MiniBus Contract Services
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MEMORANDUM
October 27, 2006
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Mini Bus Contracted Services
Economic Development Director David Heiar is recommending the contracts for mini
bus service with Mt. Saint Francis, Sunnycrest, and Area Residential Care be
transferred from Keyline to the Regional Transportation Authority.
The RT A is eligible for a higher level of state subsidies to minimize the costs of this
service to the agencies.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
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Michael C. Van Milligen
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Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
David Heiar, Economic Development Director
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MEMORANDUM
October 25, 2006
TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: David J. Heiar, Economic Development Director0J~
SUBJECT: Mini Bus Contracted Services
INTRODUCTION
The City has provided contracted mini bus service for Mt. Saint Francis, Sunnycrest,
and ARC since 2003. Although the contracts actually expired in June of 2005, the City
has continued to provide this mini bus door to door service for the same fees that were
established in 2003.
BACKGROUND
When the 2007 Budget was prepared, it became obvious that the local property tax
payers were subsidizing this service. It was agreed that new contracts needed to be
negotiated and that this service should not be subsidized.
Shortly after Transit Manager Jon Rodocker took over the helm of the Keyline system,
he had discussions with the RTA staff about transferring this local service to the
Regional Transit Authority. The State of Iowa transit funding distribution formula makes
it possible to obtain approximately $48,978 of additional funding to our region if this
service was provided by the RTA rather than the City. Although the RTA would also
have to increase rates to make this service cash flow, the increases would be less than
the rates the City would need to charge to make these contracts self sufficient.
After months of discussions and analysis the RTA Board has agreed to provide these
contracted services with the following stipulations:
1. The mini buses currently assigned to the Mt. St. Francis, Sunnycrest Manor and
Area Residential Care (including 1 spare) be transferred to the RTA. The RTA
would assume all FT A responsibility for any unused portion of federal funding
remaining on the equipment and reimburse the City of Dubuque the prorated
share of local match and $1.00 for each bus with no depreciation remaining.
Based on the spreadsheet attached (Enclosure A) the RTA would purchase (5)
2002 light duty buses at a total cost of $4,553. Staff will explore alternatives with
the City to lease spare equipment on an as needed basis.
2. All driving positions associated with these contract services would first be posted
internally at the RTA for possible transfers within the RTA's bargaining unit. All
remaining vacancies would be advertised externally to which any interested
Keyline transit operator could apply.
3. If contracts are transitioned in FY 07, the remaining prorated State Transit
Assistance and Federal Transit Assistance associated with these contracts for
FY 2007 would be passed on from Keyline to the RTA by pass-through
reimbursement from the City of Dubuque. This is estimated at $21,494 for a 6
month period (see enclosure B). FY 08 payments would come directly to the RTA
from the Iowa DOT.
4. The RTA would continue to store the contract equipment in the Keyline bus
garage until such time the RTA is able to store the equipment in their facility.
5. The transfer is subject to approval from the three contract entities to enter
contracts with the RTA and the RTA's ability to negotiate a mutually agreeable
rate of MR Waiver reimbursement for the services with the Dubuque County
Supervisors.
The transfer of a portion of the transit work load will be beneficial to Keyline in a couple
of ways. At the present time the City has an insufficient number of bus drivers to meet
the demands on our system. Unfortunately, this often means paying overtime. Another
current staffing issue has been the time demands placed on our dispatchers. In fact,
there has been consideration given to staffing two dispatchers during busy times to
properly accommodate the demand on our mini bus services. We have not always been
able to provide the quality of service people expect from Keyline. These staffing issues
should be resolved with the transfer of the mini bus contracts. The transfer of these
buses will also reduce the work load of the Public Works, Vehicle Maintenance
Operator.
This item was removed from the October 16th Council agenda to allow representatives
of the Teamsters Union an opportunity to meet with the RTA and City to discuss how
this transition would impact employees. Following the meeting, the RTA agreed to post
vacancies within the Regional Transit Authority bargaining unit first as covered under
the Teamsters Agreement with the RTA. In the event the RTA is not able to fill all
vacancies from within the RTA's bargaining unit, remaining vacancies will be advertised
externally with the following considerations;
. Keyline Transit Operators qualified to perform the required work duties
within the scheduling expectations of the Regional Transit Authority will be
given preferential hiring privileges to all other interested applicants.
. In the event multiple Keyline Transit operators apply for RTA vacancies,
qualified operators will be slotted into vacancies in seniority order as
determined by their employment at Keyline Transit.
If the Council agrees with this transition, Jon Rodocker and I will work with the RTA and
the three agencies to negotiate new contracts for service. We anticipate the transfer
could occur by January 1, 2007.
CONCLUSION
I concur with the recommendation of Jon Rodocker to transfer the contracted services
with the stipulations as requested by the RT A.
ACTION STEP
The action step is for the City Council to authorize the transfer of these contracted
services from Keyline to the RTA.
