[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:03] And the meeting will come to order. First item on the agenda approval of the minutes from the October 17, 2023 meeting.
[0:11] Are there any amendments to those meetings or a motion?
[0:15] I'll move Mayor Stofer,
[0:21] a motion for approval by Mayor Stofer, a second by Floor Hernandez,
[0:29] Director Hernandez.
[0:32] Take a vote.
[0:33] All in favor, and I will use our voting machine.
[0:35] All in favor, please say, press yes and oppose, no, and abstain, counts as a no vote.
[0:58] Yes.
[0:58] with that motion as unanimously. We are now going to move to a few agenda items
[1:09] before comments in that we don't want to lose our quorum. So I will call on, we'll
[1:16] first take the Consent Agenda items item 5 through 15. There are
[1:22] several items that need to be approved as one with one vote.
[1:28] Might I have a motion on the consent of some of the point of
[1:32] clarification?
[1:33] Mr. Chair, do you say five through 13 or 15?
[1:37] Five through 13.
[1:38] Thank you.
[1:39] OK.
[1:39] I heard 15.
[1:41] OK.
[1:41] My bad.
[1:42] So please, we have a motion.
[1:44] We have a second.
[1:45] All in favor, please cast your vote electronically.
[2:05] Yes, that passes unanimously.
[2:09] Next item is item number 14, Mr. Stoker, Mayor Stoker.
[2:13] Item 14 is approval of an interlocal agreement between Dallas County Hospital District Parkland Health for the dark cares program.
[2:20] I move approval.
[2:22] Do we have a second?
[2:23] Second.
[2:23] Do we have a motion and second?
[2:25] Please can't discussion on that motion.
[2:28] If none, please cast your vote.
[2:30] and
[2:38] that passes unanimously as well.
[2:41] Item number 15 is adoption 2024 goals
[2:45] and performance measures for the president
[2:47] and executive, chief executive officer.
[2:50] Ms. Nadine Lee, would you like to brief us quickly
[2:53] on the changes you made since the last meeting?
[2:59] You can do it here or there.
[3:01] You can do it here.
[3:07] My apologies, we were actually making copies
[3:10] for everybody, this all went a lot faster
[3:12] than anticipated. So just a quick change, we added the benchmarks or the baseline numbers
[3:18] to the column on the right on the goals and we also provided some information on the demographics
[3:26] of our service area as well as our current workforce demographics so that you understand
[3:31] what the comparison might be from where we are today to where we want to be in the
[3:36] future. So those were the two changes I made from the last time. No other real
[3:40] language changes to the goals themselves, just adding per board request the updates to the benchmarks.
[3:47] All right.
[3:53] The motion for approval.
[3:56] Hey, Card. We're passing them out.
[3:58] We're passing them out.
[4:00] Yes, they were in your board packets, actually.
[4:03] I just thought it might be beneficial to have them in hard copy.
[4:07] Second. Are you looking for a motion?
[4:09] We have a motion and the second. Did we have a motion for approval?
[4:12] So moved.
[4:12] We have a motion for approval, do we have a second?
[4:15] Second.
[4:16] We do have a second.
[4:17] Second.
[4:18] All right.
[4:21] Take a quick look at those.
[4:22] We won't vote for just a second.
[4:25] Thank you.
[4:32] So,
[4:35] all in favor, please, discussion if you have any before we vote.
[4:40] Do we have any discussion?
[4:43] No discussion.
[4:45] All in favor, please vote with your electronic voters.
[4:49] I
[5:05] have one more of Mr. Enix items, which is that passed unanimously.
[5:10] I have one more item number 17, which is approval of the 2024 dark minutes.
[5:20] Meeting dates, rather.
[5:21] I'm sorry, meeting dates.
[5:23] That would mean discussion or motion.
[5:26] Second.
[5:27] Motion is second.
[5:29] Discussion is done.
[5:31] Please vote.
[5:31] As
[5:37] I'm hitting it, it's not on, it's not on.
[5:46] It's on, it's okay, it's on, we're ready to go.
[5:53] All right, thank you very much.
[5:55] Motion passes unanimously as well.
[5:58] Mr. Kennedy will take the planning and capital programs.
[6:01] Agenda 18.
[6:02] The chair for the number 18 is approval
[6:04] to increase contract value for the design bill contract,
[6:07] Silver Line Regional Rail project to include design changes
[6:10] for the Cotton Belt Regional Trail I move for approval.
[6:13] Do
[6:16] we have a second?
[6:17] Second.
[6:17] Discussion?
