WEBVTT 00:00:00.290 --> 00:00:08.557 - So just calling this meeting to order. This is a interview for interview committee a we are interviewing 00:00:08.557 --> 00:00:16.430 - for the board of directors for BF or Bloomington Transit. I am Isak Sarri. I am a council member at 00:00:16.430 --> 00:00:23.358 - large joined by Stasburg District 3 and also joined online by 8 Rosenberger District 2. 00:00:23.586 --> 00:00:30.024 - Fantastic. And there are some members of the public here as well. We won't be doing public comment, 00:00:30.024 --> 00:00:36.591 - but if you feel free to type in notes, and we will keep those on the record. OK. So we have a handful 00:00:36.591 --> 00:00:43.287 - of questions. I'm Hank, and there's sort of like a standard set of questions, if you will. And we might 00:00:43.287 --> 00:00:49.790 - have some clarifying and follow-up questions thereafter. But would love to just hear from you first, 00:00:49.858 --> 00:00:57.831 - why you want to be a part of this board? What attracts you to the work that it does? Great question. 00:00:57.831 --> 00:01:06.278 - I've had this desire to work in the public sector and better my community for years now. After I graduated 00:01:06.278 --> 00:01:14.251 - from IU, I got accepted into the Peace Corps and was planning on going out to the country of Georgia 00:01:14.251 --> 00:01:17.566 - for three years and doing work out there. 00:01:17.858 --> 00:01:24.454 - Unfortunately, COVID happened a month before I was supposed to go. So I never got that opportunity, 00:01:24.454 --> 00:01:31.248 - which is a big bummer. But throughout that process, I realized this is what I want to do. And so after 00:01:31.248 --> 00:01:37.976 - biding my time for a little while, I came back to Bloomington. I was the Little 500 race director. So 00:01:37.976 --> 00:01:44.836 - I advised about 700 different IU undergraduates. And that is, one, leading this race, but two, teaching 00:01:44.836 --> 00:01:45.694 - these people 00:01:45.794 --> 00:01:51.974 - professional skills, how to make it in the real world and also making their IU experience as great as 00:01:51.974 --> 00:01:58.215 - possible. And that is, you know, getting around campus that's showing them resources that the city has 00:01:58.215 --> 00:02:04.334 - to offer. And so it's all about giving back to the community that I live in. And then eventually, as 00:02:04.334 --> 00:02:10.938 - you all know, I came to the city of Bloomington in planning and transportation as the bicycle and pedestrian 00:02:10.938 --> 00:02:15.422 - coordinator. So working on smaller scale bike ped projects and eventually 00:02:15.714 --> 00:02:22.563 - made my way into the Safe Streets Program Manager position, and now I am a public face for listening 00:02:22.563 --> 00:02:29.480 - to the community in terms of what they want in their streets, what's working, what's not working, and 00:02:29.480 --> 00:02:36.464 - also selling them ideas about how we can work together to make our community a safer, more convenient, 00:02:36.464 --> 00:02:42.974 - more efficient place to travel from point A to point B. And so that leads me to right now where 00:02:43.330 --> 00:02:50.688 - One, I have the professional expertise to work with Bloomington Transit and make it a better organization. 00:02:50.688 --> 00:02:57.564 - Two, the local expertise because I've been in Bloomington off and on for about nine or 10 years now 00:02:57.564 --> 00:03:05.128 - and I've been serving different corners of the community. But then three, I have the time and the willingness 00:03:05.128 --> 00:03:09.598 - to put effort into this position. And so it's rare that you have 00:03:09.954 --> 00:03:16.931 - all of those dots connecting in the ability and expertise to do it, but I'm in this position right now, 00:03:16.931 --> 00:03:23.372 - I want to continue giving back to my community in a way that I know how and that way is through 00:03:23.372 --> 00:03:30.282 - transportation and public transit. Thank you so much. As a follow-up with that, what experience do you 00:03:30.282 --> 00:03:36.991 - have right now with this board at all in terms of what's been going on and their meetings and their 00:03:36.991 --> 00:03:39.742 - responsibilities and that kind of thing? 00:03:40.418 --> 00:03:46.645 - I really started thinking about applying for this position late last year. And since then, I've been 00:03:46.645 --> 00:03:52.935 - listening and watching all of their board meetings to understand how exactly it works. Again, through 00:03:52.935 --> 00:03:59.470 - my day job, I work with the transportation commission, sometimes the planning commission, the bike safety 00:03:59.470 --> 00:04:05.636 - commission when that still existed. So I'm very aware of how boards and commissions in general work 00:04:05.636 --> 00:04:07.486 - and function in the city, but 00:04:08.226 --> 00:04:15.874 - Every board is a little bit different. They each have their own quirks. And so I've been watching in, 00:04:15.874 --> 00:04:23.448 - reading the agendas of these board meetings. And then obviously in the past month or two, there have 00:04:23.448 --> 00:04:31.021 - been some bigger changes and that has only pushed me farther into that desire to be on this board to 00:04:31.021 --> 00:04:37.470 - make positive change for this community. Excellent. Do you guys remember Rosenbacher? 00:04:39.106 --> 00:04:45.558 - Yeah, I'm just. OK, do you about the board too? Do you think the board is missing representation? 00:04:45.558 --> 00:04:52.143 - And if so, what do you bring skills and experience to fill in those gaps? Like what would that what 00:04:52.143 --> 00:04:58.727 - would that look like? Yeah, great question. That was actually something that I wanted to talk about 00:04:58.727 --> 00:05:05.574 - in this interview is representation as a whole. I talked about my professional expertise in Bloomington 00:05:05.574 --> 00:05:06.430 - representing 00:05:06.594 --> 00:05:13.816 - a lot of IU students and now with the city representing the community as a whole. Again, these people 00:05:13.816 --> 00:05:21.108 - that I try to represent through my day job are the people that need safe, efficient transportation the 00:05:21.108 --> 00:05:28.188 - most. And I talk to thousands of people each year throughout the city. A lot of those people, I can 00:05:28.188 --> 00:05:35.480 - use their comments in the projects I work on with the city. Most of those I can't though. A lot of the 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:36.542 - comments I get 00:05:36.738 --> 00:05:43.720 - are about the accessibility of the transit stops, the route frequency to get to the west side of the 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:50.910 - city. For example, there was a recent project I was working on on Roger Street, and it goes right along 00:05:50.910 --> 00:05:58.168 - the four west line. And that goes out to the Walmart Sam's Club area of town. And there are these people 00:05:58.168 --> 00:06:03.422 - who need to get out there, but because the route only functions every hour, 00:06:03.714 --> 00:06:11.884 - It's hard, it's very, very hard. And so that's just one example of, I'm not saying that I represent 00:06:11.884 --> 00:06:20.135 - all of the community, but my job is to serve the community. And by doing that, I feel like I have a, 00:06:20.135 --> 00:06:28.468 - at least a better, a better knowledge base of what the community as a whole needs. I think we all run 00:06:28.468 --> 00:06:32.798 - into at some point, this status quo bias that things 00:06:33.026 --> 00:06:41.058 - are find the way they are. And you start to become a bit complacent. But through my professional experience, 00:06:41.058 --> 00:06:48.721 - I've learned you cannot become complacent because there are always people who need to travel from point 00:06:48.721 --> 00:06:56.532 - A to point B and either can't or it is not convenient to do so. And so I want to, at least on this board, 00:06:56.532 --> 00:07:02.206 - represent those people, whoever they might be and represent them in terms of 00:07:02.466 --> 00:07:10.830 - pushing BT to create a transportation system that helps those people who need it the most. I have a 00:07:10.830 --> 00:07:19.444 - follow-up to that question. Can you talk a bit about your experiences with public transit, first here, 00:07:19.444 --> 00:07:28.143 - obviously, and then in other places? What has that told you or taught you about what makes a successful 00:07:28.143 --> 00:07:31.070 - public transit system? Yeah, sure. 00:07:31.394 --> 00:07:39.781 - I'll start with here first. I lived carless in Bloomington for about three years, and that forced me 00:07:39.781 --> 00:07:48.085 - to use Bloomington Transit and bike around the city. When I was carless, part of the time was I was 00:07:48.085 --> 00:07:56.721 - over in the Timber Ridge neighborhood on South Henderson Street, and there was a route that got me from 00:07:56.721 --> 00:08:00.126 - South of town to downtown pretty easily. 00:08:00.610 --> 00:08:07.422 - But my job being on North V lane, there was not a route that went up there. And so there were oftentimes 00:08:07.422 --> 00:08:14.300 - when it was rainy or muggy that I would bike part of the way, transit part of the way, and it just wasn't 00:08:14.300 --> 00:08:20.982 - convenient. And I think this is a common theme of Bloomington that when you need to transfer, it makes 00:08:20.982 --> 00:08:28.638 - it incredibly hard to use public transit, especially when you have a timetable when you need to be somewhere. And so. 00:08:28.834 --> 00:08:34.686 - I did try to use it. I didn't use it that often though, because it was just much more convenient to 00:08:34.686 --> 00:08:40.597 - bike up there and then get sweaty, change clothes, go to work from there. I also lived in the Bryant 00:08:40.597 --> 00:08:46.450 - Park neighborhood for a while when I didn't have a car and there are zero fixed routes through that 00:08:46.450 --> 00:08:52.419 - neighborhood. That was tough. It was about a half mile walk, maybe four tens of a mile walk to get to 00:08:52.419 --> 00:08:54.526 - the nearest bus station. And again, 00:08:54.882 --> 00:09:01.401 - It just, it wasn't convenient for me to use it. I did use it at some points, but it was not a routine 00:09:01.401 --> 00:09:07.856 - for me because it was not in my area. And even now living on a Roger street, I just talked about the 00:09:07.856 --> 00:09:14.439 - four West line. There have been times that I have wanted to use that line to get out to the West side, 00:09:14.439 --> 00:09:21.150 - to go to Lowe's or Menards or something like that. But when I think about, well, even if I plan my time, 00:09:21.698 --> 00:09:28.466 - my schedule exactly right, and I can get the bus going out there, am I going to be able to get back 00:09:28.466 --> 00:09:35.572 - without having to wait in the sun for about 30 to 45 minutes? I don't know. And so there have been good, 00:09:35.572 --> 00:09:42.476 - I have had good experiences on Bloomington Transit. I want to tell you that, but the theme is that no 00:09:42.476 --> 00:09:49.244 - matter where I am in the city, unless I'm going along a certain route, it is very hard to use. Now, 00:09:49.244 --> 00:09:50.462 - contrary to that, 00:09:51.170 --> 00:09:58.587 - I have lived in cities with magnificent public transit. I lived in Berlin, Germany for a summer. I lived 00:09:58.587 --> 00:10:06.074 - in Montpellier, France for a couple summers. And then I was actually just, I just came back from Madison, 00:10:06.074 --> 00:10:13.844 - Wisconsin and didn't have a car up there. And so all of those cities have more extensive, more interconnected 00:10:13.844 --> 00:10:20.766 - routes. And it is simply convenient. It is the most convenient way to travel from point to point. 00:10:21.346 --> 00:10:28.704 - And that's the end goal of Bloomington Transit. We want to make it as convenient, if not more convenient, 00:10:28.704 --> 00:10:35.854 - than driving your own vehicle. We have different city documents, whether it's the Climate Action Plan, 00:10:35.854 --> 00:10:43.003 - or the Comprehensive Plan, or the Transportation Plan, that prioritize public transit in some way. And 00:10:43.003 --> 00:10:50.014 - to do that, we have to make it convenient for people to use. Yep. Yep. Excellent. Thank you so much. 00:10:51.714 --> 00:10:58.897 - I think I'm going to go back to an earlier question that we asked yesterday that was kind of left out 00:10:58.897 --> 00:11:05.939 - so far. And the question is, have you been part of a commission counselor board that focused on the 00:11:05.939 --> 00:11:12.981 - betterment and wellness of a specific community, particularly a minority group? And if so, what was 00:11:12.981 --> 00:11:20.164 - your role and what impact did it have? Good question. I don't know if this is directly answering your 00:11:20.164 --> 00:11:21.150 - question, but 00:11:21.730 --> 00:11:29.240 - Again, being the liaison for the Bike Ped Safety Commission for a few years and now bringing reports 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:36.749 - to the Transportation Commission, we are focusing on the people who are not able to or can't drive a 00:11:36.749 --> 00:11:44.184 - motor vehicle, who have to get around Bloomington via walking, biking, public transit, and a lot of 00:11:44.184 --> 00:11:50.430 - the groups that you just mentioned fall into that category, where we are looking at 00:11:50.594 --> 00:11:59.514 - lower income folks, we're looking at minorities, we're looking at the most vulnerable people in Bloomington 00:11:59.514 --> 00:12:07.857 - and how to make their lives not just convenient, but safe and easy, raise that quality of life to be 00:12:07.857 --> 00:12:16.116 - in our city. Great, thank you. Okay, sorry, I'm just finishing a note. Okay, you've talked a little 00:12:16.116 --> 00:12:17.438 - bit about this, 00:12:19.842 --> 00:12:27.585 - What ideas do you have or could you see for public-private partnerships and solutions? And we kind of 00:12:27.585 --> 00:12:35.707 - have another question related to this, that this is the last year that we have ED-lit funding, 3.7 million 00:12:35.707 --> 00:12:43.450 - that goes to transit. And so along that line, too, what happens next? And what role do you see as the 00:12:43.450 --> 00:12:46.942 - director of the board? Yeah, great questions. 