overall intended impact on the community.

The logic models provide clarity to which organization, Indigo or Foundation is taking the lead, who's responsible for tracking the outputs, and how the activities lead to the outcomes that are supported by the foundation.

I'm happy to provide you all with all the logic models and information if you'd like.

If you need some nighttime reading to help put you to sleep, but no, I'm joking.

Happy to provide that if you want it.

Next slide.

So after developing our logic models for each program, we pulled all the outputs and outcomes being measured in the logic models into a cohesive data sharing framework.

So one more time.

So it assigns the responsibility for data collection and recommends a schedule for sharing information between Indigo Foundation and Indigo.

By tracking these data points, the foundation will be better equipped to demonstrate the program outcomes, report back to funders, and strengthen our case for securing grants and additional fundraising, ultimately illustrating how donor contributions are making a meaningful difference in the community.

Last slide.

One is to better coordinate tracking community relationships.

Indigo Foundation already has a CRM.

That's our Razor's Edge database that we use for our donors and nonprofit partners.

And so we're working to give Select Indigo access access to our Razor's Edge database.

It's already paid for.

So we can have share information.

An example for how this could work is if before Carrie or I meet with a community partner or even a business, we can check the CRM to see if the other party already has a relationship with them.

Maybe they're a nonprofit grantee, maybe they're one of our sponsors.

And then we'll know it's just a way to share information between us and then have a documentation of these relationships so that if either of us leave these positions, the information isn't leaving with us.

It's staying with Indigo and Indigo Foundation.

Now I'm ready.

Keep going.

Okay.

And then the final recommendation is to better utilize the customer surveys that Indigo already conducts just to help us measure the outcomes identified in the theory of change.

Um, for example, some of those the some of the outcomes that we have are the sense of safety and care or um the enhanced rider experience.

And so making sure that when we're gathered when we foundation and indigo is gathering information that we're getting the information we need to be able to evaluate those outcomes.

And that is the summary of the work that we've spent the last three months on while we've been doing a few other things.

Happy to take any questions.

Any questions from the board?

I would just say, Emily, yeah, thanks for your work, but just go ahead and regale me with all of the logic models.

I need something to read at night.

Sure.

Do you want the data collection thing too?

Yeah, I'll give it all to you.

Sure, thank you.

Okay, we'll just send it to all of you.

Great.

She can send it to all of us.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next is uh item I three, and it's the fiscal sustainability study update.

And that will be presented by Grick Thomas.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh Brick Thomas, Chief Development Officer, back at it.

Um, um, I'm gonna talk a lot about this as like a as if it's a standalone study.

Um, in many ways it is, but just want to note that myself, my colleagues, we're kind of constantly in a state of adaptation and uh responsible financial management management.

We think about this stuff um every day.

Um, but this has a little bit of a little bit of oomph.

Um, we're talking about this as a study because we believe this is a pivotal moment for indigo and for public transit throughout the United States.

Um, we're conducting the study to mitigate any negative impacts that might arise as a result of a budget deficit.

First, this study is grounded in Indigo's uh newly updated strategic plan.

It is most evident in the third pillar or the third priority, but to be truly successful, that fiscal sustainability really needs to cut across all three pillars.

Um for the past several go ahead for the past several years, we've balanced this need to implement the Marion County Transit Plan while at the same time kind of adjusting for some of the external forces that have hindered us along the way.

We remain as committed as ever, um, committed to connecting over 200,000 potential riders along our high ridership corridors to transit centers and other indigo routes, key employment centers, densely populated neighborhoods and community institutions through the course of this study.

We anticipate that we'll be able to reframe these industry-wide challenges on the right into um opportunities that we can act on.

Go ahead.

Indigo's path to fiscal sustainability faces several obstacles.

We recognize that we're limited, we have limited options to expand our existing funding sources, and that the most likely avenues for operational revenue growth will come from our existing revenue streams, specifically our local income tax and our own source revenues, such as fare rate increases, um, more advertising dollars and new partnerships.

Uh, this is the case for many transit agencies across the country.

