2025
November 10, 2025
AMC Annual Meeting Minutes
I. Call to Order:
Millie called the annual meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. She introduced herself to the invited body. Then she introduced board members Michael Christian, Kaityln Conway, Margaret Evans, Bridger Reed-Lewis, and Patrick Reinhart, GCDSE and AMC Founder. Ric Nelson is travelling and excused. Gerry Hope from Sitka will be late.
Also in attendance: Joan O’Keefe with Southeast Alaska Independent Living; Christy Terry, Vice President of Real Estate with the Alaska Railroad Corporation; Marriane Mills recently retired with Southeast Senior Services, a program of Catholic Social Services and acting President of AgeNet, Alaska’s Senior Service Provider Association; Kaitlyn Conway, AMC board member and with the Alaska Municipal League working on housing and transportation issues; Representative Genevieve Mina of House District 19 in the Legislature, the neighborhoods of Airport Heights, Mountain View and Russian Jack in Anchorage; Lisa Reinhart who assists AMC with communications; Nona Safra, who lives in Homer and serves on the Alaska Commission on Aging, SILC, GCDSE, the Brain Injury Council,; Amy Durand, Senior CEO of Senior citizens of Kodiak, Kodiak Area Transit System; Aria-Moore with Catholic Community Services representing Erin Walker-Tolles who couldn’t be here today; Emily Weiser, with AMETS in Anchorage as a transportation planner with a focus on non-motorized transportation; Eric Gurley from Access Alaska; John Free with the Department of Corrections; Julie Bunch with Kenai Public Health Center; Jason Warfel with Department of Labor Kenai Job Center; Kelda Barstad, Program Officer with the Alaska Mental Health Trust; Lynne Keilman-Cruz, Director of Healthcare Services with the Department of Health; Rich Hawkins, Schetky Bus and Van Sales; Tricia Skitt with the Division of Healthcare Services Operations Program Manager; Scott Limp, GCDSE, ILC; Michele Girault, Executive Director of Hope Community Resources, and also the Board President for the Key Coalition of Alaska; Bridger Reed-Lewis, Disability Advisor for UAA, Disability Integration for the American Red Cross, and a board member of AMC. Gerry Hope joined the meeting. He is an AMC board member and is now the Self-Governance and Tribal Transportation Director of the Tribal Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, as well as President of Western Travel Transportation Workgroup and Vice President of the Intertribal Transportation Association. Nikki Navio, Transportation Program Manager with Denali Commission, and Marge Stoneking with AARP.
II. Guest Speakers:
The first order of business is our guest speakers. First, Representative Mina will talk to us about HB26. Then, Lynne Keilman-Cruz and Tricia Skitt will provide updates on Medicaid Transportation. Representative Mina opened by thanking the Alaska Mobility Coalition for reaching out to her office on this legislation two years ago. Representative Mina summarized the bill, which she called the “fruit of the coalition.” House Bill 26 modernizes the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities’ duties and responsibilities, particularly regarding public transportation. She pointed out that it helps improve our state’s vision and supports transportation options for people who don’t have the ability or access to a car, or who cannot drive. So, HB26 does three main things. First, it updates DOT and public facilities’ responsibilities to study alternative transportation options, including rural and remote areas, as currently required by statute. They only have that duty to study alternative transportation options in urban areas, so it disregards transportation access in all the other areas in our state that aren’t Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Juneau. Second, House Bill 26 expands the department’s duties and scope to explicitly include developing a public transit plan, whereas it currently has no such obligation. It does develop transit plans every number of years, but that’s not codified in law; it’s not a requirement. And third, it requires the department to coordinate with various stakeholders in developing plans. Many people have experienced difficulties engaging with DOT and other forms of transportation planning, such as the STIP (Statewide Transportation Improvement Program). So, the bill explicitly requires that transit planning be coordinated with Metropolitan planning organizations, local governments, communities, tribal entities, and public and community transit operators, and it includes amendments along the way to include ferry operators and the Alaska Railroad Corporation.
