>>Good morning. We will kick off the
Audit and Human Resources committee
meeting. I will recognize Board members in
the room today. Board Director Judge Han,
Director Mayor Fry, Director Ponce and myself. Do
we have any public comment this morning?
>> We have one, Dominic Maisoc. He is
virtual this morning
>> Dominic?
>> Can you hear me now? Yes we can hear
you. Okay I was late on unmuting. Okay
I was thinking about something here,
about you go out and advertise jobs for
METRO and I have two actually two
possible sources. Number one, I think
they call Boy Scouts of America now
scouting USA due to legal things that
have happened. There's a group they
call explorers. These are people that,
this is open for men and women that are
looking for vocations and career
whatever. I don't know if you have to
have Cub Scouts and regular scouting to
go with it but I think that might be
some ideas to encourage people 18 and
above, or I don't know what the age
limit is, to look at METRO as a
possible place to work. That could also
be divided up into saying METRO PD,
operations, mechanics, where the rubber
meets the road, and the office group.
Secondly, as I'm thinking of HCC as
well the school district I know the
school is next to Kashmere. I think
there could be some interoperable
agreement to where students at
[Indiscernible] can do the classroom in
the morning and then come over to
Kashmere to do their lab work in the
garage also HCC has diesel mechanics I
think it's a different campus but it
could be an interagency agreement where
you do your class work at HCC, and then
you come over to Kashmere to do your
lab work. In each case, when the person
graduates, they are an apprentice. They
have apprentice rank. They would have a
union job under union 260 am paid to
work for METRO. Between those two
aspects, that could be two jobs at
METRO and the person would already be
pre-trained. Without having other
comments I send it back to you
>> Thank you so much Dominic, I
appreciate the comments raised and the
considerations thinking about how we
can better prepare the workforce and
partnerships with the school district
and community college. Are there any
comments? We will jump into the
briefings and then comments from board
directors. First up we have the monthly
compliance report from Chief Audit
executive Andrea Dennis
>> Good morning. Can we pull up the
audit dashboard please? Thank you. Can
you please go to the next slide. Here
is a summary of the internal audit
dashboard and activity as of the end of
December 31, 2025. Thus far we have
completed 107 audit projects, we have
17 in the process as of the end of
December. For the month of December a
total of 22 audit projects completed.
If you look toward the bottom of the
screen we have the internal functions
and IT audits, three of those have been
completed, seven of those are in
process and 10 currently not started.
We have a summary of the audit
recommendations we are tracking. We
have a total of 16 still outstanding.
If you go to the next slide please. In
the next three pages we have a list of
all audit recommendations we are
tracking through completion. As far as
changes in the report from the prior
month, we have four recommendations
that were implemented and have been
removed from this report. I want to
note the one item related to the single
audit KPMG that we were tracking has
been implemented and corrective action
noted on that item, in addition to
three other items. There were three
items extended this month due to
management needing additional time to
implement the items. Those items are
noted with a check mark. Please go to
the next slide. We have two more that
were extended. That concludes my
presentation do you have any questions
>> Are there any questions from
colleagues? no? Thank you for the
presentation. Next up we have the human
resources metrics report, Karen Kauffman
>> Thank you so much and good morning
everyone. This... Next slide please.
Nothing too significant to point out,
our headcount has remained fairly
steady at 4800 employees. Turnover has
dropped somewhat, about an eight
percent turnover now. Next slide. For
the month of January, we had 67 hires.
The one thing I want to point out here
are leave of absences are higher for
December but that's pretty typical. A
lot of times employees postpone
procedures until the holidays and so
on. Nothing to be concerned about in
that respect. This is a slide with the
applicant and hire demographics,
applicant demographics are on the right
as you saw in the month of December we
still had a fairly high number just
over 3400 applicants and the total
hires on the left are shown by gender
and ethnicity. Next slide. Wanted to
highlight several outreach events for
the month of December. One of the
events pictured here was a visit from
the Gateway Academy, a high school in
Houston for students with neurodiverse
challenges as well as other types of
learning disabilities. They came to our
facility at Kashmere and heard speakers
from various divisions, especially
within operations and staffing. We also
partner with Goodwill industries and
had an event and had our open house at
the Kashmere facility for bus operators
service drivers and mechanics. Next
slide. This shows the hiring incentives
that were paid for the month of
December. As usual, the highest number
were for bus operators. We had 73
employees eligible also several of the
maintenance positions as well. In the
footnote I wanted to mention too we
continue to have bilingual incentives
for our public interfacing employees
who qualify for those. Also had
payments in the month of December for
those 359 employees participating in
that program. Next slide. This shows a
list of the new positions that were
hired for the month of December, bus
operators being the highest number. We
had a number of wellness events in
December. One was nutrition which was
timely with the holidays and all of the
holiday festivities. We had several
financial wellness sessions as well as
our partnership with the Gulf Coast
regional blood center for a blood
drive. Next slide. This shows our
schedule of classes through our
training and organization development
group for January and February. We have
a number of technical classes for
Microsoft products as well as things
like time management professional
development business writing. I wanted to
highlight a couple of courses for our
employees who want to move up within
the organization and perhaps interview
for other positions so we had one that
had to create an effective resume and
interviewing skills we do provide those
types of them to help prepare employees
for future positions at METRO. Next
slide. One of the new recognitions we
are doing now is to recognize employees
who are the most active in the
e-learning online learning program.
This is something they can do on their
own with guidance from their management
as to which classes are appropriate for
their roles. We had two employees, Chad
small and [Indiscernible] O'Bryant
recognized for the courses they took
during the year of 2025. That concludes
my presentation.
>> Are there any questions or comments?
no? thank you again for the updates we
appreciate it.
>> With that, we will close out today's
audit human resources committee
meeting. The time is 9:15 AM folks, we
posted for 9:30 AM for the next
committee meeting our finance committee
will begin here in 15 minutes at 9:30
AM.
>>
>> I think we need to get started. I
think we are ready to begin the finance
and business administration committee.
It is 9:31 AM. The first item on the
agenda are public comments
>> We have Dominic Maisoc virtual
>> Okay
>> Dominic?
>> He does not appear to be on.
>> We will move forward. We will come
back if he joins. We are going to start
with the briefing item the monthly
financial reports, George? Thank you
Chair Morales and members of the
committee George Fotinos METRO Chief
Financial Officer presenting the CFO
report for today's committee if I could
have the presentation please. To let
you know this presentation will
summarize high-level points detailed
and monthly reports you will pass on as
action item to the full board including
the sales tax report investment report
that report fuel hedge reporting
monthly performance report. Next slide
please the first slide presents the
sales tax revenue the authorities
largest source of income. These numbers
represent activity from two months ago
January number two represent activity
from November. Recall last month I
reported to the board that we have
received an updated forecast of sales
tax revenue for University of Houston
Center for economic growth and
opportunity. The forecast reduce the
expected amount of sales tax revenue
the amount we receive after general
mobile by 25 million so with this new
info we reduce the expected revenue
amount for remaining months, that's the
bars you see for FY 26 beginning in
January year to date we received 359.4
million in cash from sales tax revenues
because the first two months of the
fiscal year October and November were
below targets we are playing catch-up
with a $5.8 million Delta
underestimates for the four month
period. However we are 13.2 million or
3.8 percent over the year to your cash
collections at this point last year. In
the month of January we receive
[Indiscernible] 2.1 or 2.4 percent
overestimates and 4.7 million or 5.6
percent more than January year ago. On
the next slide all the remaining items
reflect activity through December. This
slide is the farebox revenue slide
through December total $9 million. Year
to date we are running on budget with
projected estimates. Comparing farebox
revenues through December of last year
we trailed by 1.1 percent, $100,000.
Next slide please looking at a detailed
breakdown of METRO year-to-date farebox
revenue by different modes. Local
network including rail is 1.4 percent
lower commuter bus is higher in line
with the growth we see in
park and ride ridership. Vanpool is 100
percent lower we have not received
revenues in December. METROLift is 20
percent higher. The time the fares
don't tie with ridership as they
recognize various stages independent of
usage. This is a good breakdown of how
we see farebox coming in. Next slide
please all four budgets representing
METRO major appropriated activities are
presented. The first quadrant on the
upper left-hand side shows year-to-date
operating expenditures versus budget,
3.3 percent or $7.4 million under
nonlabor expenses specifically with
contract and support services. The
second quadrant is the capital budget
broken out by two categories, the core
business ended three month period 33
percent or $17 million over. This as
relayed last month in the CFO report
because we are receiving buses sooner
than we expected. 28 of the 45 diesel
commuter buses have been delivered.
Last month it was 15 so it was growing.
25 of the 51 diesel buses have been
delivered. We expect this over run to
iron out in the next two months, it
catches up with the original schedule.
The expansion enhancement category
ended 61 percent or 41 million under,
this is mostly due to timing with the
rays in the referendum projects like
bus stop accessibility. The third
quadrant shows debt service 3.3 percent
or less than 1 million under. Last
month are reported to the board we will
be issuing less debt than expected so
we expect to see and under run in that
category. The fourth quadrant you see
the allocation for general mobility
reflective of sales tax. You see that
through December the amount is under
what we expect to contribute this year
by 1.8 percent or $1 million. Here is a
breakdown of the three major funds as
presented in the investment report. All
of the funds be benchmarks by 10 to 30
basis points our investment officers
are doing a great job. The general fund
balance is down $41 million with prior
month due to outflows required to fund
operating expenditures higher than
inflows sales tax grants farebox and
interest income. Debt service increased
by 6.9 million representing program
monthly contribution to cover interest
and principal payments for debt. The
general mobility fund increased 15
million, this reflects an inflow of
contribution from sales taxes in
December 2018 .2 offset by 2.7 million
of congestion mitigation payments made
to multicity partners. Next slide
please. METRO debt balance remains the
same from last month at 643 million.
The last time METRO debt was below 650
million was 15 years ago in 2011.
However the balance will not stay down
long. Later this month we issue the
first tranche of commercial paper 18
million of referendum projects
[Indiscernible] I'm happy to report the
rating agency SMP is getting set up for
this has given commercial paper the A1
rating the highest rating they can
give. Any questions for George? thank
you for the presentation I have a
couple of questions. What is a typical
or approximate percent of our overall
budget that comes from sales tax and
what is it for farebox for the general
public and for the board
>> We can say sales tax is about 800
million, about 1 billion take out the
general mobility. Farebox right now I
think we have it budgeted at 47
million. You can see the difference
between those. The other inflows that
fund our operations are grants. We have
that 200 million. And we also have
interest and debt proceeds. We expect,
well we are issuing debt, we don't
issue debt unless we need the money.
Our general fund was able to cover
operations in the past years. We have
not issued debt since 2018. So now
moving into this year issuing that
starting a commercial paper program, it
gives us the flexibility to issue debt
when we need it. That is the beauty of
it
>> And then, when do we expect the
general fund balance to bounce back to
305 million the recommended amount we
should have been there to be healthy
>> Our, we have a constraint a reserve
constraint which is 15 percent of
operating budget and another layer is
five percent of the operating budget,
that is a board policy parameter. On
top of that, 15 million. That's over
$223 million. We are never at risk of
not paying our bills. We have over $200
million. But we optimize. So in the
past year, we were 500 million above
that, that's not very good as well
because it's taxpayer money and we need
to deploy those funds for uses. We try
to optimize so we are using the exact
amount and keeping a reserve that keeps
a strong safe resilient, as part of the
reason we have such a high
[Indiscernible] because we do these
things
>> Thank you so much I appreciate that
conversation on a higher level to give
us an understanding of where we are,
where we need to go, if that's
something we need to address so I
appreciate it thank you
>> The one thing I want to add that was
a good question, one of the reasons why
we are healthy is because the majority
of our revenue comes from sales tax
revenue, that's very different from
other transportation agencies across
the US relying on fare revenue. The
other thing is George and his team and
that's why we monitor the forecast for
the sales tax revenue because if we see
it is going to go down, we adjust
expenses as well. Is very important we
look at that because we don't want to
be in a situation where the operating
expenses are more than net revenue
coming in. Any other questions? okay. I
wanted to ask a question about the fare
boxes. May be Tom that would be a
question for you. How are we as far as
putting in the new fare boxes
>> We have an update coming in the
Customer Service Committee. But it's
going extremely well with all the
farebox is being installed, all the
TVMs coming on board they are making
changes as we speak on the platforms.
And we have begun the transition to
utilizing the new system. It's going to
take a little time. We are working
through allowing people plenty of time
to make their transition from the old
system to the new. We are still on
track for full transition come February
and April
>> I'm sorry February and March
>> Okay. How about our transition with
our park and ride folks with the
corporate sponsorships? Need to make
sure there's not [Indiscernible] as well
>> We are taking special care and
making sure the right sponsors that
have utilized the park and ride in
anyway are giving every tool necessary
to make the transition. We double
checked on a few the other day and
everybody is in good shape with no
issues at this point
>> This is probably more of a safety
question but for the safety committee
but once we get the farebox is in place
and we have fare collectors in place
collecting hopefully that will minimize
[Indiscernible] we see
>> Absolutely that is one of the
objectives yes ma'am. Thank you George
for your presentation. Everyone is okay
we will move the financial report to
the board for approval. Hearing no
objections we will move it forward. We
will go to the action item 3 Eddie
Miranda
>> Good morning, I am Allen Clark's
chief strategy officer, I am Eddie's
lesser replacement for the day. He is
out of town. Happy to be able to walk
you through our three items. The first
of those item number three, we are
requesting board approval for the
Interim President CEO to be able to
request our annual transit formula
funds and to speak to that and give you
additional background, I have my deputy
chief strategy officer, Alberto here
this morning. Albert I will turn it to
you
>> Thank you good morning. Let me make
sure the clicker works and it does.
Thank you and good morning. Today we
will the FY25 formula funds for the
FTA, particularly the 5307 5310 5337
and 5339 bus. These funds METRO is the
designated recipient for the funds.
Those funds come into the Houston
urbanized area. I want to pause quick,
designated recipient what does it mean?
it means METRO is responsible for the
funds and act on behalf of the FTA for
the urbanized area. In order to get
these funds program we must develop a
program of projects in coordination
with regional partners. The 5307 funds
came in at 119 million, 5310 5.9
million 5337 22 million and 5339 at 9.8
million for a total of 157 million,
that's roughly 3 percent increase from
the prior year the urbanized area this
is a census designated area. If you
note, the light purple and dark purple
the dark purple is the METRO service
area you see a translucent area to the
northwest. That is METRO service area.
The Houston urbanized area is dark
purple. METRO is not the only one that
operates in the Houston urbanized area.
Harris County Fort Bend County and Gulf
Coast transit District operate in this
area. The program of projects, we work
with our regional partners we have
collaborative efforts and discussions
to discuss the needs of the region and
how funds will be allocated. METRO is
required to approve the pop, required
by the board. All the projects must be
included in the regional transportation
plans. All the projects will be within
the Houston UZA. 5307 funds FTA is
required to program a minimum of 1.75
percent of the formula funds in safety
and security, that is a minimum. Will
talk more on the slide how we maximize
the efforts. Also we are required to
program at least a maximum of 10
percent of funds in ADA paratransit
services. What are 5310 funds, they
support seniors and. Individuals with
disabilities METRO use these for
METROLift services. Something to
highlight, METRO will conduct a call
for projects with our regional partners
and reserve up to 750,000 to do such.
