By Ryan Berry

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — Greenville Transit System (GTS) once again turned controversial for at least one member of Greenville City Council during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 6. One of the resolutions presented was defeated and another did not receive enough votes to hear the third reading.

For over a month, GTS has garnered the most discussion during council meetings. Most of the discussion has revolved around keeping the current contracts and expanding the service, which the Ohio Department of Transportation has encouraged.

However, one Greenville City Council member has been vocal in bringing to the forefront the issues he sees with the system and how it is affecting residents in the city. Councilman Leon Rogers has brought attention to the wait times Greenville residents are having to wait at stores for a ride back to their homes. On Tuesday, Rogers brought up an instance where a rider was allegedly forced to wait three hours for a return trip home from a Greenville store. He asked Katie Benge, director of GTS, if that was acceptable. Benge responded that it was not acceptable and asked Rogers for the person’s name and date that the offense purportedly took place. Although Rogers said it was confirmed by the cashiers that she waited three hours, he could not give the person’s name or date and did not share how it was confirmed. “I’m not sure of a name, I didn’t inquire on that part,” he said.

It should be noted that Rogers works for Spirit Medical Transport as a driver, which is a competitor to GTS. He has had to abstain from certain votes, such as contracts for nursing homes and Job & Family Services due to his employment. However, he has been vocal in his opposition to GTS expansion.

Benge and the city’s administration has repeated itself several times that if a resident using GTS gives a pick-up time and a return trip time, their wait times are reduced. If an appointment goes longer than the original return trip time given, Benge encouraged them to call GTS and they will be able to push back the time a driver returns. She has also said several times that if a person waits until they are at their appointment or waits until they are ready to leave a store before calling for their return trip, there may be a wait. Transportation is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Rogers said, “We’re wanting to extend out into the county, but we’re not taking care of the people that are in the city of Greenville either. I’m not sure we are doing a service to the city or the county, either way. If we are not able to pick up or so-forth.”

Safety Service Director Ryan Delk clarified that even if they are going out into the county, it is mainly city residents they are servicing. He said 80 percent of their trips into the county originate with city residents. Approximately 15 percent of the county trips originate outside the county that come into the city for shopping and spending money. Another five percent are county residents going from one location in the county to another location in the county.

Rogers said, “The last I heard there was three full-time drivers and five part-time drivers.” Benge shot back, “That’s not correct information.” Rogers responded, “That came from two of your drivers.” Benge said they have had some turnover recently and couldn’t give an exact number because they are training a few people right now. According to the strength ordinance, GTS can have seven full-time drivers and 10 part-time drivers. Rogers said, “I know that’s what it says, but I don’t know whether that’s true or not.” Delk admitted they do have issues with finding drivers but are continuing to work to fix that issue.

Directing her remarks to Rogers, Benge said, “I respect your opinion, but I don’t agree with it. We are public transportation. We are not medical transportation. Which is a little bit different. I think you’re comparing apples to oranges.”

“But if you’re picking up people to take them to medical appointments, that does constitute medical,” said Rogers. Benge responded, “It does not. We are public transportation. Not medical transportation.” City Law Director Michael Rieman added, “(It’s) unrealistic to think, in the industry, that everyone is perfectly on time. It’s not something we’re trying to do, to be late.”

The discussion related to a resolution that would allow the mayor to enter into contracts and provide services for certain groups, businesses or organizations at a cost of $21 per one-way trip. The return trip would also cost $21. This was less than the $22.65 listed on recent contracts. Rieman pointed out the reason this was less was because it would allow the administration some flexibility to approve contracts with groups that would not need to be charged as much because of the distance of the trips.

The council chose to take the authority of the mayor and to some degree micromanage the administration by requiring that all transportation contracts come before that body. The council voted five to three against the resolution. Councilman Rogers and Councilman Brian Brown, also an employee of Spirit Medical Transport, were able to vote on this resolution because it was not specifically a nursing home. Both voted against the resolution.

In other business, the council approved the bid for phase two of the sidewalk project. Two bids were received. The first was from Americas Decorative Concrete (ADC) who submitted a bid of $229,927.25. The second bid was from Belgray, Inc., Wilmington, Ohio, whose bid was $242,320.

Although ADC had the lowest bid, the administration brought it to the council’s attention because of the past issues with ADC during phase one of the project. The council is not required to accept the lowest bid, only the best bid. Delk said they did a reference check on both companies and had mixed reviews for both. The administration reported they learned a lot from the first phase and will be implementing different procedures this time around. According to Delk, ADC has been receptive to the city’s discussions. Councilman Clarence Godwin made a motion to put the resolution on the agenda and awarding the bid to ADC. The resolution passed with Rogers voting against.

The council also learned that Fillmore Construction, of Leesburg, won the bid for maintenance paving. The engineer’s estimate was $1.7 million. Their bid came in at $1.3 million. The council approved the bid.

To contact Daily Advocate Editor Ryan Berry, email [email protected].