[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] time good morning we'll bring this meeting to order at time is 10:31 would everyone please join me and we stand for the pledgees United States of America and to the Republic what it say liy Justice for good morning the time snuck up on me there sorry to catch you all off guard but we'll bring the meeting to order this is The Bard County local Coordinating Board for the transportation disadvantage February 12th 2024 it's 10:30 a.m. Space Coast room Building C second floor ver Government Center 2725 St judge Fran Jameson W Vieira um anyone wishing to speak anyone wishing to make a comment on an item not on the agenda should complete a speaker card which is at the signin desk over there for the agenda items please fill out a speaker card and you will be called on when time when the that item is discussed anyone wishing to speak on anything that is not on the agenda please fill out the same speaker card and turn it into Ivon back there in the corner all right we'll get on with the first item here and we'll go introduction of members can we start in the back Corner please um say your name and who you represent go ahead sir oh uh my name is thank you Ken you're there thank you Lor Hilton volunte motion thank you I know there's got to be more people over there Denise be for source for thank you Jennifer Jennifer Cleveland a Citizens Advocate and citizens user Felicia Wilson dis representative alterate thank you good morning I'm Diane Dixon I'm the citizen Advocate alternate co-founder of the agency for Life transformation good morning D hi everyone morning Terry Jordan Space Transit Lance Parker space morning tonying Angels Bri gaps space areiter space are Transit thank you Ivon IV milit okay and James James Stringer the alternate you're an alternate okay right and you're filling in for no no he's not an Al I'm primary you're a primary thank you maram Moore thank you I'm citizen Advocate and um operations director for hfh Supportive Housing thank you Dennis F Bard County veteran services Anna May Smith representing people over 60 thank you and I'm Andrea Young from the city of West Melbourne in chair of TPO Camille I am Camille Tate theable representative of Vice chair and I am representing the national Federation of the blind of Florida thank you Debbie Debbie Flynn Space Co TPO Morris Richardson bravard County attorney thank you Carlos colon Florida Department of Transportation all right thank you ion do we have a quorum yes we do thank you all right we'll move on here and we will um ask for a motion and a second for the approval of the meeting minutes for December 4th 2023 can I get a motion I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of December 4th 20123 thank you motion Smith can I get a second cam was second oh all right she's right here I'll you next James Camille second all those in favor signify by saying I I I those opposed thank you motion passes we'll move to reports Terry Jordan please good morning again everyone s director of space Co Transit good morning I'll be doing a brief report on uh activities and uh updates from the transit services department uh over the last quarter since we've met uh our demand response ridership continues to remain uh about 6,000 average passengers per month which is a steady increase over the previous year to date Riders uh so we continue to Rebound in our demand response and are seeing continuous growth in that area average passengers per weekday for our fixed rout service is at 6,500 this is a 7% increase over previous year-to dat's numbers um average for the previous year about 6,000 Riders per day so we are also seeing an increase in ridership uh in the fix route as well information as far as uh new vehicles we are we have had a new fix route bus delivered over the last several months and uh is um going to be put into service in the not too distant future uh things that it that we continue to implement for technology on our vehicles is it so our passengers can know where the bus is located at all times so if they want to catch the bus they see where it or know where it is in advance of it arrival uh we have Wi-Fi on board our buses now so passengers can use free Wi-Fi while on board the buses and a new item that's been implemented in new deliveries are USB ports for passengers to charge their mobile devices while on board the vehicle so we anticipate that that bus will be put into service very soon and we also have another bus on order that we expect to be delivered within uh late 2024 in add in addition we are hoping to uh place an order for four new 35 G foot gilc buses this would also go to our fix route Fleet for demand response Fleet we are purchasing three volunteer and motion vehicles that will be used by Lor's team two additional freight liners which we'll use for demand response services and then uh for future purposes uh purchases excuse me we're looking to purchase eight E450 Vehicles these are all vehicles that we expect to order within the next several months to be delivered hopefully by uh early 2025 or mid 2025 at the latest um one of the uh things that we're actually going to be doingin the next week or so there are six a part of our coordination and contract especially with the group excuse me let me back up for the uh local coordinat board members is that we present present any agencies that are looking or to applying for funding to utilize and to spend within Bard County to provide services for the disabled population uh work with Carlos cologne and the fdot team uh Debbie Flyn and myself will be reviewing applications of six agencies that have applied for funding within Bard County and uh once that process is completed and the uh fdot has determined which agencies have won award awards for services or vehicles that they would like to purchase we'll bring that information back to the board for the board's review and more or less information sharing that we have these additional agencies and which services or um Capital Improvements they will be receiv receiving to be provided within the uh the county that's my report for today if there are any questions I'll be glad to answer excuse me for ignoring the people behind me thank you Terry are there any questions for Mr Jordan regarding this report thank you very very much and what I'll also do is I'll just as we understand there's several reports uh per um excuse me um there are things that are been presented today several presentations so to make it brief the items C I'm sorry BC and D on your uh agenda are reports that are typically presented uh they're in your agenda package for your review and if there are any questions at this time staff will be glad to answer on those items uh since there really no big information and no action needed we'll just uh uh allow for any questions but won't be presenting specific all right thank you I do have a question on on the buses um you are you are providing charging ports and that's wonderful I see more and more does it have Wi-Fi as well so all of our all of our vehicles are