 Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes Astoria Transit Center Meeting Room 900 Marine Drive, Astoria Phone (503) 861-0657 Toll Free 866-811-1001 Fax (503) 325-1606 E-mail: cindy@ridethebus.org; sarah@ridethebus.org |
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| BOARD MEETING MINUTES | ||
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| March 28, 2008 9:30 a.m. | ||
| Members present: Chair Fenske, Commissioners Gannaway, Gaebel, Goforth, Bline, Conner | ||
| Members Absent: Mendenhall | ||
| Staff Present: Staff Present: Executive Assistant Dailey, Lori Karl-HR/Payroll, Brenda Higgins/Accounting, Scott Smith/Operations, Roni Shaw/Driver Supervisor | ||
| Meeting called to order at 9:35 a.m. | ||
| APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 26, 2008 MINUTES: | ||
| Commissioner Conner made a motion to accept the February 26, 2008 minutes. Commissioner Goforth seconded. All were in favor. The motion passed. | ||
| REPORTS FROM CHAIR AND COMMISSIONERS: | ||
| . | Commissioner Gaebel reported she has accepted an invitation to serve on the final review committee for Connect Oregon II. There is $50 million available for approved projects. She explained more about the steps involved in the process, and how the awarded funds can be used for operations this time versus being limiting to buying permanent buildings or capital items. They will meet at the end of April. | |
| Commissioner Goforth asked Director Howe if this is the same group that reviews SETD's Connect II project involving rail and busses. Director Howe confirmed it was. She explained that our project goes through five review levels, and we have been through three. SETD's project is currently one of ten projects of Region II. She is making the final presentation on the project Thursday. | ||
| Commissioner Bline reported he will be attending the NWACT meeting in Tillamook. There was some discussion regarding the aviation projects not being approved. With an increase in the local tourism business, having flights to surrounding areas should be important. Commissioner Bline also attended the OTC meeting and said there was a presentation about OTIB funds. According to their research, by the year 2011 there will be no funding available in Oregon for transportation projects. | ||
| Commissioner Goforth reported on the NWRC Advisory Committee Meeting. She said it was a productive meeting and they discussed client escorts, transporting mental health clients, and the safety concerns of tri-wheeled scooters. Chair Fenske commented that the tri-wheeled scooters are slowly declining in popularity because they do not have the flexibility of being used indoors and out. Some providers ask the client to transfer to a manual wheelchair or vehicle seat, but occasionally a difficult client will refuse. The brokerage must still transport the client if they refuse. Also, bariatric rides were briefly discussed because in those cases the client's wheelchairs are larger and weigh more. This sometimes prohibits transportation due to a cap on weight to be transported. | ||
| FINANCIALS: | ||
| Chair Fenske asked if SETD had received payment from Fort Clatsop for last year's summer service. She also asked what the $25,978 listed as an expense is for and what was included in the marketing package SETD purchased. | ||
| Brenda Higgins confirmed we had. Director Howe explained that we do have some additional payments coming. | ||
| Director Howe said the expense amount is from the museum parking lot project. The total marketing dollars spent were prepaid for the entire year. It included the new radio jingle, as well as all the radio ads for a year. The current ad features info about the Westport route. The next ad will include information about the upcoming job fair geared towards anyone high school age or older. | ||
| Commissioner Bline asked about the printing schedule of new bus schedules. | ||
| Scott Smith said they will be available April 1st and will be blue. | ||
| Chair Fenske noticed SETD received payment for the Billboard. She asked if the contract is up in 2010. | ||
| Director Howe said it expires in 2011. She recently was informed it had been sold. An attorney is researching to see if that affects the agreement. SETD does not have plans to renew the contract when it ends. | ||
| Commissioner Goforth asked about the money allotted for conference expenses. | ||
| Director Howe pointed out that the amount covers all employees for one year. Some of the conferences are covered by scholarships whenever they are available. | ||
| Director Howe also reported that SETD staff had a budget meeting to discuss the budget process. | ||