We see greater opportunity to address how we allocate the resources we do have, right?

We have a lot of resources.

Uh, since 2021, we've shown how we are underspending on such things as personnel, but as I think we've shared before, um, we know that will no longer be the case once we're able to staff up and deliver the full Marion County transit plan.

Uh that just means that uh we'll be looking at our staffing needs and adjusting as needed.

Major capital investments like the Red Line BRT station components have aged and will begin to reach the end of their useful life.

So we see this as an opportunity to revisit our capital investment program.

Uh unlike other um often larger transit agencies, we didn't have to immediately spend down uh our stimulus dollars to keep service on the street.

Um, we've seen good growth in the Marion County income tax base.

Um, and we've been successful at led leveraging federal funding to give us the flexibility to make any kind of adjustments that we may need to make.

Uh, this opportunity um is um yep.

This opportunity is next one.

If you remember nothing else from this presentation, please remember that we don't view any of this as fatalistic or determinant.

On the revenue side, and we've already started doing some of this.

We've brought some of this to you here.

Earn more revenue, right?

Uh largely dependent on fair revenue, either attracting more riders, existing riders taking more trips, increasing our advertising and sponsorship revenue.

I'm really excited.

She doesn't know I'm going to say this, but really excited at some of the work that Carrie and her team has been able to do with the advertising recently.

We will look to see if there's uh room to increase subsidies that we receive locally.

And then on the expenditure side, again, we're already doing some of this.

We want to reduce costs by changing operating practices and policies, um, how we do how we contract work, um, and then if needed, realign um the amount of service provided to lower operating costs.

For this study, we want to better understand um how Indigo functions and where opportunities might exist to reduce costs.

This is all is being informed by agency-wide stakeholder interviews, internal working group meetings, peer research, benchmarking against our peers, and then of course, industry best practices.

We want to identify which options Indigo could pursue to raise revenues beyond the fair box.

We want to be focused on core areas that and the things that we can control.

Uh, we want to create financial modeling tools that we can test different assumptions and we can plan for different futures.

Um, so really key.

And then, of course, an action plan that's measurable that we can report on and come here and get your all's feedback along the way.

Uh, to offer some insights into kind of what we're thinking, what this might produce.

Uh, the operations and maintenance department is by far the largest department with IndieGo, as it should be.

Um, it houses the bus operators, the maintenance technicians team.

Um, they make up the majority of our employees.

Fleet and facilities are the two most important capital assets that determine our ability to be able to provide reliable service.

Um, there are different approaches to all of this planning and all of this decision making.

Um, for example, many transit agencies opt to maintain vehicles for 15, 16, 17 years to preserve those capital funds on the flip side of that, however, um, it that can often require additional maintenance resources because older vehicles tend to require higher levers levels of maintenance.

Um, we'll be picking from any number of approaches for any number of decisions that we need to make going forward.

Um almost done.

I stand between all of us and dinner, right?

Okay.

Uh we'll be reviewing our uh performance against a series of peer agencies.

There are peers that are doing things really well.

We want to know what they're doing.

Um we want to know um what we could approve upon, some of the metrics that we're looking at, everything from ridership recovery to our productivity of our service, our fare box recovery rate, um, revenue, and then of course um all of the expenditures that are uh occur throughout the year.

There are several outcomes that we'd like to achieve with this study, but the ultimate goal is that Indigo would emerge stronger and we would be able to fulfill this promise to the voters and prevent future financial crises.

With that, I will answer any questions you may have.

Any questions, comments?

I don't have a question, but I just want to again publicly uh thank Brooke and the whole team and Nelson MyGard folks, uh policy folks.

Um this has been a uh the new kind of the new new buzzwords all of government approach.

This is this has been an all of indie go approach, and uh I'm just very grateful, Brooke, to you and and uh your team and uh continue continued success as you move forward with this and and uh find us a path to fiscal sustainability.

Thank you.

You bet.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Brooke.

With that, uh that is the end of our agenda.

And I will uh go ahead and adjourn our meeting.

Thank you.