[6:19] All in favor then?
[6:22] Take a vote.
[6:23] And
[6:33] then passes unanimously.
[6:34] Item 19 is approval to call public hearing regarding
[6:37] summer 2024 service changes in Route 883.
[6:40] Schedule adjustments.
[6:41] I move for approval.
[6:42] Second.
[6:43] We have a motion and a second for approval.
[6:46] Discussion?
[6:47] If not, please take a vote.
[7:13] We're missing a vote.
[7:14] That passes unanimously.
[7:14] Item 22, approval of the declaration of surplus property and conveyance of drainage and trail easements to Silverline 12th Street Station to the city of Plano. I move for approval.
[7:25] Second. We have a motion and a second for approval. Discussion? If not, please vote.
[7:43] And that passes unanimously as well. Thank you.
[7:46] Item 23, approval to re-establish just compensation of parcel CB2-016 located at or near 2415
[7:54] Country Club Drive in the city of Carrollton, Texas for the Silver Line Regional Rail Project.
[7:57] I move for approval.
[7:58] Second.
[8:00] I have a motion and a second discussion.
[8:03] If not, please take a vote, press your vote,
[8:12] and that passes unanimously.
[8:14] That ends our voting section of the meeting.
[8:18] We now will move to public comments and comments.
[8:25] Thank you, Chair.
[8:26] General public comments will be allowed at the beginning of each DART Board meeting for a total of 30 minutes.
[8:31] And again, at the end of the meeting when the 30-minute period does not accommodate everyone who has signed up to speak.
[8:37] Individuals who have addressed the Board in the past 30 days will be recognized to speak during the public comment period at the end of the meeting.
[8:44] Each person who wishes to address the Board in person must complete a public comment form prior to speaking.
[8:51] Each speaker will have three minutes to address the Board.
[8:54] A member of the public who addresses the Board through a translator may be given at least twice the amount of time
[9:00] to ensure that non-English and nonverbal speakers receive the same opportunity to address the Board.
[9:07] The green light on the podium will indicate when you can begin.
[9:10] Then the yellow light indicates that you have one minute remaining and the red light
[9:14] indicates that your time has expired.
[9:16] In order to comply with the requirement that the public be given notice of each topic or
[9:20] subject assessed by the dark board, members may not ask questions, offer their own comments
[9:26] or otherwise interact with speakers or other board members during any public comment period.
[9:31] Board members cannot respond to personnel matters during the public comment period.
[9:35] Therefore, employees should direct or complaints their supervisor, chain of command or contact
[9:41] human resources for personnel related issues.
[9:44] If a staff member is available to assist the speaker, the president and chief executive
[9:49] officer Ms. Nadia Lee may request that the speaker that is making the inquiry visit with
[9:55] staff about the issue.
[9:57] Members of the public are reminded that their behavior during board meetings is governed
[10:01] by the dart board code of conduct for news media and visitors, personal attacks, impermanent or
[10:07] slanderous remarks and boisterous conduct would not be tolerated. Boisterous or disruptive behavior
[10:13] includes but is not limited to one failure year of the floor when the speaker's time is included,
[10:19] two, disturb the order of the meeting, three, using loud, threatening, hostile, abusive, vulgar
[10:25] or seen gesture language, four, prolonged yelling, clapping, standing, stomping of the feet of
[10:31] whispering. Science posters or placards shall remain outside the board meeting
[10:35] area. With that the first speaker is John Williams.
[10:43] John Williams followed by
[10:47] Frequitter Bryce,
[10:51] John Williams.
[10:54] Ah, if you
[11:13] come over to your right towards me a little bit.
[11:16] There you are, sir.
[11:18] Yes, ladies and gentlemen.
[11:20] Now, I've been to your board this every time, over and over.
[11:24] And the same thing is still happening.
[11:27] Now, this time these boys are kissing me out for no reason.
[11:30] But I can kiss them back.
[11:32] They shouldn't kiss me out.
[11:33] I don't kiss anyone.
[11:34] I get on the bus and these same things happen.
[11:36] They won't stop payment.
[11:37] If I do stop payment, they tell me I can't buy the bus.
[11:40] I have a bus today, but I can't buy it.
[11:42] You ain't getting on my bus.
[11:43] You can't buy my bus.
[11:46] But I don't even know these buses.
[11:47] I don't even know bus dollars.
[11:49] They start testing me out.
[11:51] And try to send them to throw me off the bus.
[11:53] If I don't get off, they'll call me.
[11:55] Do I put it down?
[11:56] I was just to do Kato.
