Good morning, everybody.

Welcome to the special committee on Duvall Dogs.

It's April 7th.

It's 11 a.m.

Let's begin with introductions to my far left.

Stephen Libby, Council Research.

Mary Stefopoulis, Office of General Counsel.

Brian Parks, Council Auditor's Office.

Kim Taylor, Council Auditor.

Hey, good morning.

Roy Diamond, District 13, the beaches.

Good morning, Chris Miller at large group five.

Ron Salem, group two at large.

Raw Aries, District 11.

Mike Gay, District 2.

Thank you.

Let me just make a couple of announcements.

It is my goal to wrap up Duvall Doge by the end of June.

And I'd like to give the next president maximum flexibility to do what he or she wants to do in terms of oversight, whether it's a Doge type process or something different.

So there are three things that we that we need to kind of wrap up.

One is the health care uh initiative, and I've got a a call on Monday to try to pull that together by the end of June.

The telehealth, and we'll get an update from Councilmember Diamond in just a minute.

And the two percent lapse, which could go beyond June 30th, uh, and I would uh advise they come to finance if any departments want to to uh to pull any dollars back.

It would be appropriate in my mind to go through the finance committee versus coming back to us.

So that would allow us to kind of pull everything together and allow the next president to do what he would like to do.

Any questions on that?

Okay.

So let me go to public comment.

Uh Mr.

Nooney, you have two minutes.

Hello.

I am John Philanthropic, Jelly Roll, good boy, resiliency Nooney.

Ojo Trace 5, Spaskam Road, Jacksville, Florida, 32216.

I'm in City Council District 4, CPAC 3, School Board District 3.

All right, uh Doge.

Dogar Waterways.

You know, at an ethics commission meeting, I asked.

We have six CPACs representing the entire city, the MDC, the Mayor's Disability Council.

They're meeting later today.

Two of the meetings were canceled.

The Council on Elder Affairs, the Senior Citizen Gang.

Why is OGC, the Office of General Counsel, not represented at these meetings.

Now I'm just down to a minute.

You know, uh agenda item five, JTAA update.

JT is on the agenda.

Now there should be a show of hands of how many people in council chambers took public transportation to this meeting.

Now I rode the Skyway this morning.

It was about 8 30, and only one train was running.

The elevators out over at James Weldon Park.

You know, not one security guard.

Anywhere.

You know, the the downtown ambassadors didn't even see one.

Now the thing is, you know, I'm just down to 30 some seconds.

But you know, that should be, and also for the Duval County Public Schools.

Everyone should be riding and taking public transportation, regardless.

And you know, uh, you'll you'll have them up here.

And and even the media, especially the media.

You know, get out there and you know, just ride the thing, or do just do it, because then you'll see.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Nene.

Okay, moving on in the agenda.

Uh Councilmember Diamond.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, just an update on telehealth.

I know we've got a lot to do today.

So I've been pushing our attorneys to give us a draft report.

Um, I asked for it seven weeks ago, I asked for it a month ago.

I'm going to call Jason Gabriel today and be like, look, we need a draft report.

Um, we can't do anything unless we have a draft report.

Um I think we've done everything we can on the telehealth contracts.

I think it's going to be very informative for the budget season this coming year.

And that report is going to, I hope, guide the finance committee when looking at the budget.

I hope the mayor doesn't ask for another 1.5 million dollars for telehealth.

Uh but if she does, uh that report should end the discussion, is is my best guess.

So any event, um, as soon as we have a draft, I'm going to take a look at it.

I know other members can have a chance to look at it, and then we can get it finalized uh in a public meeting and issue it and wrap that one as the uh chair wants to get this stuff done.

Thank you, Councilmember Diamond.

Okay.

We're now moving to JTA.

Um, I've asked for uh like a 15 to 20 minute presentation on the various issues that have been provided to me uh by Mr.

Ford, and then we'll go through questions.

This is the only topic for today, so we've I think we've got ample time to to to thoroughly review this.

So uh with that, Mr.

Ford.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Welcome and thank you for coming and putting yourself in this position.

I know I appreciate it.

Well, thank you so much, uh, Chairman Salem and members of this uh Doge committee.

It is an honor and I'm humbled to be here before you at your request uh to give you an update on the JTA's actions related to the FY 2026 budget amendment, our power transit services, and the ultimate urban circulator program.

The uh JTA's budgeting process begins over a year prior to when the actual budget goes into place.

In fact, uh we have to prepare our budget rather early based on uh projections uh and then submitted in a timely fashion to this body.

This schedule allows for us forecasting and projections and with JTA's uh legal leadership approval and then the JTA Board of Directors approval.

We ultimately get this uh budget in front of you by June 1st of uh the year.

Uh this is uh a very advanced timeline to try and comply with, but uh changes in our economy sometimes actually affects what the actual outcome is over that time frame.

So to this point, in the first quarter of uh this fiscal year, we recognize that the JTA that the projections we made in 2025 to forecast the FY26 budget were not materializing in the fashion that we expected.

The primary driver is declining sales tax revenue, something that the city is also experiencing broadly, and for the JTA, this represents more than half of our operating budget, almost 60 percent in our original budget and now 58 percent in our amended budget.

So we're highly reliant on sales tax revenues.

Recognizing this reality, the JTA, the staff took swift action to get us back on track.

And in February, we made a recommendation to our board, and they approved a 14.2 million dollar adjustment to revenues and expenditures, and we did so without impacting our customers.

So what was most important to us as the uh JTA staff and the board of directors was to have no degradation on the level of services we provide across the spectrum.

Everything from First Coast Flyer, our ready ride service, first coast flyer, uh bus rapid transit, St.

John's River Ferry, as well as connection and connection plus, uh, all of those services remain intact and operating at the same levels prior to this action.

So as we evaluate the trends toward the end of the first quarter, we realized sales tax revenues were trending lower by 10.8 million, fair revenue was down about a million, and interest earnings were down about 2.3 million dollars from when this budget was constructed in February of 2025.

To that end, the board approved the reductions on the expense side, primarily to salaries and benefits and other expenses, which will I will cover today.

As stated earlier, and to order to avoid impacts to our operations on both our fixed route and power transit services, we focused the cuts on our administrative costs and uh strategic containment in those areas.

We froze hiring and new administrative staff and eliminated 34 administrative positions.

Senior leaders who we categorize are individuals who make $90,000 and above, including myself, will share in this sacrifice through furloughs, which will total uh $6.7 million in cost savings, and the furloughs will be strategically taken during the designated weeks by the JTA executive leadership team.

Each uh uh employee will have a designated representative so that our work, the work of the JTA won't suffer at all.

We have delegated authorities and uh ability to continue the work of our administrative staff, and we will minimize any impact to our business at the JTA.

Related to the contracts, the JTA is suspending some of our contracted services for the remainder of the year, primarily in staff augmentations, training, and IT that represents about a through $3.2 million savings.

And then we were fortunate to negotiate a reduction in the connection contract, connection and connection plus, which represents uh year over year cost escalators.

So built into those multi-year contracts are automatic escalators in each year for those contractors.

