Electronic device places you on item number four. Approval of minutes for the april 16th regular meeting. Thank you. Directors are there any changes to the april 16th minutes . Okay. Seeing none, well open the item for Public Comment. Are there any comments . Comments on the minutes. Seeing none, well close Public Comment. Is there a motion please. And a second on the minutes. So moved. Moved move. Approval rather. Yes. Second, thank you. Please call the roll on the motion to approve the minutes. Director henderson a henderson i director kinsey i kinsey i director so i so i director tarloff i director kahina i kahina i chair ekin ekin i thank you. The minutes are approved places you on item five communications. I have none moving on to item number six introduction of new or Unfinished Business by Board Members. Board members, are there any items of new or Unfinished Business today . Director. So. Hi, everyone, i want to take this moment to, say that we are celebrating the Asian AmericanPacific Islander heritage month. This is a month of may. And then i also wanted to emphasize that, it is very upsetting for me to celebrate on the first day of this month and only to find out that we have of one of our busses on number 29, getting to an incident right on the same day when we started to celebrate our Asian Heritage month. And, it has the case is now in under investigation. But i want to take this as a moment to reflect and also share that with our agency of sfmta. I have repeatedly mentioned that Public Safety is our number one priority. In addition to embracing vision zero and Climate Change and cultural diversity, we any violence and harm to our operators, our students, our genuine citizens on our fleet and our our infrastructures are absolutely not tolerable. In this case, it really hits home because im a mother myself, i set my some of my fellow board of directors here are also parents with Young Children and teenager, we are in full cooperation with our police. But this type of incidents, we need everyone to stand up to be an upstander, to, to be hold our responsibility as general citizen of San Francisco. And also, i was very happy to hear, so many attention had been put in this, this case. And i would like to hear if we have any more updates on the current status of the event and incident. And julie would you mind . Thank you. Thank you for raising, this important issue. We have a zero tolerance policy for hate and harassment on our system and our are so committed to all of our users, particularly our youngest and most vulnerable users feeling safe on our system. So we are coordinating very closely with the Police Department. We have pulled the video and, well provide it to them to support this investigation, when we have incidents like this, we also, issue a notice to all of our operators so that they become the eyes and ears for the Police Department to help, follow up and, and hopefully make an arrest in this case, we also have a, fantastic, team of ambassadors, our muni, transit assistance program, that work closely with schools and ride the busses during school times to help support students deescalate issues that can happen between schools. And well be focusing, that team on the 29 and some of our other West Side School lines, between now and the end of the year to really provide as much support as we can to our students during this difficult time. And thank you for the report. And, we look forward to see us to allocate more. Ambassador and also our, mtap, which is muni transit assistant patrol, which is a specific task group of very trained, well trained officer specifically to be on our bus line that had been frequent by our sf, usd students. So please, put i know, we all know, but i think i have a responsibility to share this in Public Record that sfmta have been really diligent to put the resources that we had on these line with the focus of our School Children and this is absolutely not tolerable. And we continue to work with sfpd. I personally have reached out to our deputy chief of police and also the, a couple of other commanders that are specific assigned to work in colab in collaboration with us and mta on muni. So well continue that dialog and perhaps in the future we will do some Public Forums to restore the fear. And also make sure everyone understanding when youre in trauma, you still need to fall. And theres a few procedures that we can remind each other to do to help our police to start the investigation sooner than later. So with that, i have another thing to announce. Its really fun. More fun things that i got the luxury to visit our to participate. Well, i was just observed. I wouldnt allow to drive the train, but i went to the train rodeo so it was really fun and i it was really heavily poor in rain. But im seeing be able to follow on a regular train behind. And the last, contestant to see and learn what are all these things that they need to do in order to start their train. Control was phenomenal and visit everybody who actually give their entire life to muni is just phenomenal to see that it was truly a family, julie was there and i had some photos as you got to see, the all time winner of one of our operators, she got this amazing muni earrings on. So i hope that if we get the photos to share. Yeah, some more muni merch opportunity is. You can see her earrings. This is our two time winner. And shes like an all time winner for the operator in this race. First winner and she received the first winner award to this past saturday. So that was me on some of these are the teachers. They train our operators on the on the rail. Yeah. And theres me and julie, and he is the division head. Right. Julie. He i think this is the, administrative support. Yes. Awesome so my fellow directors go there next year. Its really fun. Its a good its a good group. Yeah. Thats all i have to say. