CC_Minutes_2018_1015 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, October 15, 2018 Page 5 Mr. Trudgeon understood what the Mayor was talking about in regard to the mar- keting, but he would be a little worried about the stoppage because there would be some people affected. He suggested, if the Council continues this program, that the route be continued, start on the outreach and marketing as soon as possible, and unveil that in thirty to ninety days, whenever the City would be open to alter- ing the route. He thought the service should keep going but delay the alternate route until the outreach is done. Mayor Roe stated because of the funding, he suggested there be six months with the new route in order to have enough time to evaluate this program. Councilmember McGehee agreed not to drop the program but she felt the pro- gram needed more thought and exploration besides marketing. She thought the City needed to look at partnering with the schools, and the possibility of having different programs doing different things. She did not think the Council should stop this program. Mr. Trudgeon understood this program will not solve everyone's needs but this does not mean the Council cannot have parallel conversations to add a different service to go to different places. He thought there were a lot of different needs but the focus should stay on what the City can do for this program. He suggested the City work in getting the word out, working with the different groups, continue the service as is, and once the City is ready to unveil the alternate route to give that a six-month period. Councilmember Laliberte agreed with much of what has been said. She did think sometimes it takes people a little while to become accustomed to something being available. She thought the City needed to give it time without taking a pause and making a lot of changes; however, people who ride Metro Transit know that bus routes change all of the time as well. She thought the City could come up with a marketing plan within thirty days and then take that time until the beginning of 2019 to find out who is doing what and who can help with the different pieces of the marketing plan. She thought the City should talk to some of the associations, such as KOM, to see if KOM would be willing to provide a translator to go to some of these stops in place of the children that would normally be accompanying the adults. Mayor Roe indicated he wanted to be clear on some things. He thought there were two pieces, there is marketing and there is outreach, which to him needs to be a two-way communication. He liked the idea of finding out from people where the residents really would like to go given this bus is coming to residents, which will take more time to figure out.