In hopes of saving money and making Handi-Wheels more efficient, JeffTran staff plans to launch paratransit recertification next month.
Beginning in mid-January, JeffTran staff will contact about 2,100 active paratransit clients by mail in phases, Transit Division Director Mark Mehmert told the Jefferson City Public Works and Planning Committee on Thursday. Clients will have 60 days to fill out the recertification form and submit it to JeffTran.
Recertification will allow JeffTran to update its client records and ensure clients are still eligible for the paratransit service.
Contractor Lochmueller Group suggested recertifying paratransit riders after it conducted a transportation system analysis last year.
Lochmueller Group compared JeffTran to other similar transit systems, and Handi-Wheels usage per capita is about five times higher compared to other transit systems in its peer group, Mehmert said. This means the city is spending significantly more money than other similar systems to provide paratransit services, he added.
Handi-Wheels provided 50,387 rides in the 2018 fiscal year, Mehmert said. The 2018 fiscal year ended Oct. 31.
"We want to go down this path because we think it will have some benefit to the system overall," he said. "We think this might provide some savings that could be applied elsewhere."
The Transit Division plans to recertify Handi-Wheels riders every three years, Mehmert said.
This will be the first time the transit division has recertified Handi-Wheels.
In other business Thursday, the committee discussed implementing a board of appeals for building regulations.
Currently, if someone disagrees with a building code decision by the building official, Jefferson City Building Official Larry Burkhardt said, that individual must take it to the circuit court for judicial review, which could be a timely process.
The board would consist of five individuals and include contractors, engineers and an architect. The board would meet to hear appeals about a building code decision, Burkhardt said. It would also review the building codes.
Community members are discussing such a board and planned to present a similar idea to the city, said Ward 2 Councilman Rick Mihalevich and Jefferson City Planning and Protective Services Director Sonny Sanders.
"From my chair, I have heard where it would have been helpful to accomplish the code in other ways, better ways, if they had an appeals board," Mihalevich said. "This puts on the table a way to work with our building officials and work with the building community and get to a resolution that kind of gets us building in Jeff City."
Potential delays from the board of appeals could be counter-productive, Mihalevich said, adding the board would need to be "flexible and not be a huge level of bureaucracy on their building."
Last year, Burkhardt said, an ad hoc committee reviewing the current building codes decided against recommending the creation of an appeals board due to fear of construction delays and "frivolous appeals."
If the Public Works and Planning Committee decides to move forward with the board, it must decide the extent of the board's role, such as if it will hear only appeals or variance requests too.
City staff plans to contact local stakeholders and present more information to the committee in January.