TRANSIT BOARD ASKS FOR TRANSIT DIRECTOR

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority recommended Thursday that the County Commission allocate money to hire a transportation director.

The five-member transit board said a director is needed to help plan and implement improvements in public transportation services in the county.

"We all have our jobs. We are going to need help," said Transit Authority chairman Doug Richards.

The Transit Authority made the recommendation at its meeting in the County Administrative Building in Jackson. The action came at the urging of 2nd District Commissioner Max Stovall, who said the commission was prepared to act on such a recommendation.

Stovall told the board that the request needed to be made quickly because the County Commission is in the middle of budget planning for next year.

The Transit Authority met with members of the Transit Advisory Committee and discussed how to proceed with making transportation improvements.

The members of the two groups offered differing opinions about how to proceed.

Richards said the Transit Authority needs to have clear objectives. The board first must identify transportation problems, he said.

He suggested the board seek public input on the transportation needs. He said the board needs input particularly from transportation providers and users.

But Transit Authority member Dale Rauh cautioned against spending too much time defining the problems since they have already been identified in previous studies by other committees and groups over the past several years.

"This thing has been studied to death," he said.

Rauh said the main issue already has been identified. "We have a lot of resources out there, but they are fragmented."

Advisory committee member Charlotte Craig agreed, saying it would be "a precious misuse of time" to start all over in identifying the county's transportation problems.

But Richards said it is important to clearly spell out the transit problems and the services that already are in place. He said the board needs to know what transportation services already are available in the county and the funding that is in place.

"I think one thing we will do is educate the community," he said.

Transit board member Ray Duffy said efforts need to be made to improve existing transportation services. Duffy said the board might want to set up a telephone line to gather comments from transit riders regarding taxi and van services.