00:12:47.458 --> 00:12:54.626 - In terms of public-private partnerships, we are seeing so much development around the city, right? And 00:12:54.626 --> 00:13:01.794 - as we see more development, there needs to be the transportation amenities along with that. That could 00:13:01.794 --> 00:13:08.753 - just, and a lot of that is already in our UDO, but some of it's not. Whether that's bus shelters or 00:13:08.753 --> 00:13:13.694 - accessible bus pads or bike parking by bus shelters, these things that 00:13:14.114 --> 00:13:21.594 - Maybe if you don't ride transit, you don't think about as much, but if you do ride transit, these are 00:13:21.594 --> 00:13:29.221 - necessary items to implement. Overall, and this could be public-private partnerships or simply a public 00:13:29.221 --> 00:13:36.628 - project, we need better route frequency. That is my number one. Whether it is implementing something 00:13:36.628 --> 00:13:43.742 - like the green line on 3rd Street to get from east to west or a north-south route, we need some. 00:13:44.002 --> 00:13:51.486 - route that gets major destinations to major destinations with a 15 minute frequency. That should be 00:13:51.486 --> 00:13:58.971 - the goal everywhere. And right now, because that isn't everywhere, that's why we see the full buses 00:13:58.971 --> 00:14:06.680 - and people simply not riding the bus because it doesn't fit with their schedule. Again, it's all about 00:14:06.680 --> 00:14:13.790 - convenience. And we can talk about fare free and micro transit and these other transit centric 00:14:13.954 --> 00:14:22.263 - options at some point, I don't think we're there yet. We should be focusing on making it convenient 00:14:22.263 --> 00:14:30.240 - first and then talking about the other extras after that. Can I ask a follow-up on the question 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:39.131 - on microtransit? Do you think that microtransit is working well at the moment in the city? No. At library, 00:14:39.131 --> 00:14:41.790 - yeah? Yeah, of course. So every 00:14:42.498 --> 00:14:48.294 - transportation authority, every transit authority has to have some sort of paratransit, and that's BT 00:14:48.294 --> 00:14:54.147 - access, right? We're not getting rid of that. There are people that need BT access, and that is a must 00:14:54.147 --> 00:14:59.944 - for our community. Scaling up microtransit, when you look at, and I don't have the numbers on me, but 00:14:59.944 --> 00:15:05.967 - when you look at other communities that have done that, they are not seeing the same return on investment 00:15:05.967 --> 00:15:11.934 - as if they would scale up or increase route frequency on their fixed routes. The fixed routes are there, 00:15:12.130 --> 00:15:22.418 - because that is where we know people are going. Microtransit can fill in those gaps, but you as a transit 00:15:22.418 --> 00:15:32.609 - authority are paying much more per customer than what you would be paying per customer on a fixed route. 00:15:32.609 --> 00:15:41.150 - The amount of people who have ridden BT via microtransit is far and few between. Again, 00:15:42.242 --> 00:15:48.889 - I wrote it once last summer when they had the downtown shuttle. That was because I sprained my ankle 00:15:48.889 --> 00:15:55.668 - and I couldn't walk to work for a few days. There are situations in which, sure, that's great, but I'm 00:15:55.668 --> 00:16:02.381 - not making this a routine thing. The fixed routes are where we see the demand. That is what we should 00:16:02.381 --> 00:16:09.094 - be focusing our priorities on. Excellent. Excellent. Kind of as a follow-up to that a little bit, the 00:16:09.094 --> 00:16:09.950 - question is, 00:16:10.050 --> 00:16:15.997 - What is the one thing that's the largest problem with transit in Bloomington and how would you work 00:16:15.997 --> 00:16:22.241 - to change that as a board member? What I just heard you say was a couple of things. One was better route 00:16:22.241 --> 00:16:28.188 - frequency, and then you have these comments about microtransit. In the last few years, maybe a year 00:16:28.188 --> 00:16:34.134 - or two especially, it seems there's been a really big uptake locally in microtransit. How would you 00:16:34.134 --> 00:16:39.070 - as a board member impact some of that stuff that you just talked about in terms of 00:16:39.330 --> 00:16:46.573 - see a microtransit? Great question. And I'm not saying that I'm going to come in guns blazing on the 00:16:46.573 --> 00:16:53.816 - first board meeting and implement. Maybe the second. I understand it's about building relationships. 00:16:53.816 --> 00:17:01.131 - That's so much of what you all do as elected officials. That's what I do as a city staff member. It's 00:17:01.131 --> 00:17:08.446 - about building trust. And I know I have this expertise, but the board members don't know I have that. 00:17:08.578 --> 00:17:15.302 - I need to first have those conversations and I understand there are different rules about what conversations 00:17:15.302 --> 00:17:21.471 - you can have outside of public board meetings, but having those one-on-one conversations with board 00:17:21.471 --> 00:17:27.702 - members to just talk about my experience, what I'm seeing from my perspective in Bloomington because 00:17:27.702 --> 00:17:33.871 - everybody has a limited perspective. We all have these blinders on. My day job is to take off those 00:17:33.871 --> 00:17:37.758 - blinders and see other people's perspectives and so hopefully, 00:17:37.954 --> 00:17:45.847 - that can promote some good natured conversation and then eventually change. But I would like to push 00:17:45.847 --> 00:17:53.897 - BT at least somewhat away from scaling up microtransit and how I do that, again, I need people to work 00:17:53.897 --> 00:18:01.791 - with me. I don't know who that is, but it is about all in all, it's about building relationships and 00:18:01.791 --> 00:18:06.558 - then providing the evidence behind it. Again, I talked about 00:18:06.786 --> 00:18:13.160 - There are cities that have done this. Let's show them what cities have tried to do this, what's worked, 00:18:13.160 --> 00:18:19.350 - what's not worked, because I don't want to reinvent the wheel here. Transit is not new. I don't need 00:18:19.350 --> 00:18:25.479 - Bloomington to be innovative. I want us to look at the other cities that have either done something 00:18:25.479 --> 00:18:30.014 - right or done something wrong, and we can learn from that and go forward. 00:18:34.754 --> 00:18:42.544 - When you think about, and so sort of pulling the thread on a couple of comments, there are a lot of 00:18:42.544 --> 00:18:50.802 - different needs. So I wholeheartedly hear the argument that you focus first on where there's most demand, 00:18:50.802 --> 00:18:59.059 - right? But then you also noted that there are certain things that we have to do because there are diverse 00:18:59.059 --> 00:19:03.422 - needs. And so I'd love to elaborate a bit more on that. 00:19:04.066 --> 00:19:13.482 - How do we deal with this tension between where we get the most bang for our buck, if you will, versus 00:19:13.482 --> 00:19:22.990 - having a public service that meets the variety of public needs that exist? Yeah. I don't know if there 00:19:22.990 --> 00:19:32.590 - is a clear answer to that question. I'll be honest. It is a tough, tough balance in where to prioritize 00:19:32.590 --> 00:19:33.790 - your limited 00:19:33.986 --> 00:19:42.026 - funds and resources in a transportation authority, right? I don't know if I have much more than that 00:19:42.026 --> 00:19:50.304 - because it all comes down to listening to the community. That is what we as staff members, as officials 00:19:50.304 --> 00:19:58.264 - should be doing is listening to our community, but also using data to drive our decisions. Where is 00:19:58.264 --> 00:20:03.518 - the most bang for our buck? But also knowing that there is nuance 00:20:03.778 --> 00:20:10.537 - in what we do, that there should be these availability of different needs, but maybe we don't need to 00:20:10.537 --> 00:20:17.363 - scale it as big as we think we need to scale it. