MINUTES

 

 

Greater Waterbury Transit District

Thursday, March 28, 2002

Silas Bronson Library

237 Grand Street

Waterbury, CT 06702

 

 

Present: Robert Dezinno. Cheshire; JoAnn Cappelletti, Middlebury; Ron Marciano, Naugatuck; Sally Schilke, Naugatuck; Alice Ostapko, Prospect; Michael Goodiel, Secretary, Waterbury; Yvonne Denise Smith, M.D., Chairman, Waterbury; Richard Fusco, Treasurer, Watertown; Kim Hunt, Wolcott. NET Staff: Barbara Kalosky.

 

 

1.      Roll Call, Introductions, Public Participation

 

Chairman Yvonne Smith opened the meeting at 1:37 p.m., called roll and introduced others.  A quorum by municipalities and voting units were present.  There were no public comments.

 

 

2.      Administrative Items

 

a.      Minutes of January 28, 2002-On a motion by Richard Fusco, seconded by Kim Hunt it was unanimously

 

VOTED:  To approve the Minutes of the January 28, 202, GWTD Meeting.

 

 

b.      Financial Report-Fusco reported the balance at the end of February was $895.33.  All Membership Dues for the Financial Budget FY 2001/2002 have been paid.  On a motion by Hunt, seconded by Ron Marciano it was unanimously

 

VOTED:  To accept the Financial Report for March 2001.

 

c.      Ridership and Service Report-Smith reviewed the report stating that in the month of January ADA Trips were 4,317, up by 417 trips.  And in February there were 4,064 ADA Trips, down by 253 trips.  CDOT Trips in January were 1,944, up by 195 trips and in February there were 1,775, down by 169 trips.  The ADA and CDOT Percentage stood at about 70%/30% respectively.  Cancellations were up in January and February.  Denied Trips in January dropped by 50% but increased by 50% in February.  Late cancellations have decreased over January and February.  No Shows have increased over January and February.  The operating cost was high in January due to premium payments for insurance.  A discussion of the terms No Show and Missed Trip occurred.  Barbara Kalosky stated that North East Transportation (NET) was sending letters to violators of the No Show and Missed Trip rules but not enforcing the sanctions.

 

d.      Correspondence

 

Letter from James Sanders, CDOT Operation Manager about Curb-to-Curb Service-CDOT will only cover this type of service.

 

Letter from CDOT informing us that James Sanders is retiring on March 28, 2002.

 

CPTC (Connecticut Public Transportation Commission)- received Agendas and Minutes.

 

Received email and postal mail from APTA (American Public Transportation Association).

 

Other important mail to be discussed during meeting otherwise rest of mail was advertisements.

 

 

3.      GWTD Report

 

o       Received a Staples tax exempt card

o       COGCNV Board of Directors voted to accept the GWTD Membership Dues for Non-ADA Ridership Service for FY 2002/2003

o       GWTD website had 1,326 hits as of March 27, 2002 (online since August 2001)

o       Naugatuck and Wolcott have Website now and there are links to them in GWTD Website.

o       GWTD website has links to State legislators from member municipalicities and also links to the Transportation Committee

o       NET Paratransit Application is off the Website.  Have not received the new application yet.

o       Computer is working well.  Have visual accessible software on it that belongs to Chairman Smith

o       Diane Donahue has called and threatens to sue the GWTD Board of Directors over re-certification application.  Stating her rights are being violated by asking for permission to speak with her physician.  Spoke to Michael Sanders, ConnDOT; Barbara Kalosky. NET; Mayor Michael Jarjura and his staff about this issue.  GWTD Board of Directors has no liability insurance or a lawyer.  We are not involved with the Kennedy Center or ConnDOT re-certification application form or consulted with its contents.

o       Curb-to-Curb Service- spoke to Michael Sanders and Ricardo Almeido of ConnDOT about this.  Mr. Sanders stated that this DOT policy to do what the ADA Paratransit states for all the Paratransit that DOT controls.  Joseph Spina, North East Transportation (NET), stated they would continue doing Door-to-Door Service.  They have insurance for this till June 30.  The cost is not that much and it is worth it.  NET plans to continue Door-to-Door Service after June 30.

o       New Freedom Initiative is back.  It is in the President’s Transportation Budget for FY 2003

o       Ed Hoyt, assistant director of the Northwest Region for DMR stated that the $40,000 has been appropriated for the Non-ADA Ridership Service for this fiscal year.  Has not been sent an invoice by ConnDOT yet.

o       Need a reappointment letter for Kim Hunt of Wolcott

o       At the COGCNV meeting in January, received a booklet of COGCNV municipalicities State Legislators

o       Have email support for House Bill No. 5309 to restore transportation cuts and maintain existing transportation to 30 Appropriation Committee members

o       Paratransit name, GWTD, is being taken off.  It will be replace by CTParatransit, consistent with all ConnDOT owned vehicles.

 

Meeting

o       COGCNV Board of Directors meeting-2/8/2002-voted to accept Membership Dues for Non-ADA Paratransit Ridership Service for FY 2002/2003

o       Bus Steering Committee Meeting-3/23/2002- Michael Sanders stated there would be no cuts in service are fiscal year.  That there is not enough funding for FY 2002/2003 and there will probably be cuts.  The 8% increase in funding will go to administrative cost.

 

 

4.      Non-ADA Ridership Service Report

 

Ridership is stable.  So far had a total of 13,808 trip for the eight member municipalicities and 14,202 total trips.  DMR has appropriated $40,000 that has not been billed by ConnDOT.  Waterbury has not paid its membership Dues for Non-ADA Ridership Service and may not be able to pay until next fiscal year.  Statements have been sent to Mayor Jarjura, the Controller, Budget Manager Tom Ariola, and Allyn DeMaida.  Invoices for FY 2002/2003 for Membership Dues will be sent on April 1, 2002.  Naugatuck will be sent an invoice for $3,000 because N1 and N2 are still in service. Will email charts of Non-ADA Ridership Service.

 

5.      North East Transportation (NET) Report

 

Barbara Kalosky stated that the 10 new vehicles would arrive in June.  The next fiscal year budget does not have enough funding.  NET plans to meet with ConnDOT before the end of this fiscal year to clarify their plans for the next fiscal year concerning service.  NET plans to ask ConnDOT if they can increase the Non-ADA trip fare to $3.00 a trip from $2.00 a trip.  A discussion on fare increase occurred. 

 

6.      Old Business

 

None.

 

7.      New Business

 

Fusco discussed the Nominating Committee.  The Annual Meeting activities will be arranged by the Nominating Committee. The Chairman will appoint Nominating Committee next month.

 

8.      Next Meeting

 

Next meeting April 28, 2002 at 1:30 p.m. at Silas Bronson Library.

 

9.      Adjournment

 

On a motion by Hunt, seconded by Michael Goodiel it was unanimously

 

VOTED:         To adjourn meeting at 2:51 p.m.

 

 

Submitted by

Yvonne Denise Smith, M.D.

Chairman

For

Michael Goodiel

Secretary

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