2023-06-22 SMART Board of Directors

Jun 22, 2023 — Meetings

This is a carbon copy of a live thread originally posted to Twitter on June 24th .

The SMART Board of Directors met Thursday, June 22nd on location at Wayne County Community College in Taylor. The livestream failed due to internet connectivity issues in the building, but the recording is now available along with the agenda .

Note that this was the first meeting to be held on location and in the evening. The April meeting planned for OCC Auburn Hills was cancelled. Future traveling meetings can be expected, but have not yet been announced.

Also of note: No email comments sent in April appeared in the May Board Book. The June Board Book also contains no reproduced email comments, only the (misspelled) names of in-person commenters from May with no summaries of their statements.

I maintain that this is unacceptable.

The meeting opened with a moment of silence for Janice Bauer, who was struck and killed outside the Buhl Building earlier this month .

The board welcomed its newest member, Dr. Curtis Ivery, who serves as chancellor of the Wayne County Community College District and previously served on the RTA board. He replaces Khalil Rahal as a Wayne County representative alongside Abdul Haidous.

Chairperson Hilarie Chambers stated that a meeting will be held at OCC Auburn Hills later this year to make up for the April cancellation. No date confirmed as of yet. She acknowledged the difficulty for the public to attend downtown at 2pm. “It was really important to us to get out into the community.”

🚨 Public Comment

The audio on the recording was very poor. This is my best effort at a summary.

1. Steven Hawring: Received message from an unnamed source at SMART regarding the status of contract negotiations with ATU and UAW. The source claims the unions received letters from SMART stating they no longer wish to meet directly and instead seek to employ a mediator.
2. Patty Fedewa, longtime transit rider and labor lawyer: “It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever why you don’t have a contract. We all knew this was coming.” Reiterates circulating claims that SMART cancelled multiple months of contract negotiations. "We need to have audio and phone participation." Says she can’t wait to come back and say she’s had good experiences with SMART, but right now she can’t and doesn’t know when she’ll be able to.
3. Robert Pawlowski: “We all are here for one reason. We want better service.” Emphasizes that paying drivers is more important than marketing and must be addressed first. Echoes need for Zoom participation.
4. Transit rider from Oakland County (didn’t catch name): Notes continued run cuts and reliability issues. States SMART is not a valid option for many right now.
5. Drew, transit rider from Wayne County and Metro Detroit DSA member: Notes SMART has been approving spending items for non-driver related expenses at past several board meetings, but has still not resolved contract negotiations.
6. Steven Hammontree: Previously submitted written comment and read this aloud. States ADA paratransit rides can be scheduled via email, but Connector trips cannot despite being scheduled by the same department. Also reiterates that public comments via email are going unread. Hammontree additionally states that the decision to end Zoom comment in March was made via an addition to the agenda that was not made available prior to that meeting’s public comment period. The changes went into effect immediately. They further touch on frequent difficulties bringing a bike onboard due to the limitation of the two-slot bike rack. Three-slot racks are available which are compatible with Gillig BRTs (the majority of SMART’s fleet).
7. Lukas Lasecki: Recent schedule reductions appear to have at least somewhat alleviated the worst of the run cuts, to SMART’s credit. Echoes concerns about virtual input, reduction in public comment time, and the length of time drivers have been working without a contract.
8. A commenter from Wyandotte recounts a story from their transit-dependent friend with epilepsy who graduated from MSU. States SMART is not taking their role as a transit agency seriously by not putting forth the effort to agree upon a contract for drivers.
9. Joel Batterman, TRU Engagement Coordinator: Offers condolences in light of Ms. Bauer’s passing, and notes TRU will be pushing for DDOT to adopt safety practices that prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. Batterman urges that in addition to restoring Zoom, meetings should be hosted in locations closer to major routes. He further notes that several attendees are wearing “Save Our Service” stickers in a show of solidarity. “We really are at a point now where this is an existential moment for SMART.”
10. Bobbie, a new Detroit resident and transit rider: Echoes importance of compensating drivers for the “life-giving service” they provide. Notes it would’ve taken two hours and four buses to reach the meeting location; gives the appearance that SMART does not want public input.
11. Alyssa: Detroit resident who lives in New Mexico for part of the year. Doesn’t need a car when she’s away, but needs one here. Says there’s no comparison, and we need to come up with a solution to hire drivers and give our community more options.

Board Remarks

Chambers thanked Deputy GM Tiffany Gunter and the rest of the team for the successful hiring event at M1 Concourse in Pontiac. “For those who got to drive a bus around the track, it was awfully fun!”

Regarding contract negotiations , Chambers stated that "all of us are committed to reaching a contract in the best interest of all parties." GM Dwight Ferrell said additional hiring events would be held in other counties: "Find us a location, and we'll come."

Ferrell introduced DeShalone Brownlee, a SMART employee for 28 years who has been newly promoted to VP of Bus Operations. She started her career as a bus operator. Also introduced was Saif Alsenad, SMART’s new Wayne County Ombudsperson. Amie May, the former VP of Bus Operations, is now acting as Chief Safety Officer.

Ferrell recapped SMART’s presence at the Mackinac Policy Conference discussing transit’s role in economic growth. They also presented at last week’s RTA Board of Directors meeting.

Hiring Update

Gunter provided a hiring update. 29 job offers were issued at the Pontiac job fair including 14 fixed-route operator candidates and 3 Connector operator candidates who have cleared initial screening. 36 new operators have been hired in the past 30 days; SMART is hiring for a full-time fixed route operator recruiter.

Gunter notes that unlike the usual practice of hiring new operators in staggered cohorts, these hiring events allow all operators who are offered a position to be hired and begin receiving pay at the same time.

From June 12, 2022 to June 12, 2023, SMART hired 101 fixed-route operators, 45 Connector operators, 18 clerical positions, 37 maintenance positions (mechanics + custodians), and 22 administrative positions.

Financial Report

Financial Director Ryan Byrne provided an update on ARPA funds. FTA funds were not involved in ARPA clawback decisions related to debt ceiling negotiations. As such, this source of SMART funding remains unaffected.

Other Board Business

John Paul Rea, Bret Rasegan, and Abdul Haidous have been appointed to the 2022-23 Audit Committee. Haidous will preside as chair.

Resolution A, Authorization to Award a Contract for Sign Poles and Anchor Sleeves, is approved unanimously. Over 500 new signpoles will be installed for Phase 1 of the Oakland Transit expansion. Dornbos Sign & Safety, Inc. of Charlotte will produce them at a cost of $240,000.

My thoughts 👋

If you ever wanted to know the precise engineering specifications of those grey metal poles SMART bolts their signs onto, well, here you go

Resolution B, Authorization to Award a Contract for Motorola 800 MHz Radio System for Lake Erie Transit Commission, passes unanimously.

The remainder of the motions passed unanimously. Note Resolution J, which approved the purchase of 53 new transit vans.

The board announced that the August meeting will be held in Macomb County on August 24th at 6:00pm at Macomb Community College.