Transportation services will be a
priority of these call for projects. I
have been overseeing this process for
10 years now and have to admit this is
my favorite part of the process, to
work with smaller partner organizations
to get services on the road. 5337 funds
are used as a state of good repair to
maintain fixed guide way high intensity
bus networks. Think of the light rail
and the HOV lanes. 5339 are bus
facilities and bus for capital projects
within Houston UZA to rehabilitate
vehicles and facilities themselves. A
high overview of the allocation in the
Houston UZA. Every single category we
discussed 5307 5337 5309 and 5310 plus
the regional partners, you note that
[Indiscernible] is Gulf Coast transit
District, they also report inside the
urbanized area but in coordination with
them they have a significant balance of
formula funds they are working through
so we discuss with them and they did
not need funds from FY25. Here is the
5307 program of projects for Houston
urbanized area. METRO Harris County and
Fort Bend County are part of this. I'd
like to highlight the safety and
security component $33 million. Earlier
I talked about 1.75 percent that was a
minimum, tapping into what George was
saying, cash is important and the
timing of the cash is also important.
What we did is we worked with regional
FTA, region six and said if it's a
minimum can't we go above and beyond in
the answer was yes. What this does in
working with George's team at finance,
we draw down the funds a lot quicker.
Another thing is the ADA service
support 10 percent maximum amount,
Harris County and Fort Bend County
there projects all of the projects are
very much non-capital-intensive the
meaning they will be reimbursed quickly
and that's what we want for the
urbanized area. 5310 projects will be
part of this, you note that as a
$750,000. This is a program of projects
for the Houston urbanized area, Harris
County for King County receiving funds
as well. The 5337 program of projects,
METRO will retain 100 percent of the
funds as noted before regarding fixed
[Indiscernible] as high intensity bus
METRO being we are the ones that have
the fix guide with the rail and HOV
lanes. These projects will be
implemented for state of good repair
projects for Fannin South and West
Belfort Park and ride. The 5339
program is a regional fare collection
system, this is ongoing and prime to
receive federal funds. The timing of
reimbursement of the funds is positive.
The request for action, it's threefold.
Board approval for the projects for the
FY25 formula funds, permit METRO staff
to issue a call for projects to solicit
partnership proposals up to $750,000.
To provide the interim CEO with
comprehensive authority to implement
the program of projects including
submission of grant applications
conducting administrative actions as
required sub allocating funds for
regional transit providers and
execution of subsequent FTA grant
agreements as always there are
alternatives, the alternative here is
to delay and move forward with the
program of projects at a future date.
Unfortunately it won't change the
amount or time frame to implement a
program of projects. That concludes the
presentation
>> Any questions for Alberta? thank you
Alberto this is board member Ponce. The
request for projects for 5310 could you
give a little more detail as to what
those proposals limits are
>> What the limits are?
>> More of what our, is it open to any
kind of proposal or specifics required
by METRO
>> That's a fantastic question. The
5310 call for projects is limited to
projects that enhance the mobility of
seniors and individuals with
disabilities. It is a requirement that
services be open to the public, there
are other criteria that follow. We do a
fantastic job in advertising this. We
work with our marketing team to get
this out as best we can. We coordinate
with [Indiscernible] I just met with
the director yesterday on how we can
collaborate more. We also emailed
directly all past applicants and
successful applicants to make them
aware of the opportunity, as well as
make presentations at the United Way
and [Indiscernible] on the funds
available. To talk about the projects,
what we've seen in the past is capital
projects operating. The last two years
we have focused on operating projects,
those that get the service on the
streets, that's what we've heard as far
as a resounding soundboard from many
patrons in the region they'd like to
see the service on the street. That's
our main focus for call for projects
>> Thank you
>> Albert if I may, you might want to
mention the kind of organizations we
are working with which tend to be
not-for-profit organizations. Often
transportation is not their primary
function but they are serving part of
our community with significant
disabilities and providing the more
client based customized transportation
for those individuals. Could you
mention a few of those organizations
>> Thank you certainly fantastic
follow-up. I've been overseeing the
funds for 10 years now. I have to admit
it's the favorite part of the process.
I've been out to these agencies and put
the service on the streets. Without
naming names one in particular the
services to help individuals with
intellectual disabilities and training.
They go out with the service and train
individuals to service vending
machines. When they have their product
and their dollies they can't, they have
difficulty getting on our service. So
these funds provide them to help
transport them and do the service. The
service is to get individuals to where
they need to be and perform the
training opportunities to get them
prepared for the real world. Our
services can accommodate the bulk of
the project and the equipment like
dollies. It's instances like this where
you see the funds go in technician
areas and it's a wonderful time saving
>> How are reprioritizing these
proposals? They are prioritized based on
duplication of service, make sure they
are sustainable. There's a lot of
criteria that go into it. I'd be happy
to present these findings at a future
date when we complete the projects and
the board and committee can walk
through how they were selected. I
certainly don't sit on the review
committee, is comprised of regional
partners in the region and H GAC for
independent review of applications
>> Thank you I would love a report on
that
>> Absolutely
>> I have one question, what would you
say is the number of partnerships you
have? How many partners do you have
>> Active partnerships is upwards
between five and 10, meaning we have
fund balances available and working
with the finance team. At any given
time when we do a call for projects in
the past, we received from 1 to 5
applications. Not a lot. Three or four
years ago we revamp the entire process
and said we are not getting enough. We
went out and did the process over again
and got 15 projects applications. It's
a very difficult for the review
committee to select the projects. But
again it's wonderful to see funds go to
these partners
>> Thank you very much and thank you
for the work you are doing
>> Any other questions? thank you
Alberto we appreciate your
presentation. I'm going to go back to
Dominic Maisoc I believe he is on the
phone. Are you there?
>> Terry can you hear me now? Yes we
can hear you
>> Okay. I'm going to mention it here
and maybe I can talk about it later in
other committee meetings coming up. Tom
Jasien, thank you for giving me your
number because I've been texting Tom
about if I see something I text him
immediately he told me to do that. One
day I was on the 96, METRO's from
Memorial going from the transit center,
comes up Fulton Tidwell Parker
Northline Drive up to the transit
center [Indiscernible] in 1960. One day
I got on the bus coming home.
[Indiscernible] 10 people between the
transit center and my house the stop at
my house were on the bus.
[Indiscernible] I was very observant on
bus routes to see how people are
paying. Just out of curiosity. So what
happens was, there were 10 people. Out
of the 10, only two paid fully, one
person paid with a Q Card, I paid with
a beta tested card for the new system.
Eight did not pay at all or fully. Now,
when there is a fare discrepancy I
thought the operator was supposed to
hit a button. On the new fare machines
it sounds like the ding when you go
into a gas station. I'm not hearing it.
With this new system and the new
computers and everything else we can
get very granular where people are not
paying their fares. I know the operator
does not want to get into a hissy fit
with their operators or customers but
not paying full fare is a state felony,
same as not paying full fare on the
light rail lines. So I think one thing
is with this new system we are putting
in, if you don't pay any fare or full
fare it is a state jail felony theft of
fare. The operators are going to have
to get more aggressive and suggest
paying full fare. If they hit these
buttons, Chief Tien can get his people
to ride those buses are routes that
have compliance with officers or fare
inspectors. I don't want this to be
like Dallas. Dallas is having a big
problem with their income people not
paying fares. With that, thank you Tom
for listening to me, thank you for
coming back to me and I send it back to
you thank you
>> Thank you Dominic for your comments.
I'm going to go back to item 3 and make
sure the committees okay to move this
for board approval. Okay great. Moving
on to the next action item
>> Thank you very much. We have two
different grants and George will come,
one of our chief grant writers. The
first concerns the ability to receive a
grant for rifle resistant body armor. I
will let [Indiscernible] explain the
details of that
>> Good morning. I'm requesting board
action to authorize Interim President
and CEO to apply for a rifle resistant
body armor grant funded by the office
of Governor public safety office in the
amount of 280,000. This will outfit 205
police officers with rifle resistant
body armor to protect high caliber
rifle bullets. This does not require a
match
>> Are there any questions? we can move
that onto the board for approval.
>> Item 5 is a little different type of
grant through a similar process. Again
I will let [Indiscernible] speak to that
>> I'm requesting board action to
authorize Interim President and CEO to
apply for the peace officer mental
health program funded by the office of
Governor public safety office in the
amount of 425,000 this funding will
allow the supportive mental health
wellness of peace officers that will
focus on prevention treatment and
resilience
>> Any questions? we will move that on
for board approval as well. Too good
grant programs thank you. The last
action item George?
>> Thank you again to members of the
committee. There is no presentation I
will speak to the item. A request for
board action for the official board
authorization Interim President and CEO
to direct a transfer of the
administration health and welfare
benefits, primarily health insurance
for represented employees union
employees, from the health and welfare
trust to METRO administration. I'm
going to go through the history of
recent events that brought us here and
recap how the administration of health
and welfare benefits is currently
conducted. With the preface this action
is conclusive staff request after
year-long review analysis of how the
administration of benefits for union
employees is conducted and the
conclusion is the risk of conducting
this benefits administration in the
current fashion is too high. The risk
that METRO frontline workforce the most
important employees in the organization
could lose their health insurance is
too great to ever happen. Since 2015
the threat of the risk has happened
twice let's remember all funds
supporting the administration of
benefits for METRO employees are coming
from METRO's taxpayer generated
revenues and the hard-earned wages of
employees. We have a fiduciary
responsibility run our business
efficiently. Let's begin with a recap.
Both METRO and the transport workers
Union provide health insurance benefit
to the union represented employees and
retirees and beneficiaries through a
maintained health and welfare trust.
This exists separate from METRO and is
operated and managed by a board of four
trustees. This trust is funded by
contributions from the participants of
the trust. This is the union
represented employees METRO employees
and retirees and contributions from
METRO at a rate agreed-upon in the
labor agreement. Almost a year ago on
January 27, this trust requested METRO
to provide additional funding to cover
a deficit anticipated to render funding
and sufficiency but of 2.4 million. In
the event the trust had insufficient
funds, that health insurance benefits
of the health and welfare trust
recipients would end. As you can
imagine any emergency room visit event
could be financially catastrophic for
an uninsured frontline METRO employee.
In February the board moved to
implement the change control provision
in the current labor agreement. This
provision enable METRO to replace and
appoint trustees of the health and
welfare trust in the event certain
financial were not being met. Along
with the growing deficit and depletion
of funds independent audits were not
being completed on time major vendors
not being properly assessed using the
documented bid process. Since February,
the health and welfare trust was
governed my METRO staff from finance
operations and human resources. It had
representation from the union president.
It was the objective of the newly
appointed team of trustees to ensure
all decisions and transactions were not
being made without METRO consent and
approval. During that time the
authorized signatories of the bank
accounts were renamed METRO have full
access to various software and IT
systems used to administer benefits.
Internal staff resources were used,
inventories of vendors invoices and
ensure the open enrollment process for
the union employees was executed
successfully for this year and we were
successful with that. Throughout the
month and careful oversight is become
apparent the current structure and
mechanism of administering the union
employee benefits through a third-party
trust is insufficient and continues to
pose risk. There's obvious questions,
why have a separate entity controlled
by METRO to administer benefits and
welfare to METRO employees? Why work
through a different set of vendors
contractors and procedures to
administer benefits to METRO employees?
Why pay a separate [Indiscernible]. Is
this the most efficient use of taxpayer
funds? Is this the most transparent way
to administer this benefit to our
front-line employees? this request is
ultimately coming for a better way, a
better way to mitigate the authority
risk and to use taxpayer dollars.
Again, we are asking for board
authorization for the Interim President
CEO to direct a transfer of the
administration of health and welfare
benefits primarily health insurance for
represented union employees in the
health and welfare trust to METRO
administration. I can answer any
questions
>> Are there any questions? I have one
question. What was the original purpose
for perhaps having the trust managed in
the way it was a managed as opposed to
the administration managing it anyway
>> It has been historically done this
way since close to METRO inception. I
think it was part of a negotiation from
long ago union agreement that had this
is how they wanted to do this. Since
then, there has been an issue. In 2015,
the trust ran out of money. METRO had
to come in like we did last time and
bail it out. During that time, that's
when we said from here on out, in that
agreement we had this appendix D. If
this ever happens again where there are
financial controls we see as a risk,
METRO can appoint the trustees of the
board, the appointees of the trustee.
>> So in the past few years we have
seen two opportunities for there to be
a very significant risk. So you are
saying to us today that this is
probably the best way to go for METRO?
>> Yes
>> I agree with you
>> Any other questions? Thank you for
that.
>> Has there been ample communication
meetings all parties made aware of the
transition and action item moving
forward
>> This is a staff request for the
METRO board. All parties, we have
positioned it, we have internal
meetings if this goes through and is
approved we have a plan the plan will
be a transition between now and May
because in June we will start union
negotiations again. We want to have
this cleared out and taken care of
before we get to that so we have a
clean slate to negotiate wages and
benefits. This is the first green light
we need to begin the transition
>> To add to that, the current union
leadership is well aware of this
proposal and is certainly not opposed
>> We've also gone over this before.
They also knew this was going to happen
with the last injection of cash we had
to make. I think this sounds like a
good plan. We will move this onto the
board unless I hear any objections
>> Just want some clarification. Now
instead of having the trust for the
union employees, union or not now it's
under the METRO administration?
>> Yes. There are four trustees that
govern the third member entity, that
administrates the benefits for the
union employees. Three of the 4R METRO,
all of them are METRO appointees but
three our staff. The other appointee on
that is the union president who has
participated in this whole discussion
>> You might add George, that was the
change we made last year in how the
board was constituted. There's been a
few changes, last year when the
troubles came we took over the majority
of the board.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay no other questions we will move
this to the board for approval. The
last item on the agenda is the debt
issuance with Sheila Lefang
>> Thank you. The manager of debt
service and investments. Our group is
presenting a debt issuance item
contractual obligations for which we
will be requesting board approval in
the next few months. Can I have the
next slide please thank you. The
approved fiscal year 2026 budget
includes a capital project expenditure
plan comprised of referendum projects,
bus and infrastructure projects as well.
The plan is supported by 441 million
in debt funding sources, specifically
commercial paper, sales and use tax
bonds and contractual obligations. Next
slide please. We are now just over
three months into the fiscal year. In
light of new information, we are
updating the fiscal year 2026 capital
project financing plan. We intend to
issue 124 million less than the
original plan. The plan has changed due
to a regional forecast of sales tax
collections prepared by the University
of Houston Center of economic growth
and opportunity. George has mentioned
that before. This has the effect of
reducing METRO anticipated collections
by 25 million for the fiscal year. The
accompanying economic report noted key
reasons for the downward forecast on
sales tax collections as the effect of
immigration policy on the workforce
increased tariffs and economic
uncertainty. Because of this refocused
and other unexpected events such as
government shutdown which occurred in
the fiscal year, which in itself
affected the timing of grant receipts
now delayed to April in a few months, a
general fund has diminished
significantly as we are having to make
payments for qualifying debt to finance
capital expenditures such as bus
budgets with every day with revenue
cash receipts. In this chart the dotted
line represents our general fund. The
colored areas represent cash reserves
which we mentioned earlier which are
mandated by either the board policy or
the debt policy. As is evident on the
chart, we are very close to dipping
into reserves. There's a cash infusion
is necessary. Currently we are working
on getting the two commercial paper
lines established and we are well
underway with that. So we can begin
drawing down to cover these capital
expenditures that we have to take care
of. This chart highlights our planned
response to meet those capital funding
requirements and to do so in a timely
fashion as well. In our estimate, we
would like to start the process now to
ensure the funding from the contractual
obligations, which will be used as
rolling stock becomes available in a
couple of months, we are looking at
April May timeframe. Next slide please.
