Committee Meetings

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

Transportation

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024
9:00 a.m. — 11:00 a.m. EDT

1240 W 6th St. Cleveland, OH 44113 (Directions)

GCRTA Office, Main Office Board Room (or watch on YouTube)

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA), or RTA, is a political subdivision of the state. Its Board of Trustees is charged with managing and conducting RTA’s affairs. The board also establishes overall RTA administrative policies, which are implemented by the General Manager. It is the decision-making body of GCRTA.

In this meeting: Different members of the board make up smaller committees. Those committees will discuss their business and decide whether to move proposals to the full board for consideration at a full board meeting. Reference the agenda (when posted) for more information, including which committees will meet, who serves on them, and the names of some expected presenters.

Current board 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
Emily Garr Pacetti, Vice President & Community Affairs Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Jeffrey W. Sleasman, Senior Director, The Fund for Our Economic Future
David E. Weiss, Mayor, City of Shaker Heights
Anastasia A. Elder, Esq. – Associate, UB Greensfelder L.L.P.

Note: It can be difficult to see who is speaking when this livestream has the view of all the board members. If you can’t make out who is speaking, feel free to note that in your coverage. Using less specific descriptors – such as “a board member” – can work.

Watching remotely? Find a livestream of the meeting on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gcrtalive7734/streams

Attending in person?

We add two hours of pay ($36) to the assignment.

Find Documenters coverage of past GCRTA meetings here: https://cleveland.documenters.org/reporting/?agency=211

Check the source website for additional information

Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Cleveland - OH Documenters Team

Note-taking by Ashley Lubecky

Committees dig into MicroTransit program, insurance coverage

View notes

Live reporting by Ayanna Rose Banks

GCRTRA updates its 45 year old Overhead Catenary Maintenance Vehicle.

asrosedevelopes @asrosedevelopes

Hi, I'll be tweeting about the August 13th GCRTA meeting✨for #CLEdocumenters 📷@CLEdocumenters & @signalcleveland

06:48 AM Aug 14, 2024 CDT

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland This meeting can be found at

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Four committee members were present

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland First was a presentation by Brian Gibson, the supply chain contract administrator, about the Shop Uniform Rental and Maintenance Project overview

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland RTA has 750 employees at 12 different locations to supply clothing for

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Dawn Svancara, contract administrator II, explained that through the State of Ohio Cooperative Purchasing Program they had a contract w/ Cintas corporation to provide Uniform rentals and maintenance services

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Staff requests that the organizational, services and performance monitoring committee recommend awarding a contract to Cintas Corporation for shop uniform rental and maintenance for $941941.46

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Gibson explained the differences between the new and old contracts, to clarify for the board, are that the old contract only included coats for 150 employees and they now want to give all 750 coats

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Mayor Anthony D Biasiotta asked about the maintenance and laundry and how it changed

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Gibson replied that the original contract required two coats per employee, that would be rotated out, and they negotiated it down to one per employee. They will be self laundered and covered by insurance

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Mayor biasiotta motioned to approve the contract and it was voted to pass

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Next on the agenda is a presentation of a competitive procurement for the replacement of the rail line car

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Miles Varga, a supervisor at Power and Way, started the presentation. He explained that the Overhead Caternary Maintenance Vehicle (OCMV) has operated for 45 years.

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland He went on to explain that the OCMV has little space for storage and limited seating, the controls are not labeled clearly, theres limited view for the operator, an old system, It leaks, its too wide for the new platforms and the wheels dont match current parameters

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland The new car will be capable of video surveillance and “monitoring of OCS”, maintaining assets up to 25’ in the air and fall protection. It will have improved field of vison, storage and will meet EPA tier 4 diesel engine requirements

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Jonathan Laule, the program contract manager, explained that the invitation for bid was issued May 6 and 2 firms submitted a bid. The lowest responsive and responsible vendor was Geismar North America, inc.. Geismar North America, inc. is currently building a locomotive for GCRTA

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland the staff requests that the Organizational, Services and Performance Monitoring Committee recommend award to Geismar North America, inc fir procurement of a line car for $5,165,257

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland The mayor asked what the differences were between the bids that were made and why they picked this bidder. The answer was that they were the lowest bidder

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Lauren Welch asked if this is the only line car they have for maintenance: the answer is they have two other cars but this is their “work horse”

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Mayor Biasiotta^

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Mayor Biasiotta moved to approve the contract and it was voted to pass

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Next on the agenda was a presentation for the proposed FFY 2025-2027 DBE program goal

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Carl Kirkland, Director of Office of Business Development, gave the presentation. He explained there is a federal requirement to establish an overall DBE goal on a triennial basis to reflect the opportunity for DBE participation on federally-assisted procurements

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Here is the DBE goal timetable

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland The DBE program seeks to: ensure non-discrimination in the award & administration of DOT assisted contracts, create a level playing field for DBEs to compete for contracts, help remove barriers to participation and assist in the development of of firms to compete successfully

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Staff recommends the Organizational, Services And Monitoring Committee recommend to the Board of Trustees the approval of the triennial DBE Goal of 20.21%

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Ms. Emily Garr Pacett asked how does the 20% compare to other agencies. The answer was that, that would be comparing apples and oranges because they are the largest department

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Mayor Biasiottta moved to approved the DBE goal for 25-27. It was voted to pass

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Next on the agenda is a presentation on the RTA Connect Works-Micro Transit Program

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Maribeth Feke, Director of Programming & planning, presented. She explained that people often have difficult commutes. Micro transit is a short term program to connect work sites w/ RTA service. They will be first/last mile and will help one get from RTA facilities to their jobs

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Their contract was extended until August 31, 2024. They have applied for grants to extend the service.

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland It was asked if they could move in a different direction or will the contract allow for modification. The answer was that the contract will have to be modified where they can add to the contract but not change existing conditions.

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Meeting was adjorn

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Next was the Safety compliance and real estate committee audit meeting

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland There were 5 committee members present

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland First thing on the agenda is a presentation on the casualty insurance programs. The Presenter was Judy Lincoln director of Risk Management

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Judy explains GCRTA maintains a casualty insurance program for protection of assets against catastrophic loss

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Public officials/ employment practices liability a(EPL) provides liability protection to board members, Directors and Officials as well as GCRTA for alleges wrongful acts by D&Os, committee members or employees. The policy also provided insurance for employment practices claims

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Directors and officials (D&Os)

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Their largest program: The expiring premium is $1,785,783 and the new plan is $1,877,664. The public officials/EPL renewal: the expiring premium is 100900 and the new plan is 104,000. The excess WC policy renewal: the renewal premium is quoted at 287,527 vs 275355

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland The combined result for all three are a renewal premium of $2,269,191 w/ an expiring premium of $2,162,038

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Staff requests that the audit, safety compliance and real estate committee recommend to the board of trustees the purchase of casualty insurance from various insurance underwriters through USI insurance services National, inc. for $2,269,191

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland It was motioned to move to full board. It was voted to pass

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland The meeting was adjorn

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Next was the meeting of whole

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland There were 9 committee members present

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland There was an executive session requested to consider the purchase and sale of public property. There were 9 votes yes.

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland Next was the executive session

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@cledocumenters @signalcleveland 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

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Agency Information

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

See meeting notes for details

www.riderta.com

(216) 566-5100

gm@gcrta.org

@https://twitter.com/GCRTA

Facebook page

See Documenters reporting

GCRTA, or RTA, is a political subdivision of the state. Its Board of Trustees is charged with managing and conducting RTA’s affairs. The Board also establishes overall RTA administrative policies, which are implemented by the General Manager.