We've been able to reduce and eliminate in one case the actual escalators as it relates to our connection service, which is our base ADA service, as well as the connection plus the premium private ride service connection plus.

Navi and Skyway costs will be reduced by 2.6 million.

Uh we're bringing some of the IT data lake as well as utility elements of the Navi contract in-house at the JTA.

Our staff will have to do more.

Uh and we are making adjustments as it relates to inventory and parts related to the Skyway.

For our capital program portion of our portfolio, we are delaying some of the projects that are not LOGT funded.

These are not LGT projects that we will be slowing down.

We are slowing down projects that will require some upfront expenditures by the JTA, or maybe a match related to a grant that we're receiving from the Federal Government.

We will reevaluate all of these decisions on our capital budget as we go into FY27.

I'll close with this portion of the topics presented here today by saying that the mid-year budget amendment the board took in February will be presented to the City Council later this month, and we'll uh go through your normal committee process in terms of budget amendments for additional review.

And so uh with that, uh is there any questions in terms of our budget amendment?

And then I do have some uh continuing items to cover with you.

Why don't we pause there?

Yes, and see if there are I have some myself, but let me see if there are others.

Well, I'll start with mine.

The reduction in sales tax that you're seeing to the auditors, how does that impact our budget, the city budget uh for this particular year and potentially for the 26-27 budget?

To the chair.

Um so there have sent, first of all, it's a slightly different half cent sales tax, still kind of same impacts.

Um the half cent transportation tax, keep in mind, is a locally imposed.

So that one, you have a um anything over $5,000, you don't have that half cent charged on.

The half cent that's in our general fund budget, there's not a limit.

So in that portion that comes from the state, you don't have that 5,000 cap.

So that creates some different numbers.

But overall, we're still seeing uh we have in the first quarterly summary that we got, and we're gonna be getting the next one April 30th.

Um, but we the um administration had projected about an $8.5 million deficit just on um sales tax within our general fund.

So that debt savings that we talked about in the first quarter is helping to cover some of these revenue shortfalls.

Property taxes also is projected to um come in over, we know from the November uh based on final assessed values.

So all of those things are helping to stabilize that, but we are definitely seeing um that shortfall as well within the general fund projected.

So that six plus million dollars we've talked about in debt savings could be used to cover this reduction in sales tax.

Is that what I hear you saying?

Through the chair, I believe it was about a total of 14 million initially, and then we used some of that for completion grants.

Right, and there is about six million dollars left.

Yes, sir.

So we we do my recommendation is to be careful because as we're watching these revenues, if they do get worse for some reason, that is using to help balance that fund as a whole.

I got you.

Uh two other questions.

Uh to Mr.

Ford, you mentioned escalators for the uh for the bus transportation.

So is that increases in their payment?

You're your your holding flat.

Is that what I understood you to say?

So it won't affect uh uh trips or anything, but it's just their payment will be reduced.

Uh Mr.

Chairman, you're 100 percent correct.

So we contract out the connection and connection plus services, their multi-year, five-year on average type of contracts, and each year is a built-in escalator based on salaries and uh inflation, things of that nature, and we have been able to hold steady with that with our partners as part of this cost containment.

Okay, my last question is you mentioned not NAVI reductions.

Um I assume those reductions are are not in the actual buses going around and such, it's sort of behind the scenes reductions.

Is that correct?

At this juncture, yes, sir, but we are looking at actually changing the Navi frequency, so that is something that we're working with the Federal Transit Administration because our grant was for a seven-minute frequency, regardless of actual ridership.

So we have gone back to them to see if we can adjust that uh headway based on ridership and thereby save additional dollars in terms of the operating and maintenance costs.

When do you expect to hear from the feds?

Uh I it's hard to tell, sir.

We sent them a request probably two to three months ago as it relates to this strategy.

And so uh it should be within the next month or so.

I I think that would be reasonable to expect their response.

Okay.

Councilmember Diamond.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair, and through the chair to Mr.

Ford.

Thanks for thanks for being here.

I know it's not fun being at that podium.

Uh you got me on the best possible day.

I'm exhausted watching Michigan win last night.

I'm the happiest guy in the universe.

So I'll I'll be brief.

Uh so how much in the revised budget is still budgeted for NAVI.

Uh this entire year uh in terms of the actual contracted costs on Navi was scheduled for 10 million dollars, but we've pulled out uh I think it's actually merged with what we're doing in terms of the skyway.

But I believe it was a overall three point two million dollar reduction, uh, but a hundred percent of that is not tied to NAVI.

So I could get back to you with the specifics on what is the specific reductions in cost on Navi?

Uh tracking.

Uh I I guess maybe a better question just and then I'll and then I'll move on to just one other item is did you guys entertain in your executive leadership team with with these shortfalls just to stop doing NAVI?

Was that on the table for discussion?

We uh we looked at how we could reduce the operations and maintenance impact of Navi, but actually totally eliminating service was not part of those discussions.

Tracking and then uh the only thing I'll say is like it's it's unpleasant having to do what you guys are uh doing right now.

I'm I'm and having to take reductions and lay people all all that stuff is is is not fun.

And so I commend everybody for you know taking on the tin and and dealing with the task.

I'm curious though, is there a structural problem that this is gonna happen year after year after year?

Do you expect the budget to kind of bounce back in the out years, or is this the new normal for JTA and the budget size?

I think uh for any organization that is so dependent on sales tax, gas tax, and various different taxes, I think we all need to watch very closely what's happening in terms of the overall economy of the United States.

We're not immune to some of these realities that I think all of us are seeing in terms of affordability, inflation and costs.

Uh what we will do as the JTA, and this is probably the first time I've been your CEO in uh, I guess December will make 14 years.

Wow.

Uh this is the first uh time we've found ourselves in these types of struggles.

Uh it's pretty normal that we're running a surplus, and then that helps us with our capital budget.

Uh but uh this was one that uh uh I wouldn't say surprised us, but it really caught our attention in the very beginning of the first quarter.

Uh the sales tax revenues we were expecting were not coming close.

Yeah, and through the chair.

And yeah, that's what I'm used to.

It's like, you know, JTA is doing great, there's extra money, we get to pave some more roads or do something else.

So uh it just so for somebody watching when they when they see on TV that JTA has got a shortfall, what percentage of that is just sales tax related?

Uh I I'd say 60 percent of the challenge here, 60 to 70 percent of our actual operating budget is from the sales tax revenues.

Now, one thing I would point out though, uh we have the revenue side of our operation too.

We have not raised fares in seven years.

And so we also have that downward pressure in terms of our actual revenues.

And more recently, as you're aware, we've done the unique pilot to reduce fares even further.

I'm happy to say that ridership is you know is bouncing back to post the pre-pandemic levels for us, but uh people are paying less.

Uh but uh we do have to examine this board will have to examine a fair modification going into FY27.

Will that be a hundred percent of the solution?

Uh no, but it'll be a strong part of the solution.

Okay, I'm I'm tracking what I'm trying to understand though is so I get 60, 70 percent of your budget comes from sales tax, but the shortfall, uh what percentage of that is sales tax related, like if sales tax collection is just lower.