fixed rout Fleet the buses that you see uh pickup passengers uh on the uh Street side those do have Wi-Fi available on those buses the demand response vehicles um do not at this time but fix route Vehicles do have Wi-Fi and B those buses yes ma'am all right thank you very much thank you you're welcome thank you thank you all right so as Terry just said that the remaining of the reports are in our packets for review so we're going to move on down to action items uh Ken is has the first action item approval of the grievance procedure good morning kenth Harley uh the commission for transportation disadvantage requires all Community Transportation coordinators to have a grievance procedure in addition to that it requires each year that those grievance procedures be reviewed in addition it requires that those grievance procedures be re reviewed on an annual basis and make modifications as needed there are no modifications that are being requested to the grievance procedures at this time and the primary purpose of the grievance procedures is to process investigate and resolve complaints and make recommendations to the local Coordinating Board for services in addition to adopting the uh grievance procedures we're also o asking that two members be appointed to The Grieving subcommittee because we have two members that will be leaving uh Felicia Wilson and Arlene nty their terms expire at the in February so we'd ask that two members be appointed to the grievance subcommittee and that grievance subcommittee investigates any complaints that are received in regards to the uh Transportation program once a person files a formal complaint and I don't think there have been any form of complaints filed any form of grievances filed in years so this committee won't have much work to do hopefully so we're asking for approval of the grievance procedures and the appointment of two people to fill the vacant positions that are being vacated by M Wilson and Miss NY all right thank you Ken I'm looking for a motion to approve the grievance procedures and the appointment of two additional members can I get a motion motion to approve motion B in a second please second Carlos col second Carlos okay all those in favor signify by saying I I those opposed by name thank you motion carries thank you very much again and the appointment of a two in the appointment of the two volunteers volun the two volunteers I volunteer Carlos col thank you thank you carolos another volunteer I'll volunteer Diane we we can they do not have to be board members correct we can take the um we can take M Dixon's Al so so she can okay I just want to make sure don't want to have to come back and do it over again thank you very much Terry for the clarification so um Diane Dixon and Carlos yes all right thank you very much those are our two members thank you very much all right next item uh Debbie Flynn approval of the annual bylaws good morning and I'm just going to stay up here because I have the next two action items just to give you a heads up um the local Coordinating Board for the transportation disadvantage is required to review their bylaws each year and recommend any necessary changes for approval um I know you're aware that the bylaws were at our last meeting if you're confused why they're back um they it was accidentally put the wrong one in um this is the most to date one that was approved during the summer of 2023 and we would like your approval for these bylaws without changes or if you would like to make changes I would be bringing them to the space Co TPO governing board thank you very much um Debbie all right may I get a motion and a second to approve of the the CTC I'm sorry the annual bylaw as presented by Debbie Flynn can I get a motion I make a motion motion by Camille Tate second I'll second second by second Mary Moore thank you all those in favor signify by saying I those opposed same sign thank you motion carries thank you next item you said you were oh I'm sorry all in favor all in favor say I thought we just did this those opposed thank you motion [Music] carries should I continue for the next item okay next item please next item is the 2023 CTC evaluation the Space Coast Transportation Planning organization initiated the annual community transportation coordinator evaluation on November 9th 2023 the evaluation is required per Florida um sorry just escaped me fac um for the the commission for the transportation disadvantage the Space Coast TPO serves as the designated official planning agency dopa um who facilitated the evaluation of the ctc's of performance in general and relative to the commissions and local standards as referenced in rule 41- 2.06 Florida Administrative Code the evaluation must also be in compliance with the applicable provisions of chapter 427 rule 41- 2 and 14- 90 the evaluation ensures that most cost-effective efficient and appropriate transportation services are provided to the entire Transportation disadvantage population in bevard County the evaluation documented the ctc's performance from July 1st 2022 through June 30th 2023 the evaluation was conducted utilizing the commission for the transportation disadvantage CTC evaluation workbook which was provided to you um with your item sheet there was an attach there was a link to go to view the CTC evaluation the workbook outlined the formal process for the CTC evaluation a series of five evaluation criteria was used to evaluate the performance of the CTC it was reliability service Effectiveness service efficiency service availability and safety the evaluation process also reviewed coordination contracts verified the TD drivers met their requirements surveyed TD writers verified TD Rider eligibility from those who were surveyed observed on-site system of TD Riders I went for a nice um bus ride with two passengers and this was their Lifeline to get to where they needed and also surveyed 21 TD writers and got their opinions I completed vehicle inspection with a Transit staff member and provided recommendations and accomodations that was provided in your the report some of the these are the next are five survey questions that I conducted the survey with the 21 passengers um the first question was how often do you normally use Transit and it was the most was 3 to five times a week um the second most popular was one to two times a week week and the third most popular was monthly so this is a Lifeline to these passengers and how often have you been denied Transportation none of the passengers I surveyed were denied Transportation what type of trips do you normally take most of them said medical did you have any problems on your last trip none of them they enjoy their ride every time with their driver they get to where they need to be the only issue that they have which unfortunately trans Space Coast Area Transit can't um help them with is their time that they have to wait for their pickup time sometimes it's an hour after their appointment or after the um grocery shopping or life sustaining um location that they're going for their destination and it's