Capital
District May
29, 2012
Transportation
Committee
REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COORDINATION
COMMITTEE
RECORD OF MEETING
DATE/TIME: May 24, 2012
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
ATTENDANCE:
Michele Abel—Catholic Charities Wheels to Work; Mike
Barry—Center for Disability Services; Bryan Baszczuk—ACCES-VR; Anne Benware—CDTC Staff; Mary Broderick—Foster Grand
Parents; Jane Canale—Schenectady ARC; Darci Carter—OTDA; Rocco Ferraro—CDRPC; Mark C. Sheehan—Schenectady
ARC; Deb Stacey—CDTC Staff; Paul Tenan—Care
for Life Foundation, Inc.; Edward Wolk—CDTA
DISCUSSION
SUMMARY:
Meeting participants introduced themselves.
After introductions, each agenda item was discussed in sequence:
2. RTCC
Activities:
a. New Freedom
Program —
2008 Projects:
·
Catholic
Charities has completed the scheduling software project that was funded under
the 2008 New Freedom program, and has reached the end of the required reporting
period. Through the 5 year software contract,
Catholic Charities and ARC will receive periodic updates; ARC will get a
tutorial. Catholic Charities was also
able to run the software for the Eddy and provide them with the results.
·
The
3 year contract for weekend service provided by Catholic Charities, begun in
2008, will likely be ending December 31, 2012. 145 clients and 10,000 service miles have been
tallied thus far. Another driver was
hired for Saturday service twice per month to meet the demand which has gone
beyond the 24 trips threshold.
2009
Projects:
·
Funding
will be ending soon for the City of Watervliet’s
New Freedom supported shuttle service.
·
Accessible Taxis – There has been minimal activity.
CDTA put out an RFP for additional accessible taxi vehicles; Gorman Enterprises
is poised to be awarded the contract for 8 new vehicles which are remodeled
minivans with two wheelchair tie-downs.
The vehicles are also accessible to people using walkers. CDTA is working on the procurement for the
service. (CDTA received New Freedom
funds for this project. A taxi company
contracts with CDTA for the service and leases the vehicles from CDTA which
serves as the match. The taxi company
must serve clients in wheelchairs but may use the vehicles for other service if
the vehicle is available. There are
monthly reporting requirements). The 8
new accessible taxis will allow better regional coverage, with 2 of these being
dedicated to Saratoga County. The
service is provided at market rate, but meets ADA requirements.
2011 Projects:
·
Radio Project – installation is now complete. The tracking works well on the 100+ vehicles owned
by the four participating agencies including Catholic Charities, Center for
Disability Services, Albany Seniors, and Schenectady ARC. The agencies feel the contractor did a great
job.
2012/13 New
Freedom Allocation: Approximately
$200,000 of 2012/13 New Freedom federal funding will be made available to the
Capital Region. (This covers Albany, Schenectady and Troy; a separate funding
amount will be available for Saratoga but the amount is not yet known.) As has
been done in the past, CDTC will send out a New Freedom application to all
interested parties. CDTA and CDTC staffs suggested a February 2013 solicitation
to fit with current funding cycles. An
important question is whether the funds can be used to continue current successful
projects such as the Catholic Charities weekend service and potentially the
Watervliet service. CDTA staff is
checking on this with FTA. If continuation of current projects is eligible the
schedule could be accelerated and solicit for projects prior to February. It was pointed out that once New Freedom
funds are allocated, there’s a two year time frame in which the funding can be
spent. The decision about the timing for
the solicitation will be made at the September RTCC meeting once the
eligibility question is answered.
3.
NYSDOT — (NYSDOT
staff were not present at the meeting to provide a report)
a.
United We Ride (Albany
County): It’s our understanding that
remaining monies are yet to be programmed.
b.
Section 5310 Program: Deb
recounted that there have been some requests for support letters verifying that
an application is consistent with the regional coordinated plan. She indicated that Capital Region applicants
have been successful in the past. NYSDOT will send the 5310 applications for
the region to CDTC staff, most likely in August. CDTC staff then evaluates the applications based
on need, alternatives and coordination, with coordination being most heavily
emphasized.
4.
CDTA —
a. CST Activities: CDTA has a CST (Community Solutions for Transportation) grant
that is used to pay for monthly transit passes; to date $85,000 has been
distributed.
b. JARC Activities: CDTA reported that JARC (Job Access Reverse Commute)
funds have been drawn down with the bulk going toward mobility managers/travel
trainers. The 2012/13 JARC allocation
will be $306,000. CDTA uses these funds
effectively (travel trainers are associated with County Departments of Social
Services and Safety Net Brokerage). The federal
SAFETEA-LU Legislation requires that JARC projects be programmed through a
competitive solicitation. In the past, CDTA has been the only applicant for
JARC funding, mostly due to the 50% match required for operating costs which is
difficult for many agencies. The JARC
timeline proposed would solicit for projects early in 2013; which will prevent
a gap in service. Deb pointed out that
when a new transportation bill is passed by Congress this could all
change. Recent congressional proposals
include combining JARC, New Freedom and other programs into one pot, instead of
having separate allocations.
a. News Around the Table:
Wheels and Ways to Work – Michelle Abel
reported that the program has placed 36 people into cars. She explained that the program provides a
$5,000 loan for a car purchase to allow the person to get to work. The program helps clients improve their
credit and with the availability of a car, many are able to land better
jobs. Eligibility is based on HUD guidelines
which require households to be 80% of poverty level, with minor children.
