CAPE COUNTY CREATES TRANSIT AUTHORITY

JACKSON, Mo. -- A five-member transit authority to coordinate public transportation services in Cape Girardeau County was established Monday by the County Commission.

The board members may be getting some help soon in the form of an advisory committee whose members could include representatives from some of the various transportation services the transit authority will try to coordinate.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said the commission could name the advisory committee as early as Thursday.

The transit board members are Jean Kurre and Dale Rauh of Jackson, Doug Richards and Ray Duffy of Cape Girardeau, and Roland Sander of Gordonville.

The commission appointed the members to staggered terms. After the initial terms, all terms will be four years.

Kurre is a former bus supervisor for the Jackson School District. Rauh is director of rehabilitation for St. Francis Medical Center. Richards directs Southeast Missouri State University's Department of Public Safety. Duffy owns Bootheel Area Rapid Transportation, which provides van transportation to and from the St. Louis airport. Sander is a retired schoolteacher.

Kurre will serve a one-year term, Sander a two-year term, Rauh, a three-year term and Richards and Duffy four-year terms. Jones said three of the members are Republicans, one a Democrat and the other an independent. State law requires that no more than three members of a transit authority be of the same political party.

Commissioners appointed the board from among a final list of 10 applicants, ending two years of discussions that involved recommendations from two ad hoc transportation committees and a 1998 study by the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission.

The County Commission said the transit authority could improve transportation services in the county. Those services currently are provided by various government-funded agencies and Kelley Transportation, a private taxi service.

County commissioners said the services and tax money funding those services need to be coordinated.

A transit authority could apply for state and federal funding and contract for services with existing providers or operate its own transit system.

The Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority is expected to hire a transit administrator. The Area Wide United Way has offered $20,000 over two years to help pay the salary of a transit coordinator.

Jones said he hopes the position can be funded with grant money and assistance from the United Way. The commission doesn't want to fund the position out of county general revenue.

Jones said the transit authority shouldn't be viewed as a threat to existing transportation services. "We are not wanting to put anybody out of business," said Jones.

Commissioner Larry Bock said the authority could lead to a centralized dispatching system, eliminating the need for every transportation service to have its own dispatchers.

Jones suggested the transit authority could contract with Kelley Transportation to provide dispatching for all transportation services in the county.

Coordinated services also could provide an opportunity for VIP Industries to get out of the business of transporting its workers to and from sheltered workshop, Jones said.

State law allows transit authorities to levy at most a 1-cent sales tax with voter approval. But Jones said the commission isn't looking to tax county residents for transportation services and has no plans to put any tax issue before voters.

Jones said he wants the commission to appoint an advisory board because it would allow representatives of existing transportation services to assist the transit board without creating a conflict of interest.

Advisory board members could include Glenda Hoffmeister, the presiding commissioner said. Hoffmeister deals with transportation services for the elderly as director of the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging.

Duffy operates a transportation company. But Jeff Brune, legislative assistant to the county commissioners, said Duffy's company doesn't haul passengers to in-county destinations and wouldn't be in competition with any services coordinated by the transit authority. Richards supervises the university's shuttle services.

Commissioner Max Stovall said the university's shuttle system serves the Southeast campus and doesn't compete with other transportation services in the county. As a result, he said, there is no conflict of interest for Richards to serve on the transit board.