[12:01] They tell me something's gonna be done.
[12:03] And that's the same thing.
[12:05] Now another thing, I would like to give a police report
[12:09] from the DUT, for these people, who's
[12:12] what they've done, what these people have done, that job.
[12:15] When the DUT bus ran over me, it ran over my property,
[12:18] and it got stuck on the back wheel.
[12:20] They almost hit on my arm, but I guess it moved in time.
[12:24] I got it moved in time.
[12:25] But it ran back over my property,
[12:27] and it had to back up off of it.
[12:28] Crashed my phone and all that stuff on my backpack.
[12:34] I'm at the bus stop, he passed me up, but personally now I enjoy looking at all these people why he stopped at the bus stop while I was standing.
[12:41] He wanted me to ride it, and I threw it down there, and that's what happened.
[12:47] It would never happen if he just stopped at the bus stop and let me get on it.
[12:51] I don't know where he was at, I don't get in a hard time, but when I do speak my man after he's on the bus,
[12:56] So it's been in my life, but they don't do to me, that's it's been in my life.
[13:01] They don't beat my ass, throw me out of the bucket and do all that.
[13:04] Every time they jump, they don't know me, but now I've been putting them to do them
[13:10] time, now I'm going to take a little matter.
[13:18] Our next speaker will be Frequita Brice, followed by Mark Broadhurst.
[13:41] My name is Frequita Brice.
[13:42] I've been here at Dart almost one or eight years.
[13:46] I was injured on the job and put to workers' comp while on comp, I was put to light duty.
[13:53] My light duty and workers' comp ended and I was put back to work without restrictions.
[13:58] Because they said I ended my MI, I didn't understand how because I was never treated.
[14:07] I stopped receiving payments September 13, 2023.
[14:10] I then went back to back out on STD. While waiting on STD, I requested ADA. I
[14:17] I did everything ADA needed me to do. I call literally every day almost every
[14:24] week I call for for some type of accommodation. I recently got denied
[14:30] for STD because they said it was work it was a work-related injury. Since then
[14:36] And now, I still have not received any financial or any assistance with accommodation.
[14:45] I contacted ADA several times, also came up here and still no help, no answer, just to
[14:52] run around, literally, just to run around seeing the same thing over and over again.
[14:56] And, um, Starter...
[15:00] I lose things, literally, and I've already lost a lot of things, and I'm just seeking a
[15:06] little help at this very moment. And I'm still out to this day with no help. And I'm literally
[15:13] trying to see if ADA could just let me know what I can and what I can't do. That's all
[15:19] I'm trying to get from them to see what I can do. Thank you.
[15:22] Thank you. Mark Rogers, followed by Clinton Whitley.
[15:49] Good evening everybody. Hope everyone's doing well.
[15:55] Number one, we still haven't got paid for our double time Texas OU weekend,
[16:03] and it's starting to be a pattern of things that have been changed for no reason
[16:08] or new things that don't seem to be handled correctly by the people that changed them.
[16:14] So, I mean, it's been two pay periods.
[16:17] You know, we work text to you Saturday.
[16:20] I mean, it's supposed to be on this paycheck,
[16:22] but let's hold up, you know, hold our breath across our fingers, I guess.
[16:28] The point is these unnecessary things that are added or changed.
[16:33] What's the point of it?
[16:35] Keep it the same because it works or just leave it alone.
[16:41] So, yeah, that's that.
[16:45] This 3% raise proposal is not going to cut it.
[16:51] I work in the body shop and over the last six months,
[16:56] I've seen more contractors coming in and working and putting in new equipment
[17:01] and spending all this money on all this new stuff to update DART
[17:05] and take care of DART's facilities,
[17:08] but you're leaving us behind, the workers that use the facilities, that use the equipment.
[17:13] So invest in the equipment, invest in the facilities, but invest in us.
[17:18] 3% is a joke, look at, I mean, the whole nation right now, 3% ain't going to cut it.
[17:26] And I can't speak for everybody, but me personally, it's starting to feel like for
[17:31] some reason the people making these decisions like have something like a personal problem
[17:37] with us, how you're trying to make unnecessary changes to the policy, the policy that's worked
[17:42] for a long time, and thinking that 3% is fair, it's not even close to fair.
[17:51] And then with the insurance going up, that's putting a lot of people behind the eight ball.
[17:58] So rethink that, because that number is way too low, and it's frankly insulting.
[18:03] So,
[18:06] and then on the other hand with how it feels like we're being valued as employees
[18:12] maintenance, transportation and then there's an investigation into this board misusing money.
