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Minutes 08 14 03 Wilmington New Hanover Transportation Agency MINUTES OF THE WILMINGTON NEW HANOVER TRANSPORTATION AGENCY August 14, 2003 MEMBERS PRESENT Ms. Christine McNamee, Chair Mr. Jeff Bellows, Vice Chair Mr. Robert Ronne, Secretary Ms. Laura Padgett Ms. Nancy Pritchett Mr. Howard Capps Mr. William Bryden Mr. John Stukes Ms. Barbara Kane MEMBERS ABSENT Ms. Fannie D. Freeman STAFF PRESENT Mr. Albert Eby, General Manager, WTA Ms. Deborah Houston, Secretary, NHTS Mr. Gary Miller, President, CCL Management Mr. Corey Johnson, Assistant General Manager, WTA Mr. Mark Tinkler, Senior Transportation Planner, City of Wilmington Ms. Lawless Bean, TDM Coordinator, City of Wilmington GUESTS PRESENT Mr. Kemp Burpeau, Deputy County Attorney, New Hanover County Ms. Annette Crumpton, New Hanover County Department of Aging Mr. Jeff Crouchley, Transportation Planner, NCDOT-PTD Ms. Kris Frasure, Mayor’s Population Needs Committee CALL TO ORDER Interim Chair McNamee called the meeting to order at 12:10 pm. APPROVAL OF MINUTES  Mr. Bryden made a motion to approve the minutes from the July 11, 2003 meeting. Mr. Capps seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously. ELECTION OF OFFICERS  The nominating subcommittee Chair, Howard Capps, brought before the Board the committee recommendations for Agency officers.  Although the agenda called for a balloted election, under the advice of city and county legal counsel, the committee agreed to an open election by voice vote.  Mr. Capps informed the Board he solicited Board members for their interest in serving and in which roles.  After compiling the list, the committee recommended two candidates for each office.  For Chair, the committee brought Ms. Christine McNamee and Mr. John Stukes.  Committee Chair Capps called for additional nominees.  Hearing none, nominees for the position of Chair was closed by Mr. Capps.  Each nominee was asked to give a brief overview of their qualifications.  By a show of hands, the Board elected Ms. McNamee Chair.  For Vice Chair, the committee brought Mr. Jeff Bellows and Ms. Barbara Kane.  Committee Chair Capps called for additional nominees.  Hearing none, nominees for the position of Vice Chair was closed by Mr. Capps.  Each nominee was asked to give a brief overview of their qualifications.  By a show of hands, the Board elected Mr. Bellows Vice Chair.  For Secretary, the committee brought Mr. William Bryden and Mr. Robert Ronne.  Committee Chair Capps called for additional nominees.  Hearing none, nominees for the position of Secretary was closed by Mr. Capps.  Each nominee was asked to give a brief overview of their qualifications.  By a show of hands, the Board elected Mr. Ronne Secretary.  For Human Services Representative, the committee brought Ms. Maureen McCarthy.  Committee Chair called for additional nominees.  Mr. Bellows expressed desire to have more than one nominee to choose from.  By consensus, the human services representative nomination was sent back to committee for additional nominee(s). REPORT FROM THE WTA GENERAL MANAGER  Mr. Eby updated the board on the status of the new fleet of buses.  Mr. Eby presented a Power Point© presentation with passenger statistics comparing the new buses to the old buses, the average fare per passenger comparing the electronic fareboxes and the mechanical fareboxes, fareboxes, and the statistics for the website, www.wavetransit.com, during the first week the new buses were on the street.  Click here for the Passenger Statistics Power Point© presentation  Mr. Eby presented a Power Point© presentation overviewing the WTA.  Click here for the WTA services Power Point© presentation.  Mr. Bellows expressed interest in the NC Moving Ahead program.  Mr. Crouchley informed the Board that NCDOT Board Representative Lanny Wilson has expressed interest in earmarking funds from the program for the new maintenance, operations and transfer facility.  A motion to have staff prepare a letter to Mr. Wilson thanking him for his support on recent projects and inviting him to the September 11, 2003 WNHTA meeting to discuss future projects was made by Commissioner Pritchett and seconded by Mr. Capps.  A call for discussion requested copies of the letter be sent to NCDOT Secretary Tippett, Deputy Secretary David King and Governor Easley.  The motion was passed unanimously.  The discussion of the letter brought discussion concerning the letterhead of the agency.  Mr. Bryden brought a motion that the Agency adopt the name Wave and staff would prepare letterhead for official Agency business.  Mr. Burpeau advised the Board to the legalities of the request, stating that adoption of the name was within the legal parameters of the Board.  The motion to adopt the Wave name was seconded by Mr. Stukes and passed unanimously by the Board. REPORT FROM THE NHTS PROGRAM MANAGER  Ms. Houston presented a Power Point© presentation overviewing NHTS.  Click here for the NHTS Power Point© presentation. REPORT FROM THE TRANSIT DIRECTOR SUBCOMMITTEE  Mr. Ronne stated that he had been in contact with the City of Wilmington Human Resources Department and informed them of the direction the committee wished to take in the search for a transit director.  The position was expected to be filled by the city by January 01, 2004. REPORT FROM THE INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT & LEGISLATION SUBCOMMITTEE  Subcommittee Chair Mr. Bellows asked if any Board or staff members would be interested in serving on the committee.  The current members were identified as: Mr. John Stukes; Ms. Barbara Kane; Mr. Robert Ronne; Ms. Christine McNamee, and Subcommittee Chairman Mr. Bellows. Staff resource is Ms. Deborah Houston.  The following agreed to assist the subcommittee: City and County Attorney representatives, serving jointly; Mr. Albert Eby; and Mr. Jeff Crouchley.  Ms. Bean & Ms. Annette Crumpton asked to be included in all subcommittee correspondence.  By consensus, Subcommittee Chair Bellows set regular subcommittee meetings for the second Thursday of each month prior to the regular Board meeting. The first meeting was scheduled for September 11, 2003 at 11:00am in the WTA Board room.  Mr. Stukes requested staff make available to the Board a list of email addresses and phone numbers for the Board members and staff. OTHER BUSINESS, SECHEDULING OF NEXT MEETING  Mr. Bellows distributed to the Board copies of an editorial from the Wilmington Star News concerning the lack of marketing by the WTA.  Commissioner Pritchett expressed interest in exploring the possibility of public school students using the WTA and NHTS for transportation to and from school.  Mr. Capps brought up the issue of the Multimodal Transportation Center.  Mr. Tinkler explained that a subcommittee of the Mayor’s Convention Center Task Force had been commissioned to deal specifically with the multimodal center.  Mr. Tinkler gave a brief overview of the project to date.  Mr. Tinkler distributed a list of stakeholders on the committee which listed the voting members.  The Board expressed concern that the WNHTA had no voting representatives although the former WTA had agreed to funding in the amount of $20,000 for the additional study.  After much explanation and debate, the Board agreed to write a letter to Mr. Tinkler asking that the WNHTA Chair be added to the subcommittee as a voting member.  By consensus, the Board authorized the Chairman to designate a representative from the Board to be requested as a voting member of the Task Force subcommittee.  Chair McNamee asked Mr. Eby to prepare a letter asking for voting privileges on the committee and named Mr. Capps WNHTA designee due to his experience with the original project during which time he served as the WTA Chair.  Hearing no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1:50pm.  The next meeting was scheduled for Thursday 11 September 2003 at 12:00pm in the WTA Board room. Respectfully Submitted, Deborah Houston Program Manager NHTS Albert Eby General Manager WTA