Region 9: 2025 Meeting Minutes (9/11)

 

HSTP Region 9

September 11^th, 2025

Quarterly Meeting Minutes

Attendees:

Susan Thomas	Madison County Transit/Agency for Community Transit – Granite City
Pam Jones	Senior Services Plus – Alton
Melissa Marti	Bond County Transit – Greenville
Dale Deverick	Bond County Transit – Greenville
Eric Robke	Community Link - Breese
Peggy Dunn	Macoupin County Public Transit – Gillespie
Felicia Voelkel	Glen Carbon Senior Center – Glen Carbon
Andrea Boda	Illinois Valley Rehabilitation Center – Gillespie
Sherry Hicks	FAYCO Enterprises, Inc. – Vandalia
Nathan Nichols	Central Illinois Public Transit – Effingham
Sara Nollman-Hodge	South Central Transit – Centralia
Jennifer Bagwell	JewelRide – Edwardsville
Justin Johnson	South Central Transit – Centralia
Nathan Zeller	Chestnut Health Systems – Granite City
Chris Markel	Beverly Farm Foundation - Godfrey
Gayle McElroy	Senior Services Plus – Alton
Terri Finn	HSTP Coordinator – Salem
Riley Anderson	HSTP Coordinator – Salem

 

I.                    Call to Order – The Region 9 quarterly HSTP meeting was called to order at 11:02 a.m. by Chairperson Pam Jones.

II.                 Introductions – All of those in attendance introduced themselves and announced the agency they represent.

III.              Approval of June of 2025 Meeting Minutes – No corrections noted. Pam Jones motioned to approve minutes. Eric Robke seconded the motion.

IV.              Guest Speaker: Nathan Zeller from Chestnut Health Systems was the guest speaker. The agency has multiple locations in Illinois and Missouri. The services offered range from primary care, substance abuse, housing, research, adolescent/adult residential care center, etc. They have a doctor on staff at all locations. They have partnerships with Madison Co. Transit and St. Clair Co. Transit District. With MCT, the agency focus’ their services on five bus stations and bike trails. Through their partnership with MCT, Chestnut Health Systems had 500+ engagements with riders connecting them to resources. Nathan also shared success stories.

V.                Regional Plan 2025 – Riley Anderson presented the updates from the previous meeting. Central Il. Public Transit and South Central Transit are still hiring drivers, schedulers, and dispatchers. Madison Co. Transit has expanded their microtransit service to Edwardsville and is also available in Bethalto/Cottage Hills and Collinsville. Terri and Riley attended the Annual Transportation Meeting in Springfield hosted by the Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC). Ryan Croke from the Governor’s office was in attendance. After the meeting, he reached out to the coordinators and put them in contact with Jill Haden from the Illinois Assoc. of Medicaid Health Plans (IAMHP). They are interested in stories regarding issues with Non-Emergency Medical Transportation. The coordinators are collecting stories from human service agencies and public transportation agencies to share with the group. Riley shared that Dave Schafer of IDOT has plans to work with MCT and SCCTD to expand transit services county-wide, emphasis in rural parts of the county.

VI.              Transportation Concerns – Sara Nollman-Hodge shared that the kickoff meeting with IDOT for the ICAM grant that was awarded last year is next Monday. A consultant has been hired. Updates will be shared with the group as things progress. 

Bond Co. Transit is having issues with the retracting restraints on the newly delivered CVP vehicles. CIPT mentioned having the same issue at a previous meeting. The committee suggested that it would be beneficial if IDOT could reach out to the 5310 and 5311 agencies for input on transit vehicles that are awarded through CVP.

The 5310 and 5311 agencies in attendance expressed frustrations regarding being held to deadlines and requirements, when they feel IDOT doesn’t always follow through with CVP, Program Reviews, etc.

There is potential for a maintenance facility in Southern Illinois. The Springfield maintenance facility has a backlog. Agencies will send their vehicle to the facility for it to sit and wait for a long time before being repaired. South Central Transit has a maintenance facility in Breese and Ina. The agency is open to working with any 5310 agencies that need maintenance done.

JewelRide, due to insurance, has to retire working vehicles that are equipped with a lift. They are open to selling these vehicles to the 5310 and 5311 agencies.

VII.           General Discussion –

a.       IDOT Update: There were no IDOT personnel in attendance. Riley shared that Zoe Keller of IDOT is working on the next cycle of CVP applications now. There is no set date on when they will come available.

b.      5310 Meeting and Schedulers Meeting: Felicia and Paul spoke about their experience at the 5310 meetings. Both found it to be beneficial and expressed interest in future meetings.

Nathan spoke about CIPT’s schedulers/dispatchers attending the Schedulers Meeting. They enjoyed the open discussion between schedulers at all agencies and learned more about non-emergency medical transportation and mobility management. Bond Co. Transit and Macoupin Co. Public Transit expressed interest in attending a future meeting. Riley mentioned that Region 9 transportation providers will be invited to the next Region 11 Schedulers Meeting.

c.       Guest Speaker Ideas: If anyone has any contacts or agencies, they would like to see speak at an HSTP meeting, please reach out to Terri and Riley and let them know. JewelRide suggested that Southern Bus and Mobility as a potential guest speaker.  

d.      Handouts/Resource Materials:  Riley went through the handouts.

e.       Next meeting is December 11^th at via Zoom at 11 a.m.

                                                              i.      We will be setting 2026 meeting dates and locations at the December meeting. Please come ready to volunteer to host.

VIII.        Adjourn – Nathan Nichols motioned to adjourn the meeting. Felicia Voelkel seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 11:59 a.m.