Capital District                                                                                               July 23, 2009

Transportation Committee      

 

 

REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COORDINATION COMMITTEE

RECORD OF MEETING

 

DATE/TIME: June 30, 2009 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm

 

ATTENDANCE: Michelle Abel—Catholic Charities of Schenectady County Wheels to Work, Luis Acosta—CDTA; Mike Barry—Center for Disability Services; Mary Ellen Casey-Usis—CDTA; Rocky Ferraro—CDRPC; Denise Figeroa—Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley; Emily Everett-Franco—CDTA; Paul Germain—Albany County DSS; Gloria Hessell—OTDA; Margo Mahoski—Catholic Charities of Schenectady County; Ed Martin—Rensselaer County ARC; Deb Osborne—Saratoga County DSS; Phyllis Relyea—Schenectady ARC; Daniel Roberts—VESID; Deb Stacey—CDTC Staff; Denise Watso—NYSDOT; Kristina Younger--CDTA

 

STUDY DISCUSSION SUMMARY: After introductions, each agenda item was discussed in sequence:

 

RTCC Activities:  

a.   2008 New Freedom Projects —The RFQ for the purchase and installation of scheduling software has been advertised in the Contract Reporter and proposals are due on July 6th.  An evaluation team consisting of staff from CDTA, CDTC, Catholic Charities and Schenectady ARC will evaluate the proposals received and choose a vendor.  Once the software is installed, tested and learned by the two agencies, additional agencies will be able to provide data to the system to improve scheduling efficiencies.  Catholic Charities also submitted a proposal to begin limited weekend service on a trial basis for seniors in the county.  The service will likely begin in the Fall of ’09.

 

The Schenectady ARC submitted a proposal to expand their repair services to accommodate repair needs from additional human service agencies located in the Capital Region.  Additional information about the project has been submitted to the FTA, since FTA initially ruled that the project is ineligible.  A ruling should be forthcoming.  If this project is not funded, then the dollar amount will be folded back into the New Freedom pot for additional projects.

 

b.     2009 Solicitation CDTC staff solicited for New Freedom projects using Legal Notices in the area newspapers and by email and direct mail.  Project applications were due on May 29th.  One proposal was submitted under the 2009 solicitation.  The city of Watervliet would like to institute shuttle service within the city, connecting senior housing with retail and recreation and with parts of Green Island.  The proposed route would also dovetail with existing CDTA fixed route service, making it easier for seniors and mobility disabled individuals to get where they need to go using CDTA.  CDTA and CDTC will meet with the City to iron out the route detail and to review the budget.  The RTCC was comfortable with this approach.

It was noted that the Saratoga Springs Urban Area has its own allocation of New Freedom funds and that the FFY 2006 funds were forfeited because no projects were submitted for the Saratoga Springs area under the 2008 New Freedom Solicitation.  No applications were received from entities in Saratoga Springs for the 2009 solicitation either.  CDTA is considering applying for those remaining funds.  One candidate project, accessible taxis, received an overwhelming support from the RTCC.  CDTA will put together a proposal for that project and the proposal will be circulated to the RTCC. Another possible project would involve hiring a consultant, like Easter seals, to conduct region-wide sensitivity training for drivers.  The RTCC asked CDTA to identify the cost of both these projects.

 

CDTA:

a.     CST Funding Update-- CST 8 monies have been spent by all the counties except Saratoga.  CST 9 funds are being spent by the counties, but CDTA has not been reimbursed for the expenditures.  CST 9 must be fully spent by June 2010.  CST 10 awards have just been announced.  Each of the four counties in the Capital Region will receive about $55,000.  CDTA instituted a major fare increase in April, so CST 10 dollars will not go as far as past grants.

b.     JARC—CDTA has submitted an application to FTA for the final year allocation as an amendment to the existing grant.  CDTA is one of ten agencies nationwide that has used the JARC monies in a timely manner.  The safety net brokerage is used mainly by Albany County, but is available to all the DSS’s as a stopgap to get people to or home from a job.

c.      Other-- CDTA, CDTC and the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District partnered with a national vanpool company and submitted a proposal to NYSERDA to begin a pilot vanpool project in the Capital Region.  The partners have met on several occasions and the iPool2 website has been modified to provide information about vanpooling and also to process requests for forming vanpools.  The first vanpool is in the process of signing paperwork and should be on the road beginning August 1st.  This vanpool consists of a group of commuters that reside in Johnstown and commute to the Watervliet Arsenal daily.

 

NYSDOT/United We Ride:

a.     United We Ride—On the NYS level, the Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council (MISCC) has taken over the United We Ride Effort. MISCC is responsible for developing a comprehensive Statewide plan to ensure that people of all ages with physical and mental disabilities receive care and services in the most integrated settings appropriate to their individual needs. MISCC has three workgroups—one is devoted to addressing transportation issues.  This workgroup published a report in 2008 (http://www.omr.state.ny.us/MISCC/hp_miscc_transportation_012308.ppt).   There is approximately $34,000 in unspent funds that were programmed for the Albany County United We Ride effort.  NYSDOT is looking at ways to spend these monies.  One option is to aid the center for Disability Services to open its maintenance shop to other Albany County human service agencies, much like the Schenectady ARC has done in Schenectady.


 

b.     Section 5310—FFY 2009 Section 5310 applications were due to NYSDOT on May 1st.  Eight area human service agencies applied for funding.  CDTC will evaluate the eight applications and forward the evaluations to NYSDOT for integration into the interagency review.  The evaluation form is a standard form developed by NYSDOT.

 

NEXT MEETING:

 

The next meeting of the Regional Transportation Coordination Committee is scheduled for Tuesday September 29, 2009 at 1:30 pm at CDTC’s offices.