Does METRO have the authority to issue
a contractual obligations which is the
debt instruments we are looking to be
approved, yes we do. These are
authorized in chapter 1371 of the code
and subject to subchapter a of the
Texas local government code. METRO
policy has also established guidelines
utilization of the debt instrument to
finance capital assets. We also have
debt policy stated these can be issued
without voter approval and of course we
will come to the board to have a
resolution adopted to enable us to do
so. Next slide please. Just a brief
outline of what contractual obligations
which are also known as Kos these are
debt instruments that presents a legal
agreement between two parties, there is
no election requirement meaning we
don't have to go to the voters to get
these in place. They are considered
good for nonconstruction projects such
as rolling stock. Rolling stock is
equipment you use to generate revenue.
They are good for a short duration
projects, the projects which we use the
KO with an average life of 5 to 12
years. They will be issued as senior
lien obligations, which means we will
they are secured by pledged revenues
and come from sales tax and they have a
strong credit backing, rated AAA either
rating agencies standard and pore. Next
slide please. The projects we are
looking to fund, we will issue
approximately 75 million which will
include borrowing costs. This will be
used to acquire the equipment, the two
groups of equipments are rolling stock
we are looking to finance, revenue
vehicles and also nonrevenue vehicles
that support the operations. There's
going to be interest related to the
contractual obligations and also costs
involved in issuing these. These items
are already budgeted for in the budget
we passed last fall. Next slide please.
Our next steps, we will revisit with
the committee in the next few months.
Then we will be asking the board to
specifically approved the issuance of
the KOs, approve the amount which will
be in the region of about $75 million.
We will ask the board to authorize
appropriate to execute documents
associated with the financing. Also to
approve the team which is the attorneys
and underwriting syndicates associated
with the financing as well. That is the
plan we have as far as that is
concerned. This concludes my
presentation I'm happy to take any
questions
>> Just for the ignorant what is a KO
versus CO. That is interesting that
they did not call it a CO that was one
of my first questions as well, there is
no rhyme or reason. What does Ks
stand for, contractual
>> I'm okay with CO.
>> Any other questions? I wanted to
make a couple of comments to make sure
we stress that the different debt
instruments we issue will be depending
on the purpose. If you have a
referendum or a non-referendum, the
finance team will make sure they use
proper debt investment. The other thing
I wanted to mention is when we are
issuing debt for rolling stock heavy
equipment things of that nature that we
are going to match payback with the
useful life. In other words we don't
want to pay back in 10 years when
useful life is seven years or five
years. Any other questions? Thank you
for the briefing. This is the last item
on the agenda so the meeting is
adjourned
>> It is 10:42 AM we will start the
infrastructure mobility committee
meeting
>> Excuse me it is 10:22 AM for the
record
>> I am Bob Fry the Chairman. I have a
quorum present all of the board is here
thank you for being here, Chairman
Brock thank you for being here. I'm
losing one. Okay. We have at least one
speaker go ahead
>> Dominic Maisoc
>> Can you hear me? We hear you find
Dominic go ahead. Mayor I was not at
the rail meeting yesterday because I
was doing my 180 at Council yesterday.
As far as I'm concerned concerning
that, METRO needs to watch the Union
Pacific Northern Southern merger. I
think there probably will be statements
about the Houston terminal. I think the
board needs to be very cautious of
that. May be working with the cities
and everything to have Union Pacific
give the money for grade separation. In
this, on the issues putting a downtown
METRO police station within one of the
downtown management District or Houston
first. I'm going to say something, I'm
for it, unfortunately it is something
we have to have. My concern is people
are becoming more and more and more
uncivil. I will use the example of the
bouncing off the walls cartoon World
War II era. It seems like people are
becoming more and more crude, becoming
more and more uncivil. In the last
meeting, people will be beginning to
feel like, I don't have to pay my fare.
It's a sad situation I don't know how,
churches are doing part, maybe need to
do more. Reverend that's in your
department, that might be something you
want to talk to your minister group
with the Mayor. Use our ministers to
tell people to obey the laws, the just
laws that we do have. I don't how to do
that. Secondly, you have this thing
stand by for pavement repair. I think
it's good that we have standby
contractors that can come in and do the
work, as long as they do the work well
and do the work so we get the most bang
for the buck. I know we've got in three
months I know Terry is left, we've got
the budget for believe it or not 2027
coming up in April. That process is
going on. With that, I have no other
comments and will send it back to you
Mayor thank you
>> Thank you Dominic. Any other
speakers? No sir. I will make one
correction I said all of the board was
here Board member Trevino is not here.
With that, we will move on to action
items. Casey?
>>. Good morning I'm here to request
board authorization for Interim
President CEO to execute a competitive
sealed proposal two-year contract for
the asphalt and concrete paving for
mobility improvements package three on
an as-needed basis with Texas materials
group, with a base contract value of
$35,989,000. And a 10 percent METRO
control to contingency of $3.5 million.
Not to exceed amount of $39.5 million.
>> If there are any questions I can
answer them
>> Questions or comments?
>> Looks like it's okay, Casey. We will
pass this on to the board
>> Taylor?
>> Good morning. Taylor, we are seeking
approval of memorandum of understanding
between merits and h Harris for an
mixed-use development next to the
Burnett transit Center. Last year in
June and overview the opportunity and
today I will provide an update and talk
about the intent of the MOU. Before I
start I want to recognize we have our
colleagues from the Harris County
housing finance Corporation here today,
we have [Indiscernible]. With that I
will begin. What is the [Indiscernible]
development. A project led by the
Harris County housing finance
Corporation and arm of the county
itself focused on promoting affordable
housing. They have establish a vision
for the project, a walkable mixed-use
district with innovative mixed income
housing commercial retail and
neighborhood services serving the near
North Side community as well as
opportunities for small business
success and high-quality pedestrian and
green space. While METRO is not leading
the project there is opportunity for
ridership benefits and customer
experience benefits related to safety
and security and additional eyes on the
street. This project is located in the
near North Side, directly adjacent on
the eastern side of Burnett transit
Center. 10.7 acres the county owns.
They are seeking to partner with more
developers to bring the project to
fruition. The preliminary site plan UC
was developed by the county is subject
to change based on negotiations with
individual developers. They had broken
the site into three tracts, tract one
tract two being mixed-use developments
with affordable housing and tract
three being a shared open space area.
As far as timeline tract one further
away from the transit center on the
eastern side is further along the scope
from the county are seeking a minimum
of 200 units affordable housing as well
15,000 square feet of retail or support
services for residents. They issued an
RFP last year and talk to a developer
last year they are in negotiation
process with the developer. They
anticipate closing the end of this year
and construction lasting two years.
Tract two on the western side of the
property adjacent to the transit center
is somewhat similar with more
commercial. It is a minimum of 200 unit
affordable multifamily apartment
complex with a minimum of 25,000 square
feet of ground floor retail. They
issued an RFP in the fall and
anticipate selecting a developer in
February. Similar timeline on the
closing at the end of the year as well
as construction lasting two years.
Those are the two tracts. What is the
purpose of the MOU, nonbinding
agreement there is no contractual
obligation for METRO. It does two
things that identifies shared goals
with Harris County finance Corporation
and outlines roles and
responsibilities. On the shared goals
both parties want to ensure this is a
transit oriented development that
encourages ridership, that is the
design of it. Also an opportunity for
us to explore communities, to
facilitate development and activation
of METRO property itself. In the short
term that could be enhanced pedestrian
activity between our side and mayors.
It could also be a long-term additional
use of the transit center in the form
of a joint development. As far as roles
and responsibilities, Harris County
housing finance Corporation is leading
the project, METRO is a support role
providing information and feedback to
the county and their developers related
to design and we are having an open
mind if interest does come for
additional development at the property.
With that being said we are here today
to request board authorization for the
Interim President CEO to approve and
MOU with the Harris County housing
finance Corporation regarding proposed
development adjacent to the Burnett
transit Center.
>> Questions or comments?
>> I don't have any questions but I'm
in support of this and excited about
the TOD and the support we can provide
for METRO
>> That was one thing I wanted to ask
you. You are okay with Harris County?
Okay. The other thing is these projects
like this next to our transit assets
lead me to ask the obvious question.
Chief, are you aware of this do you
have public safety concerns as this
goes forward?
>> Yesterday they looped me in it is
expanding and it's going to be more
people there so will be a higher
[Indiscernible] but a good thing right
now it's close proximity to the
headquarters at Buffalo Bayou so we
still have a gap. As we increase our
presence our safety initiative on the
red line it will mitigate some of that
in the initial term
>> Tom, I would be sure to mention that
public safety [Indiscernible] as it
goes along so they are not caught by
surprise later
>> Yes, sir.
>> Are there any other questions or
comments? Kathy
>> I'm wondering, this is for
increasing the ridership. The goal is
to increase ridership. Are there any
other things? It looks like we have
mixed-use on the businesses. Is this a
little like an investment for METRO so
we can profit from this or just for the
purpose of increasing the ridership
>> On our side it's about increasing
ridership. The county is developing the
property. They have their own goals
related to affordable housing but ours
is ridership.
>> Thank you
>> I would ask this question, you talk
about the development and the proximity
of the transit center next to it. What
specifically bridges the two entities
together to provide or to enhance
transportation?
>> That's what the MOU is serving right
now or will serve. So we can have
further conversation related to the
design of the project. We want to make
sure cents the design is integrated and
supports transit and is a safe and
secure environment
>> My second question would be, are
there any future developments this
entity wants to partner with or have a
relationship with METRO in?
>> Not right now but we are open to
conversations
>> Thank you
>> Anything else?
>> Go ahead
>> Director Ponce, I have not been out
to the Burnett transit Center for some
time now. With this development and the
increase of parking for residents and
customers as well as people coming to
shop, could you speak a little on what
the parking situation will be like? Are
there multilevel parking garages that
will be utilized for by both riders and
residents?
>> At this time, it's a separate
development so there is not shared
parking. They would have their own
parking for residents and for retail
and the transit center would stay as is
>> I think you can see the interest in
it. Everybody here has spoke, it's best
to keep the board informed of how it's
going. Personally, anytime you are
talking this it's better when you're
not talking to somebody, I certainly
think we need to move this forward. We
will move it forward. Thank you
>> We will move on to five year
contract on paving. Parmjit Kang, have
not seen you in a while
>> I am the senior program manager with
infrastructure improvement here to
request board authorization for Interim
President CEO to negotiate and execute
five year contract with two one-year
options with 5 million each with AECOM
Midtown Engineer Consor Engineers HR
Green BGE Infratech and Exp US Services
for design services for budget and
plan construction projects on as-needed
basis for not to exceed 140 million
total
>> Questions?
>> Basically this is to put us in line
with consultants as we need them when
we need them, we pay for them when we
use them. It's to be ready when things
come up if we need additional help,
does that cover it?
>> Yes
>> Is there any specific set-aside for
small businesses in this consulting?
Yes. 35 percent [Indiscernible]
>> Any other questions? If I could just
add a little bit, each one of those
vendors has committed to 35 percent or
greater, some of them [Indiscernible]
>> On page 27 they are listed.
>> That's a good point. Is it cut and
dry as far as you are concerned? Okay
no further questions we will move this
onto the board. Thank you
>> Clint, are you ready?
>> Welcome Clint good to see you. Good
morning sorry I did not hear my name.
This morning we are here to request
board action, the METRO Police
Department and leadership identified a
need for METRO police substation near
the convention District area adjacent
to both our green and purple line as
well as the airport direct service. As
such, the agency has begun discussions
and developed a draft agreement with
the Houston first Corporation to
procure a ground-floor space of 1400
square feet of the partnership tower at
71001 [Indiscernible] in Houston Texas.
I will read the recommendation. Request
board action for the Interim President
CEO to negotiate execute and deliver a
lease agreement with Houston first
Corporation for the ground-floor 1400
square feet of the partnership tower at
701 [Indiscernible] in Houston Texas
for Houston METRO police department
substation. As a note, this is a zero
cost a lease arrangement and does
include both option for a renewal, this
is a one-year agreement now and has the
option for termination at either party
request.
>> Are there any questions? I have a
comment. I believe because of its
location I believe ridership and the
public will be pleased with this move
>> Also in support given the upcoming
increased activity in the next six
months I'm glad to see this on the
agenda
>> I echo all of the above, it's a
great idea
>> You might want to go into why the
location is so important?
>> There's a number of reasons, this is
the confluence of the two lines, we
have both the green and purple line
that connect to the convention center.
The Houston airport direct service that
runs every 30 minutes and delivers
folks from the airport to downtown
Houston is at this location as well. It
gives the METRO MPD the opportunity to
observe the activity occurring as it
relates to passenger service and
additional safety. Provides extra layer
of general safety for the area at the
convention center
>> I think it's a good location, it
should be done any other comments? We
will pass it on, Clint thank you.
>> Bridget Towns, hello
>> Good morning everyone. I am Bridget
towns, vice president of infrastructure
improvement department here to request
authorization for the president Interim
President CEO to execute a contract
modification with Wilson building
services for the installation of a fire
pump and generator at METRO central
store warehouse. The original contract
was awarded earlier last year in the
amount of $1.928 million. Also at the
time, METRO controlled contingency was
approved in the amount of $192,818. The
total amount of the original contract
including the controlled contingency
was $2.120 million. We had an earlier
change order in the amount of $80,875.
Which left us with the remaining
controlled contingency of $111,942.
This change order is for 197,057. The
additional amount requested to cover
this current change order is the delta
between the change order amount and the
remaining controlled contingency, which
is $85,114. The total modified contract
amount, including the change order,
would be $2.206 million. Also as part
of the change order, we would like to
request a period performance extension
to July of this year, this change order
captures field driven revisions for
unforeseen site conditions and code
requirement including but not limited
to adjusting conduit qualities
increasing casing sides upsizing the
tapping sleeve and valve and modified
electrical components to meet the
latest city codes. Are there any
questions or comments? I know it is a
lot of numbers
>> Go ahead
>> So this is for this location at 1900
Main?
>> This is for the METRO central store
warehouse.
>> Okay.
>> I want to comment on this one. This
warehouse is been a METRO hands for how
long Tom? Since the 60s or 70s?
>> Certainly back to the original
origin which goes back to 1979. And we
know it was before that. It has fallen
into disrepair anytime you have a
building that old anything you do cost
a lot of money. The state of good
repairs is what we demand on this board
so this is certainly worth doing and I
think we pass this unless I have
dissension here. Comments?
>> I'm in support of making sure we
maintain our facilities. In a state of
good repair. I don't know what the
expected lifecycle is on the fire
suppression system. It looks like we
are making modifications upgrades if
you have to replace and all of that. I
did not know how much life we have
current or how much extended life as a
result of the repairs? Does anybody
know?
>> This is just for the fire
suppression system. I would say
probably off the top of my head, this
would send it out for approximately 15
years or so
>> I guess and that's a good question,
of course the caveat is let's start
planning for 15 years from now.
Anything else? we will pass it along
thank you
>> Thank you. We will move on to
briefings capital project update Shri
>> Good morning board members, we've
got update starting with Tim Mills with
an update on the universal
accessibility program.
