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.