| Commissioner Gannaway asked about the significant difference in capital listed for '07 and '08, and is the amount listed for the audit for payments on the NWRC. | ||
| Director Howe explained that the amount varies according to what grants were received and what capital purchases coincide with them. She also confirmed that the audit amount is related to the NWRC audit. | ||
| Director Howe also reported that SETD staff had a budget meeting to discuss the budget process. | ||
| Commissioner Bline made a motion to accept the February 26 financials. Commissioner Conner seconded. Commissioner Gaebel opposed. All others were in favor and motion passed. | ||
| OLD BUSINESS: | ||
| Warrenton Parking Lot Lighting | ||
| SETD received the Special Districts Association of Oregon Safety Grant. The grant is for a 50% match in costs. The next step is to decide where the exact placement of lights should go. | ||
| Director Howe asked the board to approve spending $7,000 from Capital to provide SETD's portion of the match in the grant to do the lighting project. The money would come from the parking lot paving fund, which is currently $30,000. SETD would reduce the area to be paved, in order to have enough for both projects. The back area of the lot is used for parking only, making it a low priority to pave. The new lighting would illuminate the entire lot. | ||
| Commissioner Goforth made a motion to move $7,000 from Capital to the Lighting Fund to pay for 6 lights and outlets in the Warrenton parking lot, reducing the allowance for paving to $23,000. Commissioner Gannaway seconded. Commissioner Gaebel abstained. All others were in favor and motion passed. | ||
| Executive Director Evaluation and Contract | ||
| Chair Fenske asked whether the new contract would be for 3 or 4 years. | ||
| Director Howe said it's for 4. The attorney will give the board a document showing the changes made. | ||
| Commissioner Gaebel asked what happens if the board doesn't agree. | ||
| Director Howe said that the board makes decisions based on a majority, so it would be discussed and voted on. | ||
| Chair Fenske commented that it was valuable to have the responses from the outside stakeholders because SETD needs a director that gets along with others in the community. | ||
| SETD AUDIT: | ||
| Brenda Higgins provided an Audit Deficiency Report for the board. | ||
| Director Howe pointed out that most of the items being questioned had already been resolved. She feels the report is a good exercise for staff and board. | ||
| Commissioner Gannaway feels it would be good for the board to establish a policy to address the investments/credit comments the auditor report included. Even though SETD does not make investments, if a policy was included making a statement to that affect, then the auditor statement would be positive when reflecting that. | ||
| Director Howe said they can ask the auditor to draft a policy for the board to review at a future meeting. Exact figures will not be included because that is the board's duty to add them. | ||
| Commissioner Gannaway asked for clarification about item 2007-3 on page 5 of the report. | ||
| Brenda Higgins explained it involves the legal process the auditor uses to evaluate the financial statement. Currently the financial statement is drafted by an outside firm. | ||
| The board requested Brenda include an additional statement in her SOP to have a policy explaining that the statement is prepared this way until SETD is ready to draft it in house. | ||
| Commissioner Gaebel asked if the board had received a reply in requesting a DMAP Audit Official visit them to discuss the payment discrepancy, and had DMAP put anything in writing? | ||
| Director Howe said they declined and responded that everything is set in stone and will not be changed. She also said they will not put anything in writing. It will be resolved by determining the processes each party has used to arrive at the monetary discrepancy. DMAP and the NWRC use two separate types of accounting methods, which is why the figures are different. | ||
| Columbia County Transit Connection | ||
| Scott Smith reported that ridership has had a slow start, with approximately 2 riders per day. He thinks it will slowly start to pick up with time. | ||
| Director Howe discussed the ODOT corridor funding project. Some of the funds could be utilized in the Columbia/Clatsop route connection. There are three corridor areas of interest being considered. SETD will be contacted by ODOT when new information is available. | ||
| Commissioner Bline commented there used to be a looped bus route that riders could take to connect to the Portland/Metro area. It would be good to get something going that may even make two loops. | ||