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MEMORANDUM
October 6,2006
To: David Heiar, Economic Director
From: Jon Rodocker, Transit Manager
Subject: Transition of client based service contracts
Introduction
At this time, Keyline provides client based (subscription) service to three local agencies
although our contracts expired in June of 2005 Keyline continues to honor the contract
terms. The Client based Contracts (area agencies); ARC, Mount Saint Francis and
Sunnycrest have seen an increase in cost of operations over the last two years. Fuel
costs have been the major increase, followed by ridership increases, but the cost per
hour programmed into the contracts for FY04, FY05 did not reflect the actual cost. This
was a contributing factor in the $200,000 deficit in the Transit budget for FY06. The
2007 Budget recommendations provided for new contracts with increased fees for these
services.
Discussion
The Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) requires a public transit entity
operating a fixed route system to also provide a complimentary ADA service. Sec.
37.121 of the FTA's regulations states, "Requirement For Comparable Complementary
Paratransit Service. (A) each public entity operating a fixed route system shall provide
paratransit or other special service to individuals with disabilities that is comparable to
the level of service provided to individuals without disabilities who use the fixed route
system."
In addition to this mandated service, Keyline supplies subscription service and
dedicated routes for the above-mentioned client based contracts. ARC is charged $3.33
per ride, Sunnycrest Manor is charged $24.83 per hour and Mount Saint Francis is
charged $25.11 per hour. The following is a summary for the cost associated with the
contracts for FY06 using a conservative cost of $27.00. Actual cost for mini-bus
operations is $27.00 to $33.00, but for calculating the cost of the following contracts, we
are using the conservative number. Keyline operated 2129.2 hours of service for
Sunnycrest Manor at $24.83 per hour, equating to $52,868.04. The actual cost for
services rendered at $27.00 per hour, equating to $57,488.40 and a loss of $4,620.36.
Keyline operated 1321 hours of service for Mount St. Francis at $25.11 per hour,
equating to $33,170.31. The actual cost for services rendered at $27.00 per hour,
equating to $35,667 and a loss of $2,496.69. Keyline operated 3811.4 hours of service
for Area Residential Care at $15.22 per hour, equating to $58,009.51. The actual cost
for services rendered was $27.00 per hour, equating to $102,907.80 and a loss of
$44,898.29. Conservatively, the combined approximate loss from the above-mentioned
contracts was $52,015.34.
Over the past couple of months we have discussed the potential transfer of the above-
mentioned contracts with the RTA. They are confident that the RTA could supply the
current level of service provided by Keyline. The RTA board has approved the
acceptance of the said contracts with the provision that the following criteria be meet.
1. Five (5) 2002 Ford mini-buses would be sold to RTA for $1.00 or the remaining
local match. (enclosure A)
2. All driving positions associated with these contract services would be posted
internally at the RTA for possible transfers within RTA's bargaining unit. All
remaining vacancies would be advertised externally to which any interested
KeyLine transit operator could apply.
3. If contracts were transitioned during FY07, the remaining prorated State transit
Assistance and Federal Transit Assistance for FY07 would be passed on from
Keyline to the RTA by pass-through reimbursement from the City of Dubuque.
FY08 payments would come directly from the Iowa DOT to the RTA.
(enclosure B)
4. The RTA would continue to store the contract equipment at the Keyline bus
garage until such time the RTA is able to store said equipment in their own
facility .
RT A will need additional operators for these contracts and currently offers full time
positions with benefits for their operators. Currently Keyline has several open positions
for fixed route operators and any mini-bus operator who is interested, would be given
the opportunity to cross-train for a fixed route position. Although current administration
and dispatchers for Keyline will remain a fixed cost for the City, this transfer would allow
staff to better focus on and maintain the required level of ADA complimentary service
regulated by FTA.
Another factor to be considered is the proposed part-time mechanic position at public
works for the maintenance required for the current thirteen (13) mini-buses. I have meet
with Don Vogt and Kevin Cromwell from Public Works on several occasions and we
have discussed the maintenance of the mini-buses and how it could be affected if
Keyline were to dispose of almost half its fleet. They do not believe there is a need to
incur the cost of a part time mechanic position if it was not necessary and Cromwell was
confident that the current mechanic staff could provide adequate service for the mini-
bus fleet if the fleet is diminished by 5 mini-buses.
Conclusion
I am recommending the transfer of the client based contracts of Area Residential Care,
SunnyCrest Manor and Mount St. Francis to RTA by January 2007. I recommend five
(5) of the 2002 Ford Cutaways be sold for $1.00 or the remaining 20% local match, the
prorated STA and FTA funds pass through the City of Dubuque for the remaining FY07
amounts and the storage of vehicles at Keyline facility located at 2401 Central Ave.
Action Reauired
I request this proposal be submitted to the City Manager for his review and Council
consideration.
