Call to order. Great. Welcome to the January 5th, 2026 meeting of the MTPO. My agenda, we're going to start with public comments. Do we have any members of the public who would like to comment before we get started? Yes, sir. Come on up. And I'm kind of a problem solver, and I noticed a big problem in Alachua, so I started working on it, and I have a solution. So I've got a handout for people to see the total details, but we're talking about large trucks. Okay, what our problem is, is large trucks, 80,000 pounds, traveling at 55 miles an hour through residential areas. I know that should be a problem. Part of that problem is where the trucks cross. This is hard to describe without pictures, but in your packet, there is a map. And if you're heading south out of, or west out of Alachua on 235, you come up to 235A, and that's where you turn right to go up to the distribution center. That turn can't be made with a semi. If they cut it close, which they've done many times, and hit the railroad post and knock it down, or if they don't do that and they cut out, they're on the incoming lanes, which is southbound. So it's a dangerous situation. And then in the opposite of that, if you're heading south on 235A, and you want to turn on 235 heading east, the traffic's 55 miles an hour, and those trucks don't just get up and go quick. So that's part of the problem. So the solution is a truck route through, around Alachua. The truck route would be from the distribution center, north on 235A, up by Wawa and the new fire station. Get on 441, turn east, and try to get the trucks on to I-75 as quick as possible. Now one of the problems is the trucks like to go 235 on up through to La Crosse. Well, you can bypass that quickly by going north on I-75 north to 236. That's by the orange juice thing, where you buy orange juice up there. 236 all the way across to 121. And there's your bypass. It's as simple as that. Any questions? How are you? Mr. Tuttle has been in touch with Stuart and Cullen and Ramon, governor of our group. And so this has been something I've been concerned about too, you know, in terms of trying to find alternate routes around some of these towns. Also, you know, at one point we were trying to get another off Peggy Road ramp, you know, on just something we could try to do to get these. But I've just had a meeting with Mr. Tuttle too, so I'm pretty clear on what it is that he's saying. So I just want to let folks know that he's new in the community and it's folks like this coming into our communities who have expertise, who are willing to share with us, you know, that we should welcome. And that's why I ask him to stay from our meeting so you all could see who he is as well. And I want to make sure that you had a chance to meet Mr. Tuttle too. The young lady that's behind you is DOT. And so I want to make sure that... Yeah. I've traveled the routes. I think everybody should travel them just to see the benefits. I can't see any negatives. Commissioner Brooke. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So from my standpoint, the 30,000 foot level, it's always great when somebody comes before us and they have a concern or a complaint and they provide some real world solutions. I don't have the familiarity that my county commission colleagues have with this specific area and the problems. But I think that this is a terrific way to provide us information. So I'm very appreciative of that. It's kind of a model for the way we would have people come before us with things. So whether it's email or phone or call, because it gives us some options to start with. Saves us some work too, doesn't it? And there's clearly some expertise. So thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Okay. Anybody like to get a hold of me sometime and I'll meet with them anytime, take you through the routes and give you first-hand pointers of where the problems are and then the solutions. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Our next agenda item is Chair's Announcements. I have no announcements besides wishing everybody a happy new year. Next, we have roll call and confirmation of quorum. I think. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. We have quorum. If you've all had a chance to review your agenda, are there any questions before we get started? Member approval of the agenda. Second. Cornell and Wheeler. Any further conversation on the agenda? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those like signed. We pass this unanimously. Next, we have the approval of the minutes from our last meeting. Move approval. Second. All for motion with Eastman as a second. Any conversation about the new minutes? They're very thorough. They really are. All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those like signed. It's approved unanimously. All right. On to our action items. I believe our first up, 7.1, review and approval of transmittal of transportation alternatives application. So, this is not strictly speaking an item that the MTPO board needed to approve, but we thought that we may get multiple competing applications. And so, to help us, you know, pare down or make a difficult decision, we wanted to bring it before you. So, the transportation alternatives is a program administered by FDOT. Typically funds things like sidewalk projects, multi-use paths. There are some other sort of less typical application types related to historic preservation or beautification. This cycle, we received a single application from the city of Gainesville, and that would be for safety enhancements, specifically for pedestrians, for Northwest 13th Street between University Avenue and Fifth Avenue. And we have some attachments. The application is fairly long. I don't know if that's particularly instructive. I would like to share, I