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Transportation Board
Brookings, South Dakota
March 16, 2010
OFFICIAL MINUTES
The Brookings Transportation Board was called to order by Chairperson
Terrell Spence on Tuesday, Match 16, 2010 at 2:00 PM in the City Hall meeting
room. Members present were Art Conners, Roger DeGroot, Michael Forgy, Rob
Jones, Dean Kattelmann, Jerry Raabe, Robb Rasmussen, Deanna Santema, and
Spence. Nancy Hartenhoff-Crooks, Teresa McKnight, and Jeff Weldon, were
absent. Also present were Brenda Schweitzer Brookings Area Transit Authority
(BATA) and Tom Aulner and Wayne Millman with Brookings Taxi, City Engineer
Jackie Lanning, and City Clerk Shari Thornes.
Item #2 – (Santema/Forgy) Motion to approve the minutes from the February 16,
2010, meeting. All present voted aye. MOTION CARRIED.
Item #3 – (Santema/Raabe) Motion to approve the agenda. All present voted
aye. MOTION CARRIED.
Item #4 – Transportation Provider Updates (BATA and Brookings Taxi)
BATA – Brenda Schweitzer said that BATA had provided shuttle service for a
concert at the Swiftel Center on March 12th. They moved 3,000 people from the
Daktronics parking lot to the Swifter Center. Spence asked who paid for that
service. Schweitzer said the Swiftel Center and the Convention Bureau.
Schweitzer was asked about possible future funding. She said that funding
for a building is available, but the House and the Senate keep tweaking the bill,
and no one has heard anything final including the South Dakota Department of
Transportation.
Schweitzer said BATA is continuing to provide approximately 10,000 one-way
rides a month. Rasmussen said he would like to see a comparison of the ridership
for BATA for 5, 10, and 15 years ago. Schweitzer said she has those reports and can
bring them for the committee to see. Raabe said that he felt in the past, people
looked at the BATA bus as transportation for the elderly only and not the general
population. Education has helped in that area.
Brookings Taxi – Tom Aulner, owner of Brookings Taxi said that his business also
helped with transportation for the Swiftel Center’s concert. He introduced Wayne
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Millman, his manager and dispatcher. He complimented BATA on a job well done
at the concert. However, he did not like it that his vehicles could not get in where
the BATA buses were allowed to go. He said his business was so busy that they
couldn’t keep up. Spence asked what he had for vehicles. He said two vans and a
Cadillac. Spencer asked if there were any other transporters available. Aulner said
yes, a new transporting business called Bojo is working in Brookings. Aulner was
concerned that the new business hadn’t had to meet the requirements that he
had to do to start his business such as background checks on the drivers, vehicle
inspections, and SD sales tax requirements. City Clerk Shari Thornes said the new
business is licensed through the city and has met City ordinance requirements.
However, she didn’t know what requirements were necessary through the State of
South Dakota. Aulner was also concerned as to whether the new business was
paying SD sales tax as they were based out of Iowa. Aulner added that he felt it
was wrong that the business did not get fined for not following the rules. Spence
asked Aulner what hours the business was in service. Aulner thought it was from
3:00 PM – 3:00 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. Spence added that Easy Cab service
was out of business as of March 4th. Aulner said there is enough business in
Brookings for all transportation providers, but he wants all providers to follow the
set-up rules that he was forced to follow. Conners voiced concern also about the
business being from out of state. Thornes said if they follow the laws and
ordinances of the City of Brookings, they can operate in the city. Aulner asked if
the limousine services operating in the City were legal and needed to go through
the same steps to become licensed as he did. Thornes said she will ask the City
Attorney to look into that matter. Aulner said his hours have been 5:30 AM to
approximately 10:00 AM. Then he shuts down and reopens later in the day. Aulner
again said he was not concerned about the new business, but he is running on a
limited budget and feels everyone should have to follow the same rules.
Item #5 – Other Project Updates – Rasmussen said he was recently at the
Transportation Summit in Washington, DC. He had three handouts. Spence asked
board members to read the handouts and bring their comments to the next
meeting. Rasmussen reported that three educators, Mr. Fiedler, Dan Neiles, and
Brian Lueders, have been working on getting bikes for the PE classes. There are also
grant dollars to be spent for training seven PE teachers in May.
Spence asked Kattelmann about the project through the penitentiary for
getting bikes to use on campus. Rasmussen said there should be a sign-out process
for each bike. Students must also be responsible about the using the program.
Kattelmann said the Student Association has not gotten everything finalized for the
program.
Spence asked about the student representative on the Transportation
Committee. Kattelmann said the students have just had their elections. Thornes
said the mayor is working with the Student Senate to find a representative.
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Rasmussen asked about the Way-Finding Signage program. Spence said
that is determined by other entities also that need to work together. No one had
an update.
Item #6 – Review and Discuss Board Projects – Spence had a handout of the
priority list determined by the board members in November 2008.
**Fixed Routes Service Delivery – Spence felt the need to avoid the use of the term
“fixed route” or possibly re-word the priority. He felt circulation routes would be
better as the concept is still an important factor. Schweitzer said that until the
federal government allows more funds for South Dakota, fixed routes will not
happen. And when more funds are allowed, there must also be matching funds to
make a project work. She suggested the City of Brookings and South Dakota State
University back BATA in looking for more available funds.
**Large Community Event Services – Spence said the large concert at the Swiftel
Center this past weekend showed there are coordinated efforts when large
community events take place in the city.
**Commuter Van Pool Services – Spence said the service can be utilized, but the
economy has not helped in that area. However, there is room for the service.
Kattelmann said he has checked on campus and tried to organize this service
through White and Aurora, but no one was interested. Spence asked if it were still
a valid priority. Schweitzer said many times the need is there. You just have to put It
out there first, and then people will use it. Santema felt the item should still be on
the priority list but maybe moved to a lower priority level. Kattelmann felt the
economy has not helped this issue. Raabe said maybe people will change their
feeling about commuter van pool services when gas prices rise again.
**Demand Response Service – Schweitzer said the availability of demand response
service changes according to the providers that are available.
Forgy felt the other recommendations in the priority list should be revisited.
He felt maybe the order of the priorities has changed. Spence said he will keep this
item on the agenda for discussion at the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned.
____________________________ __________________________
Diane M. Spencer, Secretary Terrell Spence, Chairperson