just our county is so long to get back to them um within 20 minutes after their destination is is it's impossible at this time but this is their lifeline and they appreciate this service um did you have any problems on your last trip as I said nope and on a scale 1 to five 15 out of the 21 said five um that how this was rated how satisfied they were so they they couldn't say enough about space goes the area transit and the TD service in your packet There's a summary of recommendations that can be found and the accommodations were that the buses were very clean the bus driver was dressed appropriately and was very friendly greeted every passenger the passengers that needed help on to the bus they helped them on the bus most of them feel very independent and like to get on the bus themselves the Riders are very grateful that Bard County Space Coast Area Transit provides this service for the transportation disadvantage without this service like I said many of the Riders would be Homebound and would have no method of transportation to get to their medical appointments or life sustaining destinations that they need to get to with limited staff space goer Transit handled an average of 155 calls a day also staff works with the partner agencies to make sure that their clients submit the applications and provide technical assistance as needed no writer that was surveyed mentioned ever been denied transportation and I'm requesting approval of the 2023 CTC evaluation and I'm here to answer any questions all right thank you um are there any questions from the board how are the Riders chosen the ones that you ride with and ask these questions Space Coast Area Transit provides me a spreadsheet of all the writers name and I just randomly randomly pick a name um sometimes no one answers the phone or calls me back so I'll leave a message and if they call me back I take their survey um with them and if not I go on to the next writer and keep calling until I get 21 um and I called about 300 people and not everyone wants to take a survey or they see a phone number that they don't recognize and don't answer it so I I don't know why some people didn't pick up or call me back yeah de Debbie what were the um comments of the six that did not give um uh rated a five they they gave a high number as well they gave a four or 4.5 they just didn't want it to give a five as I said earlier sometimes they get frustrated waiting um for the bus to come pick them up after their appointment or sometime their reservation time takes quite some time to um to make their reservation sometimes they're waiting 45 minutes on the phone on hold um like I said they get 155 calls a day with their limited staff it's but I know Space Coast a trans is working on um software to help passengers uh fill out not yet they're working on getting uh a software to so they could up fill out um online where they want to go and when they want to go and a lot of them call right after their doctor's appointment as they're waiting for their for their transportation um to make their next appointment so they're in route um if they don't sometimes if they don't make it in time they can't get that appointment time time and they have to call their doctor's appointment or wherever they're going and reschedule that appointment so Transit can pick them up okay thank you all right any other questions from the board thank you I have a question yes um you you said that of course it's frustrating sometimes it can be an hour after their appointment time so just for clarification the appointment time is the expected bus uh pickup time not the doctor's appointment or not the appointment that they had not not that appointment time not that appointment it's after their appointment is completed they have to wait um sometimes an hour for their bus pickup um but they get to their appointment on time okay and you also mentioned limited staff like 150 calls a day how limited do we have that's that's for um Terry Jordan to answer that one okay all right thank you thank you very very much for your report all right that um yes I can't see back Sor okay how did you come up with the number of 21 was that just the number that answered you back out of the 300 that you left messages in the workbook it tells you a percentage of the total amount of um TD um writers and I do a percentage so so what is that percentage I don't know it off the top of my head but it equals 21 writers so that's how I know to call 21 1% 5% 10% like I I want to say it's like a 2% it's like it wasn't pretty it wasn't High I'm sorry I don't know it off the top of my head yes thank you all right thank you with that may I have a motion and a second please to um the approval to accept the I'm sorry to approve the 2023 CTC evaluation motion Carlos and second please I'll second second Miss Smith all right thank you all those in favor signify by saying I those oppose that like same sign thank you motion carries all right thank you very much Debbie thank you all right we'll move on to the next item which is member reports and we're going to hear a few words from Camille tape oh wait I have one more item sorry I'm sorry do I don't have anything more yes we have the TDP stakeholder interview with the TDL CB oh okay I'm so sorry yes yes so I'm going to introduce Nathan Hicks it's right behind me I'll let you introduce yourself I didn't see behind me thank you hi good morning everyone uh my name's thank you morning everyone uh my name is Nathan Hicks I'm a multimodal transportation planner with HDR based in our Orlando office and I've been assisting uh Debbie and Space Coast uh TPO on the upcoming update for the uh TDP along with the uh long range Transportation plan we're updating the long range Transportation plan and the transit development plan uh simultaneously so as part of this process we are going through and conducting stakeholder interviews excuse me uh with the relevant um uh stakeholders throughout bvar County and so uh as I understand it Debbie uh sent these questions to you all so we just we're hoping to go through and essentially just uh talk through the questions with you all and hear your thoughts on U on all of these so um I will actually go through and uh I don't know if it's is there a it's here I thought it was going to be on there okay that's fine we're go I'll go and read it all yeah all right so one of the first questions was uh what do you believe is the perception of space ghost area transit in the disadvantaged community here in Bard County and these are this is a sort of open dialogue um we can we as I understanded these are recorded so we'll be sure to uh uh go back and listen to the recording afterwards to uh gather everyone's thoughts uh from the committee today well I can answer what my my feedback is um I've had two complaints since the past meeting of one person who has refused service and another person who while she was refused service also and they refused to fill out an official email complaint um because you know they they feel defeated they're um they say that it's it's been this