001I'd like to call this meeting the order this is the regular meeting of the North Oakland Transportation Authority or Nota as we lovingly refer to it um this is uh the meeting today is being held at Oxford Township thank you for hosting um today is Thursday February 20th of 2025 with that could we have a roll call please for attendance of the board yes McDonald here flood is Excuse excuse uh brakefield here Curtis here cowsky here Moore here laffle is excused Granger here Ferrari here and verette here okay we do have a quum um with all communties represented which is great did Joe did she did I say Jo you said Ross didn't you were you said Ross Ross but you are yes understood okay um so we do have a quorum and we'll move
002on to um respects for the flag we get a veteran lead us I can do that I Al to the flag of the United States America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and Justice I look say we need to do that okay um the board has before it an agenda of a couple minor uh changes of number 11 legal matters that will not be in closed session um but we will I will comment to the board at that time uh in detail on that and then uh was there anything else L okay that would be it so yes do we have to add Joe Ferrari as a member officially or just because our board the the IG asks for written notifications to not but it's he's
003here we know who he is everybody knows Joe come on both jokes so I'm sorry I don't should be a problem I'm Bill motion to approve the agenda as amended I'll second any question on the motion Qui question why did we remove the the attorney wasn't available or the attorney did not want us to go into close session okay about that I got a question for you if we're going to be talking not in close session but just talking about any issue M should the camera be on or off oh it'll be on it's an open meeting so you can't dictate so it's not going to be closed okay right and respectfully to all the board members um I will be providing uh certain boundaries of what direction the discussion can take and at that
004time okay uh there's a motion a second is there any other if not all in favor of the agenda as amended please say I hi oppos please say no okay the board received the minutes of our January 16th regular meeting are there any questions changes or Corrections otherwise I'll I'll make a motion we approve the minutes or I forgot there any questions on the motion hearing none all in favor of approval of amendes please say I I I post please say no okay uh director's report then yes just some highlights uh from February so our qide we're about seven weeks in on our qide implementation it's um we're up and running we have been working through some um some changes and uh the qde has been making some adjustments for us and we are getting
005better and better um and our staff is learning it so that's been going well L would you kind of for the benefit of those that may not be familiar with qide oh sure just real briefly sure sure qide is our dispatch software that replaced our previous dispatch software PC trans that we've had for years and uh so um we're implementing uh the good thing with qide is it has um an optimization feature which which helps uh place the rides in into routes versus us just being completely manual like we were before so it's just their optimization doesn't meet our standards they runed to group a bunch of people at once and we just don't run that way we're much more customer service based and so we've been tweaking with them on what our um our
006idea of services and working with their system and they've been um adjusting it which has been good we also implemented the tablets we had them all installed the first week in February and um and there like five or six of them that got installed like last weekend so I believe all of them are installed now had a few issues with them but I think drivers are slowly learning them they're they're still using paper and tablet as a backup but slowly uh we're weaning them off the paper and hopefully to go um completely tablet uh within the next couple of weeks um and 's see January is a really busy month uh for writing grants I wrote six grants both operational and um Capital uh the operational grants were like 2.2 million Capital grants were 1.5
007million uh to write for uh nine vehicle Replacements and also uh for garage equipment for a back garage after we get it fixed up and we have started our fitness for duties exams so those are being implemented as drivers have time during the day so we're sending them out if they have a break or if they've got a block of time so we're just trying to send out um drivers as as we go so that's been going well and the intergovernmental agreements have been sent out to our attorney but we have not yet received that back from him yet there's so that is in his hands uh we did have our we we currently have Comcast internet and now that we're 100% cloud-based versus just on our Network we have a generator so we have
008electricity so before when we were in PC trans we were using our n our our server uh for our data but now that we're cloud-based um Our IT guy suggest that we have a backup internet connection because both of our phones and our um dispatch software is now as clown based So He suggests doing a 5G internet connection and we're getting prices for that right now question on that don't I know we had Comcast came through up that area couple years ago wasn't charer already there could you use them as backup we could we're getting uh quotes on different providers and whatnot so to see which one is the best M we did have a surprise ocean inspection um yes first part of February and um and he came back we had a meeting with
009them on the 14th of February that said that they identified one serious violation and some other citations the official report should be um expected in about 3 weeks and uh it looks like there may be fines up to um um yeah 7,000 is a maximum but I think with discounts and whatnot from our conversations um Jeff who been through through the oosha uh thinks there'll be about 3,000 or so so that's kind of what we're looking at but I'll update you more when we get the extion report will those be refunded if we correct the violations I don't believe so they're generally penalties it's a fine right okay and um and we're looking to launch our vehicle camera RFP smart it's it's a smart procurement um group that actually does the procurement and they are
010saying that it's going to go out in early March it's 100% in their hands on one% but that's what they're and we have uh the most recent drawings from our architect included and thank you do have question move to receive and file the director's report we're not done yet there's a question oh I'm sorry I I thought you were sorry no um going back to the O they offered a pre ins free inspection they would tell you free all the problems you could have you could have a chance to fix them until o gets there what happening uh the operations manager chose not to have them come in he decided not to yes you were weren't aware of that huh no he was I guess part of the problem okay part of the problem Chris