Care for Life Foundation – Paul Teenan
described the plan that the foundation is currently putting into place as one
designed for frail elders in Albany and Rensselaer Counties with chronic
illnesses who are at risk for nursing home placement to assist them with the
activities of daily living. This is a not
for profit funded by Seton Health and the Albany Catholic Diocese which is a Medicare
certified PACE program (the 8th in NYS), with start- up slated for Fall 2012. The first
phase will cover up to 175 clients with the second phase accommodating up to
300, with the primary focus a day center, located at 425 New Scotland Avenue in
Albany, where various services will be available. Paul indicated that they are submitting a
5310 application for vehicles that will be used in year two of their operation.
They’re currently exploring whether to run transportation service in-house or to
contract with a vendor to run the service. Skilled drivers with one year experience will
be hired to provide door to door service to the day center and to PT/OT and
other medical appointments. Members of the
group asked about the types of trips that will be provided and offered some
thoughts on potential areas for future coordination with other agencies
currently providing these types of trips.
Schenectady ARC – Phyllis resigned and the agency is actively
recruiting to replace her.
Center for Disability Services – Mike
reported that the Center has started a new business model which involves
opening up the maintenance center to vehicles owned and operated by both not
for profits/schools and potentially for profits in the future. The plan is to become a full service
maintenance resource for other agencies/businesses. The Center has an agreement with one school
currently but intends to grow this effort.
The idea is that the Center can maintain vehicles and potentially
provide drivers to other agencies/businesses competitively. They’ve applied for a garage license and will
be able to do all types of work except for body or heavy engine work. Deb asked if a presentation could be done at
the next RTCC meeting on this effort; Mike agreed.
Adult Career and Continuing Ed Services – Bryan attended the meeting to learn about transportation services
available to people with disabilities in an effort to help people find transportation
to employment.
Foster Grandparents – Mary informed the group
that Foster Grandparents, part of AmeriCorps, covers 9 counties in the area. Partial reimbursement for transportation is
available to foster grandparents who meet eligibility requirements (200% of
poverty level and below for people 55 and older). CDTA provides ˝ fare cards and assistance
from their travel trainers. Rural trips
are difficult. Foster grandparents often
act as mentors, help with tutoring and can work with people up to age 21.
Office of Temporary Disability Services (OTDA) – Darci reported that the 2011 CST (Community Solutions for
Transportation) funding in the amount of $112,000 has been awarded to 33
counties. The 2012/13 budget has
extended CST 09/10/11 for spend down purposes.
They would like to combine Wheels for Work ($144,000) and CST for a
combined program amount of approximately $500,000 and covering items such as
bus passes, car loans/repairs, etc. CDTA
received several CST allocations in the past which provided discounted bus
passes to the local DSS’s; the counties are now continuing the effort as it is
successful.
CDRPC –Rocky informed the group that CDRPC provides data
services with many datasets available via their website (www.cdrpc.org).
ACS (American Community Survey) data is now available but can be tricky
in terms of access and interpreting the data.
To assist users therefore CDRPC’s website has taken the data and
developed socio-economic profiles for each community in the region; there are
five data sets available for each. In
terms of Census data, now available through the American Fact Finders website,
CDRPC has produced a set of “How To” instructions for accessing the Census data
through the Fact Finders website. In
addition, CDRPC offers training on the datasets and their staff is able to travel
to work sites for that purpose. One of the primary issues with the most recent
data is that, especially for smaller communities, the margin of error can be
quite high for the 1 year and 3 year datasets.
There are more choices for datasets but there are caveats that users
need to be aware of. CDRPC is working to
finish up population projections at the minor civil division level. These are taking a bit of time due to the
fact that the age cohort projections are also being done. Rocky pointed out projections are showing the
aging population percentage is growing significantly. For questions regarding data sets people can
contact Joanna King at CDRPC via phone or email.
Regarding the aging population and concerns about the capacity to provide
ever increasing related services needs, Margo pointed out that it seems there
are a large number of out of area transportation providers servicing medical
trips and that it’s discouraging that more coordination is not taking
place. One reason is that an out of area
company, MAS, has the contract for scheduling trips for a large area of the
state.
NEXT
MEETING:
The
next meeting of the Regional Transportation Coordination Committee is proposed
for Tuesday September 18th, 2012 at 1:30 pm at CDTC’s
offices.