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