ECAT Wins Competitive, Nationwide Grant for $21 Million Dollars for Electric Bus Fleet and Charging Station

Electric Buses are on their way to Escambia County

Overnight last night, the Board of County Commissioners was notified that Escambia County Area Tranist ECAT has been named one of 117 transit organizations nationwide, from submissions by 47 states, to win a $21 million dollar grant for electric buses and a charging station.  From the email we received:

"I send this email to inform you that on July 9^th, FTA announced the results for the competitive Low or No Emissions Program 5339 (c) awardees, and Escambia County Area Transit (ECAT) was on the list.  ECAT will receive funding ($21,272,962) to buy battery electric buses and install a charging station as part of ECAT's plan to transition to a fully zero-emission fleet by 2035.

 This is a major accomplishment for the staff of ECAT and Escambia County from a transit perspective.  We have been looked over at the State and Federal level for many years due to the belief that there was no desired change in how we operated or viewed transit in our area.  To be selected as one of the 117 funded projects from the 47 states that submitted applications, clearly shows that the once-known “pre-historic” transit agency in the State of Florida is moving in the direction of excellence."

Escambia County Applies for More Than $92 Million for Countywide Infrastructure Upgrades

Escambia County is currently an applicant for more than $92 Million in various infrastructure upgrade projects which will, if awarded, benefit every citizen in Escambia County!

As I mention frequently at our BCC meetings, our staff at Escambia County are incredibly dedicated and committed to working hard for our citizens.  Often, they absorb criticism, scorn, and unfair characterizations.  But these narratives are unwarranted, and in nearly every respect I have found them as a team to be very responsive, proactive, and effective.  Particularly this current staff.

One standout is  our Grants and Special Projects Manager Elizabeth Kissel.  

She has been working hard, in conjunction with our Budgeting Office and others from multiple departments, on getting our county reimbursed for multiple natural disasters going all the way back to the floods of 2014.  Lately she has been applying for numerous grants for multiple projects all over the county.  She has been instrumental in assisting our county in receiving Millions of dollars in reimbursements from both the state and federal governments for these previous events.

On Friday, a huge list of very worthwhile grant proposals totalling more than $92 Million dollars was sent to commissioners by Liz Kissel.  While it is not a guarantee that we will receive these funds to complete these projects--it is nevertheless worthwhile for us to try.  And we will get many of these grants.

Kudos to Liz and all of the staff members who assisted with completing these below grant applications.

Rebuild Florida Hurricane Sally Grants

• Rebuild Florida Infrastructure Repair Grant Applications (Allowed 3 applications)
• Grant Close Date – Friday, April 14, 2023 – ALL THREE GRANT APPLICATIONS WERE SUBMITTED ONTIME.
• Applications
• Application 1 - $32,550,000 - New ECAT energy efficient Escambia County Transit Center and solar powered bus shelters at the facility with ADA upgrades. Will also serve as an emergency shelter.
• Application 2 - $6 million – Beach Haven Phase 3 Design
• Application 3 - $26,396,768 million – Regional Stormwater Projects which included:
• PHS Drainage Improvements Phase I, II, and III - $1,800,000
• Oakfield Acres/Palafox - $11,200,000
• Carver Park Phase II - $2,160,000
• Monroe Avenue - $2,000,000
• Brickyard Road - $2,000,000
• Olive Road street and drainage improvement - $7,236,768
• Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Grant Application (Allowed 1 application)
• Grant Close Date – Friday, April 14, 2023 – GRANT APPLICATION SUBMITTED ONTIME.
• Application
• $3,170,114.80 – Designed to encourage risk reduction through the purchase of residential property in high flood-risk areas to help reduce the impact of future disasters. Included four Hazard Mitigation Grant local match requirements plus other expenses not included in the grants:
• Bristol Park
• Countywide
• Rich Land
• Escambia County, Pensacola, and Cantonment
• Rebuild Florida Hometown Revitalization Grant (Allowed 3 applications)
• Grant Close Date – May 1, 2023 – ALL THREE GRANT APPLICATIONS WERE SUBMITTED ONTIME.
• Applications
• Application 1 – $5,000,000 – ECAT Solar Powered Community Bus Shelters with ADA Upgrades
• Application 2 – $5,000,000 – Palafox Street Sidewalks from Highway 29 to Nine Mile Road (4.8 miles)
• Application 3 - $5,000,000 – Regional Sidewalk and Drainage Projects including:
• Jackson Street Sidewalks and Drainage from 57^th Avenue to New Warrington Road (1.47 miles)
• “W” Street Sidewalks from Airport Boulevard to Highway 29
• Hollywood Avenue Sidewalks and Drainage from Massachusetts Avenue to Fairfield Drive
• Rebuild Florida Subrecipient Housing Repair and Replacement Grant (Allowed 1 application)
• Grant Close Date – May 15, 2023 – GRANT APPLICATION SUBMITTED ONTIME.
• Application
• $9,000,000 is the MAX application and we will be seeking the full amount.
• A subrecipient program designed to repair, replace, or reconstruct homes damaged by Hurricane Sally.