Yeah, I think I'm just trying to figure out what I'm gonna do.

I think out of the 14 million, this shortfall is over the year is about 10 million dollars.

So uh it's it's tracking pretty close to the 60, 70 percent of our actual 14 million dollar shortfall is tied to sales tax revenues.

And uh and unlike a business where you could raise prices or whatever else, the revenue side is not gonna close this gap.

Is that is that is that your view of it for the out years?

Our original plan this year was to for the JTA board to consider a fair increase in this year based on the affordability issues and other economic outside the JTA economic issues.

We as a staff and a board made a decision not to raise fares this year and uh to actually reduce fares and fill up the capacity on our existing bus fleet.

That's why there's no reduction in terms of actual service levels we're providing.

We're trying to encourage people to give us a chance, ride the system, and hopefully they'll stick.

And uh we will have to consider some type of fare modification going into next year.

Gotcha.

And then is it then just to finish this out, if you raise fares as ridership is going to go down, what is that due?

I mean, what's the sweet spot?

Yeah, exactly.

And there is a uh there is a committee that has been formed, a special committee within the JTA board, uh headed up by director Max Glober, who this six-month pilot started in February, it'll end in August, uh, where we reduced fares.

We'll provide him the information and data to determine that elasticity.

Uh have we maxed out the number of transit riders in our community, or is the pricing a little too high or too low?

We're doing that right now dynamically with uh Director Glober.

Fracking.

All right, thank you.

If I can follow up on one thing, Councilmember Diamond, the impact of gas prices, how is that impact on your budget?

Uh we haven't seen that impact yet, but we're watching very closely uh in terms of the local option gas tax that's on every gallon of gas that's sold.

What we're seeing in terms of the increase in ridership year over year, so March of 26 was 14 percent higher than March of 2025 in terms of ridership.

So uh I imagine some of it may be people are leaving their cars at home and using transit and or the reduced fares that we're charging at this time.

But we're watching that also very closely because it would not be uh unexpected for a reduction in actual gas utilization in our community.

Thank you.

Councilmember Arius, you're recognized.

Right.

Thank you, Chair.

Um good morning, sir.

Uh morning.

A couple of questions, and I've been hearing the dialogue here.

Um I'm a little bit concerned as to um why we were not as a city or as a JTA prepared for a shortfall in tax revenues.

You've been here for I don't know how many years you mentioned earlier, but I would assume your team would be equipped to say, okay, well, in the worst case scenario, should we have a shortfall, we need to be prepared.

What was this is the first time you've experienced this, but has there been a plan and action uh implemented before for this?

No, I think uh the JTA, we're fortunate because we do have reserves in the event something like this does occur.

This is the first time we've ever had to use reserves to actually fill a gap.

Uh that was for FY 25.

In 26, we're deciding uh our decision has been not to touch our reserves, not to touch our service levels, and actually tighten our belt in terms of administrative overhead and contractual costs.

I would add in one more thing.

You know, again, there were as a policy, the JTA board every two years by policy was to make a uh increase in our actual fares.

Uh and that was to happen every two years based on wages as well as uh inflation.

We decided to forego those three increases.

So those three increases in and of themselves uh comes very close to the deficit we're seeing right now in this year.

Through the chair, so would you say that and uh based off of what you said, you you haven't increased fares in six years, is that what you're saying?

Uh we're at seven years heading towards eight years with no fair increase.

Got it.

Okay.

Um I I'm kind of torn because one side of me says I don't want you to increase fares, but the other side is we got to keep up with it, otherwise we're gonna have to tax people at some point, and it's gonna be a significant fare increase.

So I'm not sure where we're gonna be at, where we're gonna land, but I will tell you this that before you even consider increasing any kind of fares, I think you need to do this same project again next year to make sure we keep on reducing without tapping into the reserves before we actually increase fares.

I think you know the six point six that you're saving right now and reductions, I think it's great.

Um, my only worry is that that some of these contracted services will will decrease and some of the the contracts will actually diminish because um if I was one of your contractors and you told me, hey, this year we're not gonna um bump up your wage based off of what we agreed on, I'll say, okay, I could I could slide with one year of this, but I also have to have my my people paid as well, too.

So um when you told these contractors you're not gonna extend the escalator, is it for one year or is it gonna be for for how many years did you tell them?

It's uh it's for one year.

Uh did you add it to the back end of their contract?

No.

So okay, and how long are these contracts typically?

I guess that's the thing.

On average, five years.

I'd have to check in terms of where we are on each one of these different contracts, but typically it's a five-year operate and maintain contract with those services.

Okay, cool.

All right.

Um, and um I guess the only other part would be um on my part.

Looking at my notes.

Yeah, um when you decide to do a fair increase, if you decide to do one, would you come back to our body for that, or is that something you guys do internally?

Yes, so it's within the JTA's purview with the board of directors.

We have to do a public meeting process uh as part of that evaluation.

We have to do a Title VI evaluation in terms of a fair modification, and it's brought to this body, however you may like.

If you choose from a finance committee or uh TEU committee, uh we can present it to you, but that actual decision rests with the JTA board and would be included with our budget we present to you.

Okay, so just so I can make sure I'm understanding we don't vote on that, it's all you guys.

You guys just present it to us and let us know, and then from there on the community will come to us if they don't want it, and we'll obviously ask you guys not to do it.

But otherwise, you guys are in full control of that.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

All right.

Um, when do you expect to have that meeting about the fare uh modification increases?

The actual fare committee that is studying this right now is running until August of this year, so it's been two months so far.

Uh there's another uh you know, four months of actual work that they need to do, and then it will be presented to the board.

Now the challenge we're facing is we did a six-month pilot, right?

So we did it from February to August.

Our budget has to come before you in the June time frame.

We may have enough information at that time in terms of we need to do a fare increase, the actual numbers and specification in terms of single ride, you know, weekly passes, monthly passes, things of that nature, uh, that would have to be fine-tuned by the August time frame.

Our hope is we can bring it back to you uh before you actually finally uh uh accept our budget.

Okay, thank you.

But we do have to present you a budget by June.

So that's a challenge.

I see no other questions on this particular subject.

So uh Mr.

Ford, if you'll continue.

Okay, sounds good.

So um next up is uh connection and connection plus.

And so uh just to make sure we're very clear in terms of these different services.

Connection is our federally mandated paratransit service, which provides door-to-door shared public transportation for people with disabilities who are functionally unable to use fixed route services for some or all of their transportation needs, and for people who are transportation disadvantaged.

So customers must be certified as eligible under either the guidelines of the ADA program or the TD program.

We are federally required to provide that service.

At no point was the discussion around connection and connection plus a discussion that was going to totally eliminate or suggesting that we were going to be eliminating these services for our uh disabled community.

Connection plus was launched in 2019.

It's a premium on-demand private, and what I mean by private, non-shared ride.

It is not public transportation.

These are customers who want to travel by themselves.

That's why it's considered a premium same-day door-to-door service.

Another caveat as it relates between uh difference between connection and connection plus with connection, you have to make a 24-hour reservation with connection plus.

You all you need about an hour uh, and it's operated more like an Uber Lyft type ride where you are not uh sharing that vehicle with any other customers.