believe this is where the concept plan is to show you all what, in general, we're talking about. So, we're looking again at the area on 13th Street between University Avenue and Fifth to propose new crossings in this location. I will say that these are consistent with where we've seen some non-motorist crashes and safety incidents. These are aligning also with sort of desire lines of pedestrians in the area. So, there's, of course, the Publix at Third Avenue. And in general, it's going to just decrease the spacing between crossings and enhance the safety. So, sole application for the MTPO this year. We are asking for the MTPO to go ahead and approve this. There are specific details. We do have City of Gainesville staff here that can speak to the application as well. And this is, Debbie Leisner can correct me, this is for construction and the final part of final design. Go back down. Ms. Moss, is that a raised crosswalk on the south on our left? The one at the south is a raised crossing, a little bit of the sort of zigzag crossing to help visibility when pedestrians are in the refuge area. And then it appears that the one closer to Fourth Avenue is at grade crossing. Commissioner Book. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I do want to say thank you to Scott Wright, who was the one who put together the proposal with our Gainesville. And it looks like the, you know, this is essentially a complete streets in one of the, the densest area that we have for pedestrians and traffic and multimodal. I just keyed in on what it said the project was. And in our, our summary here for the city, it's improvements to Southwest, Fourth Avenue is the biggie. You can see it on the map. Several, as you said, director, several enhanced pedestrian crossings, redesigned at Archer Road, some improvements to pedestrian bicycle facilities, mid-block crossings, high visibility payment. This is, this is precisely what we probably support as an MTPO and a city and county body and UF and our, our partners. So, I did want to, I did have a question for one of the city staff, one question. I don't know if, director, when we do the proposal, how closely does this have to follow if we have funding? Is it exact or does it allow room for back and forth with DOT? Debbie Leisner, City of Gainesville Transportation Department. It would be pretty close to this. There may be some minor adjustments that could be considered. But this was developed as part of the PD&E that the city funded. And we do have approval from FDOT for the PD&E. We do have the permit. So, we're just proceeding with that almost two-year process. Thank you for the work. Thank you, Mr. One on the zigzag portion on the southern portion. I guess it makes it a little harder for pedestrians at the turn. Some people I know on the one on Main Street, right across from Publix, like it's very drastic. And people in wheelchairs, it's like it's hard. It just makes it harder for pedestrians. Why that Versace having a straight kind of one? Like, why make it harder for pedestrian users? I think, as Ms. Moss alluded to, this would increase visibility. So, as you're traversing that median, you're watching the vehicles that are approaching. This median is wider than the one on Main Street. So, I think it would make it a little easier to navigate this. But I do agree that that one, we did hear some issues about that. And then, is this lighted ones or is this just? I believe they would be with? With red light? With push buttons, yeah. Is it flashing or with red light? I believe they would be probably consistent with what is along University Avenue on west of 13th. And then, one other question, is this project, is this rebuilding the medians in green? If you could go back to that. Yes. It includes some median work as well. So, I guess one question is, what about, I mean, that's what, four feet at the minimum? Like, the kind of the very smallest portion, is that like four or five feet wide? Smallest portion of the median itself. Of the separator that exists today? Yeah. I mean, is that going to, I guess the question is, like, what about, instead of having that space in between the cars, putting that space on the ends, like adding two feet on the ends, like having a little more buffer zone for the pedestrians on the sidewalk? Because walking on that sidewalk, it's fast traffic and stuff like that. So, instead of kind of having the protection between the cars, putting that buffer on that extra space in between the pedestrians and the sidewalk and the traffic lanes. I'm not an engineer, but I assume that that would require some modifications to the curb lines and some drainage issues. And I don't know that that's not what was discussed with FDOT. But I don't think that that would be happening. Yeah, not rebuilding the sidewalks and, like, just having an extra buffer. I guess, like you said, you're redoing the lanes or no? Yeah, the plans need to be, this is a concept that was developed up to 30%, and then we have to take it to final design and construction. So, there would be room for discussing options at that time. But that would be, I think, the adding, changing the configuration of that or adding paint, is that what you're asking? Just adding a little bit more distance, like another couple feet where more cars are going and people are going, I think would make the pedestrian space a lot better in that area. Can I jump in? Yeah. Also, when you take away medians, cars tend to go slower. And so, you've got, when you're adding the median, you're actually increasing the speed of traffic. And if you were to take away the median, force the cars, you know, to be closer and then add that space, you know, for, I don't know, bikes and, you know, landing space for pedestrians, that makes more sense to me. But I know