011Chris go ahead it I move to receive and file the report I'll second all in favor of the motion to receive and file the director's report please say I I oppos please say no okay in file um next is opportunity for the public to address the board seeing public can I take this time to just introduce our Sergeant um Sergeant Eric dhy he's our afternoon Sergeant working what 3: to 11 most days yes most days he flexes we're trying to watch our overtime now that the county jammed us so we but I wanted you all to meet Eric because he's in the community all the time and he's not just a handsome face either he's very smart guy well thank you for that CH oh you're welcome um okay so if there's no public comment
012we'll move on to our financial activties um the board has received the financial activity in their packet the informational part of it um and then we also have bills to approve so what's the bill board's pleasure on financial activity i' like to make a motion receive and file the financial activity or we have a motion and second to receive and file the informational activity any questions on the motion hearing none all in favor please say I I oppos please say no [Applause] the approval of bills the board also received the bills in their packet uh total amount is $534,500 are there any questions on the bills to be paid like it says murders our employees uh that Mur side uh def contribution 3% okay that they can we contribute on their behalf we do if
013we match up to 3% okay okay um make a motion to approve the bills to be paid or you notice that the treasurer picks up murders how much is that costing me they not to correct okay um there a motion in second to approve the bills as presented uh can we have a Lo call in please McDonald yes braefield yes Curtis yes chowski yes Moore yes Ranger yes Ferrari yes Mador yes okay Bernett sorry how could okay moving on then to Old business um the first item is intergovernmental agreement Lynn's just going to give us a quick update on well she did actually in her director's report the the proposed new agreement which is going to be significantly modified due to the changes in uh structure as far as financial and just general uh health
014of the organization will be covered so um it'll probably be it may be next month it could be we we're we're way ahead of our timeline to get it passed so we'll try and get it right to do it right the first time so that'll be coming up there any questions or comments on it yeah Mike should we bring this little interg government contract to the next meeting just in case there's changes and you can well I suspect and what I prefer Len is that if we're going to do that we'll Redline it and get a Redline copy to our to all the members prior to the meeting so so that if there are changes you'll see them so this is be expired today no that expires well no this dra line to yeah as
015far as needing it in the future yeah only for reference if if you care to yeah right it's um with what I've done I've sent this agreement along with our open County agreement that we have um and also the agreement with Independence Township so he's trying to mold the three agreements and try to build one for us that makes sense um because we're serving other communities that outside of what was in the original agreement even though they're not part of the not board and whatnot so there's a lot of different changes that need to be made in the oral agreement yes all of our money now comes from Oakland Transit that's correct is agreement really needed I mean should look at a structure that maybe having the three supervisors kind of rule over Nota because
016let's say we say we don't want to do this they can overrule us anyway they have all the assets the other side of the point is is that we tell them what it costs us to do what they want us to do and if they don't want to spend the money then we don't do it um I know I think basically this organization is also interested in preserving our assets and and our reputation being serviced to the public so not saying it couldn't be done that way Joe nobody's brought it forward as something we have any assets anymore we just the building right the building we do have some Vehicles so if Transit buys us out let's say they give Addison a share or a share Oxford a share we wouldn't even own that correct
017but County County wants to be a a like contract out like we're Contracting being contracted by o County to provide the service for these residents it's kind of odd having us own stuff and them own stuff they do not own it they they gave us the money and we own it yeah that's what part of our agreement is is that the vehicles in that that are purchased with their money oh they're not V yes even though the county paid for them yes okay can I get a hand mhm it's got to ask questions to find out yes but they're going to take us over someday guaranteed yeah I mean that's the that's the direction everything's headed with everything they do and Dave Woodward is and then we'll have to figure out with our attorneys how
018much money they owe Ori and Oxford and Addison for all that we put into it and the assets that we own but I gu I I mean I don't guarantee I would bet by the end of this year or next they will have a plan that's a lot shorter than I had anticipated because they have shown no interest in operating uh anything they and but the point is well taken and and insurance is going to be a big issue if if as claims among the contractors increase due to the volumes and the the changes in the organization changes that need to be made and we're certainly in there we've got a couple lawsuits and uh other matters that affect the organization so how do they give you any do they tell I mean I'm assuming
019you go to meetings and stuff with Oakland Transit MH we do and what do they do they give you any no they all that we're being told all the five providers is that we're working together that they're hoping to have they're putting together the next agreement um and they're looking to see how long this next one will be for the five providers and it's going to be between three and five but maybe longer so I I don't foresee I what they're looking at combining is is you know how we are on qide right now they want to have a countywide um dispatch system so that we're all on the same system so um just and now um Nota was first on qride W's next and OPC is going to be coming with month but it's
020going to be temporary because um right now Smart's um looking at a new system once they pick that new system which would be in about a year then we'll all move over to that system so for that maybe that's what you've heard is that we're all going to be on the same system so that we can dispatch across the county and is what the idea is okay and if smarts involved expectations are that it will take longer and cost more than what is projected at this time that's just the way it seems to go it's equipment all of these things that we need in order to operate efficiently I just yeah smart just passed her contract last week well it's going through the process but it was just at the the one committee and it's