Representative Mina’s conversations in meetings with AMC and DOT have been productive and supportive over the past year. In the legislative process, the bill passed the House and is currently before the Senate’s Community and Regional Affairs Committee. After that, it will go onto the Senate floor. The good thing about the bill is that it has a zero fiscal note, and in this environment, that is fantastic. Representative Mina believes the strategy heading into next year for the legislative session focuses on solidifying support from members of the Senate, including the Chair of Community and Regional Affairs, who is Senator Kelly Merrick in the Eagle River area, and the Chair of Transportation for the Senate side, who is Senator Jesse Bjorkman, who represents parts of the Kenai area. Representative Mina appreciates everyone who testified in person or by phone and supports the importance of transit to our communities. If any supporters with transportation needs from Eagle River or the Kenai Peninsula reach out to those senators for a constituent meeting to discuss the bill before the legislative session, it is a good way to keep up the momentum. As we head into the second half of the session, it is crunching time for many major legislative priorities, so a bill like this can easily get “lost in the weeds” otherwise. The fact that it’s been supported throughout the legislative process and that we’ve had a zero fiscal note puts us in a good position. Rep. Mina thinks the main question that some legislators might have is, Why is the bill necessary? Isn’t the department doing this already?’ The testimony in committee, especially from the Alaska Mobility Coalition, with comments from Patrick and Milie, really shows that there are gaps in coordination between DOT&PF and what’s happening on the ground in terms of advocating for public transit needs. Rep. Mina encourages highlighting the examples of gaps with support from the State.
Lynne Keilman-Cruz, Director of Healthcare Services, discussed the importance of their rate study, which is currently under review before release to the public, and affects access to transportation when providers are underpaid. The Division of Insurance gave Healthcare Services the money to hire a contractor to conduct a variety of rate studies for services across the Medicaid program in two phases. The first phase focuses on non-emergency medical transportation, including ambulance, ground, and air providers. Lynne shared several of their recommendations, some of which are policy-related and can be implemented administratively to ease the burden of requesting and authorizing travel, how we establish our tribal government-to-government partner relationships, and the rates themselves, including under- and overpaying for certain services. Given the budgetary situation we are in right now, it will not be easy to improve transportation without some fiscal note, and given these times, it may be difficult to move some of these items forward. –which is impacting thoughts about how we are going to proceed. Tribal governments do a lot to bring their members from rural communities into Anchorage, from arranging travel to developing their own hotels, because we lack availability, especially in the summers. Lynne said that looking at their report and learning that the tribes are standing up for their members and looking internally at what we can do produced an epiphany. One of those things is the state plan amendment with Centers for Medicaid and Medicare, hoping they will approve it to offer more flexibility to tribal travel management offices to include allowance, not to require pre-booked hotel rooms, which can be booked and paid for through their tribal office, and also to arrange Uber and Lyft through the tribal offices to ease burdens across the entire stream. Lynne has heard loud and clear that the Healthcare Services travel voucher system requires a physical voucher to be mailed and carried with you, which is problematic, often forgotten, leading them to consider a system with the voucher on a mobile phone, not using a voucher at all, or using a travel broker, and more. Lynne’s team is determined to do as much as possible, recognizing the limitations of Medicaid as a major payer in Alaska, and to improve and modernize a new provider enrollment and service authorization system that is timelier and more streamlined across the board. Lynne received questions from Nona Safer about the lengthy wait by taxi providers to receive reimbursement from clients on vouchers; about Medicaid escort and travel requirements that complicate travel and cost the State; and more, including a question from Marianne Mills about a directory of NEMT Medicaid providers. Lynne and Tricia Skitt invited more information while they continue to work on solutions and responses.
III. Legislative Priorities:
Patrick talked about Putting Public and Community Transit into Statute as our number one priority, and this upcoming legislative session is the year to pass it through. Millie and Patrick both expressed appreciation to Representative Mina’s office for putting the bill forward and for working with our coalition step by step to get people lined up to testify, which we will continue to do. HB26 being passed through the House and starting out this session without a fiscal note in the Senate is the furthest and most valuable. It is time for our quarterback, Rep. Mina, to take it through to the goal. Millie said AMC will reach out to the membership once a hearing is scheduled with the first Senate committee and encourage everyone to write letters and testify.