people love medians, but I'm not afraid. I'd rather have less medians and put that towards the, yeah, I'm way beyond that. And I know up on 39th, I mean, even if you wanted to have a small little, like, I think on 39th Avenue and 13th Street, where they put those ballards up, they did put a little concrete thing, but I think that thing is only like six inches wide or something like that. There already is a concrete separator that is two feet, it's being generous. I think it may be 18 inches, but it's currently being used as a refuge. Ideally, when we have these other further crosswalks, there's less need for the refuge. Exactly. Right, that's the whole point. Because people will be up using the either wider refuge or the actual crossing. So, I think that's what, I'm sorry, I think that's what Mr. Haysan is getting towards. Because there already is, you'd call it a separator, but it's. Yeah, there's a narrow concrete separator there now, and I've seen people staging, even with an electric scooter in there. So, it's not safe as it is right now. It encourages people to sort of go halfway across the street in an unsafe way because they feel like they have a landing spot. Oh, on the two feet, yeah. This would have a proper pedestrian staging area. Which is great. And I guess the one other, is there any change to propose lane width? I mean, I know probably the state would want on that, the right lane would probably want to, is it 12 or 11 and a half right now? Or maybe on the inside lanes, maybe those a little smaller? It might, I don't know. It might be narrowing maybe the inside lanes. I know that FDOT required us to keep at least one 12-foot lane on the outside lanes. But there may be some narrowing of the narrow lanes to allow for that pedestrian refuge and that median to be added. But other than, I don't think it's, we can ask and we can discuss that during the design of options for the sidewalk. But it's not anticipated that the curb lines would change. It would have to be something else with a paint or something. Yeah, just, right now they're going right next to it. I'd rather see dog ears. Mr. Chair, I think it's a great project. It sets the standards built there. I know that public is the worst performing public because it doesn't have enough traffic. The public is used to people putting in groceries and cars. And this one is one that is pedestrian ready. So hopefully as we approve more large projects like the standard on these state roads, this is going to be something we do on the front end, knowing that we're creating a pedestrian safety issue. So I think it's a great project. I appreciate the city bringing it forward. It's the only application we got. I would move staff approval. Further conversation? I just wonder if we can put into that that we're putting a request to the point that Commissioner Alfred and I are kind of looking at the medians and kind of adjusting that. City staff and DOT, what they would like us to add to the motion. Just to look at that portion, not to actually. Is that okay? Yeah, so I'd add that to me. And blame width, I guess, too. Are you okay with that? So the medians, blame widths, that's right. Do we have more input from this board? If not, do we have any members of the public who would like to comment on this item? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those like signed. Motion passes unanimously. Next action item 7.2, performance measures. Okay. So MPOs, Florida MPOs must establish performance measure targets annually related to the following areas. So we have safety, bridge and pavement, and system performance. MPOs must either adopt statewide metrics or can establish their own. And the deadline is February 27, 2026. This is a fairly involved process if a MPO wishes to establish their own. Historically, the MPO for the Gainesville urbanized area has adopted statewide targets. This year, especially with the transition we were undergoing, we felt it was prudent to do so. So I have included in the board abbreviated agenda packets just a one-pager that summarizes the targets we'd be proposing to adopt. These are consistent with the statewide targets. And the first question I had as a transportation planner was, how do these match up to how we're doing today? So presumably, they're somewhat realistic. That's why they set them where they were. So it ranges. And I just thought I would share some of that information with you all. But, again, the staff recommendation is to adopt the statewide targets. So PM, performance measure one, safety. So these are, I would say, very aspirational. They are zero. The target is zero across the board. So that's consistent with FDOT's policy. But the numbers that we have statewide, so fatalities, 3,250, serious injuries, 14,000, non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries, 3,200. And fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled and serious injuries per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. Those have gone down. So that's consistent with what we're seeing nationally is that severe and fatal injuries have gone down, but non-motorists have gone up during the same time. And that reflects vulnerability of those users. This is the one area that I could see the MTPO with a new director and fully staffed up potentially wanting to create their own metrics in the future, maybe using an interim measure so that both the city of Gainesville and the county have ultimate goals. Of vision zero, but then an interim goal, you know, say in 2035, we want to be, you know, reducing by half. And so that's something I think with the ongoing county and city efforts that the MTPO could somewhat readily adopt. The next is performance measure number two, bridge and pavement, and there are five different metrics within this category. And