Carol Shepard of Milford told Seward County Commissioners she relied on Seward County Public Transit to get to physical therapy sessions in Seward after she and her husband were injured in a head-on collision last year.
She was able to visit him in a Lincoln hospital with public transit until she could again drive a car.
“Anybody can find themselves in a situation they don’t expect,” she told the commissioners Feb. 24 at a public hearing advertised to gather input on potential service hour changes for the public transit system that has operated in Seward County for four decades.
“There is so much going through your mind on how your life is going to be,” she said.
Shepard and her husband are home now. Her broken leg is healing and she is able to walk with a walker and drive her car. But she is appreciative of public transit taking her where she needed to go when she needed the help.
Thirteen speak
for transit services
In all, 13 people addressed the board in two-minute stints in a 30-minute public hearing. Some spoke of personal experience using public transit, some of the assistance their family received and some to the mission of the transportation services in the county.
Around 45 people filled the commissioners’ meeting room with more standing in the hall outside for the hearing, which was closed so the board could begin an advertised public hearing on a communications tower for which no one spoke.
Commission Chair Misty Ahmic determined the two-minute limit on comments as the hearing began when she asked how many might speak. She said she saw only seven people raise their hands.
Public Transit Director Brandy Hafer told commissioners she had also received more than 10 letters from individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations in support of the program’s work.
Hafer spoke to the proposed change in service hours from five-days a week, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to a potential three-day schedule, and noted one full-time driver would be retiring in March.
“I am very proud of the department we have and all the drivers,” she told the commission.
Schedule ends hearing
At 10:14 a.m. when the half hour was done, Ahmic moved on to another advertised public hearing, saying the board appreciated the attendees’ input and that no decision on services was to be made that day.
Commissioners Ken Schmieding and Raegan Hain told those in the audience they appreciated their presence and testimony, and Hain said the board is looking at data about the services provided.
Some in the audience voiced concern that they did not have the opportunity to speak. Jeffrey M. Baker encouraged people to stay and offer transit-related testimony during the public hearing that was to follow, though most of those gathered started making their way to the elevator and stairs.
The advertised public hearing related to a new cellular communication tower began at 10:15 a.m.
Baker came to the microphone again during public comment time for the cell tower, telling commissioners, “you are interfering with the public hearing.”
“A lot of them rode on public transportation to get here today and you did not give them the time of day,” he said.
Ahmic directed the board to the public hearing on the tower and told Baker the discussion could “circle back” to public transit at the end of the day’s agenda. The board voted to go into a scheduled executive session related to personnel, which is closed to the public and staff, at 10:31 a.m. and fewer than a fourth of the people originally gathered waited 45 minutes in the hall before the discussion resumed in public session.
Few wait to resume
discussion
Deputy County Attorney Barb Armstead, who met with the board and County Attorney Wendy Elston, said the session also included discussion of potential litigation that was on the commissioners’ agenda but without a designated time. Ahmic said the two discussions were related.
After the hearing, Baker told the Seward County Independent he had served as Seward County public transit director for 10 years and had encouraged people to speak at the hearing. He said had worked with government for 25 years and not seen a public hearing like this.
“You can quote me when I say it was shameful,” Baker said.
During his earlier public hearing comments, commissioners questioned Baker about a letter sent to people encouraging input to the commissioners and attendance at the hearing.
When asked by Ahmic, he declined to say where he obtained a mailing list. When asked about the return address on the letter being the transit service’s, he said that was done so people could see where to send their responses.
Budget priorities differ
When the comment period resumed at the end of the commissioners’ meeting, Denny Carr, a former transit office secretary, asked how soon changes might occur. Commissioners in earlier meetings had mentioned possible changes in March, but Ahmic said that was not decided because the county “had no clarity” on future funding for transit services.
“People need to find alternatives,” Carr said. “Is there a fiscal time that will be decided?”
Ahmic said she and Hafer had conferred with state officials and there is no cut in federal funding to the state, but there has been a $4 million increase in requests from transit programs across the state for additional reimbursements for services and equipment, which has limited what Seward County gets.