Again, you do have to have the basic eligibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act or the TD program.

So I wanted to clarify that at no point where there's the JTA eliminating service for our connection customers or disabled customers.

And following up on the uh connection and connection plus conversations that were occurring in this chamber as well as our board meetings and throughout the community.

I wanted to provide you an update on where we stand today.

As you know, we identified an $8 million growing cost pressure and providing the connection plus service.

This is the premium service above our legally required service.

Uh so that service is actually costing us eight million dollars a year and growing.

We started back in 2019.

We thought it was uh uh additional service to provide the disabled community so that they had the same level of mobility and didn't need to do the reservation that uh we required on our connection service, but it continues to grow in cost.

Our proposal at the earlier in this year was to eliminate the connection plus service, but in coordination with that elimination, the connection service, our base service, the set the fare was going to drop by one-third from three dollars to two dollars.

And again, the on the connection service, they can travel throughout Duval County, however, it is public transportation in a shared ride.

We started hearing from our connection plus customers, the strong desire to maintain that service, and uh we knew that to maintain it, we had to make some adjustments to the service as it relates to our budget.

We also need to take into account that uh in providing this additional premium service, those costs were rising exponentially year after year.

I took it upon um my office's responsibility to pull together a group of leaders from this community, leaders and stakeholders within the power transit and senior citizen community, working with them directly uh through the month of February with a total of four meetings.

Uh and out of that, we came up with a consensus strategy to go forward.

We implemented a new fare structure that improves the cost recovery while preserving access for those who are depending on this service.

The new fare that went into effect on April 2nd is $10 for 12 miles and $2.50 per uh mile thereafter with no monthly trip caps.

So no cap on the number of trips anyone who qualifies for this service uh is able to uh take uh during the um during the uh month.

This adjusted increase in distance to 12 miles covers 75% of the distance our customers are using.

So 75% of our customers are actually traveling less than 12 miles, and uh we're very excited about that because one of the challenges was the length of trips that people were taking.

Uh the JTA will continue to subsidize the cost of this trip by 65%, but I think uh we uh reached a very positive compromise with this group, and it was uh you know, I think uh commitment over those four weeks to get there.

We'll continue to focus our efforts to strengthen the core connection system.

So a lot of the some of the comments we were hearing is that a lot of people had never used the base connection service.

Uh, we're actually seeing significant increase in people using the base connection service.

So in 2019, they started with connection plus, never used the utilized connection, heard some horror stories about it or some less than pleasant uh situations there.

But I'm happy to say that the reduction in cost or reduction in fare from three dollars to two dollars is working, and we're seeing a transition over to the uh connection service and growth in that area.

So on April 2nd, uh we also wrote out rolled out another uh cost control and strategy, but it's customer focused.

Uh we partnered with Uber, uh, and uh the strategy on this particular operation is for those connection plus customers, particularly those who take the much longer trips beyond those 12 miles.

This is an option for them.

Uh the trip cost is actually 350 for the customer per trip uh with the JTA providing up to 20 dollars in vouchers for 10 trips per week using Uber.

So it limits the JTA's actual cost in terms of the cost of the trip to no more than 20 dollars.

Uh the customer pays 350, and anything above that 20 will be borne by the customer.

And so we're doing this as a partnership.

It came out of those meetings that we had in February as a recommendation, and uh so far we've had over 120 customers register for the program with more expected as this uh the word gets out related to this service.

So it gives them the same day of bail availability.

Uh it uh has a 350 initial cost, 20 borne by the JTA in terms of a voucher, and the additional cost will be borne by the customer.

Uh additionally, an example based on the average ride information provided to us by Uber, a customer traveling up to 18 miles using Uber will pay approximately $10 for their trip instead of $25 on our Connection Plus service.

So uh what we're providing customers based on their travel needs, multiple options, and also trying to cap our actual expenditure related to the distance on that trip.

We plan to continue our stakeholder meetings with this connection and connection plus group uh and our JTAC uh advisory committee, as well as other power transit groups as we develop our FY27 budget.

And so uh with that, I'll stop at that point.

But as far as we're concerned, I think uh in the short term leading up to FY27, we've solved for the Connection Plus challenge.

Okay, let me first thank you.

Let me first go to Councilmember Diamond.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair, and again, Nat.

Let me just let me just walk through a couple of these things.

I and I'll be upfront.

Connection plus is the thing I get the most calls about when it comes to anything JTA related.

I mean, most of the folks I talk to, they you know they don't love Navi or whatever.

I mean that's that's high-end policy stuff.

And I think a lot of people in this council really care about the folks who've been at this podium who can't walk, right?

Or can't hear, and they're trying to live their life.

I think genuinely everyone here, 19 agree, and I know your entire team cares about those folks.

So what I'm trying to understand is, and I'll ask this the best way I can I can.

What is the filter between um connection and connection plus?

Like when you might qualify for connection and then, but you wouldn't qualify for connection plus or vice versa.

You know what I mean?

Like, how many uh I'll ask this better.

How many customers qualify right now for connection plus?

Like how many are using it in a month?

It it's the same population.

So if you qualify for connection, you qualify for connection plus.

Okay.

How many people are we talking about, like total?

Um, on a daily basis is about I guess 8,000 riders or so.

8,000 total, 8,000 total riders, and they're split about 50-50 between connection and connection plus.

And that's what really I think triggered some of this, which was the expansive growth on the connection plus side.

Yeah, I mean, look, if you gave me free first class tickets, like I would take them every time.

Exactly.

No, I'm I'm I'm tracking where the cost increase happened.

What I'm trying to figure out is is it 8,000 trips or 8,000 customers?

It can't be 8,000 customers.

It's 8,000 trips.

Yeah.

8,000 different individual people use connection.

Better qualify to use connection and connection plus.

Okay.

How many are are using it a month?

Is a better question, maybe?

It's evenly split, but I can get you that detail.

Yeah.

It's evenly split between the two services.

I think what he's trying to ask is do those 8,000 people use the service at least monthly.

Oh, yes, definitely.

Okay.

Okay.

Definitely.

My gut tells me that number is high from what we are kind of thinking about who we are trying to help.

I could be wrong.

I'm wrong about stuff all the time.

And I'm curious about what the federal government and the ADA allows us to do for someone who really has a massive transportation problem and mobility problem versus a relatively limited one, right?

Because there are gradations to everything in life.

Yes.

And I'll be more blunt.

If I have no arms and legs versus I have a limp, these are very different experiences for someone's mobility.

I've had to deal with this before in it in different contexts.

So is there a way for us to sharpen this up?

So the folks up here, and I'm sure your team can get connection plus high quality service to those who absolutely really need it and maybe uh push towards connection, those who don't absolutely need it, or even just regular bus transport.

Like, can we do that?

Is that allowed?

Uh I think the the litmus test is the ADA requirements, and we put uh anyone who applies for um applies for our connection service, we put them through a physical assessment.

So there's actually a process that they go through that has to be federally certified and mandated to determine whether you qualify permanently or even temporarily.

You know, at one point I used the connection service because I was temporarily uh, you know, after coming back from a surgery.