so they sort of have, like, for each of them, you know, the thing, the asset categorized in good condition and then percentage categorized in poor. And so for bridges, the percentage of national highway system bridges classified is in good condition, and it is over 50. And currently statewide we're exceeding that, so more in good condition than the target, fewer in poor condition than the target of less than 5%. And then so on for pavement quality, fewer, sorry, greater in good condition, less in poor, and then non-interstate pavements in good and poor condition were also sort of exceeding those targets. So the non-interstate highway system roads includes stay route 26, 441, 301, parts of 222 or 39th Ave, and 24 or Archer Road, just for reference. The last one, performance measure number three, this has to do with reliability. Congestion is another way to think about it. And so percentage of person miles traveled on the interstate that are reliable, we have greater than 75%. There's sort of a downward trend, I found, in the data there. Percentage of person miles traveled on the non-interstate that are reliable, it is about equal to 60%. And then truck travel time index on the interstate highway system, which is sort of salient with all the conversations we have about trucks traversing our community, especially some of the smaller communities. And it is a metric, an index of two, which is more or less attained currently. So, again, these are metrics that take quite a bit of effort, research, and kind of calibration to make them suitable for the Gainesville MTPO. Like I said, I think this community may be interested in looking at safety in a more custom fashion. But the staff recommendation is to adopt the statewide targets. Move staff recommendation. Second. We have a motion by offer and a second by Hayes Santos. Mayor Ward. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I agree, it's too data-heavy to be able to do anything about it this year, but I would love for us to charge our new director with realistic goals for performance measure one. Obviously, vision zero is the goal, but it feels like we're just not giving any thought and effort to this to say, oh, zero is our goal. That's our performance measure. We're going to fail if that is coming here. I promise you, we'll fail at zero. Unless, you know, something just absolutely miraculous happens. But we are making consistent progress in the right direction. So, I would like for us to be able to, in future years, make good guesses at what's possible so that we can actually meet some guidelines instead of saying zero and failing every time. Commissioner Alford. To me, it's more rather than it being about the goal, it's about how we get there. Absolutely. And to me, that's what I'm more interested in is the action plan, and that's what I hope to get out of the new director is, like, that type of, you know, here are the steps that we're taking to move towards better numbers. And that way, we can include the community in those goals in a way that's meaningful. Absolutely. Do we have any other conversation from this board regarding these performance measures? If not, do we have any members of the public who wish to comment on the performance measures motion? Seeing none, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, like sign. The motion passes unanimously. Our next action item is 7.3, is to amend the Unified Planning Work Program, the UPWP, one of our many acronyms. So, in very plain English, this amendment is regarding the appointment, the sort of official appointment of the new executive director, Mrs. Anach Whitfield, to the director position. It's important that the UPWP, as a document, includes her name and that designation. And then, at the same time, I've asked FDOT if they would like for me to stay on in a limited capacity for a little bit, rather than just kind of throwing her in. And they've asked that I do stay on to help sort of for the remainder of the transition. The UPWP that we currently have adopted is through the FDOT fiscal year, which is January 30th. And so, this would be keeping me on. Sorry. January. Yes. June 30th of this year. Allison's ready to roll off. June. June. The other June. And so, it would keep me on in that capacity. And whatever sort of title is not really material to FDOT, but I threw out there, deputy executive director, just for this interim basis. And the attachment that is included is just to show you how small of a change this is. So, every year, we have the chair, or every time it's updated, the chair adopted. FDOT certifies that they've done a cost analysis of this work program, which also functions as a budget. And then, there's just this one little pager that lists, presently, myself as interim director and Jeff Hayes, just sort of as a backup. So, this would be modifying that to include the names as suggested. Move staff recommendation. I second. A motion from Commissioner Reeler. A second from Adrian Hayes-Santos. I was relieved to see your name still there, Allison, to tell you. Really? So is Jeff. Yeah. And he's not here. Do we have any further discussion on this item, or not? Do we have any members of the public who would like to comment on this action item? Seeing none, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, like sign. The motion passes unanimously. Our next action item, 7.4, Interlocal Agreement Between Alachua County and MTPO Countywide Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan. Yeah. So, the MTPO is currently conducting an update to the Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan. The ability or sort of the mechanism by which that plan is being done is that the county has been the contracting entity and has been reimbursed by the MTPO. There was also an interlocal agreement