>> Good morning everybody. We will
start with the progress update for this
fiscal year. December bit of a slow
month with the holidays. We are still
tracking for 250 improvements in design
and construction, I expect to see a
good jump in January. Board member
Ponce, you asked last month about some
of the more difficult stops getting
into the open ditch stops and the
partnership stops so I wanted to give
an update on where we stand in the
program and highlight some of the ways
we are trying to address those stops.
We are at 6100 improvements since the
start of the program and F FY18.
Everything in red are stops that have
not been addressed as part of the UA.
When you break that down there are
stops in their existing compliant, some
completed prior to the start of the UA
program. Stops completed by others.
Stops completed by a third-party. That
leaves about 700 stops left to do, we
have another 230 or so currently in
construction. Right at about 1000 stops
remaining. The green boxes around a
couple of corridors, with these
partnership stops is how we need to
look at them and get away from the
point-to-point improvements and look at
it as a corridor based approach. To
walk you through a few things. This one
is on the northeast side of town,
Eastland Street. Is a residential
neighborhood with existing sidewalk on
one side of the street. We operate bus
service on both sides of the street.
You can see on the left-hand side of
the photo, there is an open ditch with
a bus stop sign. A ditch on the
right-hand side of the street with
sidewalk behind it. It's a residential
neighborhood, highlighted in the red
box we have a school in the bottom
right corner of the map and a parking
community center in the middle off to
the right of Eastland. This is one we
are looking at improvements, there was
a lot of benefit to the community to
look at this as a corridor. I believe
from Booker Street to Berry, close
to 30 stops off of Wayside over to
Eastland and back out to Wayside where
we can catch a lot of bus stop
improvements and improve the sidewalk
in the neighborhood and include
sidewalk connections to the school and
to the community center in the park.
That's one we are tackling ourselves
under the UA program, benefits to the
community. We are high on this one
which is why we chose to advance this
ourselves. Oats Road is another one, a
little east of Eastland on the east
side of town this is a two lane road
with deep ditches on both side of the
road, about a dozen stops on this
stretch of oats Road. Almost all of
them have very low zero ridership,
there are two stops, a halfway house on
the north end of the street where there
is high ridership. We are including
improvements there to address the ones
with highest ridership and then we will
work with the service planning group to
figure out maybe we can optimize some
of the stops and get rid of stops to
cut down on the improvements but
maintain service while still serving
the customer base out there. Veterans
Memorial on the west side of town, this
is one multilane Road open ditch no
sidewalks on either side. We've been in
contact with the county they have a
sidewalk project coming up so we are
coordinating on bus stops making sure
they get included in their project and
addressing them as part of that that
meets the standard and locations are
good. That's a case of coordination
between agencies. Same thing on
[Indiscernible] Road, TxDOT has a
project coming up open ditch on both
sides of the road. There is a train
track on the left side of the photo,
coordinating with TxDOT to get stops
addressed to our standards. There were
a few that presented problems for
TxDOT, four of them that we have to
figure out how to address those. But it
knocks out 15 difficult stops for us
that will be done as part of their
project. The last one, this is a few
different streets up on the northwest
side of town. This was not done in
conjunction but this is a way it will
improve our numbers. When they came
with the service change, I believe in
November or December board meeting,
Route 64 will be discontinued next
month. We had several stops on that
part of the route that were residential
neighborhood, open ditches with no
sidewalk, eliminating that stop will
take those off the UA list two
completed to improve our compliance
numbers. Again you can see there are
multiple ways we are trying to address
the stops, not all necessarily out of
the UA budget. But it does show you the
flavor of how we are trying to address
these difficult stops. Are there any
questions?
>> I want to go back to oats Road. You
were talking to planning within METRO
and come up with roads that don't need
stops, and it helps the coordination
there, I'd like very much
[Indiscernible] and with the
coordination especially with two groups
in house talking, a lot of times that
does not happen so I'm proud of you.
Are there any comments? Director Ponce.
I want to thank you Tim for the update.
I remember going out to one of the open
houses, the public meeting for
Commissioner Garcia by Veterans
Memorial. I remember them talking about
the expansion of Veterans Memorial
there. This is another example of how
we can collaborate with other partners
to ensure not just our streets and
sidewalks but METRO stops are up to
date and accessible for everyone. This
is one way of us to show other
commission offices and also the nation
as to what we are doing in Houston in
collaboration to ensure all of our
spaces are accessible to everyone.
Thank you for that I appreciate that
>> Also want to applaud the
collaborative work as well. When you
show the pictures of Veterans Memorial
and Alameda Road you know how fast cars
go up and down those heavily transited
parts of the city. I'm very excited we
will be doing work to make it more ADA
accessible and also taking into
consideration additional safety
measures and those area. It is scary.
We know Houston unfortunately has some
parts like on Westheimer and parts of
the city that are dangerous for
pedestrians a national report recently
said so. I know we are putting safety
first and all things we do at METRO. I
appreciate the work that we continue to
visit busy and fast roads. It's great
that we offer the service and hopefully
we can make it safer
>> And to piggyback off the one on oats
Road, we are include flashing beacons a
pedestrian crossing because these are
two heavily utilized stops coming and
going and a lot of traffic out there.
Anything we can do to improve the
safety crossing the street, getting
between stops is something we are
looking at as part of the UA program
>> I echo the comments. What is the
timeline for completion
>> Oats Road, this one will go into
construction I would guess in the next
couple of months. Eastland, we are at
the finish line I expect to have
permitted planned for those maybe next
week. That would again get going this
fiscal year. Some of the coordination
projects, I need to check in and see
where they are on their timeline. Those
are outside of our control but I can
come back with an update with TxDOT in
County projects
>> I'd love to hear about the timeline
from when we start to when we complete.
Also some before and after photos would
be great. Is really important, I echo
what the other board members have said.
Also, us being able to talk about all
of these projects underway and the
coordination and how we are
complementing each other and working
together not just in silos. To be able
to promote that and tell the story that
these investments and projects are
underway and people will start seeing
that progress.
>> Anybody else? okay, Tim this is good
staff work and you presented it well
thank you. We will move on, Kenneth
>> Good morning Mr. Brown.
>> Good morning board Ken Brown
director of service enhancements to
provide the bus shelter program updates
for January. Bus shelter program goals
are listed, install 2000 new shelters,
install 425 BOOST shelters and continue
the rehabilitation program. Starting
with the BOOST shelters at the time of
the presentation creation we reach 235
shelter installations, we have four
shelter types at our disposal, we have
installed 156 cantilever, 68
[Indiscernible] so we are well on our
way to reaching the goal of 100 for
fiscal year 26, we intend to reach that
goal prior to the completion of the
fiscal year. Moving on to the new
standard shelter program, our goal for
the year is 500 shelters installed,
1500 in total. Our current progress was
1150 shelters. We have reached the 1200
Mark so we are higher, well on track to
reach our goal of 1500 by the close of
the fiscal year. In addition we are
focusing on transitioning our shelters
from the current model to a model that
accommodates airflow. Materials have
been purchased by facilities
maintenance to make the modification to
the rehabs. We are looking at making
changes to the new standard as well. We
have 800 or so to install so we want to
make sure we provide the same
modification to though shelters as well
so all customers can benefit from the
change when the summer comes. Speaking
of the rehab, we are currently in
process of making that conversion. Once
the materials are prepared and ready to
go, you will see the rehabs shelters
include the mesh panels. Last but not
least is our partnership, we have a
partnership with precinct two. We reach
the goal of installation for them we
were one short in December but I was
recently notified the last shelter was
installed. All 200 have been installed
we are currently working to get the
branding finalized so we can finish out
the process and move on to forthcoming
agreements. We are working with
Precinct 4. We don't have a formal
agreement in place because they are
finalizing the design. Once they
finalize the design we are able to
review it and we will talk with them
about a potential agreement. That
concludes my presentation
>> Questions? Just a comment on
Precinct 4 partnership, I know they are
working on finalizing the design and I
look forward to partnering with them to
get these on the ground
>> Thank you
>> Other questions? what is your
timeline for having me air panels
installed?
>> We are a lot closer with the rehab
because we have procured the materials
800 panels purchased by the field
service center. With a new standard
shelters we are working on a
modification to the agreement because
it will require additional resources
transitioning from polycarbonate panel
which is cheaper than mesh aluminum
they will be more durable. I'd say in a
month or so we should have that
agreement modified and the vendor will
go out and purchase the panels and
start installing them. It won't start
our progress with installing shelters,
they will continue to do what they are
doing now to get more shelters
fabricated. Once we get the new
materials we will transition. A month
or two we should be looking at shelters
>> A month or two to get shelters ready
to go, what is the timeline for
finishing
>> The entire program? we look we are a
year ahead of schedule, initially we
thought it would be let me go back to
the slide, initially we thought we
would be getting this done in 2008. We
think will we will be finished by 2027
>> Okay. 2027. Let's see, okay that
does it for me thank you anybody else?
I have another quick comment. I know it
was a year or two ago we said we wanted
to prioritize this as a board and I
want to credit the administration for
the responsiveness. I really appreciate
the updates and I'm excited about
continuing to see progress on this
initiative
>> Anything else? Thank you.
Construction update Bilal
>> Good morning everyone. Director of
construction. I will go over the
construction updates. Our construction
volume right now is 197.5 million
dollars. Additional funds are available
for 14.7 million to cover contingency
for unforeseen conditions. For a total
of 14 projects we are overseeing right
now. The update for the maintenance of
way project. The project is 65 percent
complete, we are on target for July
completion with the current pace of
work we might achieve substantial
completion a month earlier in June of
this year. Exterior and interior work
are ongoing. The MOW road work has
commenced. The roadwork contractor has
mobilized to the site last week. Next
is the petroleum storage tank
replacement that Hiram Clarke. I'm
happy to report that both projects have
been completed and handed to
operations. The new fueling stations
are operational. Also next month we
will be breaking ground for the new
petroleum storage tanks at Kashmere and
Northwest bus operating facilities.
Next is the TMC electric box
infrastructure. This has been completed
fencing around the [Indiscernible] have
been removed allowing for the bus lanes
to back into a normal operation.
However we have hit a snag and cannot
complete the testing of the Chargers at
this time there was a water leak found
in the vendor grass which is some of
the electrical components.
[Indiscernible] is in the process of
ordering new parts. We don't have a
date yet for when the parts are arriving
which may cost some delay starting the
electric bus service at this facility.
Next we have the TMC elevators and
escalators. I'm happy to report the
major milestone has been achieved and
all four new escalators are installed.
These were shipped from Spain and we
had to airfreight them to meet the
schedule. Also the four new elevators
are being delivered to the site this
week. Installation will commence in
parallel. All of the electrical and
mechanical works are ongoing. We are
getting ready to start the pedestrian
bridge rehab which will start next
month and include structure repair
paint TMC signs and LED lights. That
concludes my presentation before he
bring Casey for the pavement projects
any questions for me?
>> Questions?
>> Go back to the Chargers. Those are
for the electric buses? How does that
slow you down? it doesn't hurt you bad
does it? All of the infrastructure has
been installed the Chargers the
switchgear the transformers. In order
to start the testing and commissioning,
the system had to be turned on. When
they were about to turn it on they
found a water leak inside the
pantograph. What that did is
short-circuited some of the electric
circuits inside the pantograph in those
parts had to be reordered. We cannot
turn those on until the parts have
arrived so that is slowing us down. We
are not sure exactly what the lead-time
on these things, [Indiscernible] is
finding out we just found it two weeks
ago. They don't have a delivery date
yet.
>> But, that is for the buses the
electric buses. If you did not get
that, it doesn't really slow you down
that much does it
>> Just the electric buses that don't
operate yet. We were planning to start
that service. So there will be some
delay in that
>> If this does not happen by the time
of World Cup you are still in good shape
>> Yes it is not slowing us down. Any
other comments or questions? Thank you
>> North Houston highway improvement
project.
>> You are on construction updates.
Good morning again Casey McKay
preconstruction as well as director of
the construction BOOST and roadway
projects. First I will go over the
concrete asphalt paving for mobility
improvement contract one update. The
prime contractor completed the Texas
Avenue Kirby Drive Montrose and began
construction on April 1, 2025 on
Washington Avenue and Westcott and will
complete that project by the end of
January. The picture on the slide show
the completed asphalt service pavement
near Franklin at the end of the
Washington Avenue project. Next I will
go over the Holcomb Boulevard update.
The contractor began construction in
October 2025. The westbound lanes have
finish surface paving from Fannin to
Kirby, now they are currently milling
the two curb lanes from Kirby to
Buffalo Speedway and are about to
continue all the way to the project
westbound and once they finish
westbound they will do eastbound. Next
I will go over the concrete asphalt
paving for mobility and improvement
contract number two update the prime
contractor began construction in August
along Hillcroft from Westpark to
Westheimer. They are completed asphalt
service paving Harris East 20th and
North Post Oak the picture on the left
shows the asphalt surface completed on
North Post Oak facing I-10. The picture
on the right shows the concrete
intersection still being worked on on
North Post Oak and Westfield. The
asphalt project [Indiscernible] is
[Indiscernible] which will start
milling next week around January 22.
Now I look over the JFK concrete panel
replacement update. The contractor
began construction on January 6, 2026.
Cutting and concrete panel replacement
began as seen in the pictures. We will
complete this project before the World
Cup. Next I will go over the BOOST 54
segment four project update on Scott
Street from Holmes Road to Swingle
Drive. The contractor began
construction on December 8, 2025. As
shown in the pictures on the slide the
sidewalk bus stops and shared use Path
has started. The project will be
complete around July 2026. We have now
asphalt surfaced 65.63 lane miles and
have restored 49+ lane miles of
concrete panel replacements. This slide
shows an approximate list of current
and upcoming projects. This shows an
approximate list of not yet started
roadway projects. If there are any
questions I'm happy to answer them
>> Questions?
>> This is Director Ponce. Can you go
back to the first slide on Franklin. I
think this intersection is amazing have
we had conversations with Public Works
in Houston regarding ramp accessibility?
>> Yes, sir. I believe they are going
to be working on that crossing in the
near future. We did talk to them and
they told us for the striping in that
area to leave it as temporary striping
because they would be doing work there
>> Okay thank you. Other questions?
I've got two or three public input from
riders or drivers at the Post Oak,
magnificent and good to hear. Anybody
else? Thank you Casey. Rachel
>> It's been a few months but I will
move quickly but not talk too fast. I
am in the planning group at METRO
presenting on North Houston highway
improvement project. Basically what is
the program and how has METRO planning
for it as well is reacting every day.
Construction projects are fluid. Where
trying to make our system maintain as
functional as possible for rail and bus
to keep routes running smoothly as
possible to also protect the agency
assets of course things like their
light rail track itself while
communicating changes to routes and
detours to customers as often as
possible. This is a calendar overview
of the different segments. I will try
to move quickly. Last year to segments
were under construction and more in
planning and design. Detours and
service changes, detours that will be
under six months are temporary. We been
working with operation group and bus
operations to determine what the
detours might look like. In some cases
it's better to detour a few blocks out
of the way then change the route in its
entirety. That happened on the nine
Gulfton Holman. [Indiscernible] utility
work down for three months we have
returned the route back to normal
operations. The 4041 was included in
long-term service change. That is now
permanently detouring around while Polk
Street is closing. The 54 Scott is
going to have to change later this
year. The bridges at 288 will come down
so that will be a longer-term service
change. There are some instances where
we change routes working with
operations that ended up being
fortuitous to keep it that way. The 40
market closed down due to detention
basin work. For segment three B1 it
turned out to be a quicker route time
and the housing development got shut
down due to the TxDOT project so the
ridership base was not there they
maintain this route change because I
had a better travel time. The first
project is the one you have seen I-10
at Studemont Heights they are lifting a
portion out of the floodplain. While
this is not a NHHIP project it does
have implications for adjacent segments.