way for years and that nothing will change and even though I encourage everyone contacts me to fill out an email so that we can make an official Complaint um I I can't get probably 80% of them to do it and so when I speak to people about their experience or when they reach out to me cuz that's what they do I don't really they reach out to me and they tell me the same story unfortunately that they call in and they're told that they don't qualify they're call in and they're told that they don't go to their location they're um you know they're told that uh they don't have a bus available or whatever something like that and you know there are people that like I have this the one issue with this woman who called me and said we we worked out her issue because she was refused service because of the area that she lived in and then so we you know did an unofficial complaints went through everything with with Carmen and worked it out found out that she does qualify for services even though she was told multiple times that she did not qualify so then she called in to get schedule a ride and they refused her service and they said no you don't you live in Melbourne Beach you can't um you know you can't ride the bus and so I she contacted me again I said you have to fill out an email I can't do anything unless you fill out an email and if you you know you have to give me the details and the information she would said it's useless nothing will ever change I'm not going to do it so I just took a screenshot of it sent it into Carmen and they said she never called in she never requested a ride it never happened so the next time she called messaged me and said I really want to go to to this event and I said call and get the information schedule your ride and do and do all of that which she did she called multiple times it was a big event she was just waiting for somebody to call her back you know ride times which is normal for an event event like that you know and they did they called her back and they gave her a ride and it was no problem and it was a very positive experience but then I had another person contact me for her neighbor who's visually impaired and the neighbor had called in repeatedly to try to get services and was that she did not qualify so I told her I said you have to call back you have to request Services you know get the name request the application tell me who you spoke to tell me what they said and then you need to put it in an email so that I can do an official Complaint and she's completely defeated she's recently visually impaired you know profoundly depressed lost her career everything like that so she's depressed and she doesn't have the energy to to do that and that that's what happens with a lot of people unfortunately so so um you know I my experience personally I've had a lot of trouble that's why I'm here you know with Space Coast Area Transit my problems and issues have been resolved personally but unfortunately people are still reaching out to me on a fairly regular basis you know throughout you know every say every couple of months with an issue like that and then the complaint of course about you know the the ride times and I know that it's Staffing I know that and um you know the bus with the drivers and all I schedu for doctor's appointment and my doctor's appointment was at 1:00 I needed to be back at work at 3:00 and they picked me up and got me to the doctor's appointment perfectly on time you know 20 minutes early and then my doctor's appointment was done at um you know 1:30 and they weren't going to pick me up until 3: and I said that I I had to be at work at 3:00 you know but they weren't going to pick me up until 3:00 so I would be there for that long you know waiting just sitting there waiting for a bus so obviously I couldn't do that because you know I I have to work and so for my ride home I just had to go through my phone list and try to see if I could find somebody or else try to take a over so luckily I was able to find somebody to bring me home so those those are the issues that um you know in my world I'm visually impaired with my guy dog those are the issues that I'm familiar with and that's the communication that I get from the general public okay thank you thank you Jennifer so I'll just I mean if I could give my perception I've been on the board for 11 years representing disabled veterans and um our office is open 5 days a week Monday through Friday and I've had probably less than three not even issues but somebody would bring up the topic of Space Coast Area Transit but 99 times out of a 100 other conversations it's always been very positive so from my P perspective um I have a high perception of how the space coost Area Transit takes care of disadvantaged members okay thank if that's what you're looking for yeah um I mean in terms of comments from the board of what their perception is right I understand you know as as a board you know there will be some uh differing differing opinions between everyone but generally we just uh Our intention just with this time is just to try to get a sense of and at an aggregate level you know what everyone's thoughts are when it comes to these individual questions so and I just want to note too uh this process is ongoing you know we can take feedback uh past today as well uh over the coming weeks so probably until the end of February so if there's any additional thoughts that you have uh regarding these questions or uh What uh this information um we we'll we're more than happy to take that information and uh add it into to this uh this summary for these uh for these questions can I ask a question just yes of course this interview the stakeholder interview who is it that you're seeking to interview using these questions beyond the people in this room like are youing out other stakeholders and if so how are you going about that yes um actually Debbie can probably speak that to a little bot sorry I feel don't know how to do this sorry yes we have interviewed um assisting County Manager Jim lenel we have interviewed commissioner pritchet from Titusville we have interviewed promas um Inc and oh Homeless Coalition we there was a few other TD um agencies that we have reached out to and these are the ones that responded back and we have interviewed what's the other one PR Family Promise of Bard yeah aging man yes aging manners sorry sorry Tom thank you disability related organizations I've I've reached out to more and they did not respond back to be interviewed and that's why we wanted to interview this board because we know that this board represents disabilities throughout Bard County and that's why we're here today to get your opinion to put it down in paper on in writing and in our report how the dis advantaged Fields about space Co are Transit and ways that we can improve their ridership okay so then beyond today what is the your target to wrap this uh process up well I believe we're wanting to continue to do stakeholder interviews uh throughout the rest of the month we actually have most of through the agencies that