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Are there any other items of new or Unfinished Business from Board Members . Okay. Seeing none, ill just ill just offer a few updates myself. I attended the downtown first thursdays open streets event last week with our former colleague, manny pacquiao. That was a wonderful, very joyful, open streets event that i think some, knew about and are repeat and then some just stumbled upon. And i think it was very successful. I look forward to that, returning as a monthly event, i will note that we receive several hundred emails, dont know if, you know, everyones read all the emails, but ill just flag some about the wiggle, and the need for safety improvements along that, that corridor, which, you know, some of you may know, some some do not. The wiggle has a deep history in our city, going back hundreds and hundreds of years as an important pedestrian and bicycle corridor. And so these folks are just flagging need for safety improvements that continue to prioritize people along that corridor. And i also had someone join my office hours yesterday and give voice to that as well. So i just wanted to bring that into the conversation. And then a couple just more items. I joined some Community Members last friday to do a little bit of a Community Walk audit on fulton street and 37th, noting the need for, safe crossings, especially considering the Senior Center and considering there was a fatality in that area. So just wanted to note that, strong request for more safety improvements on fulton street coming from community. I was able to join some Community Members out on frida kahlo yesterday. As i know, director tarlov was as well in the past couple of weeks to talk about safety and transportation issues out there. And then finally, just one piece of positive feedback received during office hours ill share with you was a real sense of great work on hiring new operators. And then the operators are performing at a really high level. Just a bit of anecdotal feedback from community. So thats what i wanted to share with you all. And if there are no other items, ill open it up to Public Comment on the new and Unfinished Business from the Board Members. Anyone wishing to speak on these items raised by director so and myself seeing none, we can close Public Comment and move on to the directors report. Places you on item number seven, the directors report, were going to start with several recognitions, id like to first invite our chief financial officer, braema horta, up. Shes going to acknowledge our payroll unit, i will just start by saying we probably have the most complicated payroll in the city, most most of our operators do not get the same pay even from day to day, because its based on the complexity of their run. We also have performance premiums, special events, anything and everything. And this group, not only makes sure that people get paid, but if something goes wrong, they really, really prioritize, being responsive. So i just want to in advance a brief express my gratitude. Good afternoon directors im brenda horta, the cfo. And julie stole all my talking points, but sorry. Thats okay, so the, motivating desires of the payroll team or the motivating values, i should say, of the payroll team are dedication, reliability, compliance, transparency, professionalism and guidance. And i actually think the last one is a really special one and a real tribute to the leadership of that team, this team is incredibly dedicated. Payroll stops for no man woman. Whether or not Natural Disaster or health emergency. People must get paid regardless of the circumstances and this team pays over 6100 mta employees every two weeks. And that is no small feat, we have five different timekeeping systems that have to be integrated, and we have over 20 mous, all of which you have different payroll provisions, and i think the strength that this team was really demonstrated during covid when they processed over 2000 requests for federal emergency sick leave and 4800 requests for california supplemental sick leave, as well as tracking all of the additional sick leaves that were put in place by the city in response to covid, as julie mentioned, they place a lot of attention and care on responding to employee concerns and answering employee questions and as a team, they place a lot of energy into guiding and mentoring one another so that they are working together as a team and supporting each other and learning as a team. So i want to thank this very dedicated team that is often does not often get the spotlight of a, you know, a project opening or an award being won. But i think payroll is kind of like ice skating. The people who do it well make it look super easy, but that doesnt mean that its not hard. And it didnt take a lot of incredibly detailed, dedicated work behind the scenes. So lets bring these people from behind the scenes to the front, i want to start with sharon wong. Oh, sharon sick. Lets maybe just for efficiency, lets hold till the end, johnson wong. Christina vasquez as evelyn sang wilson tong bertina tan is bertina here . Bertina just because she retired. Okay oh, mimi. Sorry. Mimi. Retired. Mimi. Retired. Leanna sue. Kathy. Luong fengling. Liao jia. Kathy. Lee nicole. Lewis. Who is already at the podium. Sally lao , diana lai, agatha lagasca, gabriela lacayo, della dog, ruby kwong lam ann and michael keohane, and nicole. Did you want to say a Little Something on behalf of the team . I can finish, i can help hand out. Thats right. Thank you. Good afternoon, i just want to say that this is a great team that we have. We did make it through covid, and i know were a little bit past that now, so were getting to focus on some other items and just really looking forward to getting fully staffed and getting our everyone