Enclosure A
Keyline Fleet
FLEET IIVEIDCLES
2569 2002 LD FORD
2570 2002 LD FORD
2571 2002 LD FORD
2572 2002 LD FORD
2577 2002 LD FORD
2578 2002 LD FORD
Mileage
108603
109910
117867
107101
90284
63015
Anticipated transfer cost
$1.00
$1.00
$1.00
$1.00
$946.60
$3,602.45
Vehicles in bold are over 4 yrs old and the 100,00 mile
_ ~~__ ____ __ ~__~_ m_______.._
David Heiar - Contract spread sheet 9-7-06.xls
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1
Enclosure B
Keyline RTA
FTA/STA Subsidy
FY07 Projection
RTA Marginal Cost
Contract revenue
Additional STAlFTA
Net Revenue Increase for RT A
Full year Prorate half year
$151,000.00 $75,500.00
$141,935.23 $70,967.61
$34,977.00 $17,488.00
$25,912.23 $12,955.61
Keyline Marginal Cost $196,060.50 $98,030.25
Contract revenue $141,935.23 $70,967.61
Subsidy for contracts (loss) $54,125.27 $27,062.64
Formula dollars to RTA
less ST A subsidy $11,421.00 $5,710.00
Less FT A Subsidy $31,568.00 $15,784.00
Total $42,989.00 $21,494.00
Difference for Keyline (FY07 savings) $11,136.27 $5,568.64
Keyline FY07 STA $174,053.00
Keyline FY08 STA $168,556.00
Loss of STA $5,497.00
EAST CENTRAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL ASSOCIATION
October 4, 2006
Suite 200
3999 Pennsylvania Avenue
Oubuque, IA 52002
Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
City of Dubuque
City Hall
Dubuque, IA 52001
Dear Mike,
After considerable discussion and research, the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Board
of Directors approved during their October 4, 2006 meeting the transition of transit
contract services currently managed by KeyLine Transit involving Area Residential Care,
Mount Saint Francis and Sunnycrest Manor to the RT A for management subject to the
following conditions and formal approval by the City of Dubuque City Council:
1. All equipment currently assigned to the Mt. St. Francis, Sunnycrest Manor and
Area Residential Care (including 1 spare) be transferred to the RTA. The RTA
would assume all FT A responsibility for any unused portion offederal funding
remaining on the equipment and reimburse the City of Dubuque the prorated
share oflocal match and $1.00 for each bus with no depreciation remaining.
Based on the spreadsheet attached (Appendix B) the RTA would purchase (5)
2002 light duty buses at a total cost of $4,552. Staffwill explore alternatives with
the City to lease spare equipmenfon an as needed basis.
2. All driving positions associated with these contract services would first be posted
internally at the RTA for possible transfers within the RTA's bargaining unit. All
remaining vacancies would be advertised externally to which any interested
KeyLine transit operator could apply.
3. For contracts transitioned in FY 07, the remaining prorated State Transit
Assistance and Federal Transit Assistance associated with these contracts for FY
2007 would be passed on from KeyLine to the RT A by pass-through
reimbursement from the City of Dubuque. The Iowa DOT calculates $42,989 in
subsidy going to KeyLine in FY 2007 for these contracts. FY 08 payments would
come directly to the RTA from the Iowa DOT.
4. The RTA would continue to store the contract equipment in the KeyLine bus
garage until such time the RT A is able to store the equipment in our own facility.
We have been discussing facility options but at this time we do not have a specific
timeline for when a permanent storage facility will be available to the RTA but
will continue to explore and pursue our options.
PHONE (563) 556-4166 IOWA ONLY (800) 942-4648 fAX (563) 556-0348 E-MAIL ecia@ecia.org WEB SITE www.ecia.org
. Dubuque Metropolitan Area Transportation Study' Eastern Iowa Regional Housing Authority. Eastern Iowa Regional Utility Services System'
. Eastern Iowa Development Corporation' Region I Employment and Training' ECIA Regional Planning Affiliation' ECIA Business Growth, Ine. .
5. Subject to approval from the three contract entities to enter contracts with the
RTA and the RTA's ability to negotiate a mutually agreeable rate ofMR Waiver
reimbursement for the services with the Dubuque County Supervisors.
6. Our target date for transition of the three contracts from Keyline to the RTA for
management is January 1, 2007 assuming there are no obstacles with negotiating
contracts, hiring drivers, and purchasing equipment. Should we run into any
obstacles or difficulties, the latest transition date would be July 1, 2007.
Please notify me after you have had time to review our proposal with the City Council
and their response to our contract transition proposal. Please feel free to call Mark
Munson should you have any questions in this regard. Thank you.
Respectfully submitted,
JOa~le{ ()) ~
RTA Board Chair
Cc: Kelley Deutmeyer, Executive Director
Lisa Weinhold, Finance Director
Dave Heiar
Jon Rodocker