Commissioner Darrell Zabrocki said the county has to address this through its budget.
“We now have to look at this as a budget. Who are we going to rob Peter to pay Paul from?” he said.
Commissioner Raegan Hain said the county has to meet property tax limits in planning for services.
“Everybody’s opinion matters, but everybody’s priorities are different,” she said.
Baker later told commissioners that the people speaking for the transit services are on their side.
“We did not throw you under the bus. We understand the challenges you have. I think you have options,” he said.
Hearing shows
varied users
In recent meetings, county officials have cited the need for county residents traveling to Lincoln regularly for chemotherapy or dialysis, but some of the earlier hearing testimony showed a wide array of people using public transit.
Milford Mayor Patrick Kelley, who has an auto body repair shop in Seward, was the first to speak to the commissioners and said a percentage of his customers draw upon the public transit service.
For many, he said, if their own vehicles are not working, they may miss needed medical appointments. He encouraged the commission to keep the hours the same or expand them.
Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Jank told commissioners his organization has used the larger capacity public transit vehicles to give potential new business owners tours and to take participants in the Seward County Leadership Academy to programs so their discussions can continue as a group.
Ray Jisa of Seward said he has used public transit to get to York appointments and has used his power wheelchair to travel more than a mile for medical appointments when needed.
While he does not usually need local transportation for appointments now, he said, “I do see that future that I may.”
Seward County Aging Services Manager Alison Rook said public transit is important to older adults in Seward County.
“For them public transit is not a convenience, it is a necessity,” she said.
She said transit services help older adults get to needed appointments, which can reduce emergency room visits and may enable them to stay in their homes longer. It also is a means to reduce isolation.
Terri Stutzman of Beaver Crossing is a member of the Seward County Aging Services Board. She recalled her 20 years working in Seward County Court when people needed public transportation to attend to their court business.
Others spoke about their needs to run errands or shop without access to their own transportation. Marissa Hurley said public transit is one of the ways she can see “this community help each other.”
Carr said increasing services would add revenue and serve people.
“As a county, I think we have a responsibility to dig in and make it happen,” she said. “It is not just getting out to see the doctor even if that is all you have to do.”
Rides meet needs
Rebekah Lawton said she was previously a rider on public transit and has become a driver.
“You see people at the worst time of their lives, when things have really hit the wall,” she said. “Our drivers love and care for their passengers.”
Hansel Cabieles and Robert Quint both told commissioners they and other families sometimes need public transit to get their children to or from school.
Cabieles said he works two jobs and his wife works in Lincoln, both leaving before school drop-off time. His son has a rare medical condition that can cause him issues in cold weather, so he needs a ride to school when temperatures are low.
Quinn said when he works evenings, he needs transportation for his daughter.
Commissioners later focused several questions to the people who stayed for the later discussion time about the unknown number of Seward students who use the transit system to get to and from school.
The Seward Public School District buses only students who live four miles or more away from school and offers school-to-school transportation only between the high school, middle school and elementary, which are all in the northern part of the city.
City, school options eyed
Commissioners Darrell Zabrocki, who is the county’s liaison to the Seward City Council, and Scott Pekarek, who is a former Seward School Board member, asked whether those two entities could be more involved in transportation for students.
Pekarek said seven of the 12 people testifying in the hearing mentioned the use of public transit for students, though only two spoke of their own situations.
“At what point does that fall back on the school district?” he asked.
Zabrocki cited data that showed 4,052 or 52% of the agency’s total 6,750 rides began and/or ended in Seward, asking if the city could help. Based on statistics shared by the county board earlier in February, 367 individuals used the transit services one or more times last year.
Ahmic later said a conversation with city officials has been initiated.
Ahmic said she and Hafer contacted state officials to learn more about the budget shortfall the Seward program expects and were told that the funding is not cuts to the state’s funding totals, but rather a more than $4 million increase in the local costs they are being asked to reimburse by Seward and other counties.
But Ahmic said at this point, that means the county cannot determine what kind of funding or reimbursements might be available to them in the future.