ECAT Votes NO on Ratification

 We were all hopeful. 

But the members of ECAT, upon their ratification vote of our agreement, voted "No."

We were notified yesterday evening via this email, below.

What Can 7th Grade Students' Creativity and Problem Solving Skills Do to Help Local Government?

A local teacher has offered an interesting idea:  Let her 7th Grade Class tackle a tough county issue or two.....

This month is County Government Month.  I'm a bit ashamed to say it, but I did not know this until I was contacted by a teacher late yesterday afternoon who informed me of this.  In her email,  Ms. Amy Parker,  a 7th Grade History teacher at Pensacola's Creative Learning Academy, put forward an interesting idea:

"Dear County Commissioners,

As you know, we are in the midst of County Government Month. Do you happen to have a county problem that my students could research and help problem-solve? I know broadband access has been in the news recently. I am open to just about any subject - jail, public transportation, fire service, etc... I would love for them to research the problem, propose a solution that is within your budgetary parameters, and present their ideas to you. My students are extremely bright 7th graders. 

I recognize this is a big ask, but I want them locally engaged in government in a meaningful way. 

Sincerely,

Amy"

To which I responded:

"Hi Amy-

 Thanks for reaching out and I think this is a great idea!   I’ll work with my aide, Debbie Kenney, to come up with several challenging, real-life scenarios with which we are dealing currently that your students might want to tackle.  As a former school board member who has seen what these young students are capable of—I would not put it outside of the realm of reality that they might have some really creative, out of the box ideas that could help.

 And, they will learn from this exercise as well—which is probably the biggest plus.

 We will send some ideas over by the end of the week for your consideration.

 

Sincerely,

 Jeff Bergosh"

Why not give the students a crack at some tough issues?  Everyone knows the trope about parents going to their 13 year olds to make their technology work.  Many have heard about the CIA and NSA student summer camp where brilliant students crack codes.  Young students today--particularly the exceptional ones--look at things differently than the rest of us that are over 50.  They are creative, they are smart, they work together well, and they think differently about solving problems.  So I will take up Ms. Parker on her idea.

Some Potential Issues for their Consideration?

1.  Homelessness Issue in our community--and the Best way to spend $4 Million to effectively address this chronic problem in a way that is both sustainable and measurable?

2.   Societal/Social Issues in our community and country that lead to a county like Escambia spending more than 90% of its Ad Valorem tax revenues on Law Enforcement and Incarceration/Corrections--what solutions to lower this cost given the current conditions?

3.   Public Transportation:  Necessary according to most but too costly considering the revenue generated and the low number of persons served according to some.  Are there different ways we can serve the transportation-challenged while becoming more efficient and eliminating the reliance on Federal Grants and potentially eliminating or drastically reducing our 4 cent per gallon gas taxation on the citizens?

Board of County Commissioners Installing Bus Driver Safety Enclosures on our ECAT Buses for Operator Safety

Escambia County has begun the process of installation of Bus Driver safety compartments on ECAT buses.  This one, pictured above, is among the first installed in our local fleet.

Bus Driver Safety has been an issue discussed for the last several years among the members of the Board of County Commissioners and drivers who have attended our meetings.

First, it was incidents of violence and abuse toward drivers that was concerning.

