Thursday, September 27, 2001
1:30 P.M.
Silas Bronson Library
267 Grand Street
Waterbury. CT 06702
Present: Doreen Pulisciano, Cheshire; Ron Marciano, Naugatuck;
Sally Schilke, Naugatuck; Alice Ostapko, Prospect; Carolyn Giguere, Vice
Chairman, Thomaston; Michael Goodiel, Secretary, Waterbury; Ann LaPorta,
Waterbury; Yvonne Denise Smith, M.D., Chairman, Waterbury; Richard Fusco,
Treasurer, Watertown; Kim Hunt, Wolcott. NET Staff Present: Joseph Spina
Jr., Barbara Kalosky. COGCNV Staff Present: Laurel Stegina, Senior
Planner, Alan Shamsky. Guest: Michael Salko, The Kennedy Center; Monique
Medina, The Kennedy Center, Esther Kovach.
1.
Roll Call,
Introductions, Public Participation
Chairman Yvonne Smith opened
the meeting at 1:39 p.m. and asked everyone to introduce him or herself. A quorum was present by town and voting
points. There was no public comment.
2.
Administrative
Items
a. Minutes of June 27, 2001-On a motion by Richard
Fusco, seconded by Ann LaPorta it was unanimously
VOTED: To approve the Minutes of the June 27, 2001 GWTD Board of Directors Meeting.
b. Financial Report for June, July, August-Smith noted
that was a $30 error that was not deducted in FY2000/2001. The current Financial Report for FY
2000/2001 is correct. Fusco reported on
the finance and stated a balance of $969.78.
On a motion by Kim Hunt, seconded by Carolyn Giguere it was unanimously
VOTED: To accept the Financial Report for June, July and August 2001.
c. Ridership and Service Report June, July, August-
Smith reviewed the reports and stated that there was an increase in ADA and
Non-ADA Ridership Service in August.
Cancellations, Denials, Late Cancellations and Missed Trips have
decreased in August. No Shows increased
slightly.
d. Correspondence-
o
APTA-sends material no
longer relevant to GWTD
o
06/27/01-received
letter from IRS stating reinstatement of our Nonprofit status
o
08/14/01-send Notice to
inform mail list that the Agendas and Minutes are on the web site
o
08/16/01- send letter
to Attorney Calderone at Corporate Counsel for legal assistance
o
08/21/01-MBNA Bank
asked for information
o
08/24/01-a letter from
the U.S. Labor Department stating that GWTD was purchasing vehicles and
enforcing GWTD union agreements
o
08/26/01-a letter from
Amalgatmated Transit Union about union agreements in purchasing vehicles
o
09/05/01-send
information requested by MBNA Bank
o
09/14/01-letter to U.S.
Labor Department informing them that GWTD is not purchasing vehicle and not to
use our union agreements
o
09/`8/01-letter to
Cheshire Official requesting that Robert Dezinno be place on the board
o
09/24/01-letter to
Watertown Official requesting the reappoint of Richard Fusco to the board
o
09/27/01-received
notice from MBNA Bank that they accepted our application for a credit card
3.
GWTD Report
Chairman Smith reported on
the following:
·
IRS-501 (c) 3 status
has been reinstated. IRS needs Bylaws
and needs to be inform of any new activities
·
Vacancies-Cheshire has
possible representative for the board-Robert Dezinno. Council meeting for his approval is October 9, 2001
·
Bank-Debit card has a
bank fee of $1.50/month to commercial business after three months. Applied for First Union MBNA Bank credit
card to replace Debit card. Need a
credit or debit card for AOL and Internet software purchases for PC. AOL will charge $5.00 extra if use
check. Have been approval for credit
card
·
Computer-have new Sound
Blaster sound card and 128 MB memory form Gateway in order to fix the computer
incompatibility problem with sound and accessibility program
·
Warranty-On-site
service warranty is for one year; and parts and services warranty is for
three. The on-site warranty will
expirer in October and cannot be extended once expirer. On a motion by Fusco, seconded by Doreen
Pulisciano it was unanimously
VOTED: To appropriate up to $130.00 for the purchase of a 2-year on-site service warranty contract.
·
Norton Antivirus (NAV)-NAV
will expirer in October. The PC comes
with six months of NAV. Since the CPU was replace we have one year of NAV. On a month by Pulisciano, seconded by Hunt
it was unanimously
VOTED: To
appropriate up to $20.00 for the purchase of Norton Antivirus 2002 subscription for one year.
·
Committees-Three
committees will be form, they are the following:
Bylaws-Ron
Marciano, Ann LaPorta, Carolyn Giguere, Richard Fusco, Yvonne Smith
Policies-Alice
Ostapko, Sally Schilke, Cynthia Hughes-Salcito, Michael Goodiel, Yvonne Smith
Grants-Kim Hunt,
Doreen Pulisciano, JoAnn Cappelletti, Richard Fusco, Yvonne Smith
·
Chairmanship-Anyone
interested in becoming chairman for FY2002/2003 please contact me
·
CPTC-Policy for
Replacement and Repair of Wheelchair damage by CT Transit drivers is not
ready. At present looking for place to
obtain wheelchairs and where to store them.