021a $44 million contract that's what they yeah I have a friend that sends me a video every single day of him driving by the SMART bus that goes up and down Rochester Road with year old people've never seen a person out yet every day and it's and I digress but uh materials management I think all the northern Oakland County communities had better be prepared for another round of what we went through back in the late 80s with the county with their Solid Waste plans and that inevitably means ground territory somebody's going to be affected by it and I I'm just saying that we have seen and we have felt the impact of the power grab and I don't care if this being recorded or not it's it's I mean they're T I mean they're doing
022they did with dispatch they're doing it with they just did it with police they're doing it next with Equalization and assessing services and I've heard transits on the list and the road commission so um this County Commission chair has a desire to control everything um and he's doing it so we should just be understanding that that's out there potentially and I'm concerned about us protecting our treasure the money that Ori and Oxford and Addison has put into this cuz when they roll us up when they decide to roll us up into one giant organization you know they don't own these assets right and there should be a distribution back to the communities when we all of a sudden start providing you know I'm not saying they're going to get rid of our Hub or anything
023they would probably be smart to keep it but um those assets don't belong to Brandon or Independence or you know we put millions of dollars into this organization over the years so that's all I just want to make sure that we're keeping account and then when the assets start getting muddied you know when they start buying a a bus here and a van there and then all of a sudden you know we own the Bing we own you know so I know that we had these discussions a couple years ago when they started talking about the millages but I just think it's going to happen sooner than later I hope I'm wrong but um well they're I'm sure they're fully capable and prepared to use their eminent domain Powers um that's what they were going
024to do Back in 88 '89 when um Oxford and Addison were threatened with a 900 acre solid was Stone and they doing exactly the same thing they've started these material management meetings at the county and that's the main core of that process is to do what they tried to do 30 years ago so yeah we just have to band together and be smart and and be prepared be prepared exactly exactly and I apologize for digressing um so we'll move on uh as far as the intergovernmental agreement goes thank you for the update L and then uh Nota architectural drawings and budget you'll find these in your packet as well uh go ahead Lynn please yes I I have not received a budget yet and this is um the architect um just sent the drawings last
025the friends last week so this is a what the expected um changes will be I he said he'll have to go up to B we still have to pick a general contractor it has to be through Oakland County so it has to be one of their preferred um General Contractors that has to be on a list and then they have to go out and and and cost it out so I do not have any budget numbers yet but these are the preliminary drawings um why won't they then buy us out of that bill they're not interested in running the um the transit they're just and we've been very forthcoming with them that if if they the assets they need for us to operate the way they want us to they're paying for it so they're
026they've put money into the our facilities already they have agreed to not having no claim on it for reimbursement or whatever and the same will hold true for this as well yes I mean that's part they walk away we still get the Bild yeah I equate it I'm going to finish your basement how many contractors how I equate this and when you go to sell your house the AR better sell it to me m is when I put your basement Steve AER is the architect yeah yeah so he's got to go to County and whatever the preferred providers because it's the procurement process that we have well if there's is there any other comments regarding the drawings or yes what we see a bu all that small print it is I I sent the PDF
027which I can send as PD up okay on the computer yeah yeah you want this one that's a better one why is that the size of it you print it up no you got to have a size printer yeah you need L for a part of the Oakland County um part of what the stipulation was and them paying for part of the building is that we have to follow their procurement process their procurement process is like has to be prevailing wage it has to go through their um contractors it has to be like um approved by their procurement department and we have to go through their procurement we didn't have to do that we used the same architect based off Oakland County our procurement policy says we could bid it out we bid it out
028and got the bids and selected the contractor Oakland County wants you to select the the contractors that they approve right we Str sh for somebody that might be able to come and give you $30,000 less but allows you to get a little dip out of their contractor we had a general contractor um right down the street that we're really happy with our first initial build out but he's not on that list so he can't be part of the process even though he knows the building has helped us for years you know it's unfortunate but that's just part of the we got out of smart we first formed Oda same type of things so so basically what we're doing and if you have any do you guys have any questions on I think we've gone over
029like what we're doing in the building we're just um putting in the drains putting in the exhaust putting in the script system primarily so we'll be open it up um there'll be kind of a drive through wash bay area in the very back it's not going to be an official Car Wash it's going to be basically like a heavy plastic coat so you can pull in and use our power washer that we have and in an area that can be done all year just do it on the cheap basically but we've got it it's a great power washer and because when we we costed out a bus wash it was like $200,000 and it take takes up way too much space for us so um that'll be kind of the back of our area where
030we um the original budget we had to cut it back was putting it into mechanic BAS but um I did write a grant for that so maybe we'll get the garage equipment that might be something we can put in down the line but at least we'll have it ready okay and then we're adding the um office space additional sorry okay any questions or suggestions from the board if none we'll move on then to the business which uh reads board directed not to organization I directed Lynn to place this on our agenda um because this this happened prior to any organizational changes that were eventually evolved and uh you received uh or if you didn't Linds got copies of we received a complaint um Oxford Township resident contacted uh his Township supervisor and several of the
