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Home My Public Portal About2023-02-10 minutesAPPROVED 2023 PUBLIC TRANSIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes Friday, February 10th, 2023 Boone/Bancroft Conference Room, City Hall 320 East McCarty Street, Jefferson City, Mo. 65101 1:30pm – 3:00pm Committee Member(s) – Present Mrs. Angela Hirsch, Chair Ms. Enjoli Dixon Mr. Glenn Bonner Mr. Joshua Hale Mr. Ian Shadrick Ms. Sara Eichholz Committee Member(s) – Absent Ms. Susan McCurran Council Liaison Staff: Gerry Stegeman Glen Vernon Katrina Williams Guest(s): 1. Introductions: The meeting was called to order by Chair Angela Hirsch at 1:30pm. Self-introductions were completed by all attendees. 2. Approval of Agenda Ms. Enjoli Dixon moved to accept the agenda as presented; Mr. Glen Bonner seconded the motion. The motion carried. 3. Approval of Minutes Mr. Joshua Hale moved to accept the October 11th, 2022 minutes as presented; Mr. Glenn Bonner seconded the motion. The motion carried. 4. P-Tac appointment (Enjoli Dixon) Angela Hirsch welcomed Ms. Dixon to the P-Tac Committee. Ms. Dixon carries much knowledge and expertise to transit and the committee looks forward to working with her. APPROVED 2023 5. Committee Discussion a. Title VI Presentation: (Katrina Williams) Katrina Williams, (City Staff -Planner with Planning and Protective Services) agreed to accept additional job duties and assist transit with managerial duties until employee shortage issues are resolved. At this time, Ms. Williams has completed the draft Title VI Program for both JEFFTRAN/CAMPO. The City of Jefferson administers funding and operation of JEFFTRAN, the City’s transit agency, and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) Both JEFFTRAN and CAMPO are partially funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). CAMPO is a sub-recipient via MoDOT of FTA funding. JEFFTRAN is a direct recipient of FTA funding. With staffing/timing issues the FTA and MoDOT approved the combination of Title VI Programs under one umbrella with JEFFTRAN/CAMPO. This program requires updated every three years. A power-point presentation was presented to the P-TAC committee. Currently there is a 45-day comment period for questions and concerns and those questions/concerns should be directed to Katrina William or Gerry Stegeman during this time period. Ms. Williams stated, the Public Works and Planning Committee recommended to move forward to the city council on February 9th, 2023 and has asked support from the P-TAC committee. Mr. Ian Shadrick moved to forward and support the Title VI Program presented; Mr. Glenn Bonner second the motion. The motion carried. b. Fare Increase Update: (Gerry Stegeman) JEFFTRAN riders are acclimating to the fare increases. The last fare increase was implemented in 2007. Brief discussions took place, and Mr. Ian Shadrick recommended to staff, to improve the outreach efforts especially with awareness and social media material in regards to JEFFTRAN. c. Token Transit Update: (Gerry Stegeman) JEFFTRAN will go live with Token Transit on February 20th, 2023. Staff is currently working on signage (including QR Codes) for bus shelters, buses, along with outreach on social media, city website etc. plus training drivers. A small demonstration shown via cell phone to committee members was given. Token Transit collects ten percent of proceeds monthly. Stegeman will provide documentation/contact information (Token Transit) in coming days to/for non-profit agencies on how to purchase bus fares and how to share with their clients. The JEFFTRAN punch passes will still be available for purchase. Ms. Enjoli Dixon expressed the importance of marketing presentation plans, social media, school age/parent outreach and has offered to assist city staff with this task. JEFFTRAN does not have a marketing budget, and in past discussion(s) and request(s) to city staff and city council for consideration to budget hasn’t been successful per chair APPROVED 2023 Hirsch. Ms. Dixon added, there are some outside options and she will work with Ms. Williams in regards. d. Staffing issues/Altering of service (Gerry Stegeman) Currently, JEFFTRAN is experiencing staff shortages which caused extensive discussions and harsh decisions made by city staff and city council. On February 6th, 2023, JEFFTRAN will move to 80-minute headways instead of 40-minute. Unfortunately, this will relieve stress from regular