[18:24] I find it, you know, hard to believe that we're so undervalued while things like that
[18:30] happen and investigations like that are going on but yet we're taking the short
[18:36] end of the stick and we're being told that all the money is not there for your
[18:42] cost of living raise for inflation for being appreciated you know is
[18:52] that my
[18:52] time. Thank you. Thank you.
[18:58] All right. Claudia Jones, followed by Brian Blanks.
[19:20] You called Clinton Whiteley. Come on down.
[19:26] I'm good to go. I'm Clinton Whiteley. I'm
[19:29] East out of the Body Shop, and since we only get three minutes, I'd like to go
[19:32] off of Mark Rutgers as far as the 3% raise. It is insulting when y'all
[19:39] approved y'all's own time to go travel around the world are we paying for y'all's travel
[19:45] for the 3% because Ford is guaranteeing their employees to six figure salaries. I spend over
[19:55] $1,200 a year in tools alone so you give me 80 cents a year on my pay that is
[20:09] it's not right I mean I'm over here I'm almost paying y'all to come here so if
[20:18] If y'all want somebody to manage, y'all should value us.
[20:25] Otherwise, y'all are not going to have a job because we're not going to be here.
[20:29] Thank you.
[20:33] Claudia Jones, followed by Brian Blanks.
[20:53] Ms. Lee, when you put that letter out for us, letting us know about the 3%,
[20:59] I really truly believe that you were sincere in putting that letter out
[21:05] And you didn't have nothing to do with the numbers not being 3%.
[21:11] I don't believe it's so much of the new people coming in here.
[21:15] I believe it's the people that's been here.
[21:18] That's our problem.
[21:21] I mean, there's a lot of untrue for people to work here.
[21:27] And they are in the wrong positions.
[21:30] Financial, that's the wrong position to be in.
[21:33] And there's too much money in this agency, and people seem to think that they can, you
[21:42] know, get money from you guys.
[21:48] And I want to share a little bit about Goldene, a few of the workers over there contacted
[21:55] me with some concerns.
[21:57] I found out that you guys got a new contracting company over there for paratrandit.
[22:03] Now, Goldlink is only making, well, $16 now.
[22:08] They were there 15 in 2019.
[22:10] But the contracting company, which is Paratransit,
[22:15] they're hiring their drivers in at $22.
[22:18] But the sad part about it is, Goldlink can't go work for them.
[22:24] Now, if I'm making $16 in contract coming in and they're making $22,
[22:29] Yeah, I'm going to try to give me a job, but somebody told them that they was blocked.
[22:34] They can't go get no job.
[22:36] Can somebody look into that or make it fair and give them a raise?
[22:40] Every other meeting I do here, go link down here with new proposals, asking for money.
[22:45] I don't know what they're doing with it, but can you see if they can give the workers
[22:50] some over there as well?
[22:52] And these proposals, I thought the board makes the decision when it comes to modifying the
[23:01] H&M.
[23:02] I see Rosa Matina name on here.
[23:05] So is she the designee or is she supported the board as far as these proposals being
[23:10] put out to get the employees input?
[23:15] And since you all guys looking pretty healthy and happy and it's the holidays, I thought
[23:22] I thought maybe I'd throw a little suggestion in as far as I guess I said a little bit more
[23:29] extra increase to the 3%, it's not too late to add it on the page for us to get it.
[23:37] And I thought maybe as far as bus, I mean you can include, make the numbers match for
[23:42] everybody else.
[23:44] Put the bus operators at 35, 0, 0, make the sense even.
[23:49] That way, nobody will have to fool around with the other numbers.
[23:52] Thank you.
[23:55] Brian Blanks, followed by Grace Strickland.
[24:06] Good evening.
[24:07] One of the most important things as a bus operator, rail operator, mechanic, is the quality of life.
[24:17] The scheduling and what we put up with every day.
[24:21] I know Ms. Lee had put out a memo not too long ago about how we met our goals, 99% on-time
[24:30] performance.
[24:30] That's because we have the staff that we don't miss runs anymore.
[24:36] We're getting the work out.
[24:37] We're getting what we need to do.
[24:38] We're doing what we need to do.
[24:41] Now these proposals, I know this is just a proposal, but the proposals are going
[24:45] to set this company back a good 10, 15 years.