031members of Nota but he didn't have all their emails so you should have received an email from Lynn with the same information but for our purposes today you received it here and I would appreciate it and require that you return that printed information at the end of the meeting after you've had a chance to review it um but Lynn did provide and it was again it was a little late there's a new organizational chart um it also and I appreciate the fact that she took the time to put together the page um [Music] salary the page with uh the uh members who you know who is in what position and what their responsibilities are because frankly we've grown so much in the last two years almost three years that um it was necessary for us
032just to be able to say know who's doing what for us administratively uh and as as you can see I mean it's a huge change from where it was three years ago for sure what is this what's the Ty this is the current is the current that's what Lyn is yeah proposing and the two positions that are um that filled right now are the operations manager and the operations support coordinator that are highlighted in that original one and so we met with our admin team and I'd like to introduce Jeff brisy he um how you doing Jeff yes thank pH is our lead training coordinator he comes from 30 years of experience at upss 38 yeah 38 and um and then also worked at MTA at Mass trans and and so he comes with a
033lot of great knowledge and um has a lot of great ideas on how to um firm up our training program firm up a lot of our policies that we have and um and I'm really excited to have Jeff get involved in that he has a lot of experience with OSHA a great deal so he's going to be able to apply that and uh just happy to have Jeff on board I think he's going to be a great um asset to Nota okay so as part and parallel to that we did have a change in administration uh we had a departure a forc departure of a operations manager and um the so that position has not been eliminated it's just uh open at this point and I think Lynn's plan is to let the organization adjust
034for a little bit before we get seriously try to find a single person that might or might not be needed in that position am I incorrect in that l or yeah we just kind of um reformatted the the chart we met with Emma and Emma's been a workflow manager um very strong player she's she's risen up really quickly in the last few years and has a lot of incredible skills Emma's way overworked right now um she is handling um driver schedule schuling um it's something um the operations manager used to do U but she took that over and it's it's a very timec consuming um on top of doing managing the dispatch she manages a Heartland or Tim keeping what um and she she and she has a lot of great organizational ideas and we
035really need to do is just um lessen her load and um so what we just uh put out an application for is an um dispatch scheduler and admin assistance so we're going to hire looking to hire a full-time person um Monday through Friday to do dispatching of the drivers scheduling of the drivers that's what it is scheduling the drivers because we have 50 routes that we um and we're that's Monday through Friday yes level set us three years ago we had how many drivers 30 like almost 40 and how many buses oh 20 like like today we have something like that today we have how many drivers 93 and how many buses 63 63 and how many dispatchers we had 14 yeah we had two yeah that's that's a hell of a growth substantial in
036a couple of years yes chain command I've not seen before deputy director and administrative a HR manager both gives dispatch scheduler orders of what to do they're having to take orders from both at the same time they're looking at your chart oh yes dispatch takes orders from deputy and administrative somebody's going to he told me to do this or she told me to do this and I not did that are are you referring to the dispatch schedule and admin assist pointing down from Deputy down to dispatch two inputs yes and the reason why is um that person's going to assist both people it's going to assist the deputy director by um taking the driving scheduling off of her and it's going to assist our HR manager Danielle who wants to help with putting in bills
037you know like external help so it's more of an adment assistance so this person will be assisting two people yeah so I mean I like to use the term use deputy director answers to you right but the dispatch scheduler has to answer to the deput director and the administrator I don't know you feel that's okay they're just a helper just helping out with that I mean I think she'll she'll report to the deputy director or he or she sometime in the future when things get better you might drop that Arrow because I can see something happening one day then usually there's like a a dotted L like there's a solid line when it's their direct report and then dotted line when it's a supplemental support that's a good point and maybe dotted line for like
038the um HR because it's really more just helping with um that would be very clear then that's that makes sense I like that thank you and the HR component is a great addition to the organization because we've had to Outsource all of it basically until now so we do have a qualified person to give us some advice on HR Danielle passed her exam so she's know those companies that do this because no is growing so quick if you have an or person come in observe everything I mean should we do a struct I mean it's good that you're the director don't get me wrong but it seems like this is one of the few organization we have a lot of Indians and not enough Chiefs I mean if I'm a driver I'm going to be
039like what's going on here I mean I be thinking' be neat want have or person I come and say just sit with you guys for like two months two three months and say okay how should things all flow so there's not this that like what Ed was saying who's this person answer to this person maybe that person have the or person just sit through everything and say how should we structure this so then it works out better than person ex okay this is my Superior this is his Superior that's her Superior instead of just kind of trying to wing it I'm I look this is winging it you it it could work we're react we had a we did have an ORS not not an approved but we had an an or chart of how
040things ran Joe and recent changes the the explosive growth Etc have kind of forced us to wing it um but if you had a but your Point's well taken look at every job still with L we can board can discuss that but everything we do is predicated on one concept that the county doesn't always agree with us on funding and so we'll have to look at that for the budget item just in terms of protection like I'm seeing this I would never comment on this s concession no and we will we won't you know and by having maybe an or chart you can give it to the attorney to say okay let's have a special close meeting chat on this because this is just an acent waiting to happen well yeah and I was going
041to address that in our next I so we're not ready to act on this tonight right as far as I don't know a new or chart and new job positions we we really need to have a driver scheduler um because Emma's way overworked and we need to hire someone to help with that because right now we have um do we have someone in mind for that position we're interviewing for it inter job description okay internally through indeed no and we have some good candidates actually je is trying to poach what does it pay that's is tell us tell us that we're doing it within our budget yeah so that's that's what I did in this next page is I basically took our current budget and then um I put in the new order chart then