Patrick discussed Legislative Priority 2: $700K for the Coordinated Human Services Transportation Grant Program through DOT. $700K in Capital funding was approved for the Human Services Transportation Grant program in the FY 26 State Budget, down from prior years. Since not enough entities have applied for the funds in the past few years, we do not anticipate less funding for the program in 2026. You should apply if this program is a good fit for your agency. If more agencies were applying for these funds, we could argue that the state needs to provide more funding. Please learn more about this grant program. Check it out here. Many members have submitted a letter of intent to apply in September.
Patrick talked about Legislative Priority 3. Transit Match Funding: With all the strains on the State budget this year, both operating and capital, it was not a good year to advocate for match funding. We tried, but we could not secure any new funding. However, the good news is that funding was set aside the year before for a federal funding match through the Denali Commission, and many of our members took advantage of it to help meet their federal match requirements. Nikki Navio gave a quick update on the new surface and transportation match-and-gap program, which opened in December 2024. 12 projects were awarded, four of which were rural transit operators seeking funds for their 5311 capital improvements. A couple of entities were remote and off-road. We prioritized communities facing environmental threats or distress. Right now, due to the federal shutdown, the eligible transit program is on pause. Check out their website for updates on grants, including planning and design, and surface transportation opportunities, and apply for funding.
Patrick talked about Legislative Priority 4. Individualized Transportation Fund: The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority is investing $250,000 in a pilot project to be launched this state fiscal year through Senior and Disability Services for “Individual transportation grants.” We are very excited about this new pot of funds to meet the individual needs of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Beneficiaries they serve. Even if you are lucky enough to have public and community transit providers operating in your community, not all needs can be met. AMC has heard hundreds of stories from people who cannot meet their transportation needs. For instance, what if you work late at night and there are no buses or services to get home when you are off the clock? This program might fund taxi vouchers, preload your rideshare app, provide gas cards for a family member willing to drive you, or pay a mileage reimbursement to a neighbor, friend, or family member willing to drive you to where you need to go. We will keep our members informed when this program rolls out, but we believe it has the potential to grow well beyond this initial Trust investment.
IV. Membership Forum:
Marge Stoneking with AARP asked about rural healthcare federal funding regarding transit for rural transit areas. Patrick’s short answer is yes, but unsure if it will make the cut. Marianne Mills with AgeNet asked about their concern about prompt payments for grant awards. Eric Gurley with Access Alaska spoke about groundwork being done with Foraker Group on ‘Prompt, Pay, Parity,’ which would decrease the current wait for a quarterly payment. Michele Girault noted that, from a regulatory perspective, timely notification of the grant award should be documented. Patrick and Millie explained that we operate today on membership contributions to cover bookkeeping and communications costs. It was a long time ago, through the beauty of Senator Ted Stevens, that we received grants. It’s what got us started. We’ve had a conversation about whether we should keep going, and we do because we believe our work is important, but we cannot do it without membership contributions from anyone who cares about community and transportation focused on people. Please renew your membership via invoice, which will be mailed by the 15th, and help us grow our active membership through your sphere of influence.
VII. Adjournment: The annual meeting adjourned at 4:36 pm.
Zoom November 12, 2024, at 4:00 pm
Annual Membership Meeting
1. Call to Order:
Millie called the annual meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. and introduced herself to the invited body, followed by board members Michael Christian and Margaret Evans, a founder. Patrick Reinhart is the director of the GCDSE and a founder. Jordan Marshall introduced himself and said it was his pleasure to lobby on behalf of AMC during the last session. Also in attendance: Joyanna Geisler with the ILC; Michael Stevenson with GCDSE; Marriane Mills with Southeast Senior Services, a program of Catholic Social Services; Ashley Sawyer, ED of Interior Alaska Bus Line based out of Tok, Alaska; Nikki Navio, the Transportation Program Manager with the Denali Commission; Rich Hawkins with Schetky Northwest Bus Sales, Susi Edwardson, SOA Rural transit manager; Molly McKinely, National Campaign for Transit Justice; Ken Platt, SOA DOT Grant Administrator; Kelda Barstad, Program Officer with the Alaska Mental Health Trust; Eric Taylor, DOT Planning Chief; Jessica Schultz, ED of CARTS; Bridger Reed-Lewis, a Disability Advocate for the State of Alaska; Erin Walker-Tolles, ED Catholic Community Service; and, also present Shannon McCarthy, State of Alaska DOT as well as Sasha Fallon, Director at the Nikiski Senior Center; and, Marge Stoneking the Advocacy Director of the AARP Alaska Chapter.