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Excellent. Thank you. I'm sorry. I'm 00:20:17.363 --> 00:20:24.122 - in a coffee shop, and they're grinding a bunch of things. Do you guys hear that? We can't hear it. We 00:20:24.122 --> 00:20:30.815 - can't hear it at all. Oh, good. OK. Because I'm like, this is going to go on a while. This just made 00:20:30.815 --> 00:20:33.598 - me want to circle back to the partnership 00:20:33.730 --> 00:20:42.145 - And I think as race director and like spending a lot of time at IU, like what do you think the future 00:20:42.145 --> 00:20:50.396 - looks like for like IU and BT? Right, anything kind of like your ideal situation or where you think 00:20:50.396 --> 00:20:58.894 - it like actually pragmatically might go if anywhere? One long-term goal I have for Bloomington Transit 00:20:58.894 --> 00:21:01.534 - is to merge with IU campus bus. 00:21:02.434 --> 00:21:09.525 - We have seen other college towns do that. Chapel Hill and a UNC bus did it. I think Kalamazoo and Central 00:21:09.525 --> 00:21:16.215 - Michigan did it recently. There's another one I'm thinking about too, but there has been this trend 00:21:16.215 --> 00:21:23.106 - of campus bus systems and city bus systems merging into one. One, because it's more efficient overall. 00:21:23.106 --> 00:21:30.398 - You have one umbrella, one organization making the transit system work. But two, and maybe more importantly, 00:21:30.882 --> 00:21:38.337 - You get more federal dollars. Transit authorities receive federal money based on ridership. And right 00:21:38.337 --> 00:21:46.011 - now, Bloomington Transit's ridership is X amount of riders, right? IU Campus Bus's ridership is X amount 00:21:46.011 --> 00:21:53.758 - of riders. Because Bloomington Transit cannot use those IU Campus Bus ridership in their total ridership, 00:21:53.758 --> 00:21:59.678 - they are not getting their, I'll put it in quotes, warranted federal funding for 00:21:59.970 --> 00:22:07.510 - buses for property, for BRT, whatever they want to spend it on. And so you see these other cities that 00:22:07.510 --> 00:22:15.050 - have combined their ridership upticks by X percent and they are able to get more federal funds. That's 00:22:15.050 --> 00:22:22.517 - the goal here. And I absolutely understand. IU has been approached with this before and they have not 00:22:22.517 --> 00:22:27.422 - been interested because they like control of their own bus system. 00:22:27.842 --> 00:22:35.667 - And so I don't know how that works in terms of creating that partnership to merge bus systems into one. 00:22:35.667 --> 00:22:43.492 - And maybe that's more on city council and the mayor and elected officials than board members, but there 00:22:43.492 --> 00:22:50.715 - could be a genuine citywide push to do that, create some pressure in some way, because it would 00:22:50.715 --> 00:22:56.734 - wholeheartedly benefit our community if these two bus systems combine into one. 00:22:59.874 --> 00:23:11.212 - Why do you think IU wants control? Why does IU want to retain control over its buses? That's a good 00:23:11.212 --> 00:23:23.343 - question. IU, and not just within transportation and transit, but they like to keep, whether it's property 00:23:23.343 --> 00:23:27.198 - or whether it's street ownership, 00:23:28.258 --> 00:23:35.946 - They like to have it, I think, for that, the lack of variability, maybe, that they can choose what to 00:23:35.946 --> 00:23:43.484 - do long term, and they can make those choices. They don't have to answer to anyone else. Where they 00:23:43.484 --> 00:23:51.172 - are the state, we are the city, and there is a bit of a, I think maybe, I don't know what to call it, 00:23:51.172 --> 00:23:57.278 - but there is definitely two partnerships, or two entities talking to each other. 00:23:57.378 --> 00:24:06.865 - but they don't necessarily have to answer to the city in some respects, and this is just one of them. 00:24:06.865 --> 00:24:16.165 - Awesome. Go on down to the bottom. This was mentioned earlier is bundled with another question, but 00:24:16.165 --> 00:24:25.838 - I'm going to bring it out more directly about the economic development-lit supplementation to BT, which 00:24:25.838 --> 00:24:27.326 - has gone on for 00:24:27.458 --> 00:24:34.343 - Five years, maybe four or five years, and this is technically the last year of it. And so what are your 00:24:34.343 --> 00:24:40.963 - views on what happens next with regard to that kind of like funding challenge and upcoming changes? 00:24:40.963 --> 00:24:47.715 - You know, they have a new management center coming on or right now or new management company. They're 00:24:47.715 --> 00:24:51.422 - working on building that new center on profile Parkway. 00:24:52.738 --> 00:25:00.351 - What is, just talk about those kinds of changes. You said you've been watching meetings. So I'm assuming 00:25:00.351 --> 00:25:07.673 - that you're at least a little in the know about some of these changes that are upcoming. So in terms 00:25:07.673 --> 00:25:14.923 - of the new property on Profile Parkway, I'm aware that they've been applying for federal grants for 00:25:14.923 --> 00:25:19.998 - that property and the new bus stations out there. And that is, again, 00:25:21.602 --> 00:25:28.667 - That's about what a 30 to $50 million project. And we're talking about what three and three and a half 00:25:28.667 --> 00:25:35.801 - million dollars, I think is what you said. So that is not even really a dent into that. And so it could 00:25:35.801 --> 00:25:43.072 - go to something there, but it could, we could also wait on that until BT receives a federal grant. Again, 00:25:43.072 --> 00:25:50.068 - that's an if, but usually they do receive federal funds in some way or another. And these funds could 00:25:50.068 --> 00:25:51.166 - go to improving 00:25:51.746 --> 00:25:58.686 - fixed routes in some way or another. That could be implementing shelters and accessible bus pads on 00:25:58.686 --> 00:26:05.695 - all fixed route stops. That could be buying new electric buses because it's in the strategic plan to 00:26:05.695 --> 00:26:12.705 - go zero emissions. And I think BTs may be about, oh, I'm going to get this number wrong, maybe about 00:26:12.705 --> 00:26:19.645 - 40% of the way there, 30% of the way there. They are making progress, but it's a slow progress. And 00:26:19.645 --> 00:26:20.894 - so they could buy 00:26:21.250 --> 00:26:28.247 - two to three buses with that money. Really, I'm not going to prescribe solutions when I don't know all 00:26:28.247 --> 00:26:35.313 - of the options that staff have talked about because staff are the ones who are more knowledgeable about 00:26:35.313 --> 00:26:42.514 - this than anyone else. So I'd like to talk to staff before I prescribe solutions, but anything to improve 00:26:42.514 --> 00:26:49.443 - fixed routes would be preferable to me unless there are meaningful small purchases they can make with 00:26:49.443 --> 00:26:51.006 - that new headquarters. 00:26:57.122 --> 00:27:07.151 - Hey, did you have another question? Not right this second, actually. I'm good. Excellent. Is there anything 00:27:07.151 --> 00:27:16.530 - that we haven't asked you that you feel like we should ask you? Nope. Or anything else you'd like to 00:27:16.530 --> 00:27:19.966 - tell us? No, I think I'm good to go. 00:27:20.354 --> 00:27:26.760 - Excellent. Excellent. Thank you so much for, it's funny because the screens over here and the things 00:27:26.760 --> 00:27:33.103 - over here. So I am looking at you. Thank you so much for just all your service to the city and your 00:27:33.103 --> 00:27:39.509 - interest, obviously in being on this commission and wonderful ideas and energy towards this. Just so 00:27:39.509 --> 00:27:46.169 - very grateful for your time, Hank, and for everything you do. For sure. Hey, thank you all. I appreciate 00:27:46.169 --> 00:27:49.214 - it. Thank you. Talk soon. Thank you. Bye. Okay. 00:27:50.146 --> 00:27:59.669 - Great. So before we get thoughts, just a logistics question, are we going to do the fourth interview? 