that involved the county, the city, UF, and the MTPO to get this going. At this point, we are just requesting an amendment, a sort of minor amendment, to do increased feasibility analysis. The existing contract has a ceiling of $254,700, and the scope of work specified. This amendment would increase the scope of work and the budget by $100,000. And the board did approve that when we looked at the planning work program back in October. But, again, there is a contract ceiling. So, this would be a new interlocal agreement just between the MTPO and the county to authorize the additional budget that was already approved by this board to execute the contract. We have a motion from Alford and a second by Eastman. Sorry, I have one clarification. Oh, sorry. So, in the – I got a sort of late, very minor revision from the MTPO attorney. So, there are two instances where on page one, number two, it references the city and the county. But this agreement would be between the MTPO and the county. And, again, the city is erroneously referenced on page three, number eight. So, it would be substituting the word city with MTPO. So, we have two Scrivener's errors. Yes. Errors. Staff recommendation with the clarified Scrivener's errors. Okay. So, Alford and Eastman with those corrections. And just for – so, Ms. Moss, this is – we approved this in the budget. We had some conversation about this at budget time. And this is just the actual agreement that needs to be signed. Yeah. This right now is the interlocal agreement. The contract will be between the county and the vendor. But the ability to execute a new contract with an increased ceiling would require an agreement between the MTPO and the county. Because the MTPO is the reimbursing entity through federal PL funds for the bike pet plan. Any further conversation on this item from the board? Is there any member of the public who would like to comment on this action item? Seeing none. Oh, one more. I did. I saw Scott Coons' name still in here. Will that be removed in the – I think it was page 3, number 7, Metropolitan Transportation? In the interlocal agreement itself? Yeah. Where is this – well, this is 24. This is the old one. I'm sorry. Oh, okay. Okay. So, in the new one, it wouldn't be – It doesn't have one. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I just included the old one to sort of say there was a precedent. And just going forward, a quick editorial note. There won't be that kind of complicated coordination because projects that are MTPO planning projects will just be managed and contracted by the MTPO. So, the bike ped plan was an instance of the city and the county trying to come together to do something that was not accomplishable by the MTPO at that time. So, going forward, there's significant planning funds for the MTPO to do its own studies. Thanks for that clarification. In the future, we probably won't see this time. Not interlocals for contracts. Yeah. They'll just – you'll just see the contract to approve if it's over a certain amount of money. Yeah. Do we have anything else in this board? All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All right. Those opposed, like signed. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Moving along. Our next action item, Citizens Advisory Committee appointments. So, the Citizen Advisory Committee is a very important board to the MTPO. It's one that's been undersubscribed or, you know, participated in for a while. We have gotten more interest recently, which is great. We received three applications, which the MTPO board is to evaluate and approve. We have enough spots for all of these applications. I did want to note, very sadly, that one of the members, Mr. David Loveland, the second in the list, has passed away since staff reached out to confirm interest in serving. So, you would be asked today to just recommend the applications of Mr. Christopher Potts and Mr. Robert Hickernell. Commissioner Buck. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just looked, even had Mr. Loveland been with us, all three applicants have really extensive expertise in either engineering, planning, transportation. One of them has worked with the FDOT. So, these are really good applicants that will benefit us from their expertise. So, with that, I move. Is this 7.4? 7.5. I move approval of 7.5 these appointments. Second. All right, we have a motion from Commissioner Book and a second by Commissioner Beck and Walker. Any further conversation? Or any of the applicants here, would they like to speak to us? No, I don't see any. Do we have any? Commissioner, and just for clarity, when you said the applicants, you met Christopher Potts and Robert Hickernell. That's right. I just wanted to make sure we were there. I was actually sitting here thinking, like, when he asked if anybody wanted to speak, and Mr. Loveland had came for it. I'm just kidding. It looks like Mr. Loveland did have a lot of great experience, and he wanted to continue to conserve this. Do any members of the public like to comment on the appointees and nominees? All right, there being none, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Those opposed, like sign. Motion passes unanimously to appoint Christopher Potts and Robert Hickernell to the CAC. All right, Nick, I think that's all of our action items. Is that correct, Ms. Moss? All right, we are on to our information item. So the very first 8.1 is both TMA, so Transportation Management Area Certification, and Joint Certification with FDOT. So the TMA certification is a fairly involved process that will involve MTPO staff and FHWA staff answering a series of questions related to MTPO business. There is going to be a site visit on February 3rd, so again, nice probably that I will be attending in addition to the brand-new