Then it was and has been COVID-19.  (Physical barriers don't protect drivers from COVID-19)

Several drivers around the country and in other parts of Florida have been seriously injured and/or killed on the job by violent passengers.

Justin McGriff murdered Tampa Bus Driver
Thomas Dunn in 2019--plunging a large knife
into the neck of the defenseless driver

Drivers locally have not escaped abusive rider behavior and conduct.

Safety on the job is a paramount priority---among the drivers and the Board of County Commissioners.

So the Board approved the purchase and installation of driver safety compartments on our ECAT buses.

The first of these enclosures was recently installed.  

According to one driver  "...we now have bus operator compartment barriers to protect us from potential assaults.  👍"

ECAT Driver Helps Lost Children

The Driver called Dispatch when three young children boarded the bus and said they did not know where their parents were...The Sheriff's office eventually found the parent and the children are now safe and with DCF

Yesterday afternoon an ECAT driver assisted the Sheriff's office with locating the parents of three missing children who didn't know where they lived or where their parents were.  Kudos to this driver for insuring the safety of these children!  From the email we all received:

"At approximately 1:55 PM today,  three unattended minor children, ages 8, 7, and 6, were waiting at the ECAT bus stop near Happy China Restaurant on Mobile Highway.  When the Route 1 Bus pulled up to the stop, the children boarded the bus. The bus operator inquired on where were their parents. The children shrugged their shoulders that they didn’t know or knew where they were going.  As a designated “Safe Place”,  the operator immediately contacted ECAT dispatch office. Following protocols, the operator allowed the children to ride, while notifying dispatch. I had dispatch to call 911 and requested the sheriff officer to meet bus at the ECAT station. We escorted the children to my office to wait for the sheriff officer. 

After over an hour, sheriff officer questioned them and was able to get some fragmented information from the children, who didn’t know their address, phone number, or their mother’s whereabouts. The eight year old, stated the thirteen year old cousin left them at the bus stop. DCF was notified and we made contact with the mother around 4:15 PM. She and DCF arrived around 5:30 PM and the sheriff officer released the children to DCF at 5:50 PM

While in our custody, we gave them all Happy Meals, coloring books, and kept them entertained. We are glad that the children are safe and their parent was located."

NO VOTE Tomorrow on the 4-Cent Gas Tax...It was NEVER on the Agenda!

Even if the Board of County Commissioners wanted to do so--we cannot vote to repeal the 4-cent gas tax at tomorrow's regular meeting.  This would have to be noticed, and any such vote would have to come at a subsequent meeting after the notice to the public.

There has been a ruckus stirred up, to the point of getting citizens exercised, lathered, and all worked up over a vote that will not even happen tomorrow at our regular Board of County Commissioner's meeting.

It is a shame folks fell for this misinformation......

For all the folks who saw a "posting" on a social media site talking about a vote at this weeks BCC meeting on whether or not to continue the 4-Cent gas tax to fund public transportation locally--here is  a newsflash for you.  There is no vote on this tax tomorrow.  This is NOT what is on the agenda.  The item on the agenda is simply a public hearing on an Interlocal agreement between Pensacola and Escambia County.

Furthermore---even if the BCC wanted to vote tomorrow at our meeting to repeal the tax--legally we could not do so!

According to our attorney--the only way we could legally repeal this tax is by noticing the public about the tax, and then voting on this tax at a subsequent, noticed public meeting.

It is a shame that folks believed this incorrect information, this misinformation.

But the truth of the matter is quite simple:  This will not be voted upon tomorrow.

Board Receives ECAT Driver/Passenger Incident Summary Covering Last 3 Years

A couple of weeks back at our Committee of the Whole a discussion took place regarding ECAT bus driver safety.  The topic was a discussion of providing $200,000.00 barriers for driver safety.

Several anecdotal incidents were described about drivers feeling threatened.

I asked about whether or not drivers who had concealed weapons permits could carry their concealed weapon for their own personal protection---given the fact that ordinary citizens cannot be prevented from bringing their own concealed weapons on our buses if such citizens possess concealed carry permit (s).

Let's just say that topic of conversation, particularly the way it was reported in the paper, went over like a barbell thrown to a drowning swimmer.....