00:27:59.669 --> 00:28:09.286 - I don't remember who the fourth interview is anymore. It's Perry Mall. Excuse me, Perry Mall. He's out 00:28:09.286 --> 00:28:18.622 - of town this week and wanted to check availability for the week of next week, the week in the 17th. 00:28:19.234 --> 00:28:26.690 - You also have another application that just came through last night. Oh. It's Sharon Baker. Let's see. 00:28:26.690 --> 00:28:33.929 - So yeah, so what are thoughts about the more interviews? To be honest, I'm the one who said that we 00:28:33.929 --> 00:28:41.240 - should just interview all of them. I'm not really regretting that right now, because now what I hear 00:28:41.240 --> 00:28:46.814 - so far is that we have three good candidates. And I'm like, oh my god. Yeah. 00:28:47.682 --> 00:28:56.713 - I don't think we need to at least add anyone new to the pool that wasn't there before we started this 00:28:56.713 --> 00:29:05.656 - process. I think that's okay to say kind of, you know, we have four to consider. I think two, we can 00:29:05.656 --> 00:29:15.838 - consider the fourth whether or not we interview. There's the pretty in-depth application. I'm okay doing whatever. 00:29:18.754 --> 00:29:27.133 - And I remain, I think, in the same position, which is I feel very comfortable with all of these applicants. 00:29:27.133 --> 00:29:34.970 - I have some thoughts that might distinguish them slightly, depending on what we want to achieve. But 00:29:34.970 --> 00:29:42.883 - I would feel comfortable. And to your point, Kate, I also feel comfortable with the information given 00:29:42.883 --> 00:29:46.142 - to consider our fourth candidate as well. 00:29:47.362 --> 00:29:54.820 - Okay, well, so let's see what, what were, what were, what were your maybe first, we hear general thoughts 00:29:54.820 --> 00:30:01.855 - that they were all great, but what were, what were your maybe more specific thoughts first, Kate? I 00:30:01.855 --> 00:30:09.032 - think this is hard. I think they are all three pretty rock star candidates that bring three different 00:30:09.032 --> 00:30:14.238 - things that I would love on the board to the board. I think Kent has the, 00:30:15.106 --> 00:30:25.811 - Institutional knowledge, which is very useful. I think that has the ability to wrangle data and present 00:30:25.811 --> 00:30:36.414 - it very quickly. And I think has community perspectives. I think they're all great. What do you think? 00:30:39.906 --> 00:30:46.114 - Probably very similar in terms of all three of them being good at bringing slightly different things 00:30:46.114 --> 00:30:46.974 - to the board. 00:30:47.042 --> 00:30:52.944 - that could all be good things in terms of the candidate for next week. I'm just looking at applications 00:30:52.944 --> 00:30:58.677 - and remembering, yeah, this was another person who's similar to Kent, has had a lot of experience in 00:30:58.677 --> 00:31:04.409 - the field. I remember at the time going, would they be really similar? Because one of the things I'm 00:31:04.409 --> 00:31:10.084 - thinking about is this vote next Tuesday and Kent's words of like, depending on where that goes, we 00:31:10.084 --> 00:31:15.816 - may or may not be interested. I don't necessarily want to make a decision today because I do want to 00:31:15.816 --> 00:31:17.008 - see where that goes. 00:31:17.008 --> 00:31:28.407 - to see if one of our candidates takes themselves out of the pool. I also am interested in that question 00:31:28.407 --> 00:31:39.806 - of a five-member board versus a seven-member board and what the two of you think about that in terms of 00:31:41.378 --> 00:31:47.494 - Initial thoughts of that before I take that to the committee on council processes, because that could 00:31:47.494 --> 00:31:53.549 - be another piece. I know that we don't necessarily and I respect that. I can't remember which one of 00:31:53.549 --> 00:31:59.845 - you said it anymore. Not wanting to bring in another applicant from last night. But when I look at their 00:31:59.845 --> 00:32:03.742 - application, they're a regular access user. And so that also is. 00:32:03.842 --> 00:32:10.813 - potentially a relevant perspective and one that we talked about during one of the interviews yesterday 00:32:10.813 --> 00:32:17.040 - in terms of, it was Kent, I believe, in terms of a user with disabilities and a user of our 00:32:17.040 --> 00:32:23.876 - public transportation system. So just wanting to hear a little bit of what you guys think about that 00:32:23.876 --> 00:32:30.983 - seven versus five in terms of moving forward into the future and then maybe setting a meeting next week, 00:32:30.983 --> 00:32:33.758 - no matter what, maybe to interview Perry 00:32:34.306 --> 00:32:42.837 - as another one, and maybe just to be able to discuss the three that we have. Yeah. So I'm thinking first 00:32:42.837 --> 00:32:51.043 - on the question of seven versus five. I mean, I'll tell you that during the interview yesterday with 00:32:51.043 --> 00:32:59.411 - Kent, had we given hot reflections, right after the interview, I would have been like, okay, we should 00:32:59.411 --> 00:33:04.286 - increase this to seven, particularly because I was enjoying 00:33:04.546 --> 00:33:13.458 - the triangulation of them on sort of known problems, but new approaches to those problems. And so, but 00:33:13.458 --> 00:33:22.370 - of course, I think that the logistical difficulties associated with having a seven member board versus 00:33:22.370 --> 00:33:30.590 - a five member board, I think are something that we already had identified, but I don't know if 00:33:31.010 --> 00:33:39.450 - if this added value is enough to overcome the significant pain points that having seven people is likely 00:33:39.450 --> 00:33:47.487 - to cause. That being said, I think that I enjoyed, so first I sort of would put Hank and I like you 00:33:47.487 --> 00:33:55.525 - will say, I think across the three candidates so far, I think they all had a consistent view of the 00:33:55.525 --> 00:33:57.374 - problems. I think that 00:33:57.506 --> 00:34:03.622 - They just sort of were coming at it from different angles, which was really interesting to see. I don't 00:34:03.622 --> 00:34:09.679 - think they disagreed on the direction that we need to go in with BT. I think, though, that Hank viewed 00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:16.030 - it through the lens of the interface with the city, which I thought was interesting in other city programs. 00:34:16.290 --> 00:34:22.761 - That is a huge advantage to me. Where you started thinking about, we're doing all these other things 00:34:22.761 --> 00:34:29.168 - and how do we make sure that these things are being leveraged and aligned with what's going on with 00:34:29.168 --> 00:34:35.638 - BT, I think was a really good perspective. Now, other people like the city liaison can be presenting 00:34:35.638 --> 00:34:42.237 - that as well, but I just think that Hank is in a very good position to do that. Now, on the other hand 00:34:42.237 --> 00:34:42.942 - with Hank, 00:34:43.618 --> 00:34:49.878 - When asked the question about IU, I think that this is something that was telling about Kent and his 00:34:49.878 --> 00:34:50.622 - experience. 