So uh we watch that very closely to ensure that we don't have any waste in terms of people who are not duly qualified for those services.

Okay, I'm tracking.

I might have to in some cases, if you're able to access our fixed route bus service, we will steer you towards the fixed route bus service.

But in our community, some of the challenges are lack of sidewalks, things of that nature get in the way, and it ends up the person is using our connection service because they can't walk, there's no sidewalk to get them to the bus stop that may be at the end of the block.

Yeah, no, uh uh fully tracking.

Um I'll probably have follow-up with your team later on on that piece of the puzzle because I don't want to take everyone's time on on that for me.

The second question I have is the biggest complaint I get about connection and of course regular bus services, how long it takes.

And so someone who I mean, they've been here at the podium and folks have called and texted and all the rest, and they say, hey, like I I would use connection, but I can't get to school or work, particular work on time.

It just it takes hours to get there and then hours to get home.

And if I have to pay $54 to get from the beaches to downtown, and it takes hours to get there, it would be easier for I'll just stay home and stay on government.

So do you guys have an average trip time for connection versus connection plus?

Yes, we do.

And in fact, we monitor it very, very closely because we heard some of that discussion.

In actuality, the differential between a connection and a connection plus trip on average is eight minutes.

And so eight minutes because you are obviously.

The difference is eight minutes.

The average difference between connection and connection plus is eight minutes.

And so we have that data.

We are required to keep it very, you know, very closely and detailed, and we have that information.

And so um, you know, that is the the challenge in terms of the operation is to make sure that people who are using connection plus at least look at connection as an alternative, and that was the reason we actually dropped the fare from three dollars to two dollars because the maintenance of the connection plus service, which is a private non-public transportation operation, we cannot even include those numbers in our uh federal um transit numbers.

So our national transit database, we are prohibited from allowing those numbers to be part of our actual uh annual numbers, ridership numbers.

Yeah, I'm tracking.

Okay, so and then you talked about the meetings you guys had, and I do appreciate you guys pulled pulled it all together.

Um of the folks in the meetings came back and they told me, says Rory, we just kind of agreed to some of this as the best of worst options.

Like we didn't like any of it.

We like the old system, we like Connection Plus how it was and what they were charging us, and now uh we just had to agree to this because it was the least worst option.

And so I'm somewhat concerned, and I'll and I'll I'm gonna speak to for my district rather than the other ones, because if you live in San Marco, respectfully to my friend, like everything's within you know 12 miles, so I you can't miss for folks like for me to get here, I had to travel 17 miles this morning.

And so to in order to get to here and back on Connection Plus under the new system here would cost me 45 bucks.

If I took an Uber, it would be 32 dollars each way.

I just checked.

I mean, I mean I know there's surge pricing and all the rest, but just you know, for right now, that's what it was.

So $64 to take an Uber.

I mean, for those Jacksonville's big.

This is we talked about this in leadership Jacksonville like 14 years ago.

This is a really hard city to do a public transportation uh enterprise with.

But for those who are at the beaches, how I mean, is it possible to do some exemption for those who are across the ditch?

Because in order to get to the um to Baptist, to get to downtown, to get to almost every major public service is more than 12 miles.

And I feel like just because they live there or grew up there, they're they're getting the the short end of the stick.

Um is there a possibility for that?

Is that I think there's a possibility to look at a host of different solutions.

Uh, I mean, the solutions we've arrived at right now came out of sitting down with this community and looking at those types of unique situations and what was originally proposed in terms of uh I would say a an agreement to move forward.

Uh we found that again it wasn't enough.

So our cap was going to be eight miles versus 12 miles in this particular case, and we had a much larger base fare and higher increments in terms of every mile thereafter.

The challenge is we're public transportation and we're trying to operate more like a private operator.

And we thought it made sense in 2019, and frankly, it probably made even we we didn't have the foresight of the pandemic, but having one individual in a vehicle was probably the right way to go during the pandemic.

The challenge we have now is we are not in the private transit business.

And we're unfortunately have or fortunately we were innovating, thinking of something creative to serve our customers, and uh it became so popular and so costly that it's gonna be hard for us to maintain it into the future.

So we're looking at other solutions.

That's why the Uber solution came in.

Yeah, last question.

I'm not I'm not trying to dominate this.

It's just been such a a big issue.

The uh the last one I have is I I get the Uber taxi uh Uber uh thing that you're doing, it makes some sense.

Um, you know uh why not go all in on Uber and instead of building the infrastructure for this other stuff, why not just have have you guys evaluated what that would look like to go all in on Uber and just pay them to do this for the first time?

One thing I would point Yes, that's a very good question.

So we're looking at how we can have a mix of different services.

One thing with Uber is they do not have the population of wheelchair accessible vehicles.

And so um, you know, going all in on any kind of private operator uh they do recognize the cost of moving people who are disabled, they try to focus more on the able-bodied uh customers.

That's why Ubers are tend to be mostly sedans that someone's privately owning and doesn't have a wheelchair ramp or the accessibility uh requirements that we have to comply with in terms of Yeah, trust me.

I I I get it.

I've had to get four service dogs into one Uber multiple times.

Is it's not always the right one shows up.

Okay, uh I I get the challenge, and I guess we have kind of an unfunded mandate right now, which is we really want to keep this door open, but there's a financial challenge to it.

I personally I'm frustrated with where we are right now.

Uh it's not uh yes, I'm I'm not casting shade on you guys at all.

Uh I get the challenge.

I just don't know the solution to this, but I do think we need to keep working at it.

Thanks.

Okay, I'm gonna go.

I just got some additional information that may help with this uh your specific situation.

So uh using the Uber solution that we proposed, a customer traveling up to 18 miles using Uber will pay approximately $10 per trip instead of the $25 per trip on a connection plus service.

So that Uber option that we added in uh just uh on the on the second, uh, that could be an option for those longer trips, and that's what it was tailored towards uh the exorbitant cost of a trip using the connection plus service.

Saves us money, saves the customers money too.

Okay, because we've got a third presentation and questions there.

Let me let's put five minutes on the clock.

Sorry.

And let me go to council member Arias.

I have some questions, and I've got Miller in here as well.

All right, thank you, Chair.

I I do have two pages of questions, but what I'll do is I'm just gonna ask you one question, sir.

Yes.

Um the Uber portion of it, this is actually pretty interesting, and I do agree with Mr.

Diamond.

Like, why don't we just privatize it since you said you're not in the in the private sector business to you know have curve to per curve of curb pickups?

Um, but I do understand that obviously not not all Ubers are accessible, so that's gonna be a tough ask.

Um I do encourage you though, I've been at many Florida um association of counties and uh Lagos Cities um conferences, and they do have a lot of um vendors that offer these type of services.

Um I'm sure you work with some.

Actually, I know one of which you work with here.

Yeah, are you guys looking at expanding that that range of of contractors to make sure that we do privatize it and you get out of that business because it's not your your forte at all.

Right.

Well in the private space, uh I uh in terms of these operations, you're right.

I mean, we walked into it with the connection plus.