But one good thing did come out of that discussion at that meeting.

The board requested hard data on exactly what incidents have occurred on our ECAT buses over the last three-year period: We have now all been emailed this information by Interim ECAT director Tonya Ellis.....

Summarized in the table below, the incidents are broken up into three categories: assaults, threats, and miscellaneous incidents.

According to Director Ellis, these are the only incidents  reported and of which management is aware.  According to the information provided, "There have been no "major" reported physical assaults of bus operators by passengers in the last three years."  This very small list of incidents, I must admit, is somewhat of a surprise to me;  I would have thought there would have been many more on the list.  But these are only the reported incidents, so who knows how many incidents go unreported.......

How Do We Protect Bus Drivers? What about Arming Them?

Would an enclosure like the one pictured above really keep drivers safe--or could such a barrier be easily breached by an attacker?

Today during the BCC's Committee of the Whole meeting, we were given a presentation about purchasing protective barriers to make Bus Drivers safer.  (Video here)

A Bus Driver in the Tampa area was recently murdered on duty, he had his throat slashed.

We were told by staff our current protocols are working and that no drivers have been assaulted.

But then the President of the Bus Driver's Union, Mike Lowery, came up and detailed several incidents that occurred of which staff was seemingly unaware.

"XXXX was choked, ask XXXXXX about it?"

XXXXX had hands laid upon her, ask XXXXXX about it?

"I myself had a passenger spit right in my face!"  Mike stated.  "It was a while back, but it happened--these incidents happen!"
The barriers they presented, that would cost about $178K to install in our fleet, looked weak and unable to stop anyone from getting to the driver..let alone someone that was going berserk or spaced out and tripping on drugs.

"I'd get through that quick, and I'm 51 years old!" I quipped.

I then asked Mr. Lowery what he thought about the idea of the drivers carrying a concealed weapon for self-defense--which he did not receive too well.  "There are laws against that"  he stated.

But there are not laws that prevent this.  There is a county ordinance that prohibits this practice.  And the county could, if there were support to do so, repeal or change the ordinance to allow concealed carry for bus drivers.

The idea wasn't warmly received by my counterparts, though, so it probably won't happen.

But I asked Mike this  "What is a driver to do if he/she is attacked---call dispatch and wait for a policeman to come??  "Meanwhile, do they just absorb the attack?"

.....No good answer came.  Maybe we should do it like they do it in Israel and arm the drivers?  Or like Milwaukee Wisconsin?

Didn't sound like there was a very good plan for what a driver would do to defend himself/herself here in Escambia County from an attacker/attackers on one of our buses.  What are they supposed to do, get pushed into the wall and get worked over like the old boxing maneuver the "rope a dope!"

Maybe the drivers could wear self-contained astronaut-style body protection suits like the one developed by a Canadian inventor that made a suit capable of withstanding grizzly bear attacks?--I mean how ridiculous does protection have to be? (NOTE:  Inventor of the Grizzly Bear suit, the URSA Mark VI, Troy Hurtubise, died in a fiery traffic collision in Northern Canada in 2018--he never "fought" a real bear wearing the suit.....)

Stay tuned for more discussion on this topic in the weeks and months to come---as staff will be researching different shield/enclosure models that provide better protection and also they will be looking into the claims of assaults on drivers that were given today.

Why I Won't Be at the ECAT Town Hall Meeting Tonight....

I fully support everyone's right to discuss mass transportation in Escambia County, and I fully support the ATU's right to hold a public "town-hall" meeting this evening at PSC to gin up support for ECAT.

 I think the meeting will be well attended and the press will certainly cover it.

I don't know if this meeting was advertised--- so I'm not sure we can attend this meeting and speak, even if we wanted to.

I have heard that at least two of my peers on the BCC will be attending this meeting, and this is 100% up to them to make this decision.

For my part, I won't be coming only because we have all received legal guidance from our attorney and the attorneys we engage for labor negotiations not to attend this meeting.

Add to this the fact that we are currently in discussions with ATU to bring the drivers in-house in order to save about $1 Million dollars or so in insurance costs.