up to speed and continuing to pay everybody correctly. We have new negotiations going on, so im sure well have a lot to implement starting in july. So looking forward to that. Thank you everybody. Thank you so much for your service. Lets now do a round of applause. I would next like to invite kim ackerman, our chief people officer, up to talk about the Peer Assistance Program as well as the Employment Services unit. Im going to be speaking a little bit later on. Some of the success were having at muni around safe city and reliability, these two teams are pivotal to that, and so im thrilled to be able to preside over the meeting that theyre being honored, but i will turn it over to kim because i will definitely steal her talking points because these are just critical, critical groups. No problem. Thank you. Julie. Good afternoon, chair ekin and directors. As julie said, im pretty excited to be able to recognize two of the hr teams today. The first one i want to speak to is the Employment Services team at and, chair ekin, as we were coming in, you were talking about the quality of the operators and how, you know, youre hearing compliments from citizens, which is great to hear, this team, its amazing. When i first came here, five years ago, i know julie probably remembers this. My first three months on the job we spent here in the city hall on a task force focused on operator hiring and what we can do. And ive even heard people say we havent had sufficient number of operators for the past ten years, so i cant speak to that. But i will i will carry that on, weve also heard a lot about data. Weve seen apta, white papers and apta data talking about operator hiring shortages, not just regionally but nationally as well. So all of those things make this moment that much more spectacular for this team. Theyve had their head down. Theyve been focused. Theyve worked hard on what can we do to expedite operator hiring, they basically have gone from hiring operators, 21 operators every five weeks to fill in classes of 45 and 22. They hired 245 operators in fy 23, they hired 424. So theyve doubled the amount of operators that theyve hired, they have done things to expedite in person hiring events in order to bring on candidates sooner. They reimagined the entire hiring process for operator hiring. I mean, they they looked at it, they said, what can we do better . How can we expedite it . How can we get people here for, for transit . Theyve also partnered with city departments such as city drive to see what can we do to get our applicants ready in terms of their job skills, job readiness, etc, so that when they come on board, theyre certified. They have their dots, their license, etc. So its amazing what this group has been able to do. And i think, you know, one of the things that im extremely proud of is i think they really exemplify teamwork, they Work Together, they have their heads down. Theyre always focused on the goals. And you know, its really my honor, really, to be able to recognize them today for all of their, you know, hard work and public service. So at this time, what id like to do is call up bill miles. Bill miles is our senior manager for talent acquisition. And then the rest of the employee services, come on up, team. Come on up. And thank you. And bill is going to hand out the certificates and announce their names. Coleman. Hey anderson. Anthony brown. Wrong team, wrong team. Hernandez back in action. Stephanie jones. Brian. Will be doing the sign here today. The lena. Paulette. Whos not here today. De trump. Okay. The next team that i want to recognize is our Peer Assistance Program. This is a small and mighty team that works behind the scenes that you just people dont always get to see them in their work, but they touch so many people. They work alongside employees alongside employees, many of whom are experiencing one of the most traumatic experiences in their lives. The peers basically work 24 over seven. They work on the weekends, they come into the divisions, they go and visit employees who are in the hospital, who maybe have been involved in Critical Incidents or assaults. Employees who are feeling scared, confused or feeling vulnerable. Theyre trained to help employees cope with trauma, grief, loss and postaccident stress by listening and being present for employees and providing information about what to expect when a trauma occurs, the peers show up at accident sites, emergency rooms, mta facilities any time, day or night. Theyre all across the city. The peer support employees also in dealing with Substance Abuse issues, if an employee voluntarily reaches out to a peer and is serious about getting help, the peers will work with them to determine, of course of action. The peers are knowledgeable about available resources, including our agencys benefits, our eap, our care services, and any kind of local resources that would benefit them. The peers also meet with licensed clinicians weekly, who provide them with ongoing support and Mental Health and trauma response training so that they can continuously best support our sfmtas employees. So again, im really proud to recognize this team. They are a small and mighty team, and im very honored to call them colleagues. Id like to call up right now. Jean santullo. Jean is our acting Workforce Development manager and also the peer team. If you can come up to you, please. Okay. Jeans going to introduce each one of them as they get their certificate. Legislation nbc news. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Can i just say a word or two . Thank you. So thank you. So much to mister ackerman. Also director kirschbaum, for highlighting the work of these teams, i am number one. Im a very big believer in celebrating and recognizing peoples performance and uplifting the work that often is a little bit more beh