By: Diane Benjamin
See Part 1 here: https://blnnews.com/2016/11/30/connect-transit-lunacy-part-1/
See the Board packet here: November-22-2016-regular-board-packet
Below is a few items paid in September and October.
Remember, they knew by this time the State of Illinois was late paying them and they were in danger of running out of money.
I have no idea what a Vault Room if, somebody can FOIA if you are interested.
How much did Connect Transit lose in September and October?
September 2016:
October 2016:
As I reported in Part 1, less than 3000 people a day ride the bus. Some of them ride for free because of the contract with LifeCIL to determine who is eligible: https://blnnews.com/2016/11/10/connect-transit-lifecil/
It gets better!
All that money they listed to offset the losses hasn’t been paid. As of October 31st:
A long string of people appeared before the Bloomington Council to complain about the service and new routes. Did they know Bloomington wasn’t paying what they promised? Is Bloomington out of money or just deadbeats? Bloomington was almost 4 months late in paying!
At the end of October, Connect showed they were owed:
Connect had less than $2 million in cash as of October 31.
Cash received from operations is less than $120,000 a month. With expenses of over $800,000 a month – yes they will be out of money by January 1st.
The packet has tons of other information including a statement about low gas prices.
Yes, low gas prices hurt Connect Transit, but they help every other sector of the economy. Connect Transit has yet to realize that low prices are here to stay. It’s way past time to change their operations model, if Illinois finds money to keep them operating they have no reason to change.
Local governments appoint representatives to the Connect Transit Board. WHO gets elected mayor in Bloomington and Normal can change the Board and provide some common sense.
It depends on what you are willing to do to get better representation elected.
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I googled vault room. this is what I found. Not sure why they would need one???
Key Vault Room Benefits: The convenience of an office with the security of a concrete vault room. Vault Rooms can be used as a storm shelter and a shelter against intruders. Vault rooms are designed to meet your needs and specifications
Sonya Stallman [email protected]
Safe Rooms
A safe room is a hardened structure specifically designed to meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) criteria and provide near-absolute protection in extreme weather events, including tornadoes and hurricanes. Near-absolute protection means that, based on our current knowledge of tornadoes and hurricanes, the occupants of a safe room built in accordance with FEMA guidance will have a very high probability of being protected from injury or death.
To be considered a FEMA safe room, the structure must be designed and constructed to the guidelines specified in FEMA P-320, Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room for Your Home or Small Business and FEMA P-361, Safe Rooms for Tornadoes and Hurricanes: Guidance for Community and Residential Safe Rooms. For more information on residential safe room doors, please download the Residential Tornado Safe Room Doors Fact Sheet.
Residential Safe Rooms Building a Safe Room in Your House Residential Funding Opportunities Examples and Case Studies
Public and Community Safe Rooms Community Funding Opportunities Examples and Case Studies
FEMA strongly encourages homeowners and communities to build safe rooms, but cannot endorse or approve specific manufacturers or producers
Sonya Stallman [email protected]
I wonder if it’s open to the public or just for their employees?
Nearly $8,000.00 additional in travel…WHY??
Maybe I didn’t post both months, I thought I did – it’s closer to $15,000!
I missed the other $7,000. They spend that almost every month. I guess it is small change compared to the overall budget
The hire consultants to plan the routes. Why do they need to travel at all?
Annual attendance at a conference would be acceptable but huge bills for travel and meetings every month seems absurd. Same with Renner–an annual conference should be enough.
I would outlaw the US Conference of Mayors. We have over 19,000 mayor and 300 show up? The leader is the left wing mayor from Baltimore, that says everything people need to know about that conference.