Region 10: 2023 meeting Minutes (4/18)

 

HSTP Region 10

Quarterly Meeting Minutes

April 18^th, 2023

                                       

Attendees:

Betty Cox	Clay Co. Rehab-Flora
Mark Auten	TRADE Industries-McLeansboro
Beth Beck-Marts	Central Il. Public Transit\Effingham Co. Public Transit-Effingham
Gidget Simpson	CILA Corporation-Flora
John Gillmore	Central Il. Public Transit\Effingham Co. Public Transit-Effingham
Janice Zwilling	Lawrence-Crawford Assoc. for Exceptional Citizens-Lawrenceville
Keisha Lewis	Lawrence-Crawford Assoc. for Exceptional Citizens-Lawrenceville
Dawn Lamp	Coleman Tri-County Services-Harrisburg
Mike Egbert	Opportunities for Access Center for Independent Living-Mt. Vernon
Shana Holmes	Southeastern Il. Area Agency on Aging-Mt. Carmel
Pete Niccum	Community Support Systems-Teutopolis
Jeff Drake	Rides Mass Transit District-Harrisburg
Officer Michael McWilliams	City of Mt. Carmel-Mt. Carmel
Dave Maziarz	Il. Dept. of Transportation-Springfield
Riley Anderson	Assistant Human Service Transportation Planning Coordinator-Salem
Terri Finn	Human Service Transportation Planning Coordinator-Salem

Call to Order: The quarterly HSTP Region 10 meeting was held on Tuesday April 18, 2023, at the Southeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging.  The meeting was called to order by Mark Auten at 11:04am. 

Introductions: All attendees introduced themselves and their respective agencies.

Approval of January 2023 meeting minutes:  Chairperson Auten asked everyone to review the minutes from the January meeting.  Hearing no additions or corrections a motion was made by Janice Zwilling and seconded by Mike Egbert to accept the minutes.  Approved.

Guest Speaker: Shana Holmes & Terri Finn introduced Officer Michael McWilliams of the Mt. Carmel police department. 

Officer McWilliams gave perspective of family, friends\coworkers that have used public transportation as years ago his uncle had moved closer to the Mt. Carmel area.  The uncle was able to utilize public transportation to go to the store or doctor or for short trips. He stated that transit did help his family tremendously since it freed them up from taking days off to take their uncle places.  Also, an employee with the police department used public transportation to get to and from work, as well as for other daily activities needed help getting places in the evening and on weekends but service was limited or nonexistent. This coworker mentioned some downfalls of using public transportation, such as waiting up to an hour to be picked back up from an appointment, waiting up to 30 minutes to be taken to the store, etc. but she was happy that transit was available to assist her at times.  All in all Officer McWilliams stated that public transportation has been a benefit to the community and is happy to see the buses going thru town. 

Regional Plan: Discussed driver hires, ECPT says they have actually had an increase in new hires while Rides reports that hiring is still going poorly for them.  This impacts the amount and impact of service that can be provided in all areas.  On that note, it was reported to the Committee that Choate Hospital is downsizing and residents of the hospital will be moved to neighboring communities and all supporting agencies will have to increase service with no increase to funding.  The need for transportation will increase and those new CILA residents will have aides riding along which will also cause an increase in ridership. 

On another note, dialysis clinics are still shutting down in the area, so the length of trips folks are needing to get to the closest clinic is increasing.

These issues of concern will be noted in the Regional Plan.

Transportation Concerns: Betty Cox reported that CCR continues to have an issue with IDOT not being able to accurately instruct them in what should be done with an insurance check CCR received due to an accident in which their IDOT vehicles was totaled.  Dave Maziarz stated that he has noted this problem and will attempt to get an answer for CCR.

Shana Holmes brought up some transportation problems.  The local behavioral health center is experiencing a lot of patients requiring transportation.  A lot of them need aides to ride along but have no one.  This is to assist if problem behaviors happen, then driver isn’t responsible for issues.  Also, they are experiencing long wait times.  Shana explained that she doesn’t feel like there is enough public knowledge about the available transit services.     

General Discussion:

·         Elect new Vice-Chairperson: At the January meeting Heather Baker was elected to the position of Vice-Chair.  She has since taken a new job.  After some discussion, Shana Holmes volunteered to take on this role.  A motion was made by Mark Auten to accept Shana Holmes as Vice-Chairperson for the 2-year term.  Motion carried. 

·         Handouts\Resource materials: Riley Anderson went over each handout and discussed some of the hot topics.

·         IDOT Updates: Dave Maziarz introduced himself.  Thanked the committee for all of the input that he can take back to IDOT.  No promises of change but at least they will hear the problems that are being encountered.  No update\change on CVP at all.

·         Next meeting: We will meet on July 18^th at the CILA Corp. management office, 6898 Old Highway 50 in Flora.

Adjourn:  Motion made by Janice Zwilling and 2^nd by Shana Holmes to adjourn at 12:14pm.  Lunch was then provided by Southeastern Area Agency on Aging.