AACT Executive Board Meeting

 

August 22, 2012

 

 

The meeting opened at 10:25 A.M.

 

Introductions

 

Executive Board Attendees: Ian Perrault, Jim White, Beverly Ann Rock, Mary Ann Murray and Rick Morin

 

Public Attendee: Tyler Terrasi

 

MPO Staff: Janie Guion and Pam Wolfe

 

Issues Discussed:

 

Open Meeting Law

·       Members discussed the requirements of the Open Meeting Law and a question raised in a previous meeting about merging the public and executive board meetings

·       IC White expressed concern over having to stop a meeting to go into executive session in order to discuss matters of personnel or contracts

·       Concern was also raised about taking time away from the public meeting and participants

·       Members were in agreement that the meetings should stay separate

 

 

MBTA Vendor Contract Penalty Clauses

·       IC White read the penalty clauses of the contract between the MBTA and the RIDE vendors

·       Penalties include:

o   $30 fine each time a vendor is late for an appointment by 30 minutes or more

o   $50 fine each time a chair lift does not work during a pick-up

o   $50 fine if an accident occurs and the vendor does not file a report

o   $10,000 per month fine for keeping callers on hold for longer than 5 minutes

·       There are concerns that the MBTA is not consistently penalizing the vendors for infractions

·       Riders must notify the MBTA of problems, otherwise the vendor will not be penalized; the MBTA should have greater oversight and auditing of vendor trip data

·       Excessively long trips, people being picked up too early or dropped off too early are also concerns

·       Vendors should provide more information in their monthly reports so AACT can verify that the vendor contracts are being followed

·       At a future meeting the board will decide what additional information is needed in the reports

 

Update on THE RIDE Subscriber Activity

·       Updates will be requested from the Office for Transportation Access at the general meeting

·       It has been indicated that subscriber activity on THE RIDE is currently down because of the normal drop in trips during the summer months

·       There is skepticism that the number of subscribers will rebound in the Fall due to the fare increase

THE RIDE Subscriber Survey Card

·       Members would like to include information about AACT on survey cards sent to THE RIDE subscribers

·       The Board will help come up with questions for the survey

·       Some space will also be needed for information from MassHealth

 

In-Person Assessment and MBTA Roundtable

·       The board is working with the MBTA to convene a roundtable about in-person assessment with advocacy organizations to prevent confusion on the issue

·       Disability advocacy groups suggested include the Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL), the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, and the State Disability Office

·       IC White is particularly concerned with individuals that are on dialysis and cannot afford to go to appointments because of the fare increase but are not on MassHealth

·       Mike Lambert from the MBTA will organize the meeting, which will likely not be until November

 

Other Business

·       IC White discussed the notification process for issues that the executive board should take action on

·       IC White said he would always confer with board members on actions unless it was an emergency

·       Letters will note board members in agreement with an action if a vote is not unanimous

·       Members discussed asking Secretary Davey to the October meeting to an update on the 530 Executive Commission Report

Actions

 

·       The board will follow up and investigate an incident between member B.A. Rock and one of THE RIDE vendors

·       R. Morin will analyze the vendor contracts to determine what further data is needed in the monthly vendor reports

·       The board will request that Secretary Davey attend the October AACT meeting to give an update on the Executive Commission 530 report or send a representative (preferably GM Davis)

                                              

Adjournment

 

Executive Board Meeting will meet on September 26, 2012 in Conference Rooms 2 and 3