March 27, 2024 Board Meeting Minutes

Jul 24, 2024 | HTMMTS Boards, HTMMTS Meeting Minutes

Harbor Transit Board Meeting Minutes

March 27, 2024
Spring Lake Township

1. Meeting called to order by President Craig Bessinger at 4:30 PM.

2. Roll Call:
Present: Craig Bessinger, Bill Cate, Gordon Gallagher, Deanna McIntyre, Cathy Pavick, Brady Selner, & Will Whittemore
Absent: Bill Cargo, Ashley Latch, Kevin McLaughlin, & Joel TePastte
Also Present: Dana Appel, Scott Borg, Andrea Dumbrell, Peter Haefner, & Annelise Walker.

3. Approval of Jan 24, 2024 HTMMTS Board Meeting Minutes.
Motion by Gallagher, second by Pavitch to approve the minutes of the Jan 24, 2024 meeting
minutes. Motion carried.

4. Additions/Corrections to the Agenda: None.

5. General Business/Call to Audience: None.

6. Consideration for Approval of Consent Agenda:
a. Approval of FY2024 Amended Budget
b. Approval of FY2024 Capital Grant Projects
c. Approval of New Brochure Advertising Fee
d. Approval of Payable Warrant
e. Receive/File Financial Statements
f. Receive/File LAC Meeting Minutes
Motion by Gallagher, second by Cate to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Motion
carried.

7. New Business:
a. Discussion/Action on the Harbor Transit 2023 Financial Audit:
Peter Haefner of Vredeveld Haefner LLC presented a summary of his findings in the 2023
Financial Audit. The audit went smoothly and the Harbor Transit staff was very helpful.
Motion by McIntyre, second by Gallagher to accept the 2023 Financial Audit as presented.
Motion carried.
b. Discussion/Action one Harbor Transit’s Section 125 Cafeteria Plan Policy:
Human Resource Director Andrea Dumbrell presented a report on the 125 Cafeteria Plan
Policy for health insurance options. Currently, there are 18 HTMMTS employees receiving
insurance benefits under the plan.
Motion by Gallagher, second by McIntyrer to approve the Section 125 Cafeteria Plan
Policy as presented. Motion carried.

8. Reports:
a. Marketing: Annelise Walker provided copies of the 2022-23 Annual Report to the
members. She reported on the most recent visit to/from students from Ferry/Voyager
Elementary School under a partnership with the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce. She also
highlighted a Public Service Announcement (PSA) program whereby charitable
organizations can advertise programs inside busses for up to 90 days at no charge.
b. Operations: Scott Borg presented data on various aspects of ridership. Overall ridership is
still lower than pre-pandemic levels, but appears to be trending upwards. They have
started tracking on-time performance, both for pick-ups and drop-off; overall they are
trending at 89% on-time in both categories. No-shows have been greatly reduced, thanks
to the Lakeshore Go App. There was one crash with an injury in Feb 2024, as well as two
calls for road service.
c. Transportation: Scott Borg reported on:
• Current Congressionally Directed Spending Requests through the office of US Senator
Gary Peters for FY2025. HTMMTS made it through the first two rounds last year, but
did not make the final cut.
• The Michigan Municipal League (MML) conducted a loss control visit in Jan 2024 with
no recommendations.
• VIA will track On Time Performance a (OTP) by both arrival and departure times.
• Environmental NEPA Study Preliminary Building Footprint: Harbor Transit is currently
working with Progressive AE to develop a foot print for the Environmental Firm to work
with. This will allow the firm to complete the NEPA on only the land that Harbor
Transit intends to use and will result in an overall cost savings for the study. NTH
Environmental estimates the NEPA process will not be completed until late summer
2024.

9. Board Member Comments:
• Cathy Pavick commended Dana Appel on the results of the Financial Audit.
• Brady Selner commented he was looking forward to working with the board.

10. Meeting Adjourned at 5:08 PM

11.Next Regularly Scheduled Board Meeting: 4:30 PM, May 22, 2024, City of Ferrysburg, 17520
Ridge Ave, Ferrysburg.

January 24, 2024 Board Meeting Minutes

May 21, 2024 | HTMMTS Boards, HTMMTS Meeting Minutes

Regular HTMMTS Board Meeting Minutes – January 24, 2024

Grand Haven Township

1. Meeting Called to Order by President Craig Bessinger at 4:30 p.m.

2. Roll Call

Present: Craig Bessinger, Bill Cargo, Bill Cate, Bill Cousins, Gordon Gallagher, Deanna McIntyre, Cathy Pavick, & Will Whittemore

Absent: Ashley Latch, Kevin McLaughlin, & Joel TePastte

Also Present: Dana Appel, Finance and Compliance Director; Scott Borg, HTMMTS Director; Tom Burghardt, Operations Supervisor; Andrea Dumbrell, Human Resources Director; Annelise Walker, Marketing Coordinator; & Brian Woline, Finance Supervisor.