I will get into the ramp later because
that's where the crux of the impact is.
This is on Saint Emmanuel this went
into construction last year in October.
This is basically providing drainage
for the [Indiscernible] happening at
state Highway 288. They board under the
green and purple tracks to put in large
box culverts. We did geotechnical
monitoring to make sure there is no
track deflection or damage to our
assets. We will do that again this year
because they have to go under the
tracks to install sanitary lines and
put in [Indiscernible]. Those are some
of the local bus routes we've had to
deal with service changes and temporary
detours. Segment [Indiscernible] state
Highway 288 I-69 the spaghetti noodle
tangle south of downtown. The major
impacts for us will be bridges for Elgin
to [Indiscernible] across 288 will be
taken down and replaced a longer-term
construction project 54 Scott a
high-frequency red route goes across
the bridge this will come down later
this year but TxDOT agreed to wait till
after FIFA and keep alternate routes
open [Indiscernible] the buses can
route around in a close radius. 3A
remains on track for the Wheeler
transit Center. The main point to
emphasize now as we are in discussions
with text Opera advance funding
agreement looking at rules and
responsibilities might be. Because they
need real estate from us which is one
of those areas in blue. We want to talk
about maybe doing the systems work and
roles and responsibilities throughout
the design and construction. This will
impact both light rail and bus. We will
keep the board apprised as we move
through the negotiation with TxDOT. The
next segment are the three C's the I-10
northern downtown this segment does not
have a lot of impact for METRO
basically they keep the service roads
open for I-10 East Park and ride routes
should maintain service throughout
construction and there's one local
route that runs north and south across
the freeway and it looks like it will
not be impacted it's good news on that
segment segment 3C2 as you move closer
downtown the I-69 North and I-10 area
the main impact for this is it's going
to be a design build job that will
impact the HOV HOT entrance at the
northern end of downtown fortunately
most of the equipment is for the
further north [Indiscernible] we can
take down and store and replace after
construction is done the main impact
will be that TxDOT stated in order to
finish the construction they will have
to allow general traffic to use the HOV
lane to maintain three lanes in each
direction. For a period of 12 to 18
months HOV will not have an exclusive
Lane which has implications for travel
time. Fortunately the rest of the HOV
HOT segment will remain unchanged from
[Indiscernible] to Kingman that will
operate as [Indiscernible]. This
segment is by the UH downtown area the
main impacts moving the bridges and
changing slopes and heights the
overhead contact system for light rail
is attached to the side of the bridges
as they move those we will look at how
to retention and redesign the system as
well as move foundations and things
like that. Right now we are reviewing a
rail crossing agreement with TxDOT rail
so METRO is looking at doing the design
but we would be reimbursed by TxDOT and
have to coordinate who would do what
during construction. We're in review
that agreement right now of course on
the other side of UHD redline station
the routes coming out of that will be
impacted with what happens on Main
Street as a demo and reconstruct the
bridges. 3C 4 the segment adjacent to
White Oak Bayou comes after the White
Oak Bayou project. There's going to be
some closures potentially later this
year with the buy you project that
could last up to a year then we will
have continuous on and off issues
throughout the segments for quite a
while that is something we need to work
with TxDOT on how to get the park and
ride routes in and out of downtown
because this impacts all routes coming
off of I-10 West. With the rest of the
changes happening downtown. Access into
downtown is going to change the Pierce
elevated is going to be demolished
which will impact the St. Joseph
Parkway by the building a lot of the
access downtown will change and the
I-10 HOV entrances will be funneled
onto two sets of street north end of
downtown [Indiscernible] Smith and
Louisiana for I-10 West. There's going
to be more traffic on those streets
more likely congestion and that has
implications for operating time for
buses. We hope through proactive
planning with TxDOT we can mitigate
these impacts we are working with
operations and service planning group
and every other department at the
agency to figure out how to minimize
the amount of detours and LRT
shutdowns. Basically we are helping
TxDOT on the construction sequencing
they are not as familiar transit
operations that we try to advise them
on what would be best for bus and rail
operations to minimize shutdowns. We
are working with them to try to have
major alternate routes open if
something is closed for construction.
We try to communicate this as often as
we can to customers and that trickles
down through folks in the call center
the website that updates things like
that. Of course all the detours that go
through [Indiscernible] so that is the
gamut of what we are working on right
now happy to take any comments.
>> Comments or questions?
>> Basically what you are telling us is
this is a moving disaster. I get it
>> I have one question along I-10 245
the HOV lane access and 45 access has
been closed for some time. Do we know
what the plan is and how long that will
be
>> I heard it is a year or two closure
between I-10 West and I45 corridor.
What happened [Indiscernible] they have
to do a lot of changes so will be
closed down for quite a while is my
understanding
>> You are keeping us up-to-date and
this goes over our heads because it's
so far out there when you make your
reports first thing I would ask is if
you see something coming up quickly
which is probably the wrong word to use
in this context if you see something we
need to address the next time you come
flag that say you need to look at this
now so we're not looking out into 2030
and we need to try to keep our
passengers and riders informed of this
stuff. We will get questions about this
stuff you guys are on the front line
and will hear a lot about this so if
you keep that in mind for us
>> Sure
>> Anything else?
>> Thank you Rachel good work
>> Amma, West Belfort Park-and-Ride
>> Good morning I am here to brief you
on the West Belfort Park-and-Ride
facility. I will give a quick overview
on the background of the facility some
of the existing conditions and the
proposed improvements that will bring
into this facility and next steps the
park and ride is 5969 it's on with the
image on the left it is bounded on the
north by [Indiscernible] by you on the
east by residential area and on the
south by some commercial and
residential uses as well. It has over
1800 parking spaces for bus space and
serves to local and to express bus
routes. It was one of our busiest
routes, systems facilities during the
covid time and post COVID we saw tick
up in ridership which we are excited
about. Nonetheless over the years this
facility has been in need of some
upgrades. We have explored different
means of improving the facility. Due to
some of our amenities, particularly
related to the canopy, drainage and ADA.
This is an image of the existing and
current conditions of the facility the
canopy due to weather has caused wear
and tear discoloring of the canopy and
exposing the railing of the facility as
you can see on the top image in the
center of the picture. There has been
some rust to the canopy as well.
Related to the drainage, some localized
flooding continues to happen after we
have inclement weather. This is due to
insufficient inlet coverage in
low-lying areas. And poorly aligned
flow path, subsidence has altered the
pavement grading and limited capacity
with existing storm pipe. The
pedestrian network existing conditions
has noncomplying curb ramps faded and
missing high contrast markings. Some of
the curb ramps and designated landing
spots have to go into ADA compliance.
There are some unmanaged vegetation
encroaching on the work path and
complicating the way pedestrian
navigate the facility. With these
issues we are planning some targeted
improvements and provide the facility
to a state of good repair. Also be safe
reliable and accessible for patrons.
I'm going to start with the drainage
improvements. We are looking to provide
some selected inlet replacement pipe
upgrades and installation of targeted
drainage improvements regrading the
pavement for faster drainage. We are
hoping to incorporate permeable
pavement and native plants to manage
the water runoff. In relation to
pedestrian network there will be
installation of ADA compliant ramps,
enhanced surface treatment such as
repainting of the crosswalks. All aimed
to create a safer more navigable
environment for all pedestrians. With
our canopy we are looking to provide an
aluminum panel and will wrap columns
with aluminum raps and upgrade lighting
on the facility. We have also
identified some grant funding
opportunities that Allen's group
discussed today through the FTA grant
5339, the bus and bus facilities and
5337 state of good repair grant, which
we will be using toward improving the
site. For the next steps, we are hoping
to complete project development in the
first quarter of this year with an
evaluation of the concept looking for
some energy efficient components for
the site as well as selective parking
covered parking on some of the lots and
secondary components we see fit for
bringing this facility to a state of
good repair. Because these are federal
grants we have to do any of our
reevaluation. We have started that work
and hope to complete that in second
quarter of this year we hope to bring
commence on design and third quarter of
this year and complete it in the first
quarter of 2027 and procure construction
in the first quarter of 2027 and start
construction third quarter of 2027,
with a completion of construction
sometime in the first quarter of 2028.
We will bring, in terms of design we
will have a task order to for the
design contracts Shree brought to the
board today. We will be working with
his design team on that as well. These
are some of the improvements we are
planning for the facility. We are
hoping to bring updates as we advance
the concept and components we are
bringing to the facility. Comments or
questions?
>> How old is that transit center
>> It was built in 1993
>> That's 22 years old. About time we
did some work out there. Anything else?
I think that does it thank you very much
>> Shri I have one quick briefing. A
little bit of context back in 2018
transportation off peak direction HOV
lane to allow METRO to utilize the
inside lane next to the barrier
separated HOV lane. This concept would
provide METRO the ability to get the
buses back in the direction to the park
and ride and come back. And then next
slide please, that is a picture of what
we are talking about. The lane next to
the HOV lane. Basically it is in the
off peak direction, the striping and
signage there. This is a close-up
picture of what we are talking about.
That particular agreement with TxDOT
said if we were not using it and it was
not utilized they would come back and
ask us to remove it. They make that
recommendation now and we agree with
them. We will basically ask to go ahead
and remove it. That is a quick briefing
on this particular topic
>> Any questions? It makes sense okay
thank you for the update that is our
last breathing does anybody on the
board have anything to add before we
close. We will call the infrastructure
committee closed. At 11:35 AM we are
adjourned
>> The customer experience operation
and business development committee
meeting will meet in about five minutes.
We will take a five-minute break good
morning. It is 11:44 AM. The customer
experience operation and business
development committee METRO Board of
Directors will begin at this time. We
have one public speaker. Dominic Maisoc
>> Dominic are you there?
>> We may have to come back to Dominic
>> We will come back to him. We will
proceed with our first speaker. The
first item on the agenda. Action item
number two Michael Kyme
>> Thank you Chair Preston. good morning
committee. These are, the next two are
related to the inventory. First
will be [Indiscernible] and the second
engines. The first one is for a
recommendation to execute a contract
with Cummins Southern Plains for
transmissions for three-year contract
and the total amount of $1.563 million
and some change which represents a base
contract to 1.3 million with a
contingency of 260,000. Three-year
contract as needed for operations. Any
questions? Are there any questions? No
questions we will move the item forward
>> Thank you
>> The next item is for engines also an
inventory item. This will go to a
company Holt truck centers of Texas
also for a three-year contract total
contract value $18,949,000. This also
includes a contingency amount of 3.1
million. This is for engines for
inventory on an as-needed basis for
three years. Any questions regarding
this item? How many engines are they
>> 109 engines
>> At about 60,000 per engine
>> Are there any questions? no
questions we will move the item
forward. Thank you Mr. Kyme. Next item
Samuel Rumhizha
>> Board members, interim president and
CEO good morning my name is Samuel, I
am the vice president of fleet
services. I have a couple of items. The
first item is a sole-source. I'm going
to tell you a story about this 2095 a
CNG bus. It's a new bus, fortunately
about 21,000 miles on it which was
unfortunately involved in a major
accident. Being a new bus, a couple of
problems come with that. The frame was
damaged which means it would need
people that can resuscitate bad and
being a brand-new bus the only
organization that can look into this
bus is the regional OEM which is new
flyer, the requests we have for that we
request board authorization for the
Interim President CEO to approve and
execute a sole-source contract with new
flyer industries Canada for the
accident repairs a CNG bus 2092 at a
maximum contract value of $534,000
which includes a 20 percent METRO
contingency amount of $89,000. Are
there any concerns or questions?
>> Any questions? no questions, we will
move the item forward. The next item
>> The next item is I will give a story
on this one too. Our fleet the diesel
and CNG buses have Cummins engines on
them. Sometimes we have challenges to
be able to take care of items out of
warranty. We do tune-ups and things like
that and we are so far better when we
have a contract with Cummins where we
are able to use them when we need them.
Here is the request on the item.
Request board authorization for the
Interim President CEO to negotiate and
execute a three-year contract with two
options to extend for one year the
Cummins Southern Plains maintenance and
repair of Cummins diesel and compressed
natural gas engines at a maximum
contract amount of 3,500,000. Questions?
>> There are no questions or comments
we will move the item forward next item
>> The last item again this one is
pretty exciting. This involves the
[Indiscernible] rants we got for CNG
buses at the Northwest facility. As we
start moving forward with this, I have
met with some of the engineering and
construction team on site to look at
the fuel stations to be built. However
we need to go ahead to get a place in
line for us to order the 100 buses
associated with the grant. The request
is board authorization for Interim
President CEO to negotiate and execute
a contract with New Flyer of America as
part of the FTA grant program for the
purchase of 100 CNG transit buses at a
maximum contract amount of $102 million.
Which includes a 10 percent METRO
control contingency of $9,330,000
>> Questions or concerns? there being
no questions or comments we will move
the item forward thank you so much. At
this time the next item is Gary Howard
>> Good afternoon. Gary Howard vice
president rail operations. Today I'm
here to talk about track geometry
overhead contact system hide and
stagger and wire measurement services.
That's a mouthful for you to give
background before I give you the
recommendation, the services performed
a annually required to help identify
potential track geometry defects in the
overhead contact wire system, what we
call a height and stagger. The wire
conditions that may be on the rail
system, any defects are found our MOW
maintenance of way inspect the
identified area, schedule repairs, and
essentially ensure our system stays up
and running. By conducting this type of
testing on the rail corridor could
potentially negatively impact service
to customers. The recommendation is
requesting board authorization for
Interim President CEO to execute and
deliver a three-year contract with two
one-year options with rail pod Inc. to
provide annual track geometry overhead
contact system height and stagger and
wire where measurement services on
METRO rail corridors the contract will
cover all three corridors the red green
and purple, with a value not to exceed
$1,496,000 are there any questions?
>> Any questions? no questions or
comments thank you we will move the
item forward
>> Next item is Rocky Marrero
>> [Indiscernible] good afternoon
Reverend and board members. My name is
[Indiscernible] I'm the manager for
project management. This request we
seek board authorization to approve the
execution of a contract with
[Indiscernible] partners in a not to
exceed amount of $378,413. This
includes a base contract amount of
$344,012 with a 10 percent METRO
control contingency of $34,401. The
contract covers the cleaning priming
rust removal and painting of steel
support and canopy structures at the
rail station platforms, specifically 34
of them. This project is in support of
state of good repair, the major goal is
for us to do corrosion prevention,
lifespan extension anesthetics and
compliance. This item was solicited
from invitation to bid which went to
the street in November 2025. We had six
bidders, received January 8 and
[Indiscernible] was the lowest
responsive bidder. METRO establish a 35
percent small business goal tidy Pro
partners has committed to that small
business participation. I'm glad to
answer any questions or comments
>> Any questions?
>> Thank you sir, no questions or
comments we will move the item forward
>> Thank you
>> At the beginning of the meeting we
allow space for public comment. We will
go back to that portion of the meeting.