Lisa Reinhart introduced herself and her role in managing membership and coordinating communications on behalf of the board of directors. Our budget is entirely membership-supported, and currently, we are in our annual membership drive. Please look for your invoice in the mail, contact Lisa directly, or join digitally online.
II. Legislative Advocacy Report: Patrick reviewed our three legislative priorities. Patrick was happy to say the $1.25 Million for the Coordinated Human Services Transportation Grant Program through the DOT program was fully supported again this year while the Trust backed out of the funding. We asked for $1 million in Transit Match funding for our second priority. For our third legislative priority, we requested the DOT take on the added duty of developing a public and community transportation plan for the State of Alaska and then be required to report on that to the legislature. We engaged Jordan Marshall, who helped us push the envelope in Juneau and got a hearing on the issue for the first time in four years.
Jordan Marshall pointed out that the Representative who introduced our legislation, Representative Genevive Mina, has been re-elected. She will likely want to re-engage in this space. Jordan suggested we wait until the caucuses form to decide who to approach on the Senate side.
When the House and the Senate met, Jordan noted that numerous folks and organizations provided public testimony, noting that MORE supportive public testimony will go a long way to building momentum and finding a broader reach of stakeholders, so start to mark your calendar for Mid-March and the end of April to keep the Legislative Priorities of the Alaska Mobility Coalition on the top of mind of legislators.
We want to impress upon them the importance of the Capital matching grants. The Senate did not insert this in its budget version; the legislature did boost its appropriation to the Denali Commission for the nonfederal match. Patrick Reinhart and others did a lot of work in the interim. The Denali Commission can report where the Coalition’s priorities and the grant’s eligibility program may overlap in their upcoming presentation.
Patrick said he doesn’t want us to assume we are again pursuing the same three priorities. He noted that Public and Community Transit in State Statute will be high on our list again, as the Human Services Transportation funding, but whether we request Match funding again is really up to the input we get during this meeting from our members.
Millie opened the discussion about what we want to see as our priorities for the upcoming session. Marianne Mills and Joyanna Geisler believe all three are good priorities and agreed we should contact the Alaska Commission on Aging, Age-Net, and AARP. Bridger Reed-Lewis would like to see the expansion of funding, including for people with disabilities, available to the Valley like Anchorage has for Anchor-Rides and grants.
Patrick discussed the movement afoot to find money for Individualized Transportation Plans, recognizing that not all Public and Community Transit works for all populations. We talked about the need for flexible transportation, such as buying an Uber ride or a cab ride or even paying for gas cards for someone to drive them to work. The Trust is going to invest next year in exploring a grant program. They have engaged a research fellow from the University to research what other communities do in this regard that can be “Alaskanized.”
SDS is partnering with the Trust to request information on exploring new transportation projects. Kelda Barstad emphasized that the Trust tends to invest in items that will add to the continuum of care, take on the risk of trying out a pilot project for the departments, and then help transition the program to the departments if they are helpful to the community. She invites The Alaska Mobility Coalition to identify specific questions of interest to the Coalition and will welcome the input. Millie Ryan and Bridger Reed-Lewis expressed interest in working with Kelda and the Trust.
Millie suggested putting the Transit Match on the back burner and concentrating on our other two Legislative Priorities, specifically getting Human Services funding in the budget and getting Public and Community Transportation into State Statute and asked for discussion. Marianne Mills wants to make this specific to 5310 grantees who comprise Age-net members. Jordan added that the Commissioner had a conversation with Jordan and Patrick, who was warm and receptive to administering it to the terms in our request, smaller communities, based on need. Jordan cautioned that the atmosphere in the upcoming year would likely be more austere and present some challenges, which is not to say not to try to get there; you want to be persistent and consistent, not ask for one year and disappear.