042we had like $90,000 savings with the changes that um um and then it's basically a wash it is and then adding the new positions of the um driver scheduler and admin assistant and a dispatch team lead so it's basically a wash so it's basically just U moving the budget around into a different format so Jeff would basically it's a different title he's training Logistics manager um but he would be kind of the oversight of the drivers initially it would be the drivers would report to um depending on what it is we have Roger for the operations and driver support area um and then we have Richard who does like Fleet and Facilities primarily so if there's a vehicle issue or issue around the the building itself he handles that and then we have um driver
043trainers actually that are just paid when they're out there training so if they're if they're actually they a new hire and send them out to train they paid a higher wage while they're training and so those are there so then we were looking to do a driver team lead and that team lad is um a new position that that position would be assisting Jeff um who was hired to do training um but this person were're looking to have a lot more administrative skills so they can help with writing up standard operating procedures creating training manuals um doing evaluations 30 90 days doing driver assessments doing property assessments you know is this ramp safe for people to for us to go you know is it clear is the is there a tree in the way there's
044a lot of these odd and end things that can take up a lot of time and that's what we're looking for um this position to do so to alleviate so Jeff can Steve be more in the office um oversight of the drivers and being available and what do we pay these folks so what we're looking at this driver team lead it's between 225 and $30 an hour any benefits or anything they get the dispatch scheduler is $25 an hour dispatch team they $25 an hour so any like medical or like that yeah it's full-time positions all through okay yes so the benefits are probably about $5 to $10 an hour or more Mike do we need to make a motion to accept the CH command or just uh raise the hands if you like it
045yeah Chris did you want to follow up at all I mean I I I I think this is and I don't you all know me and I've been on this for for 12 years I I never micromanaged the organization ever but we got some big stuff happening I I think this is um I'll just be honest I'm disappointed we don't have a Clos session to discuss the um issues and it's legitimate I don't get why our attorney's advising us not to that's not that doesn't make any sense to me I mean so I'm work and we only meet once a month and I want I would like to know more and and and um I Lyn knows I have proved everything that's ever come in front of me and advocated for it and Lynn is
046the best operator it's not directed toward ly at all but we we're the board right we're proposing huge changes whether you believe it or not Oakland count when Oakland County looks at this they're going to say we get rid of everything that's the that's what they're going to do that's the that's the that's why we use a sheriff's office we don't need a police chief we don't need a they cut out the top four lines of this including the board of directors right they don't need an executive director they don't need a deputy director they don't need HR cuz they have all that downtown so I'm just nervous about making all these changes and I know I want to give Lynn the tools she needs to be successful and to continue providing the excellent service
047that Nota does I'm a huge fan and Advocate but we should be having a close session tonight and and we are going to have one but are we only meet once a month and and this stuff can't wait once so we need to have a special meeting now at at no at this point if we can get to that topic I'd like to I I'm just not I'm not prepared and I never have done this but I'm not prepared to make all these changes and I want to give ly again I'll say again I want to give ly the tools she needs I believe that she needs what she needs but like so we're making huge changes and still today we are responsible for this organization county is itely so so I don't know I'm
048not I'm personally not prepared to make these changes but I want to let Lyn hire who she needs a hire but um I think we need a little more thought about this than than where we're at right now well that's a reasonable expectation and Lynn probably what we really need to do is look at not just this section of the changes we need to look at it from a budget the the entire admin budget um perspective and see you know you're saying there's a $90,000 savings with this uh what's proposed on this page the 2025 operation right here with these this is our current um you know we had previously and then with um these two positions being empty MH you know and then we fill in with these um positions that we have um
049and then we add the others basically a wash okay so let's see it in black and white for it doesn't mean you can't proceed with trying to find someone it failing their uh any type of motion um from us is there is there any indication that we wanted want to I I person I'm just going to speak for myself I don't I'm not ready to vote on a wholesale change on how the or chart looks today but I want to allow Lynn to hire help to you know an ad assistant she has vacancies yeah that this admin assistant dispatch helper thing position um well can we but I want I personally would like to understand um I mean we can't just ignore this no no and I want to dive into it a little bit
050to understand like um why this doesn't work better than just a 5 minute 10 minute 15 minute conversation tonight we will and when we get into the that item on the agenda okay I I hope to be able to give some reassurance and information okay so is can the can the board yes Jo so to to Chris's Point could you hire them under the current titles and and everything like that and then transition them to the new organization chart later I think as long as I think what you're saying is you you want to haveb them hire but you don't want to see them change the whole organization so you hire them under the same the current titles and positions just give yeah I AG I mean what you're saying yeah I don't disagree with
051that cuz we have operations manager and operations support coordinator op right right could you hire may we hire operation support coordinator and let them know we might be doing an or reorder but they could change basically do that position pays the same $25 an hour right no yeah operations so maybe you can fill you know you you have a vacancy you can fill it that person can do what you're saying you need them to do that's what the job is they coordinate with the dispatch and and then we can like chew on this a little bit the reality follow the logic there so you're saying the operation support would be more like the driver schedule like a dispatch schedu change their job duties a little bit under that same name with the understanding that the