Do we have any public speakers
>> Dominic Maisoc is on the line
>> Reverend can you hear me? I hear you
yes. Okay sorry about the difficulties.
Reverend, I think in the previous
meeting somebody was saying there was
discussion about the Hardy yards and
the Burnett transit Center working
together I think there are two other
opportunities for that to happen number
one I think it should be a
[Indiscernible] transit center with the
new extension of public housing across
from your church on North Main Yale and
Cross Timbers. Three or four different
bus routes come through 23, 36, 44 and
40. That would be a chance for people
to meet and connect. Maybe they can go
into town or somewhere else without
going to the North land transit center.
Secondly, I believe a couple years ago
Harris County Housing Authority got a
low bid on the southeast transit
center. I don't know part of that was
access, although transit centers are
usually have the fence around them but
I think for these people in a public
housing situation, there should be at
least a gate or something that they can
access the public facilities. Also,
too, I think with the 40 and 41 going
through downtown. Right now it crosses
the Red Line at Main Street Square. I
think you might be looking to move that
down to the next transit stop, I think
it is Clay or Polk somewhere south of
there so when the 40 and 41 come across
they can leave the Dallas and come
straight across without that large
detour. That would also put 40 and 41
near the [Indiscernible] center. And
with the GRB moving south, with the
extension it still would access that
area also I mentioned in the other
meeting about the Union Pacific merger.
I do know they cannot make a public
comment. However METRO and other
government agencies can. I think legal
needs to look at that 7000 page report,
look at what Union Pacific wants to do
with the terminal. METRO needs to speak
up. And maybe METRO has County and
other entities together can go to the
service transportation board and say
this is going to affect rail crossings
and traffic and affect public transit.
Union Pacific needs to do things to
mitigate additional traffic into our
fragile rail system. With that I have
no other comments I will send it back
to you Reverend Preston thank you
>> Thank you Mr. Maisoc. At this time
we will go to the briefings. Item 9,
Eddie Miranda and Kurt Luhrsen
>> Thank you. I will speak first, I
will invite Taylor to the podium to
give you an update.
>> Good morning how is everyone today.
I will give a quick update on FIFA.
Next slide please. I'm going to go in
order of meeting so far. The first one
was FIFA football, that's a downtown
management District. The main purpose
is for the consulting group to
understand METRO operations and
schedules, better understand the
overall plans in downtown. The work
they are doing does not interfere with
our services. Their work is focused on
pedestrian walkways. We had another
meeting yesterday to go for more
information. They were going to have
weekly and biweekly meetings until the
tournament. The next meeting was local
transportation committee, there is no
fee for officials it's mostly local
stakeholders. With the airport system
trans Star County city. The main thing
is we are waiting for the road closures
around the stadium. They are
potentially look at security perimeter
figuring out the radius they want to
do. We will get more info on that one.
There was supposed to be human
trafficking accessibility meeting but
those were canceled at the last second.
The main thing is we are waiting for
the trainings for the human trafficking
accessibility. Though some are catered
for large events. We offer those at
METRO and do the trainings so this will
be additional steps there are
recommending. Last Friday METRO
operations held an internal meeting,
operations to get the departments on
the same page make sure everybody
understands what's happening give an
opportunity to ask questions. We have
members from the host committee as well
they were pleased with the meeting and
see we are working hard and working
toward what they want us to achieve.
Looking forward we have our standard
meetings every month with them. Houston
venue transportation mobility meeting.
That's what we had earlier the, that
includes FIFA official so it gives us a
chance to get feedback from FIFA.. We
probably talk about mobility plans
turned in an October we got feedback
from FIFA in December Leticia in
operation spearheaded comments they
gave us she was able to respond to
every single one of them. They are
still pending some based on lane
closures around fan Fest,. Once we have
that we will get maps back to the host
committee we are waiting on answers
from the airport regarding potential
ADA accessibility from where we have
our new terminal for the fan Fest. The
key next steps we look forward to, we
have the final mobility plan due March
1. We work through the final comments
we will turn it back into the host
committee and get feedback. Once we get
through the planning process we will
have detail such as schedule and timing
to the plan. We need to confirm fleet
and operator availability, finalize
service qualities we will submit the
final plan in March. Obviously ongoing
coordination with leadership and board
updates as we finalize. That's all I
have are there any questions?
>> Thank you so much no questions
>> We will move to the next item
communication quarterly report,
Meredith Johnson
>> Good morning today's update
highlights how communication is
supporting METRO priorities through
proactive messaging strategic marketing
measurable results are focus on
increasing awareness strengthening
engagement supporting ridership across
the system. Our communication goals are
straightforward. Make it easier for
people to understand METRO engage with
services and choose transit. Everything
we do is centered on clear information
strong visibility and supporting
ridership growth. Let's get into it for
the quarter for early September
marketing executed a three-part
campaign focused on Route 500 to the
airport. METRO now in general ridership
information we partner with media
outlets including general markets and
Spanish-language television
[Indiscernible] METRO services and how
to reinforce presence across the region.
Specifically from early September to
early November marketing, pardon me, I
think we got out of order, we played a
critical role in supporting the ride
METRO app and the new fare system,
created dozens of how to graphics and
instructional materials to make it easy
for riders. They are designing new
materials to support the terminal
change insuring travelers have clear
consistent ways of wayfinding during
the transition. This is about reducing
confusion and improving the rider
experience helping customers navigate
technology and service updates.
Targeted marketing which I was talking
about drove measurable ridership growth
for the 500 route with a 12 percent
increase in October demonstrating
focused outreach support service usage.
Is important to note it's often
difficult to credit ridership growth to
one factor especially as it pertains to
communication efforts. In this instance
the only thing that changed during the
time period was public engagement
efforts targeted marketing and earned
media on the route and that reflects 12
percent growth. Are social media impact,
we generated more than 535,000
impressions 24,000 engagements and 14
part two percent engagement growth with
videos driving views Instagram audience
continues to grow at a rapid pace
reaching 10.8 thousand followers. These
results show how strong our growth and
social media is. Something you won't
see on the screen because I just
finalize the number is total
impressions for 2025 6.7 million a 98.8
percent growth in compared to this time
last year. If I was in one of your
seats I would ask why? What is
different? But we have seen as a strong
follower growth. We've intentionally
aligned our social strategy with how
people consume information today.
Audiences are skeptical of the
traditional in-your-face tactics and
platform algorithms prioritize content
that feels organic, credible and
conversational. We are focused on
native content rather than repurposed
ads, storytelling over slogans and
trusted voices of customers over
polished branding. We are seeing higher
engagement more shares and follower
growth not because we spend more
because the content is more credible.
One of our first initiatives with the
new internal group was the city lights
Christmas carolers. We have some talent
at METRO. We brought together
volunteers to sing and play music on
the platforms. METRO was true partner
with the community on this. One of our
MPD officers played the saxophone,
chief you have some talent there. One
of the other things we did is relaunch
the METRO Ambassador program. This is
going to be crucial as we head into
World Cup to engage employees to be
part of the experience. We time that
announcement with the FIFA World Cup
draw party. That day we had 100
volunteers sign up to be ambassadors
and have grown since then. We look
forward to more plans coming on how
employees will be throughout the
community making sure people get to
where they need to be. We are being
targeted with participation with
stakeholders focus on key groups where
we can grow ridership like student
seniors and underserved communities. We
make sure there's no corner of the
region we offer service that don't know
METRO can connect them to opportunities
education and move around the region.
This consistent presence supports our
key initiatives such as securing
stakeholder letters and building new
enthusiasm for new route like the 500.
We hear from many stakeholders and
customers they want the Community
Connector. We have a long and growing
list so decisions ahead on where and
how to expand. Engagement efforts are
focused on meeting riders where they
are, onboard outreach real engagement
and university outreach [Indiscernible]
from October to December public
engagement completed 300 engagements
and touch points around the region, 80
meetings 116 community events and one
group in the public engagement that
focuses on infrastructure has been busy.
I will save the update on that for the
next meeting but we've got a lot of
construction work going on. We send out
mailers walk door to door up to
businesses attend the meeting our team
gets out personal cell phone number so
people can call with questions about
the project. We are focused on the
messaging from a macro perspective we
are fixing the roads to keep Houston
from having a heart attack. We are
addressing on-time performance in doing
so and making it easier for people to
choose METRO more on that to come. Key
takeaways is that this reflects a
coordinated communication team using
data storytelling and community
engagement these efforts are increasing
awareness building trust and supporting
ridership growth while positioning
future growth. The communication team
is well-positioned right now to do this
because our agency is working as a whole
enthusiastic well coordinated and the
small communication victory show an
entire agency working together to move
forward the best we can. That concludes
my presentation are there questions?
>> No questions just a comment. Looking
at all the numbers, I'm excited. I am
proud of the efforts and I think the
way your department has been doing and
getting involved with the public and do
all kind of things, just look at the
numbers, it's very impressive. You're
doing a very good job thank you
>> Meredith could you answer one
question for me or share with us what
is the value of having trusted voices
as we navigate telling our story and
the storytelling piece
>> People like organic information. We
are all users of technology coming at
us in different ways. People want to
see someone that looks like them things
like them talk like them using the
system because they trust that person
and they wanted to. Rather than the old
traditional way of somebody popping on
the TV screen with a flashy commercial,
that does not build trust if you see
somebody you trust or no or like the
system you're more likely to try it in.
It's really important that we are
working with people in the community
that have those voices to reach people
and encourage you to ride METRO
>> Are there any other questions or
comments? board member Ponce
>> Meredith and team, fantastic job.
Very fortunate to work alongside with
you all. You are amazing. Don't ever
hesitate to reach out to board member
and use us as well to send a message
across. Thank you
>> I appreciate that. Shout out to you
for giving me great ideas on social
media content, I encourage you for
everyone here we love to tell great
stories so thank you
>> Thank you very much. This concludes
the communication quarterly report. We
will move to item 11, the monthly
business development report, Russ Frank
>> Hello board members. This is our
monthly business development update
ways we work to improve the customer
experience to make more customer
centric and increase ridership. One a
METRO's biggest customer projects in
the last 18 years since the launch of
the Q Card. Is the ride METRO fare
system to the new system has launched
we began a soft launch on December 1
this is when we turned on elements of
the system and started getting
customers on the system making sure
everything would work well we had a
public launch last Monday on January 5.
This is where we turned on additional
elements of the system additional
functions on the ride METRO app we
turned on the ride story and full
functionality of the TVM we are running
the Q Card system have not turned off
the old system yet we need to allow
many months for customers to transition
from the old fare system to the new
system we want to get familiar with the
system. We have placed information
throughout the entire system on the
transition to customers. In March, I'm
going to go back to the schedule in
March we will wind down the Q Card
system this is when we begin stopping
the loads and weaning people off the
system. On April 5 we plan a full
decommissioning of the Q Card system
meaning we turn off the old TVM and
take the old validators off the buses.
At that point we will put in additional
TVM there was a question about the
system if you go to the rail stations
we have old equipment and new equipment
on the rail stations we have an old Q
Card TVM and new TVM on every station
every bus has to validators so after we
turn off the Q Card system at the
beginning of April we will take off
that equipment and put new TVM in the
place of old ones so all the stations
will have new TVM this is planned to be
done before FIFA comes to Houston we
will have all new equipment on the
system we will also work with ride
sponsors. We are getting the contract
signed these are corporate partners
where we have companies who help
subsidize the fares for employees they
give out the cards for us so we will
have each of them have cards and
employees uploaded into the system that
will be done prior to the shutting down
of the Q Card in April. This is a
picture of the rail station we have
information on the rail station these
are examples we have posters that tell
customers new ways to pay if you're on
the Q Card we have a poster saying go
to the old TVM until a transition to
the new system. There's a sign on the
front of the TVM that says get your
card here all machines have been
activated so customers can buy cards or
buy tickets on the TVM the message at
the top tells customers they can reload
cards and we have posters to get new
METRO fare cards on the system. At the
validator on the rail stations you see
a sticker it tells customers different
ways to pay where they scanned tickets
or mobile app or use open payment where
they tap on the validator with their
Visa or MasterCard Discover American
Express Apple or Google pay. On the
buses we have bus cards you see
examples of where we had bus cards to
tell people they need to get their new
fare card these are in English Spanish
Vietnamese and Chinese we had bus cards
that tell customers ways to pay on the
fare boxes we have a new sticker that
tells customers ways to pay we have
brochures on the buses and trains that
explain the fare system you see
pictures on the right transit centers
and park and rides kiosk posters that
tell customers to get the new ride
METRO fare card. Since this is a
critical transition for customers we
are using real-time screens at the
transit centers to flip every few
minutes to remind customers to get
their new fare card today. Ride stores
are key locations to get the cards. We
need to make sure on the Q Card steak
and return them in April if the
customer wants to transition from the
old Q Card to the new system they can
come to the ride store and the value of
cards from the old cards into the new
cards. This can been done at any ride
store location you see some of the
signs in front of the ride stores. Are
bus operators and employees are key
part of getting a message to customers
we been producing information to get to
bus operators and front-line employees.
This is an example of a brochure given
out for bus operators. There's been a
large amount of materials designed by
the marketing department and customer
information about the new system. This
is an example of some of those. There's
probably a few more we had certain
elements put on the system a coming
soon message and soft launch materials.
Now we have the full launch materials
on the system are telling customers to
get the new cards or how the new system
works and the different ways to pay. If
we learn about other questions
customers or employees have four things
have been on the system we create other
materials to explain things better to
customers. We will continue to brief
you all each month because we will have
things that happen every month we will
make sure you know what's happening on
the customer transition. To the next
item is the vanpool program. We
officially relaunched on January 7 last
week in the first week and a half we
had 50 vanpool deployed for numerous
companies including Exxon Mobil
Halliburton Baker Hughes Western
midstream shall Baylor Hospital and UT
dental we had 42 more vans scheduled in
January these are targeted at Texas
Medical Center institutions for the VA
hospital the vanpool program is a
regional program a much larger area
than just METRO service area it serves
a county region. METRO assist customers
joining a vanpool a shared ride for
customers with similar travel pattern.
This is where there's not another
service be on the METRO service area
customers join a group METRO provides a
van help subsidize the van with federal
funding employers sometimes subsidize
the other part of the ride for
employees for some cover the rest of
the monthly lease for the van. Many
customers are eager to get back on the
system. This is one of the vans being
delivered to the customer last week.
There's one van group that had a happy
hour party with their co-riders to
celebrate back on the road with their
friends the ridership development group
I mentioned last year about the Houston
business Journal landing page. We had
our first article last year. This is
the second article published and
targeted toward corporate human
resource leaders to target them to know
about transit benefits for the ride
sponsor program. This is paid
advertising. Trying to target corporate
leaders to sign up to be in the ride
sponsor program and understand commuter
benefits for employees. This has direct
links to the webpage which is for the
savings calculator and for the ride
sponsor webpage. In addition we have an
ad in the book of lists, a lot of
corporate offices where they compile
lists of businesses and industries so
people keep this book most of the year
and these ads target corporate leaders
being able to have them sign up and
understand commuter benefits for their
employees. Facility upgrades to the
rail lines we've had regular weekend
shutdowns. For December we had to shut
down someone on December 6 and seven
and a longer shutdown from the 11th to
the 14th. We make sure customers are
informed and know about the bus
shuttles that are running for each of
the shutdowns we installed 80 posters
on the red green and purple lines we
had 4500 other customer flyers created.
