i'm a little late to the live tweeting game today, but the meeting officially started at 9 AM. We had a lot on the agenda today:

The board of trustees comprises of 10 members: Board President: Paul A. Koomar, Mayor, City of Bay Village; Board Vice President: Lauren R. Welch, Assistant Director of Communications, Say Yes Cleveland; Rev. Charles P. Lucas, Pastor Emeritus, St. James AME Church...

Anthony D. Biasiotta, Mayor, City of Seven Hills; Stephen M. Love, Program Director, Cleveland Foundation; Deidre McPherson, Chief Community Officer, Assembly for the Arts; Calley Mersmann, Senior Strategist, Transit & Mobility, City of Cleveland....

Emily Garr Pacetti, Vice President & Community Affairs Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland; Jeffrey W. Sleasman, Senior Director, The Fund for Our Economic Future; and David E. Weiss, Mayor, City of Shaker Heights. Rev. Lucas in not present today, but the other 9 are.

The board begins with a quick certification of the meeting and then approving the previous board and annual meeting minutes (Agenda Items 3 & 4).

Next up is Public Comment! You can share comments in person, over the phone, and via the RTA's web form: riterta.com/events

Reverend Pinkney is the first to speak. She asks the board to remind RTA riders to take care of the trains and keep them clean. She also asks if the Two Birds Shuttle--if something like that can happen in Shaker Square, especially for folks that are disabled.

Mr. Rodriguez is next. He echoes some of Pinkney's comments about the lack of cleanliness in trains. He states that he is a self-advocate for the disability community and as someone with sensory issues himself, "we need to take care of our trains."

There is one web form comment from Isaac Shimski, regarding the lack of EZ Fare in the downtown Tower City Station.

Next are comments calling in. Eric Stewart is first. He talks about how the forum of public comment makes it difficult to share feedback on actual agenda items, especially since much of the meeting comment is not made available ahead of time.

He continues, noting that regardless of how one shares their public comment (via phone/web form/in person), there is little to no engagement with it from the board either during the meeting or after.

Stewart asks the @GCRTA: "To what degree do you want the public to engage if you're not engaging the public on the facts they needed to be talked about in same period of time you as the board of trustees have them ready to be discussed prior to the meeting."

@GCRTA "RTA has the responsibility to the social economic well-being of the public with the implementation of public transit. You show very little regard for public input..." Stewart continues. Caller 0287 (Eric Stewart) is then cut off as his 2 minutes are up.

@GCRTA Next is Chris Martin, a Cleveland resident. He speaks on the first agenda item, the call to order, and on public comment.

@GCRTA He says that if the board wants to consider hearing from a variety of voices (instead of the same people, like himself, who currently participate in public comment, they should consider moving the board meeting's time.

@GCRTA Brian Hagar is the last caller. He has a concern around the cleanliness of RTA trains, noting that he often has to clean himself. There are people drinking in the trains and smoking on them, and he is concerned for the children riding the trains who might have to smell that.

@GCRTA Next is the Introduction of new employees and announcement of promotions (we've jumped a little to Agenda Item 14).

@GCRTA Congratulations to @GCRTA April New Hires!

@GCRTA And cheers to the @GCRTA Promotions!

@GCRTA We are moving on to the introduction of resolutions! First is 2024-24: expressing congratulations to GCRTA retirees!

@GCRTA Some more photos from the retirees present: Kenneth A. Yontz

@GCRTA All the retirees present together 🎉🎉🎉

@GCRTA Retiree Corles Kendricks shares gratitude for his time at RTA. His daughter is following his tracks as a Rail Technician!

@GCRTA Retiree Derrick Tuner also shares gratitude.

@GCRTA So do retirees Charlene Seals-Marshell (right) and William H. Nix Sr. (left) 🎉🎉🥰

@GCRTA Our next resolution is 2024-25. With 8 ayes and 1 abstention (from Mersmann), this passes.

@GCRTA Resolutions 2024-26, 2024-27. 2024-28, 2024-29, and 2024-30 pass with no board comments/discussion. Everyone on the board votes "aye" on each motion.

@GCRTA There is an external comment for Resolution 2024-31. Director of Risk Management Judy Lincoln comes to review insurance questions discussed at the last meeting:

@GCRTA She passes it to someone from the legal team talking about language changes in the policy. The main change is the renewal period changed from one to three years.

@GCRTA They also share this slide as a context of the RTA insurance fund. With no more questions, resolution 2024-30 passes.

@GCRTA Resolution 2024-31 is next. With 8 "aye's" and an abstention from Mersmann this passes.

@GCRTA The same thing happens for 2024-32. Resolutions 2024-33 and 2024-34 also pass. Mayor Weiss shares some more context for 2024-34, proposing an increase in Garofoli's base salary by 4.3%. There was no change recommended for CEO India Birdsong Terry.

@GCRTA Next is a Secretary/Treasure update from Rajan D. Gautam. He runs through many points:

@GCRTA He ends on sales tax. Board has no questions for him.

@GCRTA Birdsong Terry is under the weather today, so RTA Deputy General Manager, Dr. Floun'say Caver presented the CEO update today. Birdsong Terry is still listening via stream. He shares about the FTA grant award of $700,000.

@GCRTA Birdsong Terry represented the GCRTA at the Cleveland Bridge Builders discussion and as a panelist at The Soul of Philanthropy event. Caver shares gratitude for transit employees as March 22nd was transit employee appreciation day.

@GCRTA More updates from Caver:

@GCRTA He jokes, "Now that the eclipse is done...I don't know what I'm gonna do." He shared that they had no issues during this day of high traffic within the RTA and thanked the operational team. Lastly, Birdsong Terry also participated in the 2024 CUBE symposium.

@GCRTA Board members also share gratitude for the RTA's efficiency on April 8, 2024. The President also shares a few updates to the board regarding an upcoming conference. There is no Old Business. For New Business, the president hands it to Joel Freilich, Director of Service Management

@GCRTA He begins talking about the question of Route 48a. For more context:

@GCRTA Freilich continues talking about the research RTA did in testing the route and working with Mr.Stewart. They advocate keeping the NEXTGEN route to increase access to healthcare services as jobs.

@GCRTA Another question is: Should any RTA trips run on Walden Ave? Once again, the speaker reiterates that they should stay with the Next Gen plan.

@GCRTA We're back to public comment. Reverend Pickney speaks again. "Affirmative action should never be abolished." She likes the diversity among RTA decision-makers. She wants RTA meeting agendas to be translated into Braille. She ends with: there is no excuse for homelessness.

@GCRTA The next speaker, Loh, talked about technology concerns. The Transit app is not accurate in bus and train times.

@GCRTA The last public commenter is Stewart (who spoke on the phone before), and whom Freilich responded to in the "new business" section on routes 48 and 15. He said that Joe (and Caver) misrepresented him "as he often does." His time ends before he finishes his thought.

@GCRTA And around 10:30 AM today, this meeting was adjourned. The next GCRTA Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21, 2024. This meeting will be live-streamed on RTA's Board page (). Stay tuned for @cledocumenters coverage on it as well :) RiteRTA.com/board

@GCRTA @cledocumenters For more meeting coverage, check out Have questions? Think we got something wrong? Send any inquiries on the meeting or these tweets to @cledocumenters. Or email us at cledocumenters@gmail.com 😋 documenters.org