| Electric Door Opener | ||
| Installation is complete and the opener works well. | ||
| Seaside and Clatsop College Bus Shelters | ||
| Scott Smith reported the Clatsop College shelter is being installed in the next couple days. The Seaside shelters will probably be installed next week. One is in front of McDonalds and the other is at Broadway and 'A.' | ||
| Director Howe met with Clatsop College President Greg Hamann to discuss college bus service. He will be meeting with college staff to prepare a plan to show his board and SETD. He feels the soonest this can be launched is next year. Director Howe was also appointed to the Clatsop College Budget Committee. She feels that will be a good partnership for both parties. | ||
| Director Howe also led a discussion about adding bus services to serve the Corrections facilities, the new Seniors and People with Disabilities office, the new housing developments and the new Home Depot shopping plaza. It would be good if a main transfer station could be relocated from Fred Meyer. | ||
| Commissioner Bline also added that the Food Bank is also almost sure they are moving to a new warehouse in the same area (by the animal shelter). | ||
| SETD Policy Manual | ||
| Lori Karl announced she is done with the policy manual. She spoke with the legal department at SDAO and they asked she only submit new changes to them for review because they do not have the staff to review the entire document. | ||
| Director Howe has asked that the City of Astoria's Human Resources Director review the document and so the document will be submitted to the board for approval and adoption by June 30. | ||
| Director Howe mentioned the letter in the board packets from RLS & Associates approving our new Drug and Alcohol policy. She thanked Lori for her hard work in preparing it. | ||
| Lori Karl reported on the Employee Representative Counsel meeting. One of the items suggested at the meeting was a reward system of one day additional vacation for employees who have used less than two days of sick time in one year. The employees feel this may help with employees who abuse sick time, leaving other employees to cover for them. | ||
| Director Howe said we do have a few employees who abuse this but for the most part they do fairly well. | ||
| Assistant Dailey mentioned that as an employee, she would not want staff to feel like they are being punished for using their sick time legitimately when using more than two days a year. An employee may need to use some sick time throughout the year to go to medical appointments, or take care of family members who are ill. | ||
| Another idea discussed at the Employee Committee meeting is giving a birthday floater to employees to be used anytime during the year following their birthday. Also, they are brainstorming for ideas for safe driver rewards other than the jacket patches already issued annually. | ||
| NEW BUSINESS: | ||
| Budget Committee | ||
| Director Howe said there are four open slots on this year's Budget Committee. Bonnie Pettit and Judy Richmond wish to be reappointed. Jim Coffee and Steve Hawks have requested they be considered for the remaining two positions. | ||
| Commissioner Bline made a motion to reappoint Budget Committee members Bonnie Pettit and Judy Richmond, and appoint Jim Coffee and Steve Hawks as new members. Commissioner Goforth seconded. All were in favor and the motion passed. | ||
| OTHER ITEMS: | ||
| Warrenton Urban Renewal Committee | ||
| Director Howe submitted a second letter to the Warrenton Urban Renewal Committee requesting participation in their plans. She also included a copy of the July 2007 letter with the correspondence. | ||
| Commissioner Gaebel asked if the board meeting was advertised this time. | ||
| Director Howe said she submitted it to The Daily Astorian, but cannot confirm whether they printed it. She said she will try to be more diligent in checking with her contact at the paper in an attempt to get consistency on their part. | ||
| Meeting Adjourned 11:35 | ||
| Sarah Dailey Recording Secretary |
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| Approved: | ||
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| Secretary/Treasurer | ||
| THIS MEETING IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE DISABLED, AN INTERPRETER FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED MAY BE REQUESTED UNDER THE TERMS OF OS 192.630 BY CONTACTING SUNSET EMPIRE TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT AT 861-7433 | ||
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