We have variable messages on the rail
stations before and during the shutdown
we had 38 kiosks at the high-traffic
stations. Keeping customers informed
about holiday services important. This
is a flyer from a couple weeks ago
during the holidays we produce these
for the fixed route system and
METROLift. We have 4200 flyers produced
and 12,000 fixed route flyers produced
and distributed. Have been briefing
your last year as we do enhancement
efforts to improve the customer
experience at bus stops by replacing
old and faded worn-out signs. In the
terminal you see in December 641 signs
were designed and produced and
installed are scheduled. Of those 551
were part of the renewal effort. 90 of
those were replacement signs this
included replacing the full bus stops
on routes for [Indiscernible] and
updates for the 500 downtown direct. We
have updated 45 routes and need to
complete 54 more to change out signs in
the system. Since September 2024, we
were in the process of replacing 6179
signs of the 9000 signs in the system
and replaced over 1000 damage signs
during the time. We had a focus group
with friends from link Houston, the
topic was to be able to give them
briefings about our signage we work on
throughout the system. We gave
information about bus stops kiosks bus
info post rail station signage we had a
discussion about what we plan to do and
got ideas from them about how to make
improvements to signage. I want to
remind you about the one METRO customer
service initiative. The purpose is to
make sure people know and employees
that customer service is everyone's job
not just people in the customer service
department. This has gone on for
several years we change the job
descriptions years ago and added a
bullet that says to provide excellent
customer service internal and external
customers. We've also heard about the
event on Tuesday called popcorn
Tuesday. The purpose is to get
employees away from the desk to let
them come down and motivate them and
give them a tip for the week. You see
pictures of some of the past tips you
see many tips around the building as
employees save them and pin them in the
cubicles throughout the building lastly
I want to mention the customer service
stats for December we saw a significant
increase in customer engagement from
December 2024 to 2025. For 2025 we had
12,348 in person visitors at the ride
store over 4700 more customers than
last December. We had 47,200 customer
calls which is over 12,400 more than
last December. We had 10,000 customer
text conversations, over 3000 more than
customer conversations than last
December. That is our business
development update for the month
>> Are there any questions? Board
member Vilaseca
>> Thank you for the thorough update I
appreciate it. On a couple of questions
on the last two sides as far as
increased engagement at the rideshare
store downstairs and a ride store along
with calls coming in. Do you attribute
that to the change in fare system. Do
you have the breakdown of the reasons
why people are stopping and why they
are calling?
>> I think it's a little bit of the
fare system we will see more that in
the coming months in the ride stores we
only have four permanent locations and
we opened nine mini ride stores so
that data volume there. As we get the
new fare system going publicly we will
get a lot more in person customers to
the stores in the next couple of months
ridership has been going up since Covid
we still see the effects of that of
people calling over the months. When we
visit with friends at other transit
agencies they implement a new fare
system they had high customer
engagement over the transition so we
think that will hit the coming months
you will see these numbers go higher in
the next few months
>> Okay. And then are we staffed up and
prepared to help address additional
calls and inquiries with the fare system
>> Last couple years we increase
headcount to handle longer hours and
take more calls in the ride stores we
have temporary employees we hired to
help with the fare system to work at
the mini ride stores to have the
headcount to run stores and help
customers in person at the 13 ride
stores
>> Okay thank you
>> Board Member Ponce
>> Thank you Reverend. Thank you for
that presentation very thorough and I
appreciate that I'd like to say me and
Reverend Preston contributed to the
ride store and Vilaseca to I'm sorry we
contributed I was able to go downstairs
and they gave me a sweater and a pen an
additional gear. I have two questions
regarding the new fare system. Do we
have a percentage of our ridership
looks like as to how many of the
ridership have transition to the new
system
>> I don't have those numbers right
now. I know we would be work on those
numbers it's only just started. Some of
our big numbers will come once we get
the ride sponsors on so companies help
us get those on the system. If you go
downstairs you see lines in the ride
stores lots of customer is excited to
get on the new system. The old system
is old and the TBM don't work so lots
of customers are excited to get on the
system. I can get that for
[Indiscernible] I think 1 million card
since 2008 when the system when in place
those will not be all replace many
customers lost their cards and we don't
have those we don't have an exact
comparison to have old cards in the
future we can give you numbers of who
is on the system
>> Thank you for getting a sweater we
had lots of merchandise sales we sold
lots of holiday sweaters from employees
and from customers. The big hot items
some of you tried to buy we had a block
set a Lego set. We got one case of
those in and they were sold out in four
hours. It was just gossip in the
building and employees went to buy the
sets. We have more coming we don't know
when they will be arriving but they
have shipped and we will have more
those for sale soon
>> Wonderful one more question. Link
Houston is a great organization I'm
thankful we were able to partner and
have a conversation with them. I'm
interested to know what the feedback was
if you don't have that right now
that's okay but if you could come back
later
>> We can give you more information
about their ideas I don't have all
their comments I was not at the entire
meeting but the customer information
team led the meeting and we were headed
downstairs big posters of all the
kiosks and signs explaining how we make
it easier for customers and we can get
you other ideas. They did not know all
the details of what we had done to
improve the signs and what it goes into
to make the signs so it was a good
discussion we can get you the follow up
on the feedback
>> Thank you very much again I'm sorry
director Vilaseca for forgetting you
>> Chair of the board
>> As I mentioned earlier I want to
make sure our park and ride and
corporate contracts also sponsors are
well aware of their instructions and
what they need to do to make sure we
don't have disruption
>> We are working with the
transportation coordinators of each of
the companies we are following up with
them. All of the companies are not on
the new system yet this is the
beginning of the process. Over the next
few months we work with the companies
to make sure they have their cards, can
upload employees into the system and
distribute those two employees.
>> Mr. Frank, thank you so much
>> We will move to the next item the
next briefing will be Community
Connector update
>> Good afternoon I will be presenting
today. This is a board briefing on the
Community Connector service the
community service is the operation that
uses smaller electric vehicles that
provide local trips in designated zones
we been working with MV Transportation
to operate the service. METRO has a
contract with MV Transportation to
provide METROLift ADA service and
Microtransit service. The METROLift
service is the largest part of the
contract more than 90 percent of trips
provided are ADA trips the remaining
portion of the contract provides
Microtransit demand response open to
the public in designated zones that
services similar to the Community
Connector service it was natural to ask
MV to continue the service. We work
with MV they met with the current
operator to inspect vehicles develop an
operating plan and enter into an
agreement with the vehicle operator and
the app operator to continue operating
the service for 90 days it was a team
effort working with procurement legal
risk and operations worked with the
develop a contract modifications.
MV started operating the service with
the subcontractor on January 7 so we
are in the early stages we been
operating for six days we will continue
to evaluate the service we are looking
to enhance driver training and
requirements we will be introducing
fare equipment or apt a solution to
collect fares we will continue to
evaluate the service by developing key
performance indicators determine if
adjustments are needed and continue
working toward the best customer
service experience we can. Is a short
briefing because we just started a few
days ago
>> Are there any questions?
>> Thank you so much we know it is
early thank you for your presentation.
A final breathing is the monthly
operation report Kurt Luhrsen
>> Thank you Reverend Preston I will be
giving the update for January covering
the performance for the month of
December. Over all ridership for local
bus continued the trend of slow steady
increases we've seen post covid
Curb2Curb we have expanded that in the
last year so that continues to grow as
does our commuter park and ride services
as more and more employees are coming
back to work downtown and more
employees come to work more days of the
week. That continues to grow. Rail
right now continues to lag, we are
working on a number of projects to
improve that experience for folks, we
hope to see an improvement as the year
continues this calendar year. Next
slide. Digging into more detail, our
on-time performance was good. I want to
say I'm very proud of our bus
operations staff. This is the first
time on-time performance has hit 80
percent on the local bus since we moved
to account every point by the second
system 20 years ago. That is a huge
achievement and that goes to the work
we are doing in many areas of bus
operations. That's not just one group
that's from the scheduling team
supervision team on the street. Bus
control who is monitoring the service
in real time, we have standby buses to
step in when things don't go as planned
to keep the service moving as well as
communication team to alert customers
what's going on to make sure we can get
everybody where they need to go as
quickly as possible. Very proud of the
effort the team has done, I'd be remiss
if I did not point that out. We
continue to increase our passenger
counts year-over-year for the month of
December. Park and ride similar trends.
Good on-time performance since we made
that change in the fall and early
winter. We adjusted some deadhead times
as TxDOT took some roadway capacity out
of the freeway, we adjust how buses get
in and out of downtown to improve
on-time performance. That has studied
our decline and we are pleased with
those results. The park and ride
ridership rebounds strongly month over
month compared to last year. Mean
distance between failures the team is
doing a good job keeping the service on
the street. They look for ways to
improve pullout. The new buses roll in.
They have been excellent for the most
part as they hit the street the
customers appreciate that. The
operators like the new bells and
whistles and everything on there as
opposed everybody appreciates driving a
new vehicle as opposed to a 14-year-old
vehicle. That is very positive and
everybody is responding well to that.
And the reliability has been good as
well as you see from the statistics.
Rail performance we've continued our
improvements on the red line in terms
of on-time performance after we have
those changes made to the signal in
September and October. We are back up
to our 93 percent goal on the red line
and looking to make further
improvements to that. As I mentioned,
we continue to see the same 15 to 18
percent decline month over month on the
red line this year. We're working on
that companywide to reverse the trend.
Next slide. Green and purple not as
pronounced as the red line. On-time
performance very strong on green and
purple. The ridership is down slightly.
Not as much as red. And we are hoping
to double our efforts and improve that.
Next slide. Good reliability. We talked
for a number of months on the projects
we are doing in real maintenance to get
the cars retrofitted and cleaned up,
get improvements made to them in a
number of areas. We are starting to
show signs of good on-time good
reliability with the vehicles as we
move forward. Next slide. METROLift
performance again I could not be
happier. We had a little blip on
on-time performance last month. We
spend a lot of time talking about the
fare system. We have introduced a new
way for people to book their rides on
METROLift as well as how we schedule it
and dispatch them using the new app it
has taken a lot of people a lot of
effort and over time call volumes went
up with questions about the system the
length of time it takes to handle folks
go up those numbers are coming down and
we start to get a handle on how to use
the system. Every time we make a change
throughout the day it recalculates the
optimum assignment of vehicles and trip
locations. We really expect to see
better customer experience moving
forward. We had our highest on-time
performance for METROLift last month.
As you can see the ridership continues
to steadily grow. Next slide. Good
reliability. Many vehicles have been
replaced in the last year and a half.
Are contractors do a good job of
maintaining them and keeping them on
the street. Our hot lanes all our
meeting the standards I think I will be
asking to make a presentation to give
you more detail. If you remember three
months ago we made some changes on the
59 North corridor as to when the toll
would be the highest and when we would
exclude non-HOV users from the lanes to
make sure we could get speeds up. We
want to come back and tell the story of
what we saw on how people have responded
and how speeds have improved and it's
flowing much better for the HOV and HOT
including the bus service in that
corridor. Very positive with all of our
speeds now. Next slide. I want to
highlight you heard from Russ about the
marketing communications slide of the
shutdowns we had in December. This is
very critical work for the rail it does
not just magically operate without a
whole lot of effort and maintenance
over time and it is quite exciting to
go out and see the fireworks going off
as they are grinding the rail the
picture second to the right someone is
grinding the rail and getting ready to
take it out you see on the far right
there welding it at a temperature you
don't want to go anywhere near and
making sure the two pieces of metal
rail can be bounded together and work
seamlessly and smoothly for customers.
You see a picture of what you don't see
on the bus side is service supervisors
out there manning the lines and
communicating with customers making
sure the bus service replacement
services working. Because the rail
shutdown doesn't mean people have a
place to go. I've got a picture the bus
going through the construction zone and
the picture to the far left, seeing the
amount they have to dig out. What this
work was, three of the four locations
where the rail line crosses they are
called diamonds. We replaced three of
the four diamonds in this four-day
work. You can see the amount of
concrete they have to jackhammer out,
saw cut the damaged part of the rail off
it's quite a lot of heavy dirty work.
We have done this in the dead of summer
when it's 100 degrees. We had our first
time replacement last year it was
hovering above freezing, about 38
degrees last year. It was more pleasant
temperature wise this year. Are
contractors and maintenance of way
crews are dedicated and do a dynamite
job. I want to give them props for what
they do every day and focus on the
importance of this kind of maintenance.
We replaced three of the four diamonds
this weekend. One of the welds you see
on the right if it is that particular
one, one of the welds did not work to
our satisfaction. It was showing signs
of weakness. We could of gotten a bad
batch of thermite, a number of things
could of cause that. We will be going
back in the next shutdown in February
to cut out that small piece of rail
input in a replacement. This is why we
do these things repeatedly. I know they
are a hassle nobody likes to show up.
They show up to the rail line and they
don't want to get on a bus. It's a lot
of work for customer service to answer
questions but it's so important to keep
the rail line running particularly when
we have major events like FIFA if we
wait until the last minute and the rail
line fails we have to continue to go
over this five miles an hour. If you
have written the rail line it can get
up to 35 or 40 miles per hour. Five
miles per hour is very slow. Noticeably
slow. So we are looking forward to
getting this last one fixed and
hopefully getting better welds out
there as we look for ways to improve
our service and make sure it's
top-notch for users. I'm happy to
answer any questions
>> That is our report
>> Thank you for that update. Also
thank you for your coordination. I know
there is a lot of events and activity
you have to coordinate around to do the
work. Also doing it in advance of
events upcoming so thank you
>> Any other questions or comments from
board members? Allow me to say thank
you to the board members in attendance
to the meeting. Mayor Fry had to leave
early but he began with us thank you
board member Ponce Board member
Vilaseca Board Member Han to our Chair
and interim president and CEO the time
is 12:48 PM and this concludes the
customer experience operation business
development committee meeting
>> Good afternoon we are beginning our
public safety committee meeting. The
time is 1248 are there any public
comments
>> One, Dominic Maisoc
>> Reverend can you hear me? Yes I hear
you loud and clear. You can start my
180. I want to make a comment about
those four diamonds at Central Station
Junction area. My read of this is those
rails highly specialized crossing, not
only do you have the gutter for the
light rail, those look like very
expensive pieces of track. I don't mind
the LRT cars crossing those diamonds at
slow speed so we get much life as we
can. Chief, I appreciate you and I
appreciate Tom Jasien. If I see a
problem I text you. I appreciate that
one-on-one information or conversation
we are having. One thing though and I
saw something the other day it was
yesterday. At the city Council meeting
I went down to the [Indiscernible] to
eat which is main and capital. I come
out at 730. One thing I am noticing is
as the sun is going down, all of the
homeless come out. Again, this is a
situation, not just METRO or METRO PD
problem, this is a citywide problem. It
seems like and I've noticed several
times I've been in the downtown area,
people are using the red line
[Indiscernible] my observations have
been on the red line of course, people
use the transit facilities as shelters.
There's also problems at the
[Indiscernible] station on the red
line. I think there may be a solution
chief and this is in terms of Moody
Park. I noticed the Harris County
sheriff's office is watching the red
line north to Northline I think the
Houston city Council has approved
having Moody Park being under the watch
of the Harris County Parks Department
and that might be an incentive for
Harris County sheriffs to Park and
watch stuff at the park as well as
using the restroom I know there are
restrooms at Moody Park that also gives
us an opportunity to leverage that to
also watching the park and the red
line. I have those on the north end and
it's not as many people it it could be
the homeless situation could be our
customer base is moving somewhere else
because on [Indiscernible] that line is
booming. Then 96 which I ride to the
rail is booming. So I don't know,
lastly I was talking about the
[Indiscernible] I think part of the
thing is you need to get part of your
team a part of METRO staff and riders
like myself we need to form a task
force and see what we can do with
making fares better, better enforcement
other things. Link Houston is a good
idea but there are other people that
ride the system. You have 30 seconds.