uh that mentioned we've actually met with most of them already was there a specific agency perhaps or organization well I can probably name off the top of my head 15 different others but if she's um indicating that they interested in participating I find that shocking my organization wasn't contacted um we have Tony Len here representing a disability organization I don't know that his organization was um contacted did you contact the CER for the visually impaired also yeah we allow to speak yes on behalf of Miss FL just out of fairness this is not poing anybody or not discounting what they say I heard Miss fln say I had my sample 300 people and got 21 responses the how how long that took oh so so the process was given to you directed to you you follow the process the fact that people didn't respond is not your you're don't have to cause a 21 out of 300 and I empathize with because I call a lot of people too I get it don't know how your sample size is chosen CU I'm not sure if you have visibility into organizations are well that that was for a different presentation that simp I'm just trying to say is what's the front door to a level a complaint right it sounds like there's a standard process you're supposed to follow if you don't follow the process how are you supposed to know about it right In fairness to everybody in front of us that's all I'm saying all right thank thank you very much I think this is a discussion a different discussion for a different time now at this particular meeting are are we going to go through each of the questions that are on this page um we don't have to it's more of a dialogue and it's these are the questions we would like to get through but if we don't it's not an issue we would just like to have a dialogue on how this board feels about Space Coast Transit and how they would like to improve um as we heard from two board members already and we greatly appreciate your feedback um I would to finish my oh yes of course what I really wanted to say is that I would love to facilitate assisting you in any way possible now that I'm aware that this is what you're trying to accomplish yes um and so that's why I was asking you about how much time you have and so forth because I think this is very important and I'm extremely supportive of it and I think this is act the exact direction that we want to go as a board so that we can you know gather this important information so yes and if your organization would like to particip we are more than happy for us to go to you or you to come to our office and to conduct that interview and I could talk to you after the meetings over to um schedule that wonderful yes thank you and I can connect you with orientation of Mobility teacher from the center for division imped who is the one who actually um helps people who became visually impaired learn how to use the transit services and helps them to get service and all of that she actually came and spoke one time about the issues she was having with her students that that would be great thank you Jennifer all right so thank you very very much those are very good ideas do you have a a card perhaps if we're going to go through the rest of this and we want to have a dialogue on it we could um perhaps contact Nathan um apart from this meeting so that we can move on with the meeting because I know we're going to have long lengthy discussion dialogue here if we go through everything on this page we accounted some time to conduct this interview during this meeting okay um we had um confirmation from space go Area Transit like I said we don't have to do all eight questions but i' like to do at least two or three questions to get everyone's input yes all right okay um so I'll go ahead and just go through uh just a few of the questions just from a I understand from a Time perspective so um so related to the uh Space Ghost area transits you know their their website the phone application materials that are accessible to the disadvantage Community uh does the do any board members have have any particular thoughts in terms of uh perhaps any uh adjustments or improvements that could perhaps be uh that could occur for those uh those materials I do yes okay so um and this is from my blindest perspective the applications for uh TD service and for Ada service are not accessible you can't it's not a if it's a fillable PDF you cannot fill it out online um either through um the website on a mobile device or the website on your computer I've not had any issues with um the 321 transit app I I find that to be very user friendly but in terms of filling out forms for services that I think needs to be um addressed because I get a lot of calls from people who don't have a par Transit service and who I think would qualify under the rules of TD and Ada I directly to the website the form is not fillable they can't they have to have a third person um help them fill it out either by printing it out or calling um space Co Area Transit directly to have the someone on the phone helping fill it out and that does not really lead to True Independence so I know the forms need to be updated so that they are fillable by people using screen reader or voice assistance technology on their mobile devices or their computers and then possibly also the add to that maybe a large print option also because if I was a large online big line for those who don't know I could have done probably a large print but because I just had to fill it out I had to have a friend fill it out so definitely online option okay the forms areful and it's pable online and you can found the documents online also that was corrected a few mons you didn't know that yeah I didn't fol don't know that [Music] online right okay is there another another question yeah um uh and for the for the board members and everyone that is here uh what are some of the pros and cons of the transit system as it relates to the disad the disadvantage Community uh what are some of the the things that the trans I'm sorry uh as it relates to the transit system and the disadvantaged community what are some of the pros and cons that the the space Area Transit currently is uh currently functioning all right thank you I know board members have a comment on this yes um one of the pro is the service is is available um o who maybe you didn't like my comment um having the service is a benefit that's probably the biggest Pro the the biggest con is something that really and truly I don't think um Transit could actually really address and it is the ride time um it is not a taxi service so it's not on demand where I can um call and say well I need to be picked up and someone's there in 15 minutes I you know it it you can't function that way um and that is something that if they could look into that for the future because I have used a similar service in other counties I'm going to say Duval County um I love their Transit the their Transit service because it the the buses are separate from their on demand system and they have an app that is accessible where you can do a will call where it's a 15 minutes