County Transit Management Shows Lack Of Concern For Community

If it is true that we will be judged on how we treat the most vulnerable among us, then we have a very serious problem with regard to Charlevoix County government in general, and the county transit department in particular.

The issues of concern with Charlevoix County Transit are numerous and continue without any attempted corrective measures resulting in biased and sometimes discriminatory practices. These concerns have been voiced by many local residents and have been brought to the attention of the transit manager, Jill Drury, in an attempt to bring about changes that would make the system more responsive to the needs of the community - to no avail.

The steps taken include telephone conversations and meetings with Jill Drury, transit manager; and the concerns have been presented at a meeting of the oversight board, and also the Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners. So far the many problems plaguing transit remain uncorrected except for very minor, sometimes cosmetic changes that were only addressed after they were made public, with one exception; the serious problems with the telephone system have finally been addressed, after continuous public outcry that lasted for more than a year, and while far from perfect, the improvements have made a big difference to the many residents who previously encountered difficulties attempting to contact the dispatch office.

Many more problems exist with our beloved pickle bus, and some are quite serious. Problems such as the termination of needed service without notice or substantive reasons, a marked and noticeable change from serving the needs of the community to serving visitors and local bars, changing focus from public transportation to that of tour agency as evidenced by the change of description on the official transit Facebook page, and more, many more. Why county government would be willing to ignore these serious issues, reducing local residents to “second class” citizens is beyond my comprehension.

When the Transit Oversight Board Chair offers diametrically opposed excuses for termination of service, when the transit manager laughs off the stranding of passengers, when evening weekend service that is only available in the Boyne City area and subsidized by local bars is given priority over the needs of county residents, when the new dispatch software is not used for the evening bus service but is demanded for daytime riders, when the new dispatch software has increased time to make trip arrangements, when access to proof of cost and mileage reduction is denied, when transit management and oversight board admit that they have no statistics to base their decisions on, when transit management can mix public and private sector duties on county payroll, when the transit manager’s husband, John Drury, a private consultant and lobbyist, and Executive Director of MASSTrans, a public transit lobbying organization, can sit on the board of the  Charlevoix County Transportation Authority, when both Jill Drury and John Drury sit on the board of MASSTrans, when Jill Drury refuses to answer legitimate questions and doesn’t release public documents that are supposed to be available on the official county website, then we most certainly do have trouble with a capital T, right here in River City.

I understand that not every rider experiences the same deficiencies, and that some riders are quite pleased with the transit system as it is. That in no way can be construed as a ringing endorsement. Indeed, the problems do exist, have not been addressed, and there should be no place in county government for those willing to compromise the civil rights of senior, disabled or low-income residents as has been done repeatedly by the county transit department. Just ask the seniors that utilize the pickle bus to get to local medical care, or ask the local medical facilities – they know all too well that seniors are being subjected to unfair practices.

At the Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners meeting of January 11, 2017, I called for the termination of Jill Drury and the transit oversight board. The exact wording of the document presented at that meeting can be found here.

This is not the position I wanted to take. All I ever wanted was a fair and equitable solution. Having silently observed the mistreatment of many local residents and hoping for the needed changes, I finally stepped up to seek corrective action. The transit system is too valuable to let it slide into a caricature of bureaucratic elitism and indifference so I have spent months researching the issues and reaching out to Jill Drury and the oversight board; however the efforts to seek a workable solution to the many problems with county transit have gone unheeded.

I fully intend to keep sounding the call for fair and unbiased service, and will seek the needed changes through any and all legal means at my disposal. You can expect to see me at commission meetings, and you can count on me to continue writing about the gross inequities within our county government.