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.