Region 11: 2012 Meeting Minutes (9/18)

HSTP Region 11 Quarterly Meeting

September 18, 2012

Southern Il. University-Carbondale

Attendees:

Rob Ford	H Group
Dave Ragan	H Group
William Grogan	St. Clair Co. Transit
Douglas Wood	Human Support Services
Mary Taylor	Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Southern Il.
Tiffany Becker	Rural Medical Transportation Network
Bill Jung	RIDES Mass Transit
Debra Staggs	RIDES Mass Transit
Tammy Asbury	Gold Plate Sr. Program
Susan Odum	U of I Extension
John Childs	Five Star Industries
Jon Douglas	LINC Inc.
Marilyn Hughes	LINC Inc.
Sheila Niederhofer	South Central Transit
Vicki Clift	South Central Transit
Jeremy Biggerstaff	United Methodist Children’s Home
Mark Bollmann	Human Service Center
Susan Muszynski	Area Agency on Agency of SW Il.
Patty Evansco	Millstadt Township Sr. Services
Frank Mulholland	Jackson Co. Mass Transit
Jesica Gentry	Monroe-Randolph Transit
Dan Boehmer	Jefferson Co. Comprehensive Services
James Lane	Touchette Regional Hospital
Dennis Presley	SIU-Rural Medical Transportation Network
Terri Finn	HSTP Coordinator

The meeting was called to order at 11:17 along with introductions.

HSTP Coordinator, Terri Finn introduced the guest speaker, Mary Taylor from the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Southern Il.  Mary informed the group of the services that the Epilepsy Foundation provides & handed out brochures.  The agency does transport clients to Specialists & she expressed that some clients are apprehensive about riding public transportation due to the nature of their disability. 

An updated transportation provider resource list was handed out to everyone & Terri asked that it be reviewed and any changes be forwarded to her.  The floor was then open to everyone to discuss coordination efforts that their agency is doing.  Several agencies have examples of the great coordination efforts that are occurring in Region 11.

Update on JARC\New Freedom: Award notices may be sent out in November.  Because of the changes to these grants, with MAP-21, projects that have been funded & are in good standing with a plan for financial sustainability will probably be re-funded.  Applications for new funding will be looked at case by case & applicants will be contacted about financial sustainability.                                                                CVP: Award letters had been sent out to awardees.  It was suggested that when applications come out next year, agencies consider joint applications with another agency or the public provider.  This could help to strengthen the application.

Bylaws:  Since there has never been an update to the Committee’s bylaws since they were established in 2007, it was suggested by the Coordinator that a subcommittee be formed to review & revise them.  Terri provided copies for everyone to look over.  Jeremy Biggerstaff, Ben Youthers, Bill Jung, Debra Staggs, Jesica Gentry & Susan Muszynski volunteered for the subcommittee.  Terri will organize the group to meet by teleconference.  Everyone was asked to review the document and email the Coordinator with changes that would be relayed to the subcommittee for consideration.   These changes & an updated document should then be presented at the next Committee meeting.

General discussion:

St. Clair Co.-Dennis Presley (SIU\RMTN) indicated that he should have the results of the survey by the next meeting.

IPTA Conference-The annual Il. Public Transportation Association held their annual conference in Sept. those that attended shared thoughts on the conference, which were generally positive.

Mobility Management\Travel Trainings-Terri Finn indicated that any provider could call her to schedule any mobility management or travel trainings

HSTP Newsletter\Pictures\Stories-Terri also asked everyone for articles, etc. for the newsletter, which might be cut down to 2 times a year now.

Open discussion-IDOT will be holding open forums around the State.  There will be a few in the southern regions & everyone was encouraged to attend at least 1 & give input on the needs we have in Southern Il.  Bill Jung (RIDES) indicated that it would be important for providers to attend these meeting to remind IDOT to keep public transportation in mind when planning.  Jesica Gentry (MRT) read a list of the forums times\dates\locations with the closest being in Marion on 10\10\12 from 4-6 at the Pavilion.

Rural Medical Transportation Network forums-Dennis Presley provided handouts regarding the open forums the RMTN would be holding in October on non-emergency medical transportation.  The Committee was invited to attend. 

Next meeting: The H Group volunteered to host the next meeting on December 4, 2012 at 11am.  The address is 902 W. Main St. in West Frankfort.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:32pm