In addition to this, all 5 of the county commissioners are being sued by ATU in our official capacities as County Commissioners, and Doug Underhill is being sued in his personal capacity as well.

The basis of this litigation is the allegation that the BCC violated the free-speech right of the union.

So for these and no other reasons, I will not be in attendance tonight--as I do not see any positive outcome to be achieved by my being there, but there is a significant downside that I fully understand.

On WCOA This Morning

The subjects are ECAT, The ECAT/ATU Lawsuit against the commissioners, Achieve Escambia, OLF8/OLFX Land Swap, The jail, and other relevant topics.

I always enjoy being invited to join Don and Jim on Good Morning Pensacola.

Part 1 can be heard here.

Part II can be heard here

Getting ECAT on Track Part II: This is What Might Prevent The County from Taking ECAT in-House.....

The transit union and Escambia County are now playing a high-stakes game of Chicken.  If nobody blinks then ECAT riders lose....

So with all the recent drama surrounding ECAT ---and the future of mass transit in Escambia County seemingly on the brink—I was hopeful after our last meeting on the subject that the Board could look seriously at bargaining with the drivers in an attempt to get a realistic work agreement with them which could lead  us, possibly, to bringing them back in-house.  

After all, the agreement we have with First Transit is ridiculous…..They get their payment and overhead and fees, they are “made whole” –then THEY get to go and bargain with the union (and the County has no say in these negotiations, thank you very much)—and then the County foots the bill for whatever gets negotiated.  We pick up the tab, the union and drivers win, First Transit wins, and the taxpayers who expect fiscal responsibility lose...  

Ridiculous, right?  

That’s what I said at the meeting and right here on this blog.  There would have to be lots of concessions from the drivers on overtime, holiday pay, the pay scale and how quickly new hires reach the top of it, health insurance subsidies, etc. etc.  There would have to be some significant changes before this Commissioner, Jeff Bergosh, would ever vote to bring these drivers in house.  But after the last meeting, and after discussions about getting a better collective bargaining agreement were had—I felt somewhat confident that we could at least start the process.

But then came this letter from the Union’s Lawyer.  No dice.  Union protections will remain no matter what, end of discussion.

Along with the letter came a lot of history that explains the strange nature of this evolved agreement that all but assures that the county MUST have a third party run transit locally.

You can read it all here— and I encourage you to because it is enlightening---but here’s the cliff notes:

Any company that wins the bid to run our transit system (we only had one respond in the last RFP we put out)—or even the County if we chose to bring the operation in house—is required to honor this 30-year old agreement which has tremendously onerous provisions that are much too favorable to union members (my opinion).  That’s right—no employee of the transit system “shall suffer any worsening of his

Getting ECAT on Track Part I

At the BCC Meeting last night, the most discussed topic occurred at the end of the meeting.  ECAT and in particular the ECCT portion (para-transit).  Last week, we voted to direct staff to send a letter to Tallahassee giving the state 30-day notice of our intention to give this function back to the state to manage.  Fast forward a week and a half, and suddenly we are told the savings we would realize by sending this back to the state add up to less than $40K yearly--we're still on the hook for much of the service responsibility.  So at the meeting the important decision was made to rescind our letter from last Tuesday's special meeting.  Of critical importance to our ability to do this was the assurance from the on-site representative from First Transit who explicitly stated her company would extend service through 30 September and under the terms of the existing agreement, for the para-transit service in Escambia County.

Where things stand now...

So now we have First Transit as our Fixed-Route and Para-Transit provider through the end of September, just a hair over 3 1/2 months.  The Board's direction was to re-solicit the para-transit portion of the contract, while simultaneously beginning the process of bargaining with the ECAT union to see if a workable Collective Bargaining Agreement could be forged in order to bring ECAT drivers in-house.  I suggested that very soon the Board and staff hold an executive/shade meeting for the purposes of bargaining--this way we all are on record with what sort of language a new CBA

Angry ECAT Drivers say "FDU!"

ECAT bus operators began circulating flyers to the transit passengers on their buses today.

The message is pretty straightforward:    FDU!

But what does FDU mean?  According to the flyer, below, this means "Fight Doug Underhill!"

