Region 11: 2023 Meeting Minutes (2/15)

 

HSTP Region 11

February 15, 2023

Meeting Minutes

 

Attendees:

Mark Bollmann	ComWell-Red Bud
Ron Gorst	Shawnee Mass Transit District-Vienna
Mike Egbert	Opportunities for Access CIL-Mt. Vernon
Jesica Schlimme	Monroe-Randolph Transit-Sparta
Anne Riley	Human Support Services-Waterloo
Mike Pietrowski	Shawnee Mass Transit District-Vienna
Jimmy Leadingham	Jackson Co. Mass Transit District-Carbondale
David Maziarz	Il. Dept. of Transportation-Springfield
Jeffrey Drake	Rides Mass Transit-Harrisburg
Ben Simpson	Senior Adult Services-Carbondale
Tunezia Badger	Spero Family Services-Mt. Vernon
Ian Pierce	5 Star Industries-DuQuoin
Randy Goldsmith	Human Support Services-Waterloo
Jon Douglas	LINC, Inc.-Swansea
Sherri Bassen	South Central Transit-Centralia
Tammy Asbury	Gold Plate Senior Center-DuQuoin
Melissa Theiss	East-West Gateway Council of Governments-St. Louis
Debbie Holsapple	Comprehensive Connections-Mt. Vernon
Rachel Newsome	Il. Center for Autism-Fairview Heights
Mario Fennoy	JTC Academy-Centreville
Elizabeth Daniels	Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Southern Il.-Belleville
Joe Edwards	Touchette Hospital-Centreville
Doug Downey	Il. Emergency Management-Fairview Heights
Cindy Cookson	Caritas Family Solutions-Belleville
Riley Anderson	HSTP Assistant Coordinator-Salem
Terri Finn	HSTP Coordinator-Salem

 

Call to Order\Roll Call – The quarterly HSTP meeting was called to order at 11:02 a.m. by Jimmy Leadingham. A roll call was done to verify attendance.   

Approval of November 16, 2022, Meeting Minutes – No additions or corrections, motion by Mario Fennoy, 2^nd by Ian Pierce to accept and approve the minutes. Motion approved.

Region 11 Coordination Efforts – Terri Finn asked the meeting attendees for their thoughts on different meeting formats. (ie; human service providers meeting separate from the public providers possibly once yearly and/or Regions 9, 10 & 11 meeting together). Agency feedback was positive and most agree it would be beneficial.

Regional Plan: Discussed efforts being made to close gaps and meet the needs of the riders in our region - Terri Finn shared with the group the benefits of the new RTAC webpage which includes Illinois transit agency employment information and a map of the state where users can click on their county to reveal a link to the local transit agencies web page. Terri has emailed the RTAC link to everyone but can certainly forward it to anyone who may have missed it.

Terri Finn also mentioned the new two-sided Passenger Rules of the Ride card which Shawnee Mass Transit now has in circulation.

Updates identifying these efforts will be entered into the Regional Plan and submitted the first week of April.

Transportation Concerns: Agency updates/discussion – Mario Fennoy (JTC Academy) asked the group if any other agencies were experiencing ongoing maintenance issues with the Ford F350 and F250 vehicles. David Maziarz will reach out via email to Mario regarding this topic.

Ron Gorst asked the group if they had received an emailed notice from Benefit Access in regard to disabled and senior clients riding for free. After some discussion it was determined that this is the former Circuit Breaker and only applies to fixed route travel.  Jeffrey Drake stated that Rides does accept the Access card on some of their fixed routes.  Ben Simpson shared the following website for agencies to reference:   https://ilaging.illinois.gov/benefitsaccess

Agency Information/Updates – Ron Gorst invited agencies to join them for the Groundbreaking Ceremony for their new Union County Depot, Anna IL on March 15^th at 10:00 am.

South Central Transit shared that they are promoting “Wear Green and Save Green” on Friday, March 17, 2023. Clients wearing green will ride for free on any SCT shuttle.

Ben Simpson & Terri Finn announced that Sr. Adult Services has 4 Minivans that they are working with Jeff Waxman to move as they will no longer be transporting clients but are working with Jackson Co. Transit on a service contract that will assist the seniors with their transportation needs.  Please email Terri Finn if your agency should have any interest in the minivans.

Handouts/Resource materials – Terri Finn emailed to the group attachments for Voices for Public Transit, 5310 CVP information from Zoe Keller, and the February 10, 2023 IPTA Rockford Legislative Report.

General Discussion:  Election of new officers: the following committee members volunteered for the 2-year terms – Chairperson: Jimmy Leadingham 

Vice-Chair: Mario Fennoy 

Secretary: Jesica Schlimme

Thank you to these volunteers!

Next meeting – May 17^th at Spero Family Services in Mt. Vernon.

Adjourn: Motion to adjourn at 11:40 a.m. by Mario Fennoy, 2^nd by Ben Simpson.  Meeting adjourned at 11:41.