director who would have a difficult time answering some of the questions. In addition, Ms. Akaya Brown from FDOT will be there to help with things that even probably predate my knowledge of MTPO business. And so it's just going to be on all manner of, you know, operations and planning efforts and transit operation, you know, sort of transit management and planning. There is not going to be a public meeting associated with this event, but there is going to be a public comment period that will last for two weeks. And one of the things that I've been urged by FDOT is to really get the word out and to invite members of the public and members of the board to share examples of what they feel that the Gainesville MTPO has accomplished and what we can be proud of. I understand the certification, I think, happens every four years. So there have been a lot of changes that have occurred. And, you know, some things would be appointing a new director, transitioning to a completely different organization. Expanding this. Expanding countywide. Expanding, yeah, to countywide. Expanding, changing the geographic area and sort of the purview that you all are looking at. Doing an update to the bicycle pedestrian plan. The corridor studies that are planned for Southwest Archer Road and 13th Street. So I'll make sure to get the word out to you all, to your constituents, about that opportunity to provide input. The FDOT joint certification is another sort of assessment and taking stock. That will be with FDOT. And as I understand it from Ms. Zikaia Brown, there is going to be sort of a letter kicking off that process that will prepare us in terms of the steps. I'm not sure if there's going to be a meeting or a community engagement component with that. But if you have anything you'd like to add, feel free to step up to the mic and share. Okay. Nothing at this time. So I will say these, I'm going to be cavalier about this, but I feel like these two things have been very intimidating. However, I think FDOT has been very supportive in sort of providing some of the background about the organization. I think that we have the information we need to share with both FDOT and FHWA. Just a comment. I just can't imagine any more powerful team going to do this than you all. So I have full confidence in your ability to make that happen. I will say there's a questionnaire that we were required to fill out that I think amounted to 20 pages of responses. There's no way I could have done it by myself. So thank you to FDOT, District 2 Liaison. Do you have any further questions on this information item? I have one question for FDOT. The joint certification, on what sort of time scale does that happen? Is that every four years as well? Good afternoon. Happy New Year. Ikeia Brown with FDOT. The joint certification is an annual certification that begins January and is completed by June 30th. Okay. And the TMA certification. I'm sorry. So the FHWA is every four years. How often is the TOT? Is it the same every four years? No, it's annual. So this year we're doing the same thing again. Just an assessment over your last year pertaining to your invoicing and or your UPWP. That's when we got the letter, right? Yes. Yeah. Thanks. That was my point. That was my point. Is there anything else we need to know on this item, Ms. Moss? No, not at this time. Just an update. Okay. Next item, 8.2, Unified Planning Work Program, fiscal years 27 through 28. So we just amended it again in October of last year to add money to where it was needed. Administration needed additional funding because we knew we were going to be hiring a new director and support staff and potentially a, and then also that line item would include general planning consultant to help through transition and beyond. And then also funding for the bicycle pedestrian plan and the corridor studies mentioned. The work program, however, will need to be updated this spring again for the upcoming fiscal years. And, you know, we'll be looking at what funds we would like to de-obligate and have available. Nobody did that magically. And what funds we would like to be available, you know, in the upcoming fiscal year. And we also have heard that there will be more in-person attendance at the MPOAC meetings, to which Commissioner Alford has been appointed as the primary liaison. So we will probably be coming with a draft UPWP update in February meeting or March at the latest. Mr. Cornell? When you said de-obligate, you meant re-allocate? It's sort of like, it's like tied up in previous fiscal years if we would like to roll it forward. Is that a correct way to think about it? Yes. Kaye Brown with DOT again. So de-obligation happens, you take a look at your two-year budget. And so you're upcoming on your next, your two-year contract for 27, 28. So you guys would be taking a look at your around $2 million budget and saying, we want to move over $1 million to the first year of this new two-year contract to be available in October. Essentially, if we leave money on the table at closeout, it won't be available until the second year of your contract. Kind of fluffing up the new ED and your planning studies, your GPCs, kind of preparing them with enough funding to be able to kick off of them. Thank you. And there will be a pretty aggressive burn rate, I think, once the organization is fully staffed up and all of the studies start. Is that in the first two years or the first year? The first, yeah, the first year. Getting through the studies. Yeah. Any other questions for Ms. Moss regarding the UPWP? So February, perhaps? Yeah, aiming for February. It can be very tedious. It could be that there's a draft presented then, then there's feedback, and then, you know, there's an immense sort of revised draft that comes back to you in March. So my goal would be to have something for February. 