to 1 hour possible weight time you know things like that I would love to see in the future in Bard County because our county is is the biggest the longest um uh by land in the state there's so many areas that are sort of darker when it comes to having access to Transit so having something a Sim system like that in the future I think would be great because it might take the pressure off the the buses the bus side which needs that for like wheelchair assistance and stuff people who are more more Mobility challenged it could be a con that would turn to a pro you know later on in the future but having the service itself I think is fantastic is just my biggest con is probably the wait time the ride times um for example I have an appointment today my appointment is at 2:45 I live 10 minutes from the doctor's appointment I'm getting picked up early time 145 so by the time my return trip is scheduled I'll already be done and I've been waiting for at least an hour to an hour and a half you know so those things are kind of frustrating and that's the biggest con I see with our Transit service at the stands but it's really not something that's truly fixable because of capital and resources so but that's what the big the biggest con I see with the service thank you any other comments okay I agree what you say it's definitely a pro that it exists because it's a blessing for sure for people like us um the other thing to add to that would be and I don't know if this is a separate program or not it might not be but other areas for the transit services they work with Uber and lift and um they have programs where a person gets like $20 a day towards Uber or lift or $40 a week or something like that and systems are out there and there are grants for those and um I would like to see if we could you know do something like that because that would make my life someone who works full-time has a very active life so much easier if I could get involved in a program like that it's funny that you just said that because spaceco um TP just kicked off our Mobility on demand study and it will include something like that in our um right up so we just started it um and something like that will be included within the mobility on demand study and we are working with space Co Transit on that study as well wonderful yep all right thank you all right next item next question well um actually I think from a perhaps from a Time perspective um we can go ahead and uh follow up with the board members afterwards uh unless there was um additional time um did you want to call them or through email or I believe uh just yeah from from a Time perspective we'll just go ahead and reach out to the the board members through through email and just go through these questions and then just uh develop all the uh speak uh speak with them later after that okay all right thank you and I will email this these questions out again to this group and if you would like you don't don't have to but if you would like to please fill out the questions and email them back to me and we will include them in our write up and if your organization would like to be interviewed please reach out to me and I will schedule that interview to either for me to go to your office or for you to come to the Space Coast tpo's office and I greatly appreciate all of your time that's great so now when we respond to you it will be fillable so we can answer the questions right is this going to be an email or it won't be a PDF fillable I could I could send it via PDF or word so you can type your responses in that's a great idea whatever's easier for the board members good idea and also being able to set up the for the organizations that each person represents that's a good idea thank you Debbie thank you and I appreciate your time okay thank you for your time thank you Nathan all right now we'll get on to the next one I've jumped ahead myself here all right so the next item is going to be member reports and we're going to hear a few words from Camille Tate hello everyone so I'm Camille Tate and I currently serve as first vice president of the national Federation of the blind of Florida um we are are an affiliate of the national Federation of the blind the nation's oldest and largest consumer organization of blind people so we are an open organization we have blind and cided members however the majority of our membership and the majority of our governing boards the person must be blind and in our organization blindness is anywhere on the vision Spectrum from No Light perception which is what I have all the way up to as close to fully sighted as you can get so um we are an organization of blind people run by blind people for blind people um in Florida our National Organization um was chartered or created in 1940 so we are now in our 84th year um the Florida affiliate the national Federation of the blind of Florida was established in 1970 so um it's been in Florida for a very long time um we have between 3 and 400 members we are a membership organization we are Advocates we advocate for blind people in the communities in which we live and across the state um into that end um we do legislation on a national level and a state level I currently serve as legislative director for State legislation with the national Federation of the blind of Florida in addition to being its resolutions chair so I do a lot of advocacy work um we traveled to Washington DC where I just came back from a very long trip um at the end of January and then I made a pit stop in Tallahasse to do legislation on the state level um we are not just an advocacy organization but we also Network so both in and out of our organization we pair people um with Community Partners we do not teach or train technically but we do share the resources that are available in each community in the state for those who are experiencing vision loss um we have uh things for parents of blind children we have things for blind parents we have a seniors program we're trying to get off the ground we have programs for children that we'd like to get off the ground as well and that requires Our Community Partners to be a part of that um on the local level there is a chapter locally here in Bard County um is currently serve as president of that chapter that's the Melbourne Space Coast chapter and um that's one of the reasons why I was excited to be on the loing board for the transportation disadvantage because transportation is probably one of our biggest barriers to True Independence so um we'll continue to work both in and out of the county on issues of importance to the blindness community and hopefully uh we can make Transportation um as best as best as possible for our blind people not just to live and work in our communities but to play in our communities we want to be a part of the the social and economic fabric of each County in which we live so I'm happy to answer any questions about the national Federation of the blind of Florida any questions for Camille yes yes Terry um in your visit to Tallahasse can you come up to the mic sorry excuse