[24:49] especially with this extra board change because right now you have a AM and PM
[24:55] board which y'all probably don't know what I'm talking about but you can look
[25:00] into it. It's set now where we have a AM and PM extra board and I don't know
[25:07] whether you guys noticed but the dynamics of the employees that Dart has
[25:11] tired here in the last five years, are mostly young females who have children, and they base
[25:20] their schedules based on how they can provide for their family and get their kids to somebody
[25:27] is hard. Now when you take those schedules away to an A and P and board, now that person
[25:32] has to work all around the clock basically, and it's going to be very hard to adjust
[25:37] their schedules and the way and the quality of life. So that's going to make it real hard
[25:44] and we're not going to be able to retain people. I'm going to tell you that right now. I've
[25:47] been here almost 33 years. I know what I'm talking about. Now, another one is, I just
[25:56] want to know why that you would want an operator who relieves, first of all, you already took
[26:03] up half my day at work with a four or five hour split and then you want me to come back
[26:09] to the facility to clock out. I have never in my whole 33 years heard of that concept.
[26:18] For what? Why? Why would you want me to come back? I'm off. You can't make me work more
[26:25] so the purpose of that is I can't see the logic in that at all. Why would that
[26:31] be even be a suggestion to come back to the facility. I'm already trying to get
[26:36] home. I've been here all day. I'm trying to get home to my family, my kids, and then
[26:42] you want me to come back to the facility. I might be way in Westmoreland
[26:46] Station, and I live in DeSoto right there. I could go home and be home in
[26:51] five minutes. Now I got to drive 20 minutes, go back to the facility, 20,
[26:55] 30 minutes, and then go back that way. For what? Make that make sense to me. Make that
[27:04] make sense.
[27:07] Thank you.
[27:12] Valerie Strickland, or Valerie Hutchins, followed by the boss Christian.
[27:31] Let me say
[27:32] Corey Strickland first. I called your name earlier, all right.
[27:37] Hello, board. My name is Corey Strickland. Of course, you guys have seen me up here
[27:40] before I actually I'm gonna stay in pocket on today stay in pocket one of the
[27:46] things I did here three percent for an increase when it's like seven to ten
[27:52] percent inflation that's really challenging you know for you to make
[27:57] your bills just let you know I'm pretty sure everybody on the board does not
[27:59] make that just to let you know I'm pretty sure but you know that's gonna
[28:04] be a talk about another time because I've been up here for the last couple
[28:07] of years. So I do want to congratulate everybody that has participated in the Dixon Circle Restoring
[28:12] the Service Back. Ms. Lee, I thank you so very much. I remember a message, a letter from you,
[28:18] and we thought things were going to be doubtful that it wouldn't get taken care of. So I appreciate
[28:22] your leadership in getting that done on a personal level, and all the other contribution
[28:27] that was also paid to the cause. I do want to give a special thank you, thank you,
[28:33] thank you to all the bus drivers that came out with bravery and came out to
[28:38] speak on behalf of this underserved community. I do encourage the DART that
[28:42] DART really in establishing the service back in the beginning of the year to
[28:47] really reach out to the community of Dixon Circle to make sure that we have
[28:51] a connect. We reconnect with the community to let them know that you
[28:55] are here to service the people. That's what I'm basically here for to make
[29:00] sure we don't have the same opportunities and other underserved communities throughout
[29:04] the city. Thank you so much and thank you so much again for the bus drivers.
[29:08] Thank you. Next speaker is Valerie Hutchins followed by the boss Christian.
[29:28] Good evening. My name is Valerie Hutchins and I'm coming before the board today because
[29:34] for the last 35 years I have done the election work for Dallas County. We moved from 2377
[29:41] North Simmons Freeway, which had bus service, multiple buses that went by to 1520 and 1460
[29:49] round table. These are public facilities that's open to the public. However, two years ago,
[29:56] bus 525 the route ended.
[30:00] I worked with some dart officials there and we had a shuttle bus to drive from the bus stop
[30:09] at Empress and Titan. This election, we don't have any bus service. Today, a lady came in
[30:17] for training and she failed coming from the bus stop. So it's hard to get people to come
[30:24] out and vote if they need to register to vote, if they need to pick up a mail ballot. This
[30:28] This is a public facility.
[30:30] We need a bus or a go-link service or something to the Elections Department.
[30:37] I find it hard to believe that my public information can be out on the Internet from the Elections
[30:42] Department, but I cannot get public transportation to get there, yet everybody knows that my
[30:48] personal information.
[30:50] So I'm asking on behalf of the employees there that are walking from the train
[30:55] station at Burbank to the Elections Department to please get a bus stop there in front of
[31:02] the Elections Department as soon as possible because February 2024 starts our primaries
[31:11] for presidential primaries, it's the midterms, so we need to make sure that we have proper
[31:17] transportation.