8.3 new executive director update. So I cold called Ms. Anach Whitfield today, and she's very excited to start the position. She will start the day after MLK on the 20th of January, and she's probably, though, going to be visiting here beforehand to drop off her daughter for college. And so I'm interested in checking out her new office space and sort of starting to get things set up. So, yeah, going to be sharing the draft job descriptions for the two support positions to see if she has input on those or if she would like to continue to advertise those as drafted. Can you talk to her? Yeah, yeah. I mean, just for going even further back, yeah, I mean, I called her after our discussion. She was very excited to take the position. It was a very easy discussion, particularly because we, you know, we'd already negotiated. We already – they knew the salary coming in. She did ask because I believe she's working on her comprehensive plan team wrapped up after the holidays with that, and so that's why we pushed it until the third week of January, so roughly the 20th right after March. And, yeah, she seems very, very interested. She was very enthusiastic to get the phone on. Very excited. And where will she be held? In the immediate term in the growth management annex. Right next to you. Yeah, pretty much down the hallway. Perfect. So, yeah, shuffle some things around. All right. Thank you. Do you have a copy of the contract, or is that – My understanding from Ms. Heather Akpan is that it is not a contract. Is that your understanding as well? I don't know. I sent her to Heather, and then my negotiation is done. Heather, I'm not sure. I can look into for y'all what the – Yeah, like, you know, the program is everything. Yeah, because I asked if the contract was going to come back to you all for approval, and I was told there's not a contract. Okay. I'm sure we can let her know. She's going to have a lot when she first gets here, but I assume we're all open to meeting with her soon, probably, but not overwhelm her, because she will have a lot to do. Yeah. A one. Do we have any other questions about Ms. Whitfield as she's coming in? Just a couple weeks, right? Is that just two weeks away? Yeah. 15 days? All right. We're even close. On the 12th, she wants to come by and check out the space, and so she's very willing to roll up her sleeves, I think, and, yeah. She should come to the MLK parade in the march to see how we shut down the state road occasionally. Okay. Two state roads. Councilwoman. Hi, Councilwoman Monique Taylor-Ciawaldo. On the letter that was sent to Mr. Padrone, thank you, Mr. Eastman, that was a nice letter, and she still has to hire staff as well, as you were saying. Now, is she able to reach out to Mr. Padrone as well? Can see if we can maybe get him back on the team? I think it depends probably on the process that's followed. So if it goes out, you know, as an advertisement, then her recruiting in that way would not be appropriate. But, yeah, might she be able to? I'm not exactly sure. Because in his return statement, his letter back, it was kind of in a way of it really needed him to reach out, and so you never know, and that would be two good heads working together. That's it. But we trust that Ms. Whitfield will follow all established HR policies. Could we adopt basically the county's HR policies, correct? Yes. All right, anything else on this? Otherwise, 8.4, Ms. Moss? 8.4. Good news. As I understand it, all of the financial records and cash held are either now in the possession of the MTPO or are en route. So I think the last discussion was very helpful. And any other actions that have happened? Well done, Madam Chair. Well, thank you, Ms. Moss. And I guess Chair Alford. Are you still the Chair? Or you were Chair last time? I am still Chair. Chair of the RPC. Thank you for all your, any of the help you were able, and thank you, Ms. Moss, and also County Stafford. I just had a couple of conversations. Thank you. Just to confirm, there's no other outstanding things that we are needing from them, or are we? My understanding, we are completely resolved. We have everything resolved. Yeah. Brown gave us a thumbs up. All that. All right. That's very exciting. Anything else on that? All right. We're on to our, do we have any other informational items, Ms. Moss? Only one other that potentially at the next meeting, you'll be sitting at a bigger table with better AV equipment in this conference room. It's the county paying for that, Yeah, there's the MTPO paying for it. It is the county. Yeah. There was a residual budget in the county communications, so. Excited. But it'll live here, you know, it doesn't just travel, so. We'll treat it well. Mm-hmm. All right. So we are on to number nine, agency reports, partner updates. Anybody, FDOT, or any other updates? No. Ms. Brown says no updates from FDOT. All right. Ten. Upcoming meetings of interest. So, yes. The Technical Advisory Committee and the Citizens Advisory Committee will meet on January 27th of 2025. They'll be hearing items that'll come to you all for the subsequent February 2nd meeting, then your board meeting on February 2nd. The Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory Council, MPOAC, to which Commissioner Alford was appointed, will be meeting January 28th. And then the FMPP, the Planning Partnership, on the 29th, the day after. Those are both in Orlando and I'm going to be reaching out to Ms. Whitfield also to see if she would like to attend that meeting either solo or if she'd like for us to go down together so she can get acquainted. Go on to that, Mary? Yes. That'll be good. Yeah. Did I say 25? Yeah. In regards to Myra. Myra, you may be. All right. Any other notes about our upcoming meetings of interest? If