Our focus is shared rides on larger vehicles and people uh massing people going in the same direction.

Um as a service for the JTA, um the challenge is when we get into that private sector operation, it impacts us.

We you know, we're putting the effort, we're moving people, and we do believe that it's important for us to move people no matter how they need to travel.

But when we get into this space, uh it's a market that uh you know we're overseeing.

I think we should have give them the opportunity to provide those services in our community, but I'm not essentially sure that it should be the JTA overseeing it.

And so that is something I have got to work with our board of directors.

We had this forway with connection plus, and uh it has created a bit of uh internal challenge for us from a financial.

Just in the obviously uh the timing, sorry.

No, you're good.

So yeah, I I definitely agree.

We should definitely still continue doing uh the services we offer with connections.

Um but if connections plus is becoming a burden on financial restraints to you guys, maybe look at privatizing it that way people could just kind of work on that.

That way they're not really dealing with you on that part.

Well, connection plus is privatized.

So connection plus your comments, yeah.

That's everything in general then.

Yeah, they're provided, they're provided by private operators, those services.

Okay, all right.

Um the Uber part of it, uh I'm looking here on the screen that says 20 voucher discount per trip.

Um, how many times can somebody use that per month?

Endlessly or just once 20 trips per month.

20 trips per month.

Yes.

And it says curb to curb.

So realistically they'll be using it twice whenever they need it.

So that's about 10 rides essentially.

Yes.

Is that enough?

That is what we've worked out with Uber in terms of that operation, and then folks have a choice between connection, connection plus, and Uber to use any of those three services if they qualify under our ADA program.

All right.

And who's paying for that voucher?

We are, as the JTR.

Okay, good.

So um, how much of a cost savings are you guys truly saving by giving people a $20 voucher each trip versus just doing it yourself?

Uh approximately $19.

So the average uh connection plus trip costs us about $39.

So why don't you just do them all like this?

Some of them don't have access vehicle access.

Okay.

I get it.

So but the thing is that if they're saving $19 per person, right?

Wouldn't you because right now you're limiting to only 10 rides per person?

Why don't you give them more?

If you're saving $19 per trip.

Essentially, we're offering it to all of our customers if they choose to use it.

So we I think we need to be very deliberate in terms of the actual utilization for some people, having that extra distance, they can fit in.

Put it this way what we proposed in terms of connection plus, if we could go back to what connection plus is, right?

$10 base fare for 12 miles.

And another piece of this too is do we have the Uber rolling stock?

Does Uber have the rolling stock to handle all those trips also?

Okay.

So in this isn't time.

I mean, we we could take this offline, but I think that it's a great um pilot program that you're doing.

And I think that if it's on demand, you obviously will work with Uber to see if you could get more Uber riders or drivers to participate in this program.

If they have a wheelchair accessible vehicle too.

And we've seen where that challenge has come in, where an Uber vehicle is shown up, it's not able to accept a wheelchair.

So now we've had got to work through connection plus and then connection to get that customer the vehicle.

And then very quick, you said um Mr.

Diamond asked how many total riders you have.

You said 8,000 in your whole network.

Yes.

Um I wanted to know actually how many trips are you doing daily is what I want to know.

Because I I don't think you're doing 8,000 trips a day, are you okay?

We by the time um I finished, I should have that answer.

Yes.

Okay, Councilmember Miller, and then I have a few.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, through the chair to Mr.

Ford, thank you for coming back today.

Appreciate uh you sharing with us and also for your team.

Um thank you for sitting down with these these groups that we've heard a lot from in public and and uh a lot of them come to us as councilman diamond has has stated.

My concern is is still with the connection plus um area.

I know you say your public transportation company uh or entity rather, um, but as you pointed out, we've been doing this for seven years.

So especially our just disabled community, they've come to rely on this for these last seven years.

And many of them that have come and spoken to the podium where you are right now many times, um, they can't move out of those chairs and are limited in their ability uh to get anywhere, but they've come to rely on that connection plus option to be able to get to and from work and get there on time.

I I know you've said there's an average difference of uh only eight minutes between the two services.

Those aren't the stories we're hearing from these individuals.

And so I really would like to get more information on all that because they talk about wait times are increased.

They talk about the shared rides, the time to get there, and they can't depend on it.

And an employer who's expecting them to be on time going from the beaches to downtown or um the north side to Mandarin.

We don't want them on public assistance.

Um we don't want that.

And so I I think it's important for us as a group, as a body, for us to get that and get that right so they can have the quality of life and be productive as independent members of our society as possible.

And and I I believe you all want that.

I along those lines, thank you so much for having those meetings.

That shows you do you do want to find a good place um to go forward.

What was their proposal when they came to those meetings?

I kept hearing from the individuals with the disabled community that's involved here.

They had a proposal they went to with.

Would you mind sharing what that proposal was versus where did we end up that you've just briefed us on?

What were the differences in what they proposed versus where we ended up?

Thank you.

Right.

I think uh the the obviously on the fare, there was some debate in terms of where that fare should land.

So we started out with a six dollar fare, and it was very interesting in the public meetings we were having, and also those more focused meetings, there seemed to be no issue with a ten dollar fare.

They did recognize after we shared, you know, the difference between connection, connection plus the cost profile.

So it was a great deal of just transparent information sharing, and they recognized that it was a so uh a service that was increasing in cost.

The challenge was where was the right place to put the kind of geographical bubble around you know that $10 fare?

Was it eight miles?

Was it 10 miles?

Was it 12?

We tried to land at 10 miles because 10 miles carried about 65 percent.

Just for that additional two miles, we picked up 75% of the actual connection plus riders.

Uh in terms of the cost per mile over the 12 mile limit, uh, there was a lot of debate on that one, and that's where we started out at 350 every mile thereafter, got into outrageous costs for those extreme cases on in terms of uh distance, and we walked back to a uh cost of 250.

So I think I I wouldn't say they would had a position and we had a position.

We kind of came to that kind of conclusion together with the folks who were working in the room uh as well as the JTA staff.

But we started out with first just fully opening up the uh books and sharing with them the actual cost for the the service and the data related to the number of trips that were eight miles, ten miles, twelve, and in some cases twenty-mile trips were the more extreme cases uh that we were subsidizing.

Okay.

Uh through the chair.

So you the mileage on that base charge, where to set that level was the was the percentage of customers because we know origins and destinations for every customer we serve, and we have the data as it relates to the number of people who are traveling within eight miles, 10, and 12 and so on.

Well, through the chair, I think that's a that's a good change, and again, it shows you all we're willing to work with them on this.

And I'm gonna have follow-ups with them as well.

Um, but I also would like the exact number of trips per day in each one of these categories to give us a better feel uh for what's going on here.

Uh we do need to find a way forward, and um especially in the connection plus arena since we've been doing this for seven years, uh we certainly want to somehow make adjustments to mix public private to be able to provide for these people who have come to depend on this.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Very quickly.

Very quickly, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh daily ridership connection 1,500 per day, and then connection plus is averaging just over 500.

A day.

A day.

So 2,000.

Yes.

Thank you.

2,000 trips.

That that is those are trips, correct?

Um, yes, those are trips per day.