[31:18] Thank you so much.
[31:22] The boss, Christian, followed by Kenneth Day.
[31:32] Good evening.
[31:33] And it is interesting, interesting how I got to come up here and ask you to do what's
[31:43] right because it's the right thing to do for the employers of D.O.I.
[31:49] Now I sit here a month after month, year after year, and watch how you Board of Directors,
[31:56] y'all figure out how to give money away,
[32:02] y'all figure out how to give it away, especially
[32:05] the contractors.
[32:07] I heard last month you were talking about let's do five million, six million for MV contractors.
[32:16] But the interesting point is the employees.
[32:20] You'd rather pay a contractor to do employees of dark work.
[32:27] What's realistic about that?
[32:31] You can find a way to put money in other people's pocket, but when it comes to the
[32:36] employees, no one has a clue.
[32:38] No one has a vote.
[32:40] No one says, hey, let's take care of the employers or the people that take care of us.
[32:47] Let's represent the people that represent us.
[32:52] We also want to talk about policy change.
[32:56] You chose not to utilize the policy because you were trying to keep the butts in the seats
[33:02] on the streets.
[33:04] You didn't utilize lose the house, you didn't utilize accidents, but now you want to come
[33:09] back and you want to change it.
[33:10] Now, as hard as it was for you to go out and hire people to do the work that we do day
[33:16] in and day out,
[33:20] how do we make sense of that?
[33:24] You want to come back and you want to take away, you want to reduce,
[33:30] when do the employees
[33:31] get a vote?
[33:32] Ms. Nene Lee, I'm asking you again for you to sit down with me, for us to have
[33:42] a discussion,
[33:44] a common-sense discussion consisting of the employees of Doug.
[33:49] I want you, I want everybody on this board to do one thing for me.
[33:53] I want to pretend that we're talking about the employees of Doug and I want everybody
[33:57] on the board to figure out how can we make their life a little bit better than what it
[34:00] is today.
[34:00] For what we put up day in and day out, for what we go through day in and day out,
[34:05] if fear of coming to work, but yet no one has a clue of what we do.
[34:10] But we come in day in and day out and we get the job done.
[34:15] You talked about the 40 years of service.
[34:17] Well, the 40 years of service are the people that drove the buses, the people that drove
[34:21] operated the trains, the police officers, the station monitors, the fire enforcers.
[34:28] It's a collaboration of all employees.
[34:32] And I'm asking you, hey, look out for the employees of D.A.W.Y. because they looked
[34:36] out for you.
[34:38] Thank you.
[34:38] Appreciate you.
[34:41] Kenneth Day followed by Thomas Hutchins. Hutchinson.
[34:56] Well, good evening.
[34:57] How's everyone? Good. Good to be back.
[35:03] Congratulations, Mr. Chairman.
[35:06] I'm here to talk about the ploy's concerns.
[35:12] We're here because we have a process that's known as meet and confer.
[35:16] and it is mandatory as a condition of dark receiving federal dollars. We're not
[35:27] claiming a right to collect the bargaining, but we have a history of
[35:33] sitting down having dialogue. But this my way of the highway attitude I don't
[35:41] know where it come from.
[35:44] Refuse to answer your phone because you disagree
[35:48] free. It's not the way you handle business. Your employee is going to stay in this board
[35:54] room. We filed our general grievance back in June. Our first meeting was in August. We
[36:04] had two days in August.
[36:09] After that meeting, we sent numerous letters to Dart asking when
[36:15] When can we have a follow-up meeting?
[36:17] When are our meetings going to happen?
[36:20] We got a call about two weeks ago, said the meeting is going to be on the 18th.
[36:28] Well, that's not the way you do business.
[36:31] I've been assigned to represent the local.
[36:33] I have a schedule too.
[36:36] We were asking to meet.
[36:39] Let's sit down and have a conversation.
[36:41] Now employees are confused.
[36:43] news. You got a proposed modification out here. A lot of this stuff, we don't understand it
[36:49] because you know why? We don't have a dialogue. My way of the highway because you get mad and
[36:56] you turn your phone off. That's not the way you conduct business. We've never conducted
[37:02] business that way around here. Before I sit down, employ these unmarked vehicles that's
[37:11] rolling up on employees, about 15 SUVs, black and gray, unmarked. This is a public agency.
