BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 @ 8:00 A.M.
Meeting Location – Metro Centre or Remote
Zoom 312-626-6799, Meeting ID: 465 778 3908, Passcode: 111375
Agenda
1.0 Roll Call
2.0 Pledge of Allegiance
3.0 Public with Business to Come Before the Board
(Comments should be limited to three minutes)
4.0 Consent Agenda
4.01 Minutes February 25, 2025
4.02 Financials
5.0 Communications
5.01 Chairman Report
5.02 Managing Director’s Report
5.03 Operations Report
5.04 Complaints/Comments Report
5.05 Board Member Comments
6.0 New Business
6.01 Funding
6.02 Vehicles
7.0 Old Business
7.01 Maintenance Facility
8.0 Questions from the News Media
9.0 Other Business to come Before the Board (includes Executive
Session, if necessary
Closed session in accordance with the Illinois Open Meeting Act 5
ILCS 120/2(c)(1).
(1) The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline,
performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public
body or legal counsel for the public body.”
10.0 Potential Action from Executive Session
11.0 Adjournment
Future Meetings and Events (Tentative Schedule)
Board Meetings are the fourth Tuesday of every month at 8:00 am.
(excluding July and December)
River Valley Metro Mass Transit District
Metro Centre, 1137 E 5000 North Road, Bourbonnais IL 60914
Board of Director Meeting Minutes
March 25, 2025
Chairman Argyelan called the regular monthly River Valley Metro Board of
Directors meeting to order at 8:00 AM.
Attending Board Members: Chairman Mark Argyelan, Vice-Chairman Jerry
Pearce, Secretary Nick Allen, Treasurer Ron Jackson, Board Members David
Hinderliter, Kenny Blake. Absent: Kelly St. Aubin.
Staff Members Present: Managing Director Siron Sims, Director of Administration
Mandy Taylor, Director of Operations Michelle Brutlag, Facilities Director Tim
Goodman, Project Manager Cortney Koning, COO Ken Munjoy, MPD Tobe Fulford
Others Present: We Drive U G.M. Rodriques Kimbrough
Pledge of Allegiance led by: Mandy Taylor
Public with Business to Come Before the Board: None
Consent Agenda: Nick Allen made a motion to approve the consent agenda. David
Hinderliter seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken of those in
attendance, with all in favor. Consent agenda approved.
Communications:
Chairman’s Report: Mark Argyelan
Election Day is April 1. Be sure to go vote if you have not already.
Managing Director’s Report: Siron Sims
Mandy just returned from Drug and Alcohol training. Some changes have been
made that will necessitate updates to our Drug and Alcohol Policy.
Siron just returned from APTA’s CEO Conference. This is a great conference with a
number of points that can be implemented here.
Operations Report: Rod Kimbrough
We have 56 operators. 52 are available for service. 48 are full-time. 2 are in
training. We are still hiring new operators.
Ken Munjoy reported that February ridership this year was 45,994, compared to
48,448 last year. The decline is due to more extreme winter weather this year and
last year was Leap Year, providing an additional day of ridership. Year-to-date,
ridership is up 4.5% from last year.
Complaints/Comments: Michelle Brutlag
In the last month, there were 9 complaints, 5 of which were valid and 2 were
preventable. We also had 2 compliments. CCS and Transit Officers provided 67
rides.
Board Report:
David Hinderliter noticed that the wind blew over our sign at Midway Airport.
Ron Jackson commented on how nice the new floor in our entryway looks.
New Business
Funding
The Federal Appropriations Bill has been signed. Transit funding is better than
expected. Our allocation should be approximately $3 million. Our state funding is
approximately $8.9 million. The formula for funding downstate transit is 80% of
3/32 of sales tax revenue. There has been some discussion within IPTA to ask for
legislation to change the formula to 100%. This would ease the burden on local
funding, especially since we are one of the few transit districts in Illinois that does
not levy a local tax or receive funding from a local university. However, with the
current funding crisis affecting Chicago area public transportation, now may not
be the right time to request this change in the formula.
Vehicles
Two of the 3 CVP vehicles that we ordered are here and one of those is in service.
These are medium duty buses intended for use as paratransit vehicles. The other
medium duty bus and 6 super-medium duty buses should be delivered soon.
Old Business
Maintenance Facility
The floor is currently in the process of being epoxy coated. Paving will happen
soon, and lifts are scheduled for installation in April. We will have a ribbon cutting
when the project is finished.
Questions from the news media: None
Other Business to come Before the Board:
Tobe Fulford told the board about a recent incident that resulted in a very happy
customer. One of our riders left a wallet on the bus and it was picked up by
another passenger. Using camera video and relying on our drivers’ familiarity with
our regular passengers, Tobe was able to find the person who took the wallet and
return it, along with its contents, to the owner.
Executive Session:
None
Adjournment
Jerry Pearce made a motion to adjourn at 8:46 AM. Motion was seconded by
Kenny Blake and passed unanimously in a voice vote.