·
Vehicle name-New
vehicles will be named CT Paratransit.
Michael Sanders of ConnDOT will consider a logo name for the vehicles. State of Connecticut property cannot have
operator name on it.
Joseph Spina informed the board that the ten replacement vehicles will
be purchase through the Greater New Haven Transit District procurement process
and are expected to arrive mid-2002. That
the fleet needs to be expanded, by 2003 six vehicles need to be replace, they
need to keep the old replaced vehicle to continue service, replace vehicles can
not be replace again therefore will be short of vehicles, and
The ConnDOT is not responding to the problem of fleet size.
Meetings
·
08/29/01-Protection
and Advocacy for the Disabled (P&A)-a Public Forum with the outcome that
P&A should start enforcing the ADA Act of 1990 and that to improve transportation
for people with disabilities which includes intercity transport.
·
09/05/01 and
09/19/01-Transportation Investment Ares (TIA) meetings-overview of Air,
Commercial Rail, Trucking and Public Transportation in Connecticut.
·
07/25/01, 08/22/01,
and 09/26/01-Bus Signs, Shelters and Kiosks Steering Committee-committee to
work on bus stop signs, shelter and kiosks.
Laurel Stegina spoke about the program.
She introduced Alan Shamsky who will ride the bus to define bus stops
and evaluate accessibility along with on/off counts.
4. Web Site Report
Smith reported that the Web Site is online since July 28, 2000. Hosted by Gateway. Address is www.gwtd.org. Had to buy CuteFTP for $39.95 after 30 day
free trail period in order to upload to web site. Site has links to municipalities except for Naugatuck and Wolcott
(their web site is not up yet).
Information on Paratransit, Fixed Route Bus Service in Connecticut and
the USA. GWTD Agendas and Minutes. Will
have Paratransit Applications on site.
Submitted to search engines and have been accepted by Yahoo. Will resubmit if not on other search engines
by mid- October. If want something on
Web Site please contact me.
5. Non-ADA Ridership Service Report
The membership dues for Non-ADA Ridership Service has been collected
except for Waterbury. Other
municipalities were late with payments.
Have been in constant contact with Waterbury over this. A discussion ensued about Waterbury. If no payment by the end of October Chairman
Smith will write a letter to them.
Smith reviewed the Ridership data.
Beacon Falls and Torrington riders are ridesharing, no extra vehicles
are needed stated Barbara Kalosky.
Another discussion ensued about DMR not contributing to Non-ADA
Ridership Service.
6. NET Report
Barbara Kalosky stated that ConnDOT has notified them and other
operators of the short fall in funding this fiscal year. Asked them as well as other providers to
send ConnDOT a list of cuts to Paratransit Service as well as Fixed Route Bus
Service. The reason for the short fall
in funding is due to increased fuel price, increased Health Insurance,
increased Liability Insurance, increased Highway cost, and an increased
generalized funding for Rail Service.
Joseph Spina explained that in June 2001, the budget for state
subsiditied for NET and the ConnDOT allocated amount for the entire system was
$500,000.00 to $600,000.00 short.
ConnDOT asked to look for cuts in administration and operations. Spina stated that they have a small office
and they could not cut management or administration. They could only proposed cuts in operations. These cuts are:
· Elimination of Saturday for Fixed Route Bus Service, ADA and Non-ADA Paratransit Service
· Elimination of Fixed Route Bus Service, ADA and Non-ADA Paratransit Service in the Borough of Naugatuck
·
Elimination of Non-ADA Paratransit Service with the
possible exception for medical trips and dialysis
These cuts can start in a six-week turn around time or on January 1,
2002 according to Michael Sanders of ConnDOT Spina explained.
A lengthy discussion ensued.
Spina agreed that NET would reimbursed the municipalities for Non-ADA
Paratransit Service proportionately to service render. A letter will be send to Michael Sanders to
explain in writing why DMR is not contributing to Non-ADA Paratransit
Service. With copies send to the
Governor, DMR, and the legislator representing the municipalities. The Board knows that DMR contribution will
not solve NET total financial problems but the municipalities bargain in good
faith to preserve Non-ADA Paratransit Service.
The legislator is needed to solve this on going problem.
7.
The Kennedy
Center
Michael Salko discussed the
Kennedy Center program for mobility. He stated the Center offers a program of
instructions, training, and teaching to people with disabilities to use the
fixed route bus system. People who are
making the transition from Paratransit to fixed route bus system are good
candidates for the program. There is
one on one instructions and supervised activities. Referral Sheet will be place on GWTD Web Site and when the
Mobility Program has a Web Site we will link it.
8.
Old Business
None
9.
New Business
Fusco asked the board member
if they would like to change the meeting place. The parking is hard and the meters are for two hours. We can look into meeting at the conference
room at the Brass Mill Mall and appropriate funds for next fiscal year. Members will think about it.
10.
Next Meeting
Next meeting will be October
25, 2001, at the Silas Bronson Library at 1:30 p.m.
11.
Adjournment
On a motion by Hunt,
seconded by Giguere it was unanimously
VOTED: To adjourn the meeting at 3:12 P.M.
Submitted by
Yvonne Denise Smith, M.D.
Chairman
For
Michael Goodiel
Secretary