052duties are going to be flexible you'll have to make sure that that flexibility is there in who you hire okay you have to edit the position description like up front if you're intending them to do these different duties but I do agree of taking a a more detailed look because when you do have the things like the oosha violations things of that nature that are happening it kind of Screams a lack of the middle management layer is lacking so needing some more middle management and quality um looks at things may a quality manager or something of that nature no just to me that should have never happened right this type of an organization that sh never J um the work needs to be done if you hire the people with flexible job descriptions you can
053get the jobs done then work your organization into how you want to spell it out your budget showed a wash so I said that's great you're doing this with two less positions but four more people I want well I don't need to even question you when we talk about the relevance of everything fill in the jobs that need to need you need people for right now to get the job done and work an organization to what you want it to be to cover the OSHA violations the training the the things that Emma is choking on right now and and the others yeah and the others I mean you give your training guy all kinds of stuff to do he's he's used to that Joe and part of the problem though I think the the new
054positions are both at 25 that 25 represents the wage right the problem is you can't hire someone 45 say in 90 days we're going to make it to 25 right so you can't hire them as an operations manager no but operations support coordinator is that similar level and that's the help you need today that's what I'm saying you just got to be aware that $25 an hour range yeah and I just want to make sure that you're clear on that ly so I can hire one person is what the you know maybe you hire you could hire two sport coordinators and then bump it to a manager level once you've figured out leg if you hire two support coordinators at $25 an hour and you determine one should be an operations manager and that person
055that you hired at 25 qualifies I'd be more comfortable saying you're not paying them enough when coming back and saying it should be 35 I I would feel good about that that but you're not going to hire somebody at 35 and say oh by the way now it's 25 right so but the operations and driver support are under the new or it is the only ones that are in the current up top of manager coordinator driver trainer and unall drivers that are being paired against each other you know so you can't hire an operation support driver because they're part of the new or even though the two down below are new positions are those already existing operations and driver support being done by one person no we actually have no we have um we have
056someone there no reason I brought that up because it says new org chart but those those are already included now they're part of the new or they used to be like the they used to be the operations driver support PM so those two we need to get in the weeds but I don't think but let me just offer an idea what I'm what I heard you say is you need support you need the dispatch support yes is that right yes to me that's a that's that's like almost a straight line from operation support coordinator it's in the title and that's vacant so I'm saying and that pays about $25 an hour but it's really under Emma Emma is like the workf manager so it's really under a different area but this is vacant it is
057and you want to fill this right here right to me those are very similar operation support coordinator dispatch schedule an admin assistant okay it's my take so I'm comfortable with you hiring that position personally if that's where you said you wanted to hire right that's what you said you wanted to do making the other shifts I I'd like to talk more about it personally does that give you what you need if you can hire that one you were on a hire one position right now or two one for sure we is what we're looking at we've already had the other one that we were going to post if it was okay was the driver um was someone to support um Jeff and his team I want of an administrative level and building out the the
058uh um the training materials the you know because right now Jeff Jeff has kind of stepped into the operations manager type of role and and it's been okay with oversight with you know he's kind of taken that spot right now and so there's no one there to do the um the work with like building out training manuals doing the assessments doing the evaluations of the drivers making sure that you know if they need additional training on wheelchairs you know being Hands-On those type of things so those are the those are the two positions right now that um and both of them are about the $25 range so thanks so Chris you okay everybody with short of having a motion and a making a motion if if our director proceed on what we've Direction we've given
059her and then more bur we'll need to have see see that in black and away right um next meeting hopefully okay is there any other organizational questions related to what we've got if not we'll move on to the legal uh legal matters item number 11 um the uh we have and we are treating it seriously we have had a complaint made with certain allegations against the board and employee slash director slash um board members Bo board members I I Ed broader note of board but um so um that information that complaint has been disseminated to you um you have it before you um I spoke with uh Dan Christ who is our um legal counsel currently and um there were uh basically three highlights that we need that he recommended the Board address and we
060would have to decide how we'll address them in order to for the board to be responsible fulfill our responsibilities because there has been a complaint made um and it doesn't matter who it is or who made the complaint we have a duty to investigate so that's what I'm recommending that the board do um and how we do that is up up to the board we could hire a third party to come in and uh perform an investigation we could appoint less than a quorum members of our board to look into the uh allegations and complaint um or we could outright and not a move that I would suggest but we could dismiss it as uh having no merit having no merit having no merit exactly Joe um but I would personally I would not recommend
061that one until we've at least come on we've got to take a look at it and see see what's what's there um so I would like to basically limit the discussion to whether what we would like to do at this time it's going to be expensive to hire a third party although we could hire an attorney it wouldn't be our own attorney or I guess Mr Chris said he he could do it but how would it objectively how would it look from the outside it's kind of like the school board you know not wanting uh wanting to run their own investigation so to speak instead of having a third party or objective party do it so that is a possibility but there are attorneys out there that are well known um that could also perform
