Region 10: 2013 Meeting Minutes ( 3/12)

Region 10 HSTP Quarterly Meeting Minutes

Tuesday March 12, 2013

Attendee:

Dayo Adenekan	CILA Corporation
Mark Auten	TRADE Industries
Bill Jung	RIDES MTD
Fred Lash	Heartland Human Services
Stephanie Kastner	Helping Hands
David Kastner	Helping Hands
Tammy Wendt	Opportunities For Access
Kristie Warfel	CEFS\Central Il. Public Transportation
Roger Petrashek	Lawrence Co. Ambulance Service
Gidget Simpson	CILA Corporation
Dennis Quast	ARC-CSS
Steve Simms	Il. Emergency Management Agency
Shana Holmes	Southeastern Il. Agency on Aging
Mike Brown	Charleston Transitional Facility
Rae Williams	Career Development Center
Arnold Herman	Lawrence-Crawford Association
Terri Finn	HSTP Coordinator

The meeting was held at CILA Corporation in Flora, called to order at 11:03am, and introductions were done.

Minutes from the December 2012 meeting were reviewed.  Kristie Warfel motioned to approve the minutes, Dennis Quast seconded the motion & the Committee approved.

Guest Speaker:  Stephanie Kastner from Helping Hands was introduced as the guest speaker.  She spoke about the service area & transportation services that Helping Hands provides.  The agency was established in 2004.  It mostly serves clients in HSTP regions 9 & 11 but had in the past covered Effingham.  The agency has various vehicles stationed throughout the service area.  Their client base is mostly Medicaid recipients but about 20% is private pay.  The agency averages 200 trips per day & if needed they would look at expanded services into the HSTP Region 10 area.

Election of Officers:  A list of eligible candidates was provided to the Committee.  Dennis Quast nominated Bill Jung for Chairperson.  Rae Williams nominated Mark Auten as Vice Chairperson.  Kristie Warfel nominated Gidget Simpson for Secretary.  Being no further nominations, the Committee voted these nominees to office.

Coordination:  Kristie Warfel & Bill Jung discussed the progress with the Effingham Co. Public Transportation.  Kristie also discussed various changes that CIPT is doing that is showing an improvement in services.

Terri Finn shared that she had recently met with the Transportation Coordinator at Heartland Human Services to discuss increasing vehicle usage & service contracts.

Also, that she had recently been contacted by staff with the Dept. of Rehabilitation Services about the need for transportation some graduating high school & college students have in trying to get from very rural areas to the community colleges they are attending.  Terri set up a meeting with the DRS staff & RIDES to start conversation of those needs being met.

    

Open Meetings Act:  Terri Finn provided the Committee with information on the Open Meetings Act & explained that IDOT has informed all Coordinators that HSTP Committee’s must conduct meetings following Act regulations.  Every voting member was encouraged to take the OMA test on the Attorney General’s website.  This must be done before new officers take their positions & before a member can vote.  Terri asked that once the test is taken, print certificates & mail them to her for filing.

Meetings also need to be scheduled 1 year in advance so the Committee decided meetings will be held quarterly on the second Tuesday of that month with the next meetings being on June 11, September 10 & December 10 2013.  Rae Williams volunteered to host the June meeting at Career Development Center in Fairfield at 1:00pm.    

Bylaws:  The revised version of the bylaws was handed out but more changes were decided on.  These changes will be made for the Committee to review at a future meeting.

Arnold Herman asked the question as to why we have HSTP meetings.  There was discussion about the IDOT rules, the ongoing need for coordination, sharing of ideas, the public’s needs, and finding new ways to better the public transportation system.

General discussion:  Timeframes for new vehicles was discussed.  Mark Auten had received a letter stating his vehicle would not arrive before fall.  Terri Finn explained that larger vehicles will probably not be available until the end of the year.  Terri also informed the Committee that IDOT has said there may not be a CVP application this year but would instead have 2 year funding in 2014.

Kristie Warfel made a motion to adjourn the meeting & Bill Jung seconded.  The Region 10 meeting was adjourned at 12:15pm.