3. Approval of Nov. 15m 2023 HTMMTS Board Meeting Minutes

Motion by Cargo, second by Gallagher to approve the minutes of the Nov. 15, 2023 Meeting Minutes. Motion carried.

4. Additions/Corrections to the Agenda.

Borg presented two additions to the agenda: Item 7c, Title VI, Program & Procedures, 2024; & Item 7d, Discussion/Action on Bank Signature Authorizations. Motion by Cargo, second by Gallagher to approve additions to the agenda. Motion carried.

5. Public Hearing:

Opened by Bessinger at 4:31 PM. No public comments. Closed at 4:32 PM.

6. General Business/Call to Audience:

One resident shared a complaint about the availability of HTMMTS buses since the inception of the “Lakeshore Go” dispatch app. His children require transportation from their school in a Grand Haven Area Public Schools district to their home in Spring Lake. Since “Lakeshore Go” was implanted his children often have to wait up to an hour for a ride. There were no such problems before the new system was implemented.

7. Consideration for Approval of Consent Agenda

a. Discussion/action on Payable Warrants

b. Receive/file Financial Statements

c. Discussion/action on Title VI, Program & Procedures, 2024;

d. Discussion/action Bank Signature Authorizations to add Woline as an authorized signer of bank transactionsMotion by Cargo, second by Gallagher to approve the consent agenda. Motion carried.

8. New Business

a. Discussion/action Final FY Budget for 2024-25.

Motion by Cargo, second by McIntyre to approve the Final FY 2024-25 Budget as presented by Appel. Motion carried.

b. Discussion/action of 2024-25 Fee Schedule.

Motion by Cargo, second by McIntyre to approve the 2024-25 Fee Schedule as presented by Walker. Motion carried.

c. Discussion/action of 2024-25 Uniform Millage Rate Determination at .60 mills.

Motion by Cargo, second by Cousins to approve with Headlee Rollback at .60 mills per each municipality. Motion carried.

d. Discussion/action on the 2024-25 Resolution of Intent (due to MDOT by Feb 1,

2024.)

Motion by Cargo, second by Pavich to approve the 2024-25 Resolution of Intent as presented by Appel, Motion carried.

e. Discussion/action on 2024-25 Contract Clauses Certification

Motion by Cargo, second by Gallagher to approve. Motion carried.

f. Discussion/action on Emergency Purchase for Facility Makeup Air Unit.

Borg reported that the current unit either needs to be replaced at a cost of over $38,500 or repaired for $7,300. Motion by Gallagher, second by Pavich to approve repairs. Motion carried.

g. Discussion/action on Propane Contract.

Borg reported that Wesco submitted the lowest bid at $1.14/pound. Motion by Cousins, second by McIntyre to approve. Motion carried.

h. Discussion/review of the Local Advisory Council Minutes of 11/15/2023.

Motion by Gallagher, second by Cousins to receive the minutes. Motion carried.

i. Discussion/action of Hard Caps Resolution No. 2024-0124.

Motion by Cargo, second by Whittemore to approve as presented by Dumbrell. Motion carried.

j. Discussion/action on MDOT/West Plan/HTMMTS MOU.

Motion by Cargo, second by Gallagher to approve the Memorandum of Understanding between MDOT, West Michigan Metropolitan Planning Program & Harbor Transit as presented by Borg. Motion carried.

9. Reports

a. Marketing: Walker reported on current public education initiatives regarding the introduction of the Lakeshore Go app. She also highlighted significant increases in HTMMTS website traffic during the last two months of 2023.

b. Operations: Borg presented statistics on ridership as of the end of 2023. Total ridership is trending up, but is well behind pre-COVID pandemic statistics. On- time performance was at 98% or higher all year and no-shows are trending downwards, which he attributes to the new Lakeshore Go app. There was one crash, no injuries, and one vehicle road call since the last meeting.

c. Transportation: Borg reported on the successful implementation of the VIA

Dispatch software and the Lakeshore Go app. HTMMTS has experienced a 20% drop in ridership since the return to fares, but that riders are making better use of their rides since they have to pay each time. The environmental NEPA Study for the new property is expected to be complete by late summer of 2024. HTMMTS is anticipating the arrival of three new buses, which have been on order since March 2021, by March 2024.

10. Board Member Comments

• McIntyre reported that Momentum clients are learning and liking the Lakeshore Go app.

11. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned by Bessinger at 5:15 PM. The next regularly scheduled meeting is Mar 27, 2024, at Spring Lake Township, 102 W. Savidge St., Spring Lake, MI.