Region 9: 2023 Meeting Minutes (3/9)

 

HSTP Region 9

March 9, 2023

Quarterly Meeting Minutes

 

Attendees:

Sara Hodge	South Central Transit-Centralia
Nathan Nichols	Central Il. Public Transit-Effingham
John Gilmore	Central Il. Public Transit-Effingham
Mike Egbert	Opportunities for Access\Center for Independent Living-Mt. Vernon
Eric Robke	Community Link-Breese
Justin Johnson	South Central Transit-Centralia
Susan Wild	Challenge Unlimited-Alton
Sherry Hicks	FAYCO-Vandalia
Felicia Voelker	Glen Carbon Sr. Center-Glen Carbon
Dave Maziarz	Il. Dept. of Transportation-Springfield
Gerald McDonald	Tri-County Rural Transit-Jerseyville
Jeanette Ackerman	Il. Valley Economic Development-Gillespie
Susan Thomas	Madison Co. Transit\Agency for Community Transit-Granite City
Riley Anderson	Human Service Transportation-Salem
Terri Finn	Human Service Transportation-Salem

 

Call to Order – The Region 9 quarterly HSTP meeting was called to order at 11:03 by Chairperson Sherry Hicks at the SCT Transportation Center in Centralia.

Introductions – All those in attendance introduced themselves and announced their agency.

Approval of December 2022 meeting minutes – Motion by Eric Robke, second by Jerry McDonald.  Minutes approved with no additions or corrections.

Guest Speaker – Sara Hodge gave a presentation about SCT services.  She stated that ridership is slowly increasing, and they are working to keep up with demand as drivers are still needed.  Sara also discussed Region 11’s coordination efforts and customer service training with schedulers from each of the public provider offices in that region.

Regional plan – The gaps and needs section was reviewed.  The main item reported is that staff\drivers are coming & going with the situation getting better. There was discussion about shared maintenance as many are having lift issues and this takes the vehicle out for an extended amount of time until a repair can be performed. 

This section of the Regional Plan will continue to be a working document that will be reviewed and updated at each meeting.

Transportation concerns - Dave Maziarz from IDOT asked the group what concerns they had about IDOT and said he would share any concerns with IDOT team. The HSTP Committee agreed that our partnership and working relationship with IDOT has greatly improved recently. Dave was thanked along with the other IDOT staff for answering calls and answering questions. Dave also said they are working on CVP vehicle procurement and 5311 payment issues.

Eric Robke had questions about training and how training could be expanded to involve more people.  Terri Finn informed Eric & others that when RTAC (Rural Transit Assistance Center) schedules a training at a local agency, she is informed and shares with the group via email of the training and details (date, time, location). At which time Sherry Hicks announced that FAYCO will be hosting a training on Saturday March 11. 

General Discussion - Group discussed employee shortage, Susan Thomas reported on the hiring of 25 drivers. They were able to avoid shutting down services and were now only 5 drivers down.

Some local agencies that have 5310 vehicles are deciding to give up their transportation services.  Jeff Waxman is working with those agencies to move vehicles to other entities that can best use them.

Region 9 officer elections – The following committee members either volunteered or were nominated to a 2-year term.

Chairperson – Nathan Nichols

Vice Chair – Sherry Hicks

Secretary – Sara Nollman-Hodge

Motion made by Eric Robke and 2^nd by Susan Thomas to approve this slate of officers.  Motion carried.

Next meeting will be on June 8^th with Macoupin County Transit hosting.  The exact location will be sent to everyone.

Adjourn – Motion was made by Nathan Nichols, 2^nd by Sara Hodge.  Meeting adjourned at 11:52am.