not, we are on to member comments of this board. Any member of our comments? I was just going to ask if there's any update on the paratransit and transportation disadvantage issue that we talked about from anyone? I don't know if anyone has enough. We're working on it. Do we have city staff here to, obviously we'd say not, not our normal city staff who would talk to us about RTS. Commissioner Alford. I just wanted to say, having sent in these meetings now for five years, that the nature of these meetings now versus five years ago has changed so drastically and I so appreciate it. This is a whole different organization and I think all the folks that worked hard to get us here should be super proud of themselves, especially staff. So thank you. Commissioner Wheeler. UF is not here today. Is that going to be, is that just because it's today? Because when I talked to Linda last time, she was concerned about some changes that might be going over there. Yeah, so Ms. Linda Dixon has changed positions within UF. It sounded as if she may still be the liaison to this organization, but I'll follow up with her and if not, the appropriate office to find out who their appointee is. I was concerned when I spoke to her last time with all the changes that are going on at UF that that might affect her and so when she wasn't here today, just let her know she was missed. And the other thing that I want to report is the Levy County Board of Commissioners, the county commissioners there, deny the sand plant. Citizens were able to have their time in court and the board voted against it so we don't have to worry about that, you know, the additional load on that road going through Archer at this point. But also, I think our board got the data from the citizens there who were counting the trucks that were going through Archer, you know, even without the sand plant so it's pretty significant so, you know, we just need to be aware that there's still that and with the batch plant that's going to be in operation there too, that is also going to impact the traffic there as well. That's it. Mr. Asanto? So if there's not an update on what I asked, could we make it on the agenda for the second that we get an update? I think that's fair. We'll put it on. So Ms. Moss, if we can add that to the agenda. I'd like to know what the plans are and how that impacts the board. Okay, thank you. Mr. Chair. I will say, if... I was going to ask, I see MB Transportation is still operating. I saw them up on Alachua last week. So when does that end? They haven't given notice yet. You give notice and then they have 30 days, right? Oh, okay. I thought we should do so. I don't want to pontificate here but I do think that, I mean, it was in the first quarter, I believe. Yeah, their plan is the end of March 31st. Okay, okay. So you have to give notice, you probably give notice on March 1st. So for me, if there's no objection, we will send, I will send a letter to Mr. Loveland's family to express our condolences and it's our appreciation for him at least having offered his service to the CAC. And Ms. Moss, if I need to reach out to you regarding whoever our representative will be, you and I can work on that as well. Any other member comments from this board? I spoke to her a few weeks ago. She said she was, she thought she wasn't but now she's getting reappointed to him. She will. Okay, so maybe she will be back. They're not in session yet today. I think their first day of class is on Monday. Is it tomorrow or next Monday? Oh, it's next. I know the RTS says don't go back to normal schedule until next Monday because I had to wait a little longer for the bus today. The public schools will go back tomorrow. Only other thing I would add, Mr. Chair, is public comment. We normally, I would put that on the agenda right before member comments in case. Flip them next time. Yeah, in case anyone from the public speaks and we want to speak to it, you know, that gives us that opportunity. We'll do that for the next time. All right. Are there any further comments from this board before I go to public comments? Are there any members of the public who would like to have their three minutes of public comment this time? Mr. Tata, come on up. The need for a bypass is inevitable. It's going to come sooner than later. Sooner is better for the safety. Currently, Walmart has 900 plus trucks a day. Dollar General, 700 plus trucks a day. Cisco, 400. And there's two new distribution centers being built out there now. This route that I mentioned, 236, was mentioned to me by the dispatcher from Walmart. That's the route he would prefer. So it's good to know that. And again, the two big problems is fast trucks going through residential areas, large heavy trucks, and eliminating that turn at the railroad tracks that cannot be done. Thank you. Mr. Tuttle, have you addressed, and thank you for your information, have you done the same presentation and one-on-one meetings with each of the City of Alachua commissioners? They're on your list? Yes. Okay, great. Because I think it would be important for the county and the City of Alachua when we have our joint meeting to agenda this time. I had a meeting set up with commissioners. The city manager called me, knew about what I was doing, wants me to get through all of the people on the council, and then get with them. Okay. Thank you. And county commissioners, do you agree at the joint meeting? Okay. Thank you. Do we have any other members of the public who would like to get a public comment on today? All right. Do we have anything else before we adjourn? We've announced our next meeting as February 2nd, so we're all good for that. Good job. We're rocking through. This is an easy day. We'll go out and enjoy the beautiful weather. With that, we will call this meeting adjourned.