Yes.

You are correct.

Okay.

Very quickly.

Let me get real basic here.

Connection is a federally mandated program.

So the feds provide you X number of dollars for you to provide that program.

Is that correct?

We don't receive exactly federal dollars for providing that program, but what the federal dollars that matter to us is the formula dollars we receive based on the number of people we carry.

So the people, in terms of that entire population that of uh riders that we carry, we get federal funding based on a formula.

The trips that are on connection plus do not count in that formula.

So the the dollars you get are strictly for connection.

Yes.

Okay.

Number two.

Umnection plus was started by the JTA during COVID because you wanted to keep people isolated in one vehicle, correct?

Right before COVID.

So we launched it in 2019.

It just so happens that innovation helped us during the COVID time frame.

So it wasn't started because of COVID.

No.

The JTA on its own decided we wanted to provide greater accessibility, freedom of uh freedom of movement, and you did not have to reserve a trip 24 hours in advance, and you could get a direct trip from door to door.

Okay.

And not have to pick anyone else up or wait for any other customer in that shared ride environment.

I I assume you didn't foresee the growth in connection plus when you started this program.

Not at all, sir.

Not at so obviously you must have done some projections, but they just weren't completely accurate, I'm sure.

Well, and I'm sure COVID uh uh assisted that.

That's right.

Okay.

I get it.

I I think you said this.

The qualifications for connection and connection plus are the same.

All the same.

All the same.

Do you know where people are going?

Uh I mean, do the reason for the transportation, does that enter into this at all?

Uh we tend to know by the origins and destination if they're going to a medical facility versus going to a job.

Uh, we don't specifically get into their privacy of where they're traveling and what is the purpose, but we can we can extrapolate that based on uh the origins and destination.

But if you pick them up from their house and they go to someone else's house, you transport them.

Yes, yes, sir.

You know, whether they're going to the movies, whatever actual transportation need they have, we provide that service.

Okay.

I um and if I understood you correctly, you reduce the pricing for connection versus connection plus as a part of this review to try to encourage more people to use connection versus connection plus.

Yes, sir.

Um and you did that recently, is that correct?

Yes, sir.

We did that in February.

In February, are you and did I hear you say you're getting more ridership on connection and less on connection plus because of that, or at least that's you hope that's the reason for that?

Yes, we have seen we have seen that trend of people moving from Connection Plus to connection.

Not wholesale, but enough to to to recognize that the fare reduction worked.

Can you give me some percentage of increase in connection and what reduction you've seen in connection plus?

I can I'll I'll have that within the next few minutes.

I'll have that data point.

Okay.

With that, why don't we move to the next topic?

There's no other speaker.

Oh, yes.

Okay.

Next up uh finally, as you requested, let me address Navi and the Skyway.

So related to the budget, as you heard earlier, we're making some cost adjustments in this particular area also.

Navi service continues with a six vehicle utilization model with additional vehicles that are available for rotation.

Uh the on-time performance is at 83 percent, with the vehicles operating in AV mode 86 percent of the time, and this is really primarily due to the road closures and the number of detours that are occurring in the Bay Street corridor.

Uh in the first 130 days of Navi's operation, we had over 100 detours.

So we're now probably in the 300 uh plus range in terms of detours on Bay Street.

We continue to see the safety benefits of this technology in action.

There has been no incidents reported over the last quarter.

March ridership for Navi was a 1,075, uh, bringing our total ridership since we launched to 11,892 riders.

Uh but uh, you know, as I've said before, it's not just so much about ridership today, it's about ridership into the future.

And it's also been uh found to be a driver of economic development for our city.

Uh since we launched this service, we've hosted city leaders, including mayors from across the world and the country to analyze our Navi service.

We've had visitors from Tokyo, Atlanta, Cobb County, New Orleans, Shreveport, and Greenville, South Carolina.

And uh the list is continuing, as well as US DOT leadership was here about two months ago.

Uh, they're actually looking at the AIC and is there an opportunity to leverage that facility for pilots related to auto autonomous trucking and how our actual facility could be leveraged uh to oversee and monitor autonomous trucking uh in um on I-10.

Uh, we're now well into the project development and environmental study phase as it relates to the phase two uh skyway rehabilitation and expansion.

This is the phase where we're evaluating feasible alternatives, accessing assessing benefits and impacts, integrating community feedback as well as refining the options that will ultimately go before the JTA board for a final recommendation.

We've had a series of meetings to uh listen to the community as well as stakeholders and business leaders, uh, and a total of eight meetings have been held so far.

There are five alternatives that have been presented as part of the first round of public meetings.

Uh alternative one is to retrofit and restore the existing skyway in kind.

Alternative two, a new automated people mover uh where you would retrofit the actual trains and the structure for modern uh rubber-tired people mover vehicles.

Uh alternative three is convert the skyway to an autonomous vehicle track with dedicated lanes.

Alternative four is the remove the elevated structure and add street level autonomous vehicles.

Alternative five, repurpose the skyway to a multi-use trail and add street level autonomous vehicles uh at street level.

Uh and then there's always the no-build option, which is uh keep the skyway operating as long as possible and then sunsetting the entire operation.

Uh so to ensure in transparency and broad participation, we've taken a multi-layered approach to public engagement.

So far, we've completed eight community meeting uh open house meetings.

We've engaged more than 205 participants in person through presentations, question and answer sessions, surveys, and direct conversations with subject manager matter experts.

To date, we've received a total of 660 responses to our survey as of our March 27th public meeting, and our virtual meeting option remains open through April 10th.

Terms of demographics, majority of respondents aged 26 to 45 are at 55 percent, with 25 percent between 56 and 75, and participation remains majority male at 60 percent, and uh the remainder is female at 34 percent.

Skyway usage, nearly half of the uh respondents have ridden the skyway uh in the recent past, the rest have never ridden the skyway.

Public sentiment so far seems to be favoring and preserving and reinvesting in the skyway rather than removing it or in action with an ongoing split between the placemaking of alternative five and new trains for alternative two.

However, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done, cost estimates that need to be taken into consideration.

Uh, that is part of the um uh the PDE process.

So in subsequent phase, before we go into the second round of public meetings, we'll have uh a range of cost estimates that could be also applied to the decision making.

And uh I said from the offset outset of this process process that we as the JTA wanted to stay agnostic and that the plans were initially envisioned uh for the U2C and the Skyway need to be scrutinized as long with all of these other options and other possibilities as to what we should do with this community asset called the Skyway.

So, Mr.

Chairman, members of the committee, that concludes my prepared remarks.

I'm available for any questions.

Let me begin.

Uh Councilman Middle just popped in.

So the first quarter of 26, if going back to your your the Navi was 3,650 trips versus the fourth quarter of 29 was 2908.

Is that correct?

Did I read that correctly?

I mean, for roughly a 20 percent increase in Navi use from one quarter to the next.

Yes, is that that's correct?

Correct.

Uh huh.

Okay.

Number two, you you're still looking at the first of uh in August of making a decision on the future of the Skyway.

Yes, I think uh we're chiming that out with the board, uh, the annual board retreat in August, where we will make a set of recommendations related to fares, budget, as well as the future of the Skyway.