00:34:50.690 --> 00:34:56.232 - Kent understood having led IU transit for so long, and he said the exact same thing. He was like, 00:34:56.232 --> 00:35:01.886 - we need to, you know, merging would be a good idea. We'd make more money, et cetera, et cetera. But 00:35:01.886 --> 00:35:07.541 - then his perspective was, yes, but the things that we need to address are state issues, and we need 00:35:07.541 --> 00:35:13.535 - to address the fact that IU doesn't feel like we're going to deal with their students well. And actually, 00:35:13.535 --> 00:35:14.270 - that answer, 00:35:14.466 --> 00:35:19.940 - When and that's why I asked the question of Hank I was like, why do you think that is right in my he 00:35:19.940 --> 00:35:25.685 - didn't have the institutional awareness of what is the pain point if this is what we're trying to address 00:35:25.685 --> 00:35:30.238 - and so like if that was actually a direction we were trying to go in which of them. 00:35:30.498 --> 00:35:37.481 - Is better position to sort of help make progress in that position, maybe as can and then I think just 00:35:37.481 --> 00:35:44.670 - that generally his approach. I think that he he broke down very clearly, you know, with like three clear 00:35:44.770 --> 00:35:51.806 - points about like how he thinks about transit and how all decisions need to go through those lenses, 00:35:51.806 --> 00:35:58.841 - which I think the others echoed, but I just think he had the clearest sense of like, this is how you 00:35:58.841 --> 00:36:05.877 - make decisions about transit and this is what you prioritize. So, I mean, again, I think they're all 00:36:05.877 --> 00:36:12.843 - good. I might give a little bit of an edge to Zach. I think that only because I would have given it 00:36:12.843 --> 00:36:14.654 - to Kent, but I think that 00:36:15.042 --> 00:36:21.419 - My only, you know, obviously, as much as I hope that we're able to figure out some way to pull back 00:36:21.419 --> 00:36:28.115 - the contract signing, I don't know the likelihood or viability of that. And so, I mean, he's made fairly 00:36:28.115 --> 00:36:34.555 - clear that if we go with the new company, that he's not going to be on board. So, I mean, so maybe a 00:36:34.555 --> 00:36:41.060 - moot point, right? But assuming that that happened, that might have, you know, like 0.05 advantage to 00:36:41.060 --> 00:36:42.590 - him over the other two. 00:36:45.794 --> 00:36:53.669 - Um, thank you. That's really good. That's great to hear all that stuff. I think, um, to just like the 00:36:53.669 --> 00:37:01.389 - point of five or seven, why does my screen? It's like zooming in on me. I'm not doing anything. Um, 00:37:01.389 --> 00:37:09.264 - I, first I would wonder, I think for quorum issues, it's not that it doesn't change that much because 00:37:09.264 --> 00:37:15.518 - it's just one more person who has to be there out of two. I think it's okay. Um, 00:37:16.066 --> 00:37:24.548 - I do wonder if we're just not getting enough array of expertise with five. It just feels very hard that 00:37:24.548 --> 00:37:33.029 - I think there are skill sets that are missing on the five. I'm going to come back to that. But I think, 00:37:33.029 --> 00:37:41.511 - too, I would want to know, is it mayoral or is it council appointment? Because we don't know where the, 00:37:41.511 --> 00:37:43.550 - would it be one of each? 00:37:43.970 --> 00:37:50.704 - Yeah, one of each. I actually know that the state logic that it would be four mayoral appointments and 00:37:50.704 --> 00:37:57.308 - three council appointments right now. It's three mayoral and two council. And then it would still be 00:37:57.308 --> 00:38:03.977 - the one political party's orientation, one fewer. So we would need probably another Democrat. We need 00:38:03.977 --> 00:38:10.581 - one Democrat, one Republican, or one independent. Right. It could be a very interesting makeup then. 00:38:10.581 --> 00:38:12.542 - You could have a libertarian. 00:38:13.026 --> 00:38:20.161 - You could only ever have three Democrats potentially, and then like a Green Party, a Libertarian, and 00:38:20.161 --> 00:38:27.507 - it would be, it could potentially be very different, I guess. I do wonder about the skill sets, because, 00:38:27.507 --> 00:38:34.992 - right, I think, and I think, Hopi, I'm on your page that maybe we wait until after they have their meeting 00:38:34.992 --> 00:38:37.790 - on the third Tuesday, which is Tuesday. 00:38:38.018 --> 00:38:46.283 - just to see where Kent is. I think it is great that he's just honest with us, and I understand what 00:38:46.283 --> 00:38:54.547 - he's saying there. I think, too, I think about what I actually want on the board versus someone who 00:38:54.547 --> 00:39:02.895 - can weigh in on the board. So I think Hank's community perspective is very good. I think, too, he is 00:39:02.895 --> 00:39:06.366 - in an interesting position and a valuable 00:39:06.626 --> 00:39:14.522 - valuable position to BT that he works for the city. So he could be going to the meeting sometimes, like 00:39:14.522 --> 00:39:22.266 - they could have him as a guest, right? To like weigh in on things and wouldn't necessarily have to be 00:39:22.266 --> 00:39:30.010 - part of the board for that. I think Zach's ability to seriously like gather historical data and like, 00:39:30.010 --> 00:39:34.110 - I mean, the stuff he brought into us, you know, like, 00:39:34.274 --> 00:39:40.715 - Oh, I was looking at ridership over the years and this happened and that happened and this route went 00:39:40.715 --> 00:39:47.094 - away. And I was like pretty blown away I think by that. And that I think sometimes what I want to on 00:39:47.094 --> 00:39:53.598 - city council is someone who can kind of more objectively present something to me than like potentially 00:39:53.598 --> 00:40:00.734 - the administration or a council sponsor of an ordinance, right? And I think he would bring that. I mean, I just, 00:40:01.122 --> 00:40:09.112 - So I think in terms of these three, I lean probably like they're also very close, but like that can 00:40:09.112 --> 00:40:17.262 - tank. And I think too about having someone on the board who uses BT access. I again think about like, 00:40:17.262 --> 00:40:25.252 - I do like to have other people's perspectives, but I also think like a governing board member needs 00:40:25.252 --> 00:40:30.526 - to bring more for me than like just their transit experience. So, 00:40:31.010 --> 00:40:39.697 - Um, right. Like I, because I think we can get transit experience through like surveys or interviews. 00:40:39.697 --> 00:40:48.383 - Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I, one, one thought, and I asked this question, I probably, I didn't do a good 00:40:48.383 --> 00:40:56.984 - enough job of bringing this question up on the other two sides, but I did ask this question of Zach 00:40:56.984 --> 00:41:00.510 - and this was the one, um, I think minor, 00:41:00.642 --> 00:41:11.139 - minor weakness, pain point, I don't know. And I think that Hank maybe alluded to this, but in a different 00:41:11.139 --> 00:41:21.239 - way, which was like, yes, loving the position, loving the view, how do you use this position on BT to 00:41:21.239 --> 00:41:29.854 - affect that type, like the theory of change, I guess, right? It's like what, you know, 00:41:30.050 --> 00:41:40.103 - what does having you on this board mean for those outcomes and that clear connection? It may be something 00:41:40.103 --> 00:41:49.778 - that we need to do a little bit more thinking about so that whoever we appoint, that we can also give 00:41:49.778 --> 00:41:59.262 - them. And I think that actually this vote that Dr. Obermeyer sort of helped us identify illustrated 00:41:59.554 --> 00:42:03.102 - the need to give institutional 00:42:03.426 --> 00:42:07.943 - like strength, right, to the people on the board, because I think, you know, as it happens with council 00:42:07.943 --> 00:42:12.416 - as well, like we're in this situation a lot where like, where there's a thing we're allowed to do, but 00:42:12.416 --> 00:42:16.802 - we don't know how to do it, you know, and it's always late until you know what I'm saying. And so we 00:42:16.802 --> 00:42:21.232 - might at our next meeting, regardless of who we appoint, like think about having another meeting with 00:42:21.232 --> 00:42:25.705 - them so we can think through and maybe have like Larry, there are some things we can like talk through 00:42:25.705 --> 00:42:30.135 - about, okay, these are the type of things that can be achieved with this board. These are the type of 00:42:30.135 --> 00:42:33.392 - levers that you have. This is how you might approach these type of things. 