062that function for us or we could have U an ad hoc Committee of our own board um with just Rec you know a recommending to make a recommendation who's our insurance company right now M we are with M are we consulted with them I notified them we have notified them I'm on their board I didn't I didn't know we were still with M I thought we had a ship with the County Transit um we should consult with them and ask them their opinion with their um was Star King okay she's the um I know it's not a lawsuit right now but this is a lawsuit when someone cites the law and whistleblower we're getting sued right so we should consult with M and do whatever they tell us we should do whether we H they
063say recommend us hiring a third party doing an ad hoc in investigation I agree with you Mike we are we cannot dis just straight to sement and I think to your point is you're saying cuz you they might want may want to take the lead on it themselves even they're going to guide us they're they're our insurance company we should if we haven't sent this to them we should send this to them and and and ask them for their advice y we have um Mr brafield had his hand up I I agree with Chris at the very beginning on the own set this was so so volatile I think it would be who us this whole board to go through a closed session and discuss this thing I mean there's some things that maybe we
064could could answer right off the bat say this sour grapes there's some things that um Lyn could answer and say that's just sour grap but there's some things in that thing that's pretty volatile and I don't want to discuss it obviously but I think this board should go over these accusations and see if there's any validity I don't like letting somebody else handle it and this board not have a clue what the answers are I'll be knocking on your door and saying what was the story what's Theory and it's involving us as well it's just like somebody making an accusation against Lynn and say Lynn you're not going to know anything about it what the results are because we're going to let somebody else handle it that's not the right thing to do I think
065we should have had a closed door meeting even if the attorney wasn't here and then just go over it and say what is what is sour gra the other side of that coin is is that this is a normal process you you have to address Al address complaints he the the complaintant claims it's a formal complaint we'll treat it like a complaint I mean we address all complaints how fast and how publicly we do that that's up to the board um Mr C well you know I just happen to know the other side of the coin from conversations I had and listened to some of the things that led to this before the complaint and I think there may be some legal things that have been broken illegal things illegal things happened and I would
066not want to have this complaint looked at without it being in entirety talked about in a closed session yes Joe and we got to be careful about what you going to close SE four there's certain things right pending litigation is we assume this is going to be coming down the plate but it's not pending yet attorney opinion attorney opinion yes if he could have been here I I suppose yes yeah but for us to just go do it we can't right yeah I agree right so cuz then well I would just formally I'm asking you as the chair that we have the attorney at our next meeting or a special meeting and I I can tell you right now I'm out of the country for our next meeting but doesn't mean we can't be represented
067by Mike flood or someone else but um our attorney should be at the next meeting and we should have a close session on on um it's not pending litigation but we can get his opinion on things that are being said and his recommendation as our legal as our as our attorney so yeah I won't I can't speak to why he did not want I think it has something to do with Personnel you know the closed meeting act there C certain if when you're discussing if personel specific IND employee reviews but they not longer an employee and then they have to agree to be in close session themselves for the review if both parties agree then you can do it in close session so there's a way we could have done it yeah I don't dispute
068that it all happened kind of seem feels like it happened yesterday it's been so it's it's been very involved you have to be here well I or or or I would propose um I think in my recommendations we specifically ask mmrma what how as our insurance company when they read this star concade um what would you recommend that we do as an organization to best protect our organization in response to this and then my recommendation is as the board memb we should take whatever I agree that Dan has our attorney has laid out options that we can take but I think we should take the recommendation of our insurance company they rep all we represent are cities Villages townships police stations and community colleges and apparently public transit authorities the only the only caveat to
069that Chris is is whether they will or won't get involved without having a lawsuit we're asking for their advice and I'm happy to call with you if you want but we're we're not asking them to get involved accept to say we receive this it's not it's not litigation but as our insurance company our hold it's in our name I I agree you know municial risk mitigation I mean we're um everything we do is about avoiding and protecting our money which is the state pool it's all of our money so I think they will have good sound advice as to what we should do in response to this or not do and um and I think I would recommend this is my two cents maybe based on what they say um we potentially do a schedule
070a a special meeting just to discuss that okay I would like to be there you know um I know obviously Mike FL is pretty well versed but our other members never even been to one of his meetings probably hasn't even read the bylaws of Nota so I would think that that would make sense regarding this that we no no argument there at all yeah um yes Jo it shouldn't take that long to get to them and get some kind of feedback so potentially you could have that meeting cuz Jack saying he's off March 20th you're out March 20 so perhaps you could get something in in within the next 10 days two weeks I would say I would say we for a special meeting for that specific purpose because we do need to do perhaps
071the week after I mean if you find that sweet spot I would just say yeah we we need to do opt based on the three choices you presented I think we need to do a or b I think C is not an option can you create a window for dates and try and then contact I'm going to give uh ly some direction find a window where we might have availability for all parties here at the table to be available is there good for you ch right now or is there is there a window not that week two weeks two weeks I mean I'm I'm in town um yeah anytime in the next two two and a half weeks was pretty good for me you're going not next that's kind of quick anyways yeah but I