[37:22] You should be accountable to the public. We should know who you are when you up and down
[37:27] the street in a taxpayer vehicle. If you want to go about a club, you want to go about
[37:33] a grocery store, take your own vehicle. When you're working in a dark vehicle, it should
[37:39] be marked. I should know who's pulling up on me. It's a lot of disrespect.
[37:45] My way to
[37:46] highway is unacceptable. We have never operated in that fashion. Ms. Lee, is my
[37:55] understanding that you were going to work with us? And hopefully that remains
[38:01] to be true. Thank you. Thank you.
[38:05] All right. Thomas Hutchinson, followed by
[38:08] Donnie Jolly.
[38:30] Good evening. Slee, board, new chairman.
[38:40] I'm coming here tonight to
[38:43] ask the board to sit down and meet with your management staff all the way to
[38:49] Ms. Lee. Because I don't think the new people that come in, personal with
[38:57] transportation, that person over, human resources,
[39:05] they act like they don't have a clue. Because
[39:08] let me say something like this.
[39:12] I understand that one of the board members said that maybe
[39:16] employees should deserve a 6%. Your HR said no, I told them a 3%. So the value of employees
[39:25] mean you don't care about us. That's sad. You come in here with these new ideas and if you
[39:36] don't agree, they upset. In fact, I was in a meeting and they said, well, we spoke on
[39:42] this side of the table and then when they got ready to serve the side of the table,
[39:45] we raised our voice. I guess that offended them, so they don't want to do that. If
[39:50] If your temperature is that low,
[39:54] maybe this ain't the job for you.
[39:56] We've been had two bites of apple ever since I came in.
[39:59] We sit at the table, we come down and share with the board
[40:01] because I'm asking the board, the gene and the rest of them,
[40:05] meet with your staff and understand
[40:06] what they're proposing out there.
[40:08] They're not proposing anything good.
[40:11] Somebody come with a crazy idea,
[40:13] want to classify accident in two days.
[40:15] They don't have the manpower to do it.
[40:17] We take one day to put it in the system.
[40:20] We got to meet with the man in two days.
[40:23] What if my next two days is off?
[40:25] Somewhere ain't ticking up here.
[40:27] Something ain't right.
[40:29] I've been in this business a long time,
[40:31] but I'm telling you, meet with your staff, the boy.
[40:38] Tell us we deserve a three.
[40:40] When General Motors just got a 23% rate.
[40:43] And there's somebody talking about so many people off every day.
[40:48] Yeah, 10% of the workforce is normally off because we run a big workforce.
[40:52] Let me say it like this.
[40:54] I just seen where they gave four weeks of unpaid leave for people to have a chance to recoup their body
[41:00] because our job is stressful.
[41:02] We have heart attacks with strokes.
[41:05] We are in a high job.
[41:07] I'm a former instructor.
[41:09] I come from Greyhound.
[41:11] I thought I knew how to drive.
[41:12] I got on a commerce, they cut the front end off my bus, my heart and mouth.
[41:16] For the first six months, I couldn't get comfortable in my seat.
[41:19] So when you hire all these new people, yeah, they're going to go out the door.
[41:23] You hire them, they go up, they walk, they can't make it.
[41:26] It takes, it takes a heck of a person to be a bus driver, a train driver.
[41:30] That's a stressful job.
[41:32] Y'all looking to the, how are you?
[41:33] Sit down with your book.
[41:34] Sit down with your manager, Mr. Heffley.
[41:37] Next speaker is Donnie Jolley, followed by Latonya Walker.
[41:54] Evening everybody.
[41:57] We've had a lot of speakers tonight with concerns.
[42:02] And if we didn't have no issues, we wouldn't be down here.
[42:06] This is a platform that DARPA provided for people to speak their minds and speak on issues.
[42:13] We have a lot of them.
[42:16] As
[42:22] you looked at the news around the country,
[42:26] the workforce is in an uproar right now.
[42:29] An uproar.
[42:31] That things are not like they used to be and I keep bringing up COVID, but when COVID
[42:34] came it changed the whole game.
[42:37] Everybody down from the lowest of nomination of occupation is for hotel workers, shelves,
[42:44] auto workers, Starbucks, everybody.
[42:48] everybody. They're dissatisfied. People are voicing their opinion. And all we're asking
[42:53] is that you listen. Those who are in power, of course, without us, you don't have no power.
[42:56] Without us, you don't have no job. Who's you going to manage? These are not fairy tales.
[43:02] I hear a lot of times when people in management tells me, Mr. Jolly, I just be a driver.