00:42:33.392 --> 00:42:40.037 - And for that matter, we should meet with both or all three of our council appointees and talk through 00:42:40.037 --> 00:42:46.422 - some of those things a little bit. Is it three, two, that was three? Oh, okay, deal around, yeah. 00:42:46.422 --> 00:42:52.937 - So yeah. But anyway, so just adding that for the... We have three. Yeah, we have three. It's three, 00:42:52.937 --> 00:42:59.582 - two. I thought the mayor had three. No, it's us. We have three. I think we have Doug, Nancy and Kent. 00:43:00.162 --> 00:43:07.939 - Dog is one of ours, right? Yeah, okay. So that's I mean, just for just for just a thought about, 00:43:07.939 --> 00:43:16.277 - you know, like for aside from this exercise we're doing now, we should just chat with our board members 00:43:16.277 --> 00:43:24.375 - and get to know them a little better outside of this process. Do you all what do you all think about 00:43:24.375 --> 00:43:27.582 - just holding off until later next week? 00:43:29.986 --> 00:43:36.340 - I would like to do that personally. Yeah. I'm okay waiting because I think we should do the fourth interview. 00:43:36.340 --> 00:43:42.233 - We invited the person. I think it's, you know, we so. Yeah. As much as I'd be happy to appoint any of 00:43:42.233 --> 00:43:48.067 - these and the fact though that, you know, it's not, we're not going to face a quorum issue. Kenza is 00:43:48.067 --> 00:43:53.960 - going to be there for this Tuesday. Um, you know, so, so I think it's the only caveat is I'm not here 00:43:53.960 --> 00:43:59.390 - next week. So, um, so I'll be back. Let me see. Yeah, I think I'm in town all week next week. 00:44:00.578 --> 00:44:07.692 - Are you, can you zoom in, Isak or no? It's going to be very difficult to do that. Just zoom in in the 00:44:07.692 --> 00:44:14.666 - middle of the night. Oh, you're far away. Okay. Um, I mean, we do. Here's the thing. Kent is on the 00:44:14.666 --> 00:44:20.734 - board for 90 days. He is one of our top candidates in a way. It's not an extreme rush. 00:44:20.834 --> 00:44:25.161 - I think we would want to, oh, that's what you were saying. I think we would just want to appoint someone 00:44:25.161 --> 00:44:29.446 - by the next. We could actually appoint anybody until our September meeting anyway because we don't have 00:44:29.446 --> 00:44:32.990 - another regular council session until September. What I was going to say though is... 00:44:33.346 --> 00:44:39.208 - So it's not a limitation. I just, I just didn't like, because I am comfortable with all three of these 00:44:39.208 --> 00:44:44.898 - candidates. I'm comfortable on paper with Paul as well. If, if, if you all at the next meeting feel 00:44:44.898 --> 00:44:51.101 - so that we don't have to have a third meeting for all of us to deliberate about, like, I am very comfortable 00:44:51.101 --> 00:44:56.849 - with any one of these appointments. So like, I like appointments, you know, so, so like, yeah, sure. 00:44:56.849 --> 00:45:03.166 - Only if Hopi and I disagree then would you have to be in a meeting or also this is going to council. So we can 00:45:03.554 --> 00:45:10.350 - present it all to council and do a vote there as well, I think. Yeah. And what we could do then for 00:45:10.350 --> 00:45:17.486 - efficiency, I can watch the meeting, right? Yeah. And then just add a regular session during our regular 00:45:17.486 --> 00:45:24.555 - session. So Hopi and I will be in person to interview the fourth candidate, and then we can either make 00:45:24.555 --> 00:45:31.759 - a decision there or not. Yeah. And I think even if we don't disagree, I think that because the candidates 00:45:31.759 --> 00:45:33.118 - are really similar, 00:45:33.218 --> 00:45:40.897 - that your insight could be valuable anyway. I guess maybe I'm just feeling especially waffly today, 00:45:40.897 --> 00:45:48.806 - but I think that it's because all three of them are so good. They're good, exactly. I mean, think too, 00:45:48.806 --> 00:45:56.254 - they'll help you that this is just a recommendation. We can come to council with, we can present 00:45:56.802 --> 00:46:03.357 - what we have gone through here and have counsel decide as well. Like we don't have to have 00:46:03.357 --> 00:46:10.704 - a firm recommendation. Might I also say, so a thought is, oh, two thoughts. One is to check political 00:46:10.704 --> 00:46:17.979 - affiliation of the people who've applied because there's a possibility in which one of these few was 00:46:17.979 --> 00:46:25.253 - independent and or a Republican. I mean, unlike they'd be independent, but could be a Republican. If 00:46:25.253 --> 00:46:26.622 - we had two people, 00:46:26.946 --> 00:46:34.940 - All right, a Republican and a Democrat. Now the idea of expanding to seven makes sense. So I would be 00:46:34.940 --> 00:46:43.012 - I would be in favor of expanding if we had a candidate ready to go. Right. So so a different political 00:46:43.012 --> 00:46:51.006 - party. Exactly. Exactly. So so like if we if we had so, you know, if we had a Republican ready to go, 00:46:51.138 --> 00:46:57.358 - then I would say we should do the work of expanding. And then we essentially then would be appointing 00:46:57.358 --> 00:47:03.516 - two more people with a recommendation to the mayor. If we have, here's great people, here's one more 00:47:03.516 --> 00:47:09.614 - person you could appoint, just as an example. But we would be in an amazing position just imagining 00:47:09.614 --> 00:47:15.102 - that one of these people who has applied, including the person who just applied, would be 00:47:15.330 --> 00:47:20.435 - You know, it could be a Republican, in which case you already have three candidates, right? You know? 00:47:20.435 --> 00:47:25.441 - Or an independent, honestly, or a libertarian. But I mean, I think it's harder sometimes to show to 00:47:25.441 --> 00:47:30.496 - be independent in Indiana because that locks you out of all primaries. But I mean, I know when I was 00:47:30.496 --> 00:47:35.551 - door knocking, there were some people that said, yeah, I'm an independent, so I vote in primary. But 00:47:35.551 --> 00:47:40.707 - to be an independent, you either don't vote in the primaries or you can change who you vote for in the 00:47:40.707 --> 00:47:43.710 - primaries. Right. So you can all vote because primaries are 00:47:43.810 --> 00:47:48.307 - But I'm saying, if somebody has voted, could a person have voted, let's say they voted Democrat, then 00:47:48.307 --> 00:47:52.804 - Republican, Democrat, then Republican, does that make them an independent? Like the way that you look 00:47:52.804 --> 00:47:57.213 - at primaries, it's two primaries. I think we've looked at this before, and I think it has to be two 00:47:57.213 --> 00:48:01.886 - of the same consecutive ballots in your primary. Okay, but then how do you become an independent, Deanna? 