072could yeah I'm gone on from the 12th to the 21st okay that's our taret all right so we'll make that our Target for maybe before the 12 special meting yeah for sure like the week of the first week of the month would be good for me the week of the third is the six okay with yeah okay good time in the six can't speak for my council member but sure yeah same I mean it be morning we have all staff meeting all afternoon do you want those ribbon cutting and you 430 I mean why don't we do a yeah I could do a morning on the 6 I can't do the I can't do anything from noon till 8:00 p.m. on the 6 oh how about morning this morning work for you when time is
073good 9:00 a.m. time with you and council person raw sometimes is available during the day like that too okay so I can't say for sure but some sometimes she yeah 10 a.m. it's not like she's totally out that okay so tentatively we're looking at trying to set something up with either with or without legal counsel present but if we have an uh something to consider from legal counsel we'll we'll plan on having a special meeting March 10th or March 6th at 10:00 a.m. yeah sound can I offer just can we say maybe 9:30 I got people coming from Chicago from the railroad to 9:30 9:30 would be help give me an extra half March 6 is there a do we want to meet here or is there a better location oh this is the perfect
074location this is right I think we can accommodate that what time 10:00 9:30 9:30 on March 6th to 1130 I appreciate everybody's Reserve this I'm going to try in doing this and if if not the room downstairs and if you don't have space we could host too and if anybody here would like to have a new election for the chair no I'm God disappointed or whatever um I'd be more than willing to uh help we respectfully reject your request for resignation everybody know it's been it has been very difficult we appreciate with the circumstances such as they are so Mar 9:30 I've presided over most of the most recent I'll make a motion to give you a raise double anything times we just gave it to him last Monday Tuesday anyway okay you need a
075motion or nothing yeah um I'll make a motion that we have a meeting special meeting March the 6th at 9:30 here at Oxford uh offices and and Jack will decide what room we're going to be in all in favor of motion please say I I oppos please say no and Lynn will get us uh also we need a public notice for each Community to post theirs for special meeting but are we going to be in closed doors after the attorney tells us it's okay to have that attorney well we're we're going to assume what we have we can still meet the the um publishing deadlines let's talk to the attorney and find out how we have to post it yeah yeah it should just be record posting look we're looking for a chip we can
076get rid you and get somebody else yeah got start Open Session anyways yeah okay thank you all appreciate your support I know Lynn does and I know the organization does as well we've got a lot invested not just monetarily but uh our communities have all uh really uh made this organization what it is okay if there's no further uh discussion on that we'll go to public comments um stepping away from the table I think if you don't know Lynn son just had a oh my Grandma she's on behalf of the board you congratulations get you a king congratulations okay uh receiveing file the monthly WR report I'll make that motion support okay breakfield Chris Chris B okay um all in favor the motion to receive and file the writer and mileage reports pleas say iOS
077to say no board member comments I'll start Carl I'm just curious on this you know we're going to be getting together anticipating there's going to be a loss correct potentially yeah yeah I don't want to get way out ahead of it if it just disappears well I think we just playay conservative point of view and say the potential is there that's why we notify our insurers when matters like this happen because there is that potential that's what they want to know so that's what we've done we just do we're just doing our two delig in a situation like this all right that's my comment okay thanks we have a capital asset plan like have that where we know exactly what's our stuff what's the county stuff so gu something were to happen and let's say
078the county says NOA we want you out of it we say here's your bill for 1.3 million that's what you ow to three communities whatever that is no no we we know what we're worth now whether it's in the form of a plan so know all of our assets are ours except for the 5310 Vehicles which are smarts they actually own the title to those might be good to let praise one all our stuff just we know got something in our back pocket that says we own a building that's worth $200,000 or whatever so we know what our assets are we know what our assets because we have are depreciating them and capitalizing and is our schedule that shows all that we we audit each the Auditors each year go through that and have a
079list meet all the requirements whatever I was just going to say yeah each year our Auditors go through every vehicle every piece of equipment you have they put on asset schedule okay so value but that's all nothing else no no comment no okay Chris congrats and thank you ly for all you do for us and sincerely Mike I know the work you're putting into this or and you have since Oakland Transit started and I cannot personally thank you enough on behalf of Oran so thank you and I know you you're a super humble person but it's there's a lot and we have a lot of responsibility and that's why I didn't little comfortable on the the job stuff just quickly doing I I do think we I don't know we needed to go as deep
080as what you're saying thing Mr Ferrari maybe we do but at least a sort of really digest it and talk through stuff I I definitely agree with that's it thank you Bill I don't think you do without an intent to go for a lawsuit I just it's a matter of can we make any money off this or anything I think you need to get an outside source to investigate these allegations that's what we're doing I mean they're allegations at this point but if we did it ourselves Court wouldn't stand wouldn't stand up in court okay that it that's it Mr Curtis um where do you when you buy your salt from the road commission of Oakland County do they dump it in the yard we have a vehicle uhhuh they just we just take the
081vehicle down there to fill the vehicle oh you take the vehicle you take the pickup truck down there there fill it up and then yeah we've got to pick up one of those Salter in a bag I'm just comparing I just saw the price of that salt and I'm Going H by mind I think it's a little more yeah bet it is about $3,000 a gravel train no great great me very informative we do need to discuss things a lot more detail but uh matter of fact we had an election if I'm not mistaken in December or something and that made you chairman for the whole year so no no bowing out well I'm I'm just saying I'm no bowing but I can also appreciate the seriousness of this thank you okay well uh thank
082you to our guests Sergeant Sergeant Dy he's checking out the map I just wanted to make sure everybody met him he knows where Oxford is well he does he knows to keep all that RI wrap down on Oran what you heard me you want to jump Lyn are you good no comment okay what's pleasure of the board second all in fav you run right off thank you and uh next meeting is March 20th but we're going to have a special meeting on March 6th and it is here in this room and it is at