me your visit to Tallahassee and of course with Washington DC were you able to make any inroads in uh additional funding being allocated for services to individuals that are disabled in particular Vis imp period individuals while I was in Washington um I can't say in roads because everyone is as usually non-committal um but I did bring up in Florida the issues of increasing ing services for people who are disabled with regards to Transportation uh cuz one of our our our well one of our legislative pushes is to work with um Social Security Administration to make some changes to the earnings Cliff well part of our issue with uh the earnings Cliff is being able to find jobs in order to find jobs you have to have access to Transportation so we sort of tied that in um I my team had seven well we had six appointments out of seven and um I did meet with Congressman post and I intend to meet with him again once he is back in District um now for Tallahassee that was something different um I was there at the behest of the Florida Rehabilitation Council for the blind as part of their uh legislative subcommittee so this year we it was not there were no asks this year um now we do intend to go back pre session next year since the session doesn't start till March we're intending to go back pre- session maybe late January early February and at that time transportation is going to be one of the asks we have as we approach the state legislature thank you thank you that was that was very good question thank you i' loved your answer anything else for Camille all right thank you we'll move on to the next person we're going to hear from this is a this was a really good idea when we decided to listen to the groups and of the information for the groups that are represented here so thank you for doing that uh Miss Moore actually have like a five SEC five minute thing but I I don't know if I can do that here so a presentation but doesn't that have to be pre pre-approved for viruses and things did you bring send that in and I was not aware of that so okay so I'll talk anyway I did bring um I'm I'm with I'm with hfh support of housing formerly housing for homeless um we still use housing for homeless as our corporate name but we changed our DBA oh sorry we changed our DBA last year because um support of housing is more um in line with what we do it represents more of what we do because we we serve persons and families experiencing homelessness but we also serve low-income families that are experiencing housing and stability um we have uh 93 properties right now around Bard County so um they are uh funded in a in a variety of different ways we have a huge veterans program up in Titusville you know um we collaborate with a VA ala on a lot for transportation for our veterans up there we just expanded our GPD program from 10 veterans and families to 37 but we also have um Victory Village which um houses 10 um average age 67 elderly veterans who are going to live out their lives there we operate that with no outside funding um and we also have the um High Acuity uh program so we can take in veterans that have failed out of every other program um you know they may be they may be using um they need a lot of services we take them in under housing first U principles where they we believe that people do not have to have um they don't have to be seeking treatment or anything for us to be able to place them in housing and get them stable in housing first and then we provide the services that can help them better their lives um so we also have have um civilian homes we serve uh anytime we've got about 160 uh individuals and families in our programs so we uh have permanent support of housing we're HUD and VA funded but we also get funding from the county and from um ship and home and sale and other variations um for different programs that we have uh We've uh we we recently had erra funding from the county so we could help families that were housed but exper encing housing instability to keep them housed if they couldn't pay a bill or something like that uh we have um uh our uh Orchid lake is going to be our our big thing we're having our opening in April we're supposed to be moving in there it is a 90 unit apartment complex that is uh for it it's a it's a low-income housing tax credit project so it's going to be 50% set aside for our families coming out of homelessness and 50% set aside for our lower income working population or persons who are on fixed income we'll probably have a lot of seniors or people with disabilities that um you know the Social Security can only do so much with the housing costs the way they are right now so we have uh that is opening in April and um we have another one of those projects that we are getting ready to close on um in June the property we were approved last year it's called Fox Point it's another 70 units and it's just north of bard County in Holly Hill Valia but we're currently applying for another one um that will be in Meritt Island hopefully so we've got uh and that will be specifically for persons with um intellectual and developmental disabilities so we're really hoping to get that one I'm I'm really excited about that uh our our connection here with um our transportation disadvantage is that I think homelessness is really the most underrepresented population in in any of the meetings we deal with with transportation and they are the most needy of the transportation services that you that you all provide um I I my mother was Transportation disadvantaged she hadn't driven since 2004 and she walked everywhere and she was killed in two 2020 um hit by a car so um it's it's really uh something that I feel is very important the safety not only the safety Factor but the fact that we do have to really look at this population that that needs Safe Transportation not just be able to walk everywhere they go um so we have um I would say about a couple years ago it was about 25% of our citizens that were experiencing homelessness uh passed away in homeless the ones that passed away annually in homelessness about 25% of them were or I say about 33% of them actually were about were because of traffic crashes traffic fatalities they didn't have transportation they were bike riders they were Walkers and um it's gone down now it's more around 20% right now but that's not because we've had fewer deaths our deaths have actually increased um but a lot of them are are um drug related now so we haven't had any fewer deaths as a result of traffic crashes uh so we we really feel strongly as an agency and me personally um that this is something we need to this is a population that we need to uh represent um for the transportation disadvantaged thank you thank you very much Miss Moore any other members wish to make a comment chair I have a question yes ma'am good morning thank you for joining us thank you very much I do apologize to the chair of the board and the public for my tardiness I hail from Lakeland and unfortunately I4 is was not very kind today so I do apologize I'm going to have to get up at 5: in