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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommission On Disability - Minutes - 03/09/2006COMMISSION ON DISABILITY MEETING MINUTES Thursday, March 9, 2006 Fort Collins City Hall Council Information Center 12:15 p.m. Attendance City Staff Liaisons Guests Steve Rierson Annie Houston Marlys Sitmer Joanie Cook Steve White Judith Lavelle Terry Schlicting Dawn Scott Melinda Suits 1. Call to Order: Steve Rierson, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:19 p.m 2. Approval of Minutes of the February 9, 2006 Meeting. Motion: Terry Schlicting made a motion to approve the minutes of the February 9, 2006 meeting. Melinda Suits second. Motion carried. 3. General Discussion: ■ Melinda mentioned that Susan did write a letter to the Editor of the Coloradoan thanking the City for being responsive to requests concerning Dial -A -Ride and the rest room renovation here at City Hail. ■ Terry distributed copies of a brochure advertising CSU's Disability Awareness Days 2006 and mentioned the dates of the event were March 21-27. He stated the keynote speaker was Mark Zupan and he stated the Denver Harlequin Rugby team would be doing a demonstration at the Rec Center on March 27. ■ Annie Houston reported that, at Susan's request, she sent out certificates of appreciation to City Hall for being responsive to the request to renovate the public restrooms to meet the accessibility requirements. She also stated she sent a certificate to the Downtown Business Association to thank them for providing a space in Old Town Square in 2004 and 2005 for the COD Art show. ■ Melinda stated that on March 23, a transition fair will be held at Front Range Community College and that Eon Wheatly is the scheduled keynote speaker. ■ Steve Rierson stated he has been contacted by a person asking him to go look at all the voting places to see if they are accessible. He stated he would be calling the person back this afternoon to see what that entails. He will report back to the COD when he has more information. ■ Joanie distributed copies of the work plan and budget but was not sure if it was the most current and approved budget. She will continue to look for it. ■ Steve White also reported he was contacted by a reporter at the Coloradoan who stated an article about PHA would be published in the paper in a few weeks. He stated she had asked him about Heavy Doors and the Mayor's Awards. She also told him she had already spoken to Mark Beck about PHA. 4. Introductions: Introductions were made around the table and included Marlys Sittner, General Manager of Transfort/Dial-A-Ride and Judith Lavelle, Marketing Analyst of Transfort. 5. Open Discussion General Public: None. 6. New Business: Marlys Sittner, General Manager Transfort/Dial-A-Ride: Marlys stated that she asked to be on the COD Agenda in order to talk a bit about transportation and what has been happing with Transfort and Dial -A -Ride. She stated that they, like the other City departments have been affected by the recent budget cuts and that the City was expecting another budget shortfall next year. She stated that in 2005, a 7% increase in Dial -A -Ride service was experienced and that approximately 87,800 trips were provided. She noted that they receive approximately 400 reservations a day and average approximately 320 trips a week. She also stated there are 15 fixed routes, including Fox Trot, which is the regional connector between Fort Collins and Loveland. She stated Fox Trot averages over 35 passengers an hour and starts at the Square in Fort Collins with a drop of point at the Orchard Shopping Center at 29 h Street and Overland in Loveland. In answer to the question regarding accessible busses, Marlys stated that all of the Fort Collins and Loveland busses are accessible. Marlys stated that currently about 9% of riders on the mixed route system are people with disabilities and she would like to see that number grow. Some discussion ensued regarding adding more fixed routes and it was specifically noted that the Timberline and Harmony corridor has no bus service at this time even though it is a very busy area which includes the Social Security Office and the Harmony Medical Campus. Marlys stated that each new route would add approximately $220,000 to their budget and they just don't have the resources to do that at this time. She stated that before all the expansion began in that area, there was bus service however, the previous Council members decided to cut those routes due to lack of use and instead provide more service in the higher traffic areas along College Avenue and CSU. She stated that she was invited to meet with the current Council on March 28 to discuss the transit system and its growth in the future. She also added that meeting would be aired on Channel 14 if anyone was interested in watching it. Dawn asked if Marlys was familiar with the Public Transit Advocacy Group (PTAG). Marlys reported she was very aware of them and had spoken to them on several occasions. She noted they were a citizens group who is working on their own to get the word out about the community need for the transit service. Dawn also asked if students were still riding the bus for free. Marlys stated that City Council had passed a fare of 25 cents for students 17 years of age and under but the Bohemian Foundation offered to pay that fee so that all youth can ride free, they are currently funding that service in the amount of $50,000 annually. Marlys also stated that as ridership continues to grow, they are continuing to do whatever they can to operate more efficiently and effectively. She also stated Transfort recently received a grant to buy a new fixed route bus which they just received. She stated the bus is a low floor vehicle that has two wheelchair securement areas and will be fueled by compressed natural gas. Steve White also reported that the City has plans to switch one of the Dial -A -Ride vehicles to run on a blend of hydrogen and compressed natural gas in April. In addition, Marlys stated a new transit center is being built at CSU and is slated to be operational by August 2006. She stated that by going to www.fcgov.com and clicking on Transfort's page, you can watch the construction progress on the webcam that has been set up on the building site. In addition, Marlys stated she noticed that COD had expressed concerns that Dial -A - Ride might privatize. She stated there were no plans to privatize Dial -A -Ride at this time and the contract with Shamrock was made in order to continue to provide services in a more cost effective way. The COD was very appreciative of Marlys taking the time to share this information with them. Annie distributed copies of a questionnaire that Steve White received from Karla Smith. Steve stated the memo was self explanatory and he would like Susan to address the questions and bring them back to the COD for review before turning the questionnaire in. Subcommittee Reports Art Show: Steve Rierson reported the committee met and after some discussion, the committee decided not to have an art show this year but to take the time to try to find out why there wasn't good participation at last years event. Barbara Schoenberger (Senior Center) suggested developing a survey to send to the artists who did and did not participate last year and Steve reported the sub -committee is in the process of creating a list of questions for the survey. Steve White said he spoke with Kelly DiMartino who stated we could either use their office to help with the survey as they are experienced in that area, or we could use Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com). He stated the site would post the survey and from a mailing list we provide, they would send post cards to people inviting them to go online to fill out the survey. They would also compile the information to return to us. He did state there would be a small fee associated with using Survey Monkey although he did not know the amount. Steve Rierson stated that if anyone has any suggestions for questions, to please submit them to him. He will keep COD posted on the sub -committee's progress. ■ Budget: Jeanie Cook stated she would try to locate the updated budget. • Practical Housing for All: No report. Heavy Doors: It was noted that Susan would like to keep this on the Agenda as she would like to revive the program this year. Mayor's Awards: It was noted that COD needs to start working on the Mayor's Awards now and a meeting of the subcommittee was scheduled for March 23 at 12:30 at Everyday Joe's. After some discussion, a suggestion was made to combine the Nominating Subcommittee and the Mayor's Awards Subcommittee in an effort to better plan the event. Motion: Dawn Scott made a motion to combine the Nominating Subcommittee and the Mayor's Awards Subcommittee. Joanie Cook second. Motion carried. Annie Houston will notify the City that the March 23 meeting at the Utilities Building has been changed to a different location. ■ NOD Award: Melinda Suits stated NOD finally announced the winners for 2005 and we were not mentioned. Joanie suggested that next year we should focus more on City programs as that is what this years winners did. Steve White also suggested that we start working on this project earlier this year. ■ Public Outreach: No report. ■ COD Web Site: No report. • Media Relations: No report. 8. Community News and Updates: None. 9. Adjourn: Melinda Suits made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Terry Schiicting second. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 12:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Joanie Cook COD Secretary