route drivers, but staff foresees shifting stress to hand- wheel staff. We already see an increase with ridership and additional applications for handi-wheels. With 80-minute headways on regular routes, it hinders riders with travel time especially with transfers and arriving at your destination in ample time. JEFFTRAN at full capacity has thirty-one employees. At this time, we are nine staff members short. This includes four full-time bus drivers, two part-time bus drivers, one service worker (bus barn) and one administration staff. We’ve also learned one full-time bus driver will be leaving for medical leave and anticipates eight-twelve weeks of absence and another staff member soon will be as well. JEFFTRAN has struggled for months. Our employees have worked overtime hours with short breaks throughout the day. Employees are doing other duties as assigned. Staff struggles with allowing vacation requests, and covering for sick leave(s) etc. The starting pay for a bus driver is $15.81 a/hour. Unfortunately, our pay is not attractive, especially with our employees not at midrange of a bus driver salary causing staff to not offer anything above $15.81 a/hour to applicants. Currently, the city has contracted a company to look at salary compensations. A comparison of salaries between First Student and the City was discussed. We aren’t able to get applicants to apply, a few that applied and hired, haven’t work out. We aren’t competitive with other companies. Some of the bus driver requirements include a clean background, good driving record, CDL, Class B with passenger /air brake endorsements. JEFFTRAN has two trainers on staff but first we need good candidates to apply then free up our trainers to train. Around table discussions took place, P-Tac committee members discussed salary and recruitment. A few members found the city salaries applauding. Recommendations and yet request to challenge city staff to partnership with high school administration, state techs, vocational rehabilitation, job fairs, indeed, plus signages on buses/shelters for recruiting efforts. These need to be city staff priorities to have attractive salaries for people to want to work for the city. It was also stated, P-TAC is an advisory committee and our responsibility as a member is to find ways to help. Gerry Stegeman added, staff hopes this is temporary. Shortage is everywhere in the city, not just transit. It’s also happening in Columbia, Mo. Recently, I spoke with the director of Columbia Transit, plans are to combine their routes on April 3rd, 2023 and move headways from 45- minutes to 90 minutes. Lastly, the implementing of longer headways cause much burden on the riders to travel throughout the city in an adequate amount of time especially if a transfer is required. A brief discussion took place of current fleet conditions. JEFFTRAN has two new Gillig buses on order which should arrive in spring/summer of 2024, but conditions of hand- APPROVED 2023 wheel buses are deteriorating quickly. The order of handi-wheel buses is a challenge and has been for many months plus costs are rising rapidly with the wait. Handi-wheel buses traveling 150-200 miles a day with no relief ahead. The current fleet mileage on our handi-wheel buses range from 116k to 263K miles. e. Election of officer(s) Chair Angela Hirsch stated, in December 2022, Wayne Lee term had ended and no longer a committee member of P-TAC. Chair Hirsch opens the floor and the discussion for a new chair and vice chair to begin. Mr. Ian Shadrick moved to re-elect Angela Hirsch as Chair of the committee; Ms. Enjoli Dixon seconded. Mr. Glen Bonner moved to make a motion to elect Ms. Enjoli Dixon as vice chair; Mr. Joshua Hale seconded. Chair Angela Hirsch requested for a full motion to approve the chair/vice chair. Mr. Joshua Hale moved to approve the election results; Mr. Glen Bonner seconded. Motion carries. f. Adoption of FY23 P-Tac Calendar. Chair Angela Hirsch presented the FY23 Calendar. This committee meets quarterly and urged all members to place these dates on their calendars and make effort to attend. She also applauded all committee members who attended the budgetary meeting in FY22 and thanked each of them for their time spend. Chair Hirsch stated, our appearance did impact the city council and it’s appreciated by many. g. Adjourned Mr. Ian Shadrick moved to adjourn the meeting; Mr. Joshua Hale seconded. Meeting adjourned at 2:44pm. APPROVED 2023