 



The drivers are more than likely reacting to a very long and protracted discussion last Tuesday evening where the BCC discussed the ECAT contract renewal. 

The discussion was focused and all of the commissioners expressed significant concern with the inefficiency and excessive costs of this transit operation.  We voted to send the ECCT service back to the state, and we kicked the can on taking any official action on the First Transit contract for the fixed route service.

Commissioner Underhill did mention some specific issues with ECAT that troubled him greatly----but so did the rest of us.  I know I was pointed in my criticism of the structure of the ECAT system- at the meeting and on this blog. Commissioner Barry expressed frustration about the contract with First Transit as well.

So this new development and this distribution of flyers  has led to many persons contacting our office today...According to my aide Debbie Kenney, we have received at least 22 messages as of 4:00PM --- all of them expressing support for ECAT.

We had at least one message on the voicemail box that was polite yet extremely pointed.

But why use the acronym FDU in this flyer?  I'm concerned that this acronym might be altered to
mean something else that is much less polite toward the BCC in general and towards Commissioner Underhill in particular.  If an acronym against one particular commissioner absolutely must be used--a tactic which I absolutely do not support, by the way--Then the union should use one that is less likely to be misinterpreted--otherwise--just imagine what might come next......

 S-T-F-U?   Start-To-Fight-Underhill?

On WCOA twice this Week

On Tuesday right before our special meeting on Beach Traffic, the Beach Open Container Ordinance, and the ECAT contract--I was the guest on Rick Outzen's Pensacola Speaks.  We discussed the positive developments surrounding the OLF 8 project, ECAT, the jail as well as other county issues.  You can hear the interview here

And then on Friday Morning, I was called to fill in for District 4 Commissioner Grover Robinson who did not make it to the studio to do his morning interview.  I was happy to fill in and we discussed the emergent issue with the Walton County Sheriff terminating our inmate housing agreement, as well as the ECAT debacle from Tuesday night.  You can hear this interview here 

What is the Future of Mass Transit in Escambia County?

Mass transit in Escambia County is about to run into a roadblock.  Maybe it will only be a detour.  Could it become an Autobahn though?

One thing is for sure, the current system is untenable and there will be changes coming.

WHERE THINGS STAND NOW

At Tuesday’s special meeting of the BCC, the issue of transportation employees merging into the county to become county employees was discussed at length. 

The goal for the union and the drivers was to bring Escambia County Community Transportation (ECCT) and ECAT under the umbrella of the county.  This, had it been done, would have allowed for enhanced pay and benefits for the ECCT drivers who currently do not enjoy high salaries, paid sick days, or benefits that are affordable given their low pay.  ECCT drivers provide transportation for disabled and elderly citizens that have no other workable transportation options. 

ECAT employees, by contrast, enjoy good salaries, excellent benefits, and these employees work subject to a collective bargaining agreement that is extremely worker friendly.  Both classes of employees currently operate under management contracts Escambia County has in place with First Transit of Ohio.  ECCT’s contract runs out at the end of June, ECAT’s contract runs through September 30th.

So at last Tuesday’s meeting, the BCC decided to return the functions of ECCT back to the state via this notification of termination of services letter.  This course of action was approved by a 4-1 vote.  I had hoped we could work out a 1-year bridge contract with First Transit to do a less hurried hand-off of this important service back to Tallahassee, however only two of us on the Dais supported that.  Therefore, beginning July 1^st, the Community Transportation function will revert back to the state of Florida to manage.  (Note, this is and has historically been a state-run service that Escambia County had recently taken on—however with costs approaching $2.8Million for this service alone-

What Will Automation Do to Mass Transit?

 

In Helsinki, Finland, self-driving public transport busses are being tested

At a recent County Commission meeting, several bus drivers from ECAT appeared before the board and implored the board to improve pay and benefits.  One commenter went through the pay scale meticulously and the rates of pay were low.  Shockingly low.

So what is the solution to the problem of low pay for bus drivers?

An easy solution would be to raise taxes and increase driver pay, changing the employment status of bus drivers from what they currently are-- contractor employees working for a third-party company—to making them regular county employees with pension plans and higher pay. 

This is what the union wants; this is what the drivers want.  If I was a driver, this is what I would want, too!