the morning I think literally to make these meetings on time so I do apologize Miriam thank thank you for sharing that information as to the the the planned Community for lack of a better description that you shared for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities do you have a projected date and is that essentially what we would call a call a planned residential Community um yes it's it's it's supported living so um it it's a little bit different than the ones that we're doing currently although we do have Supportive Services on site with the other ones that we do and our agency offers Supportive Services we had to partner with another agency that serves this population specifically in order to have the service provider um but we were we will be submitting the application I want to say Friday I finished at like 10 o'clock last night it took month to write but um it was uh it'll be submitted Friday and then we should know in April whether we're approved for it or not there's they're they're very competitive okay um the low-income housing tax credit program is a very competitive program you just keep applying keep applying and hopefully you get a few here and there so um well like I said we've already been approved for two so our chances are are going up they know that we can do what we say we can do we have the capacity so being a lawyer I'll ask the same question a different way because that's what lawyers do just to make sure I understand can you compare it to promise of bravard because that's one of apd's plan residential communities that we associate with I want to see how that compares right it would be it would be similar um I think they are now um Independent Living okay more than supported living we would be supported living thank you appreciate it thank you thank you very much thank you um um public comment um Ivan D yes ma'am sir so I do have a question and and um actually I have make sure one comment and I understand you're looking at at additional residence locations one thing I would like to make sure that it's considered and we find this happens quite frequently where individuals you uh look to open facilities and then ask for bus service that's two miles away to be brought to them so when you mentioned mared Island I want to make sure that that's considered if there's any collaboration to be had that it's going to be on existing Transit routes if the opportunity is there uh we are frequently an afterthought and then when the program gets put in place then like I mentioned transit's concered and as you mentioned the individuals that you serve do have a heavy need and heavy Reliance on public transit but we're nowhere close so I want to make sure that's a consideration then the question I have is there has there been any collaboration with any of your uh previous um opportunities where Transit could have be have been considered uh as you mentioned your population has a high demand but uh what what we typically do we offer um programs where the services that you provide purchase passes from us to then distribute to your residents and clients and they use the bus service at no charge to themselves so that opportunity is there if of course you need the funding to do such but we we have I can't even count off the top of my head at least I can think of three right now that we provide uh Transit passes to on a regular basis to distribute to their clients so we we do we purchase bus pass is monthly and hand them out like candy to a lot of our our residents and when we do Outreach as well um so we are we're we're very much um connected with Space Ghost Area Transit the as an agency um assisting our residents in getting connected with Transportation Orchid lake is actually right NE right right behind a bus stop it's on Michigan right by the college um of clearly so we're right there where you know pretty close to the main transit station as well um the the other one in Meritt Island um actually chose the property because of its proximity to services and ability for um to get Transportation the agency we partnered with I believe already works with Space Coast Area Transit and also has their own transportation so that will not be a problem thank you thank you um Ivon do we have any speaker cards we do not have any speaker cards um then I get a motion to adjourn so move in a second please all okay motion Tate in um second Springer Stringer sorry thank you table out there if anybody would like uh when is the next the next meeting meeting which I'm sure I have right here and I don't Ivan when is the next meeting May 15 oh Madam chair if I may one more thing uh and thank you to both that presented this uh this morning morning I as uh chair young mentioned I think it's a great idea that those agencies that actually are uh represented here and individuals represented here are able to share information on the um individuals they do represent uh we have one other individuals uh seled for the next meeting uh because we didn't want to have too many on this one we had three volunteers so we have one for the next meeting and if there's anyone else that would like to volunteer to present maybe a five-minute presentation on the agency that they represent uh please uh contact yvon miles and uh we'll be placing them on the agenda and if you do want to have a PowerPoint we'll ask that you submit it in advance so we can make sure that it's uh compliant as well as being able to present it and who's presenting in May who was the last person I do apologize I thank you Miss Dixon yeah didn't quite respond fast enough to get event but that's okay well I once again I appreciate your Your Enthusiasm so uh so if anyone else is uh interested in presenting along long with MX did you want to present sure I can present well I'm sorry your chair what was the date again it was May 15 May 15th can we have two at the next meeting like we had two this time yes and I was soliciting one more so that would be okay that was very interesting I enjoyed hearing from both of them and it offers the as I we saw the example for collaboration because you all represented populations that probably intersect or overlap and I'm hoping for the group conversations in addition you know that we're not just here talking from St SP Transit and the TPO that the agencies represented have the opportunity to also uh see what the others do as well all right thank you we are adjourned thank you thank you very much to the table [Music] quick the opinions expressed by any member of the public during any period of public comment do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the board of County commissioners of Bard County Florida Space Coast government television or the program sponsor and are solely those of the presenter the board of County commissioners of bravard County Florida Space Coast government television and the program sponsor hereby expressly disclaim any in all responsibility or liability for any defamatory or slanderous statements expressed by any member of the 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