All riders from all parts of the system
on all forms of the system and maybe
together we can come up with ideas for
safety and improving enforcement of the
rules of the system I have no other
comments back to you Reverend
>> Thank you Mr. Meisel that concludes
the public comments. At this time we
will have opening public safety message
to promote safety awareness. Santiago
Osorio
>> Thank you members of the committee
good afternoon. This month we are
serving national human traffic
intervention month. January is the
month to focus on human trafficking at
METRO the safety of riders is a top
priority. During this month we
encourage the community to stay alert
and look out while using the transit
system human trafficking can occur
anywhere including the public system.
Being aware can save lives. If you
notice anyone that seems suspicious
trust your instincts. Signs of
trafficking include being aware of
location suspicious behavior and
activities see or take a look at
customer that are unable to speak for
themselves, that they look like they
are out of place, if they are fearful
of control by another person. Contact
the police department and make a
report. Police Department has a 24 hour
hotline, also a direct line at
713-224-2677. Were reported to one of
the transit employees you can also
contact the human traffic hotline at
1-888-373-7888. Your awareness can make
a difference together we can keep
transit safe thank you
>> Thank you so much for that public
safety message. I'd like to take an
opportunity to say in December 2025 we
we're excited about coming into a new
year we made it to January 2026 with
excitement and expectation the amazing
thing has happened this month, we've
been faced with an unexpected shooting.
I believe as an agency, everything we
can do to place safety measures in
place is a very important. We have a
wonderful METRO police team. I want to
say thank you for all you do. Thank you
for what you are doing and we respect
the fact that your lives are on the
line for us. We will move now to the
action item number three. Mr. Domingo
[Indiscernible]
>> The purpose of this is to implement
unarmed security guard services across
all METRO properties facilities and
parking areas. The services will
include served and response
capabilities to support special events
and emergencies. I'm requesting
authorization Interim President CEO to
execute a three-year contract with two
one-year options with InterCon Security
systems from armed security services
for a maximum contract amount not to
exceed $49 million. InterCon Security
has committed to 20 percent small
business participation by utilizing
patrol division LLC the contract
effective April 15, 2026 funding is
included in the FY 26 operating budget
>> Are there any questions?
>> Board Member Han
>> Do we have something similar to this
contract this upcoming contract now? is
this something we do have or is that a
new contract we are going to have
>> Is a little bit of both. We
currently have a contract although the
new contract is different than the
current contract
>> In size and scope
>> So right now we do have something
similar but it's a different than the
new contract we will have
>> We have an unarmed contract
currently but the scope of work for the
existing contract is very different
than what is proposed
>> Would you explain the difference so
folks are aware
>> The existing requirement is for the
security guard force more entry-level
than the current contract. The proposed
contract requires a higher security
license a level II license from the
state. The proposed contract will
require level II license. The uniforms
equipment training and background
requirements for personnel will be
different as well as an increased
presence with the new contract staffing
certain posts that don't currently exist
>> So besides the higher level of the
security force in the new contract, as
a member of unarmed security force do
we have many more guards in the new
contract compared to the older one
>> Yes. The hourly increase will be
approximately 1000 hours weekly. The
coverage will expand. We have
approximately 80 guard force personnel
that will increase to 120
>> Alright thank you
>> Any other questions? Thank you so
much we will move the item forward.
>> We will proceed with the briefings
the monthly police and security report
Chief Ban Tien police and security
update
>> Good morning good afternoon Board of
Directors and Mr. Jasien this will be
our public safety briefing for
December. The key take away is we
engaged our metrics based on major
Groups. offenses a are more serious
and b less serious since the beginning
of the fiscal year we have seen a good
trend trending down and we would like
to continue to maintain the trend.
[Indiscernible] incident I want to
highlight the fact that our two biggest
location problem locations are the bus
stop and bus shelters. And the LRV
platform the simple fact that we do
share the space like any major city
with the city of Houston and try to
prevent as much as we can the reality
is we are reflection of the city
because we share the space
[Indiscernible] biggest problems
because of that we are serving a lot of
resources at those locations
enforcement, we have seen
[Indiscernible] with those contact with
individuals being rude or misbehaved
and we have seen a trend to reduce
enforcement slightly perhaps it is a
coordination with the surge we have
been a safety initiative in the last
couple of months. We want to focus on
the most important thing to react and
have a huge impact on. It's basically
assault cases we have on the assault
type we break into three types the most
serious aggravated assault simple
assault and intimidation we see a
slight uptick on assault in the month
of December and compared to November
aggravated assault and simple assault
with intimidation pretty flat. Fare
citation thanks to the new system we
implemented we almost slightly doubled
the enforcement and we continue
it takes a while for folks to get use
to a system to make sure they get use
to it and we will take more enforcement
action as we move forward. Our care
[Indiscernible] regular basis to come
in contact with the homeless population
to provide a service and offer service
they need in comparison to November and
December we increased our contact to
600. The harsh reality is the fact that
if you look at to the right of that
half of the close to half of them stay
with [Indiscernible] and some of them
take contact over and over but they
also [Indiscernible] most of the time
if we put enough emphasis and
engagement for those individuals some
of those seek resources for help.
Perhaps there is no true metrics to
gauge that but some of the success
officers can provide individual and
most of them have individual stories a
lot of them have a tragic story and the
reality is we get them to a place they
need to go because if they stay out
there it will be a tragic at the end of
the day. These are major arrests I want
to continue to paint the picture and
frame the graph to the picture to the
right. This is our heat map imagine the
vast space we have in the METRO area
responsibility over 1300 square miles
four counties among them 14 cities. Most
of our location of the incidences
basically cluster around the middle in
close proximity to the red line. The
reason for that is most of the riders
biggest ridership using the system
throughout the red line train in
downtown. The truth is it spreads out
all over the city so MPD for a small
department we have a lot of space to
cover. Next slide. Here are a couple a
significant arrests we made. I want to
highlight this one being the fact I
wanted to telegraph to the bad guys we
are out there patrolling bus stops and
bus routes. Because of that it led to
this arrest and narcotics related crime
suppression officers patrolling the
areas. I want to put a public safety
message. We do put some time presence
on those buses and bus routes and they
are often have plainclothes routes as
well. I want to highlight this because
of the collaboration with the law
enforcement agency. Is stemmed from an
disturbance on the bus and by the time
the officer got there the suspect had
left the scene because of the way we
communicate in this case with Houston
PD we were able to track the suspect
down the road he was involved in a
shooting that weapon was recovered I
can only imagine without the
collaboration and we did not apprehend
the suspect that they often like any
big city we absolutely don't have the
ability or resources to impact and
prevent every crime but the key of how
we respond that is going to be key
meaning the fact that in order for us
to do that we rely on collaboration
technology and most importantly the
people that committed out there not
just to go to a scene but go beyond the
call and that's what I call commitment.
This is a snapshot of what we gauge. We
call it a group a crime in the state
standard meaning a more serious crime.
I want to frame this in perspective
meaning the fact that earlier slide use
all the heat map. The take away from
this is roughly in the month of
December we have approximately over 5.9
million riders. The serious crime we
are tracking 122. For every 100,000
riders we have for the month, to our
impacted. The statement is so true one
crime is too many regardless the end
state outcome of the crime one crime
is too many as I mentioned earlier my
department cannot prevent everything
and anything but we can continue to
identify hotspots served those
resources for collaboration and
partners since November thank to board
approval for the initiative we have we
put outside agency the system during
peak time. We continue to assess and
evaluate hotspots and continue to
expand those areas of coverage. In the
interim we also operations have
invested in a lot of new technology. We
telegraph our capability but we do rely
on technology to solve crimes. Are
there any questions this is all I have
>> Are there any questions?
>> I just want to echo the comments of
Chair Preston. I appreciate all the
work you do and certainly in making
sure we hold people accountable when
they ride our system and they are not
behaving. It's making sure we want to
make sure we have the proper resources
you need to get your job done. We want
to thank you and law enforcement for
making sure folks are safe so thank you
>> I do want to echo the comment that
is so true since I've been here
basically I've been told and I welcome
that chief to the best of our ability
we give you the resources to do your
job but we will hold you accountable
this is the reason we expand our
footprint decentralize the location
putting key storefront type or
substation most impactful to a
particular location and more strategic
and also given the resources and I
don't want to over telegraph a new
capability will come to us in the next
few months, the mobile station to take
resources where it's most needed on top
of that the expansion increased hiring
of the police officers I have to
appreciate every bit of that but that
is a true statement you should hold me
accountable for every single individual
that wears this uniform accountable
>> Board member Vilaseca
>> I also wanted to thank you and the
team for doing the work every day and
going above and beyond. It's a
difficult situation when these tragic
events,. I did talk to Tom earlier this
week about making sure if there's
anything I or we can do to support your
staff operators witnesses with
psychological and emotional support and
well-being given these different
experiences. I know you are going to
circle back around with me but I want
to voice public support of that, being
sensitive to those needs
>> Thank you so much man
>> Board member Ponce
>> Reverend Preston is looking at me
over there. I echo the same sentiments.
As you were speaking sir I was thinking
about not just taking these folks out
of our buses but the folks that make it
into our buses and rails that don't get
caught, they go into other
neighborhoods and commit crime. The
work that you and your staff are doing
our significant to keeping our
customers and staff save. Not just them
but the communities they are going into
as well. I think other law enforcement
agencies are thankful for the work
METRO PD is doing as well so thank you
very much. After this I would like to
circle back on item 3 if that's okay
with the board
>> I want to capture that moment. I
think your assessment is 100 percent
accurate. Bad guys now days there is no
jurisdictional boundaries they go where
they go some of our initiatives called
displacement we do our best with the
collaboration the case we talked about
this is the key we go and respond to
the call and not collaborate with
partners I can only imagine what the
individual is going to do throughout
the day not just on our system but in
the city of Houston so thank you sir
>> Thank you for your comments I'm
going to take a point here just before
moving to our next item we will circle
back on item number three board member
Ponce
>> Thank you Reverend Preston. Summit
gave me the idea and I started thinking
about this item a little more regarding
the unarmed security guard services. I
wanted to get a better idea as to how
that is going to impact the METRO PD
work as well. When I think about it
putting more security officers there we
can think about it where we can get
more METRO PD officers to those high
crime areas and then focus these
security officers in those low income
areas is that the idea here?
>> To piggyback on your question, it
would be good to understand the
coordination between the two and where
they complement each other
>> If I can I will ask Santiago and
Chief Tien to respond
>> Thank you. To answer the question
I'm going to start off by saying the
coordination within PD we are our goal
we understand that guards are not
licensed police officers and therefore
they serve a different purpose we do
have a lot of areas candidate for their
services and we intend to place them in
areas where currently MPD is occupying
space where they can be free and be
re-assigned to areas the chief is in
more need of it those areas we can
coordinate once we get more into the
details of the contract so that there's
a big coordination related to transit
centers we are staffed within PD areas
that security guards can take over to
give a quick example most recently with
a fare the new fare media initially it
was a sign of task to have officers at
those location but through the contract
we shifted guards to the little fare
ride stores in order for them to be
tied into the eight hour shift there.
Being able to be deployed to buses or
trains the coordination is there.
Further we can only have areas where we
have no other than cameras. We
will be deploying guards more on a
regular basis where we have knowledge
where there is vandalism or auto theft.
Things like that that criminals don't
care if they see a guard or officer,
they see someone there they figure it's
better to go somewhere else. He that is
the goal behind the expanded security
guard contract. I hope I answered your
questions
>> I think it's an excellent idea. Is
an efficient use of resources. I'm on
board for this one
>> Chief Tien do you want to weigh in
>> Yes, sir. I see the guard as a
deterrent and somewhat to a large
degree a prevention to have their
presence. By having them in fixed post
facility type allows to free up and MPD
officer to take enforcement actions.
From the police side I welcome all the
help, even to the speakers we kicked
off the committee meeting made it a
fact that the relationship helps they
tell us exactly what our problems are
and where we need to go because we have
the ability to mobilize to address a
location where they are. Having
additional resources will free up my
resources to move elsewhere. With
expansion I need all the help because
by adding new facility I need officers
patrol to enforce so I welcome all the
help
>> Thank you I have one question
whether or not we will be deploying if
you are able to share some of these
guards onto the bus routes or trains
will they supplement current presence
there or I'm curious to hear the extent
you can share
>> To the buses themselves we have had
discussions where it's more suitable
for law enforcement to ride buses but
to the transit centers where we get
bulk of customers to interact with
buses and yes there are transit centers
identified that are heavy ridership
like TMC Wheeler we have other centers
where guards will have a lot of
presence. If there's coordination with
the chief and special initiatives we
will be adding more guards with law
enforcement that's a possibility. We
are open for those conversations
>> Most of the resource will be
anchored on a fixed post type when you
move out to maneuver and take actions I
want my police officers out there. I
just mention stuff will happen sometimes
we cannot control what happens but how
we respond is key by having arm to
police officers out there it will be
key. I don't believe the guard is here
to replace MPD they just augment and
support
>> I have another question. These
officers security guards are they going
to be mobile so they are circulating
around locations rather than having a
fixed post
>> There's a portion of the contract
that is identified to have mobile units
currently we have one so we are moving
up to 10 maybe 15 meaning vehicles they
can go from one transit center to
another. There's an opportunity in
[Indiscernible] and Spring Park and
ride. Those are within three miles of
each other and it's a perfect scenario
for someone to move back and forth and
show presence at any given time. So we
have that ability
>> Thank you
>> Any other questions or comments?
Thank you we will move the item forward.
We'll move to the next briefing the
monthly bus and rail safety report.
Mohammed
>> Good afternoon everybody. As part of
the regular safety report I will provide
safety performance for the month of
December 2025 for rail bus and
paratransit focusing on collisions and
safety actions underway. We will start
with the bus operations. We experience
the month of December 21 collisions.
That is below the benchmark of 22. This
is the second consecutive month we
remain under target. Some of the things
we are doing we continue to monitor
every event that occurs. Investigated
to the extent possible in generating
corrective actions as needed. We have
training programs and initiatives
underway such as the procurement of the
bus training simulator. On the rail
side, happy to report we met our
benchmark and we ended the month with
three reportable collisions the
benchmark was nine so this is the third
month we came below target which is
encouraging. Real collisions tend to be
closely monitored system wide programs
in place. I'd like to thank Chief Tien
for his enforcement actions, traffic
engagement, it's been happening for a
few months and I believe this has
helped with driving numbers where we
are now. Paratransit side of the house,
December showed three board collisions
that was the benchmark so we met the
benchmark for the service. These events
are reviewed as part of the ongoing
safety oversight of the service
providers. Overall this year has been
so far looking promising. Our annual
members target toward [Indiscernible]
looks to be either at or below the
target and we will continue actions and
activities and keep you updated on all
the initiatives underway, technology
initiatives and pilot program we are in
the process. Are there any questions or
comments?
>> Thank you so much for your briefing
>> The current time now is 1:21 PM and
this concludes our public safety
committee meeting.