Okay, so we should know what the plan is at that point.

Definitely.

And do you uh do you really believe if if uh if we did tear it down that the feds would come back for us and ask us for those dollars back?

Not the full amount, sir, and I want to be very careful uh, you know, as it not to get ahead of the FTA and USDOT.

The last letter that we received from them just a few years ago stated that they could request up to the full 100 million dollars they invested in the Skyway.

We have uh done our own research.

We've actually sent a formal letter to the FTA asking their interest in a discussion to negotiate down that actual payback, as well as could we actually transfer the remaining life of the Skyway into other transportation related assets.

So we're very positive, we're optimistic that we'll be able to reach something short of the 100 million dollar uh up to 100 million dollar payback.

Okay.

Councilmember Miller.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Through the chair, Mr.

Ford, um thank you for uh what you've shared in in your last statements there, because as I was going back and forth trying to get documents on our interaction at the federal level, um most of them were very old, the exchanges, um, and some only had a response, didn't have our requests.

So it's trying to get to are we asking the right questions when it comes to payback for any federal resources that have come our way for the Skyway, or any other grants that we've received, and and there are clear stipulations in there about if you don't continue on this path, or if it isn't used in the way it was intended in the grant monies were given, then you may be subject to paying it back.

And so I was trying to explore, you know, have we gotten into the details of the options?

You had mentioned previously that when you first got here, um you felt, I believe, 14 years ago, that we should have extended the Skyway to places of population densities to really explore uh what the options really were and and the usable umsuring that that we've we've gone as far as we could have at that time in making it uh something that someone would ride if we were going to where the population nodes were, and we didn't do that.

Um and so what I'm asking is on these alternatives, you have five of them listed here, and you've given me some hope here.

Um have we gone through those details on each one of these alternatives with the federal uh folks that we've received over the years, different letters about payback on.

Have we gone into the details with them and saying here are some of our alternatives?

Would you give us specific feedback on payback um potential payback?

Because we there's a new administration from the last letter that we received from them.

There are new philosophies on transportation that you're very well plugged into.

So I just I just wanted to make sure that these are feasible alternatives, and they aren't feasible if the finances don't turn out uh to support these alternatives.

And so I just wanted to hear a little bit from you if we could as a group hear from you on have we gone into those details with the federal level context to explore whether these are feasible alternatives or not.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh and thank you for that.

Uh thank you for that question.

Very thoughtful, well uh thought out question there.

The uh interestingly enough, we've received letters from multiple administrations related to this federal payback, and it's been consistent from one administration to the other because this is congressional law uh in terms of this federal payment payback requirement.

And to your point, they want us to get it to the end of the useful life.

We have provided uh a letter to the federal government.

We've shared with them through our quarterly meetings the various different options that we're looking at, and we've asked them for their consideration that whatever solution that we choose to, can we transfer those actual remaining years of uh useful life?

And in the case of the Skyway, it's 14 years in actuality.

So 14 years on the Skyway structure, about two years remaining on the actual vehicles.

We've asked them if we decide to take any one of these options, can we transfer that uh remaining useful life into the uh the new asset, the new transit system, so to speak.

The interesting thing is that you know, as we look at uh these options, um the financial or cost of these options, we will just have a range of those options going into the next round of decision making for for the public.

Uh it's my expectation in the June time frame.

We'll take this to our board of directors with a preferred alternative based on all of the feedback with feedback we get from you, and then that's when we go into the deep dive of actually engineering and actual uh uh uh 30 percent design work.

So we've got a ways to go.

Uh and uh we would not at this juncture, they're not going to give us an answer on specific alternatives.

They'll give us an answer, we're hoping an answer that says in general, if we were to replace the skyway with another transportation system that we could transfer that investment in.

One thing I'd like to point out, you know, this is a different conversation 10 years ago, right?

10 years ago we received these letters, we've moved up the time frame.

Uh we've gotten successive letters saying no, but we're now at the 14 mile mark in terms of the remaining skyway utilization.

It sets up a different conversation.

Thank you very much to the chair.

Um, that's encouraging.

I like where you're going with this.

I like where your leadership team is going with this to actually explore the details with the current um FDOT and uh FTA leadership.

Um so thank you for for that thoughtful um and and collaborative approach.

Um, I appreciate that.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

Miller.

Okay.

I have no one else in the queue.

So, Mr.

Ford, thank you so much for coming.

I have found the presentation and the questions from my colleagues very helpful to me to understand uh what's going on with all aspects of your operation.

Uh you have some data for us.

I have some data for you.

So connection 12% increase since we lowered the fare.

Connection plus 7% decrease uh since the change in fare.

So uh we are seeing a shift, and in some cases, people are giving it a shot, connection a shot.

They've heard all of the negative stories, but uh we have the data in terms of the ridership and the actual travel travel times.

Well, that's encouraging.

That's encouraging.

So at this point, our next meeting, we will go back to uh health insurance presentation and uh appreciate you coming.

And if there's nothing else, we will be addressed.

Oh, Councilmember Diamond.

Just wanted to get from Mary an update on the oversight committee um bill, because I sent all that stuff your way.

Through the chair to council member diamond.

So I I just kind of wanted some direction on when you intended to put it on the agenda for the committee's consideration.

Have about the next one.

If that's the case, then I'll I'll work on having the draft available for the next meeting.

And I had just one more item.

Um can we bring up on one of these?

It doesn't have to be the next one, but before we're done, I'd like to uh talk to the folks at UNF about the eSports arena.

Um I'd like to have them come here and talk about it 10, 15 minutes.

There's there's very serious concerns about where our money went.

Okay.

Um anything else?

Yeah.

I I had one quick one, Mr.

Chair, if I may.

Um I just wanted to ask about if there was anyone that checked in on the specifics on the state level doge and when they came for those two days and then they had a report.

Um, did we get specifics back from the state level on each one of those areas that added up to that what was it 190 million dollars or thereabouts that they claimed uh that we had in waste.

I just want to make sure if we can get those specifics though that we don't miss anything that may be obvious that we can localize and and actually uh explore.

Um so I didn't know we brought this up at one time, but I didn't remember if someone was pursuing that to get those specifics out of that report.

If you uh if you remember uh the the auditors led by uh Ms.

Taylor did an analysis.

Um I forwarded uh through a contact that analysis to uh the state doge effort.

I never heard anything back from state doge on our analysis.

Uh frankly, I think um a lot of the uh the uh state evaluation was based on population and it was projections and uh I I thought the auditors did a very nice job of analyzing all their numbers, but no, I've not I did not hear anything back.

If if possible, and I'm not sure I I'm happy to help in any way I can.

I just want to make sure we didn't we didn't miss anything obvious because they didn't go into a lot of details uh that we could kind of grab on to and explore further.

And so um if there's a way that we could do that, and maybe that's a follow-on uh going into the next year.

Um, but I if possible, I I certainly would like to get those details uh from the state level if if someone knows a little bit more about how we may um enter into that that world to to try to get some of that information.

Okay.

Anyone else?

We stand adjourned.

Thank you so much.

I started