Patrick introduced Nikki Navio from The Denali Commission to discuss funding that may be available for transportation projects. She shared slides with a detailed Transportation Program Overview. Members and interested parties should refer to PowerPoint, which Lisa will send in a follow-up. The funding opportunities extend from planning to construction projects and include Waterfront Program Projects and Surface Transportation Program Projects. Nikki encourages interested parties to focus on the Annual Unified Funding Opportunity to fund rural projects, workforce/economic infrastructure development in rural Alaska, and other upcoming funding opportunities through the Commission, emphasizing but not limited to rural transit—the timeframe to submit statements of interest January through April. Nikki invites questions to Nikki Navio, nnavio@denali.gov, (907) 271-1414, https://denali.gov/.
Patrick emphasized the benefit of getting the Denali Commission to support your community. Their involvement will help your case with local funds or other project funds. In the longer term, Nikki highlighted another area for special initiatives that may be a fit for unique transportation needs.
Eric Taylor with the DOT shared that Ken Platt is the Grants Administrator, and Susi Edwardson is the new Planner in Juneau. The long-held position of Transit Coordinator moved to the Data management office. Eric shared grant application deadlines. Eric echoed a planning need the Trust could help support: providing support for public and community-coordinated transportation plans because it tends to be a stretch for local governments to support. Finally, Eric shared that emerging as an area of emphasis, transportation community members should reach out to the health community and make better use of available federal funding. There has been a braiding guide for folks putting together to know what other federal funding sources may help come up with Match funding.
III. Other Business: The more people we work with on these issues to promote coordinated transportation throughout Alaska, the more we can accomplish, so we are pushing for membership to help support our efforts. Millie pointed out that the Alaska Mobility Coalition’s value is, in part, identified opportunities to promote funding for transportation projects, such as the Denali Commission, and will continue with membership support. Millie encourages you to join and help bring on members through your sphere of influence.
VII. Adjournment: The annual meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
Save Date and Attend the Annual Meeting on November 12th, 2024, at 4:00 PM:
We have invited a guest speaker – Denali Commission Program Manager, Nikki Navio, to discuss how the Denali Commission works and the potential for our members to partner on projects:
- Topic: Alaska Mobility Coalition Annual Meeting
- Time: November 12, 2024, 04:00 PM Alaska, Board Members 03:45 PM Alaska
- Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/s/83840959662
- Meeting ID: 838 4095 9662
- Passcode: 540394
- One tap mobile: US: +12532050468,,83840959662# or +12532158782,,83840959662#
Zoom November 9, 2023
AMC Board and Annual Meeting
Millie called the meeting to order at 3:50 pm. Mille Ryan introduced the organization to the member body, and Patrick Reinhart shared history of the Alaska Mobility Coalition. Attendees were asked to introduce themselves. Present included: Athena Grimm, Bradley Parsons, Britt Hamre, Dave Fleurant, Eric Gurley, Eric Taylor, Gerry Hope, Jordan Marshall, Lisa Reinhart, Patrick Reinhart, Marianne Mills, Michelle Girault, Millie Ryan, Marge Stoneking, Stephanie Rose, Julius Adolfsson, and Stephanie Bushong.
Patrick presented AMC’s legislative priorities for discussion. Jordan Marshall shared his perspectives, including what he believes is possible with our lawmakers in coming and subsequent sessions. Millie invited attendees to ask questions. Millie invited input from the member body.
Patrick put a spotlight on our membership drive underway and called out to the body to think about organizations that should be a member of AMC, make an introduction, and let Lisa Reinhart know. Gerry Hope expressed thanks to Eric Taylor, who will be leaving DOT soon. Eric Taylor reminded us that the due date for Human Services and Public Transportation funding grants soon, but agencies would have had to put in a letter of intent to apply earlier in the fall.
The Annual Membership meeting concluded at 5:00 pm.
Contact Lisa Reinhart about our next annual meeting at (907) 343-9093.