[43:05] I just be a train operator. I just be this and that. But somehow when that happens,
[43:10] that position comes along, they have a mind change. And that mind change is not good
[43:16] for everybody. It's easy to just treat somebody right. I mean, we're human beings.
[43:23] And everybody
[43:23] has flesh. And as my pastor said one time ago, one of his sermons, he said, you can
[43:29] take a bath one minute, go back and shower next, and wash them away, because we're disappearing
[43:33] day by day. Now, the issues we have is, you know, work was calm. Five falls. Ms.
[43:40] Bryce has came up here a minute ago. She's been calling, burning my phone. I'm glad
[43:43] that she came out and spoke because at least somebody
[43:46] could go here and answer a phone if somebody got an issue.
[43:51] These opportunities getting hurt,
[43:52] they're not getting hurt on their own
[43:53] because that's what they decided to do.
[43:55] And also the board.
[43:56] The board is a life changing event.
[43:59] The AM PM board is like Mr. Bright said, Mr. Blank said,
[44:04] is that it's for people to have
[44:06] some kind of norms in their lives.
[44:08] You guys have norms in your lives.
[44:09] You know, I already know your schedule every day
[44:10] is gonna be 85, no change,
[44:12] no midnight, nothing like that. You know when you come in, what your set is going to be,
[44:15] where the operators want the same thing. That's why they have the AMP and board. It's to give
[44:19] the ones who wants to work in the morning with kids to have that opportunity. The one in
[44:23] the evening that wants to work in the afternoon and tend to the family, because sometimes
[44:26] these are split families. They have the choice of the mother and father taking the choice
[44:29] of taking care of the kids. They want that opportunity.
[44:35] As far as the salaries,
[44:39] The 3% is for the operator. What are the salary people are going to get? Because the HM and
[44:45] the AM says, okay, you're supposed to get 10% more than we get anyway. But what's the
[44:48] real deal? We want the same fair salary as anybody else get.
[44:55] Thank you.
[44:56] Thank you.
[44:58] Thanks, Speaker.
[45:01] My
[45:09] name is Latanya Walker. I am a customer service information representative. I am also
[45:15] a union rep for ATU. I would like to say echo what everyone has said up here tonight. And I
[45:25] would also like to say that when we come before you, we're coming before you for a reason.
[45:30] I've looked at some of y'all, some people are listening, some people are not. They're
[45:36] falling asleep, whatever it may be.
[45:38] But we come up here to speak for the bus drivers,
[45:42] the customer service reps, all the people
[45:45] that are putting in time to make Dart a five-star service.
[45:50] Three percent, Ms. Lee, you know that's not right.
[45:53] The board, you know it's not right.
[45:55] We do deserve more.
[45:57] We work hard.
[45:58] We make sure the customers get to where they need to be.
[46:02] We give them correct information.
[46:04] We try to make dark look good, and I think we do a great job doing so.
[46:10] We're asking y'all to be a blessing to us.
[46:15] Talk amongst yourselves and give us what we deserve.
[46:21] We deserve more than 3%.
[46:23] Insurance is 18%.
[46:26] Like they say, it's ridiculous.
[46:30] And I'm echoing what they're saying.
[46:34] Y'all get bonuses at the end of the year.
[46:37] If we're out two days, we don't get the bonus to 750.
[46:42] I had a co-worker that had an unforeseen situation with her daughter,
[46:48] had to go to have emergency surgery.
[46:51] She doesn't get the bonus.
[46:52] Is that fair?
[46:55] There needs to be some changes made because life does happen.
[46:59] We work hard.
[47:01] We come to work.
[47:02] We do what we're supposed to do.
[47:06] We're asking y'all to look over things, change some plans or whatever you have to do.
[47:13] Change it.
[47:14] We need changes at dark because like they say, without us, there's no y'all.
[47:20] So listen to what we have to say and apply it to us.
[47:26] We deserve it.
[47:28] No one should be at work and then something happened and they don't get the bonus.
[47:34] But I guarantee at the end of the year, y'all will get y'all bonus.
[47:39] The VPs will get their bonus, and it's way more than 750, and we work hard.
[47:46] Whenever there's a need like the fair, people put in overtime, and it's not easy.
[47:53] We get complaints from customers because the trains may be doing something or some kind
[47:59] of mechanical issue.
[48:01] We have to cover for DART and we do it well.
[48:06] So taking consideration that the employees that are standing before you today that we're
[48:12] doing our job and we're representing DART well.
[48:19] That concludes the speaker section of the meeting.
[48:24] We will go to the next item, which is adjournment, and we are adjourned.
[48:28] Thank you for being here.