00:48:02.722 --> 00:48:10.164 - Well, that's a good question. So would it not be that if you, over a period of four years, voted Democrat, 00:48:10.164 --> 00:48:17.397 - the Republican, Democrat, the Republican, or something like that? We'd have to check with legal on that 00:48:17.397 --> 00:48:24.631 - one, because we've not ran into that issue. And does not voting at all mean one is an independent? That 00:48:24.631 --> 00:48:30.334 - also seems like a cognitive leap now. Yeah, that's a good, I think it's basically 00:48:31.042 --> 00:48:44.720 - It's just an olive boy also is. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Is this board within the city limits requirements? 00:48:44.720 --> 00:48:58.004 - Yeah, yes. Let's ask Larry or maybe about the, how are you an independent? Um, I, I know. I think, I 00:48:58.004 --> 00:48:59.582 - don't know. 00:49:00.130 --> 00:49:07.462 - I don't wanna talk about it right there, I think. I think there could be some candidates down the pipeline 00:49:07.462 --> 00:49:14.382 - to look at. And I almost still wonder, I mean, this doesn't have to be decided now, of course, about 00:49:14.382 --> 00:49:21.508 - the member board. I would wanna talk to the manager to see what they would think of it. And then, yeah, 00:49:21.508 --> 00:49:23.838 - I almost just think we're missing 00:49:25.026 --> 00:49:31.572 - There's missing skill tips that a normal governing board has. Not that the board members are inadequate, 00:49:31.572 --> 00:49:37.870 - it's only because it's a five-person board. It's really hard to get everything in there, I think. So 00:49:37.870 --> 00:49:44.229 - we could also just talk to council about it as well. Yeah, well, I'm going to bring it up in the CCP, 00:49:44.229 --> 00:49:50.526 - the Committee on Council Processes, because that tends to be where all these type two changes start. 00:49:50.690 --> 00:49:56.929 - is to see what they think about it. And I did mention it to Larry yesterday, just in terms of those 00:49:56.929 --> 00:50:03.169 - pros and cons, but also generally, I think one of the things that we also discussed in this session 00:50:03.169 --> 00:50:09.970 - was changing, like updating our Title II stuff around this word anyway, because some of the state guidelines 00:50:09.970 --> 00:50:16.209 - are not in our local guidelines and it's easier to look at our local versus the state stuff. And so 00:50:16.209 --> 00:50:19.454 - even if it just reflects what the state stuff says, 00:50:19.554 --> 00:50:27.000 - it might be easier to have it in our local code, depending on what it is. And so I have that up on my 00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:34.445 - computer. It's kind of on my to-do list to figure out what is our local code relying on, referring to 00:50:34.445 --> 00:50:42.402 - state code? And could we make our local code a little bit clearer and affirm self-responsibility? Especially 00:50:42.402 --> 00:50:49.118 - because we just asked the question, what levers can this work full? And that kind of stuff. 00:50:49.698 --> 00:50:56.720 - Yeah, also that's a I just I have the opposite perspective that I prefer to just refer to state code 00:50:56.720 --> 00:51:03.673 - because it can change. And so I like just a little C state code, you know, exactly. Yeah, I think I 00:51:03.673 --> 00:51:10.695 - think the B square asked the question about posting videos. Yeah, I just responded. I'm not certain. 00:51:10.695 --> 00:51:17.022 - And we've had this issue with cats before. It's like hodgepodge hit or miss as to why they 00:51:17.154 --> 00:51:25.870 - attend some meetings and then don't attend others. I'll get with cats to figure out if today's meeting 00:51:25.870 --> 00:51:34.671 - will also be uploaded and yesterday's, and hopefully we'll see it here on the website soon. They should 00:51:34.671 --> 00:51:43.472 - be a theory. Yes. Yeah. Right. Well, is it okay with you all if I adjourn? I've got to get to an 11.30. 00:51:43.472 --> 00:51:46.942 - Are we not deciding a different time for 00:51:47.842 --> 00:51:57.687 - Yeah, let's. It will definitely be easier to do that. Well, especially next week, Kate, it's really 00:51:57.687 --> 00:52:07.729 - you and I that need to make sure BISOC is 13 hours time difference. So what's good for you, Kate? And 00:52:07.729 --> 00:52:17.278 - it needs to be after Tuesday because that's what that meeting is. Next week, I can do Wednesday. 00:52:18.946 --> 00:52:27.132 - Okay. What time? All day. Okay. Honestly, that's, then I'm out, um, Thursday, Friday, or, it doesn't 00:52:27.132 --> 00:52:35.318 - matter, but I'm out. Okay. And then I could do the 24th. I mean, then I could look at the next week, 00:52:35.318 --> 00:52:43.666 - but that's just like my physical availability in town. Great. Um, Jennifer, what is the clerk schedule 00:52:43.666 --> 00:52:45.854 - like on the Wednesday? Um, 00:52:46.306 --> 00:52:57.034 - Let's see, because then we also like you need to contact. So it seems to be an interview to. I see. 00:52:57.034 --> 00:53:07.976 - Three probably would be the better time if possible. There's quite a few things that are happening in 00:53:07.976 --> 00:53:15.486 - the morning. And then there is a meeting with the PIO officers at one 00:53:16.130 --> 00:53:24.281 - to 215 that day. I could do late afternoon like that as well. So Kate, that would be good for you too, 00:53:24.281 --> 00:53:32.352 - like somewhere between like say three and five. Yeah. Anytime Wednesday is okay. Okay. Okay. So yeah, 00:53:32.352 --> 00:53:40.028 - if you could maybe reach out to- I'll check. Why am I blanking out his name again? Perry. Perry. 00:53:40.028 --> 00:53:45.726 - Perry Mall. Okay. To see if he's available on that Wednesday afternoon. 00:53:46.146 --> 00:53:54.418 - Okay, we can do that in our view and then we can debrief and. Okay, that sounds good. Okay. Yeah, sorry. 00:53:54.418 --> 00:54:02.611 - I forgot I have to leave. I'm not fine. Okay. Thing that I will say really quickly, because I know some 00:54:02.611 --> 00:54:10.725 - of y'all have to go yesterday. Another application just came through from the commission on the status 00:54:10.725 --> 00:54:13.246 - of black males to do the cloud. 00:54:13.346 --> 00:54:21.748 - Resigned originally and so, um, Vivian is a new applicant. I've talked or sent an email to, um, Crystal 00:54:21.748 --> 00:54:29.907 - Ritter, who is the state and civil city director to ask about this one. And she said her and Michael 00:54:29.907 --> 00:54:39.198 - Sharmas met with her to talk about, um, like what she wants to get involved in. And they highly recommend her for. 00:54:39.522 --> 00:54:45.853 - the commission on the status of black males. I just wanted to bring that to your attention. Perhaps 00:54:45.853 --> 00:54:52.564 - we can add that as a discussion item for next week and that will give us time to review that application. 00:54:52.564 --> 00:54:58.895 - I did see that that was advertised. Yes. Maybe there will be other applicants by next week too that 00:54:58.895 --> 00:55:05.415 - we need to consider. Does that sound good to you, Kate? Yes. Does that sound good to you too? I'm very 00:55:05.415 --> 00:55:09.214 - happy with Crystal. I'm happy to support their appointment. 00:55:14.114 --> 00:55:18.878 - Are we ready to adjourn now? Everybody okay? Uh huh, thank you all.