July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Saying no to bailout
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
By invitation I attended the Delaware County Rural Mass Public Transportation Task Force Meeting on April 25 regarding funding for The New InterUrban Transportation Services throughout Delaware & the surrounding counties. The purpose of the task force was to determine if there was sufficient support in Delaware County for rural mass public transit beyond June 30.
I had not previously met LifeStream CEO Ken Adkins. I am not a user of the transportation service and attended as a concerned citizen, taxpayer, local small business owner and as a strong supporter of the ability of all citizens to travel for work & pleasure.
It is a privilege most of us take for granted everyday, except for those 1104 citizens who were served by the New InterUrban in 2012.
Mr. Adkins initially came to the Delaware County council to announce he needed $73,500, saying if not received he would be forced to discontinue all rural transportation services.
At the task force meeting he somehow reduced that need to $22,000. Not unlike like the child who says they “just have to have” $70 for something & when the parent says “NO” decides they better put some effort into finding it on sale or making it themselves if they want it bad enough and discovers in reality they needed only $20.
Keep in mind that all the counties the New InterUrban services (Blackford, Delaware, Henry, Jay, Madison and Randolph) provide and maintain for LifeStream roads and infrastructure. Don’t forget traffic lights/signs, mowing and snow plowing. They all also provide emergency services like police and fire.
For the last 4 to 5 years all municipalities, agencies and businesses have been required to seriously look for new ways to generate income, creatively market or fundraise and critically evaluate their operating procedures for efficiency & cost savings. Not to mention requiring employees to work more hours for the same pay.
At the meeting, my questions for Mr. Adkins concerned his management and business skills. His worst mistake was “putting all his eggs in one basket.” When he lost his biggest contract with Hillcroft (which, by the way, should be commended for finding cost savings in providing their own transportation) he had no back-up plan.
He had not cultivated a growing contract customer base. I learned to my amazement that he had not utilized grant writing nor trained any of his 110 employees to write grants and had not searched for volunteer grant writers. Nor were grants listed on his handout as a source of funding for LifeStream. I believe that all the communities LifeStream serves are very generous, giving communities yet when someone asked if he had contacted the community foundations of the seven counties LifeStream serves to request donations, he answered that he had spoken to only two of them.
Even though federal funding cuts on all programs have been in the news for what seems like forever, somehow these cuts seem to have caught Mr. Adkins off guard. The idea of an aging population with the increased requirements for LifeStream services and the statistic that beginning in 2011 Baby Boomers began turning 65 at a rate of 10,00 per day seems to have caught him off guard. For the past two years he has asked for county support for rural public transportation, with no support allotted, but “suddenly” the New InterUrban can no longer be subsidized by LifeStream beyond 60 days??
The big question is should we taxpayers bail LifeStream CEO Mr. Adkins out? Even though I know how much of a lifeline the InterUrban is for critical services for those who require it and the impact of lost jobs in our community, I say no. He has not proven that he can responsibly manage in a tough economic environment and he demonstrated to me that he, himself, was not willing to put forth much effort to keep this critical service available to all citizens. As I told him when I spoke with him after the meeting, he and only he is responsible for the loss of the New InterUrban. Only he should be held accountable for its failure.
Pat L. Smith
Muncie[[In-content Ad]]
By invitation I attended the Delaware County Rural Mass Public Transportation Task Force Meeting on April 25 regarding funding for The New InterUrban Transportation Services throughout Delaware & the surrounding counties. The purpose of the task force was to determine if there was sufficient support in Delaware County for rural mass public transit beyond June 30.
I had not previously met LifeStream CEO Ken Adkins. I am not a user of the transportation service and attended as a concerned citizen, taxpayer, local small business owner and as a strong supporter of the ability of all citizens to travel for work & pleasure.
It is a privilege most of us take for granted everyday, except for those 1104 citizens who were served by the New InterUrban in 2012.
Mr. Adkins initially came to the Delaware County council to announce he needed $73,500, saying if not received he would be forced to discontinue all rural transportation services.
At the task force meeting he somehow reduced that need to $22,000. Not unlike like the child who says they “just have to have” $70 for something & when the parent says “NO” decides they better put some effort into finding it on sale or making it themselves if they want it bad enough and discovers in reality they needed only $20.
Keep in mind that all the counties the New InterUrban services (Blackford, Delaware, Henry, Jay, Madison and Randolph) provide and maintain for LifeStream roads and infrastructure. Don’t forget traffic lights/signs, mowing and snow plowing. They all also provide emergency services like police and fire.
For the last 4 to 5 years all municipalities, agencies and businesses have been required to seriously look for new ways to generate income, creatively market or fundraise and critically evaluate their operating procedures for efficiency & cost savings. Not to mention requiring employees to work more hours for the same pay.
At the meeting, my questions for Mr. Adkins concerned his management and business skills. His worst mistake was “putting all his eggs in one basket.” When he lost his biggest contract with Hillcroft (which, by the way, should be commended for finding cost savings in providing their own transportation) he had no back-up plan.
He had not cultivated a growing contract customer base. I learned to my amazement that he had not utilized grant writing nor trained any of his 110 employees to write grants and had not searched for volunteer grant writers. Nor were grants listed on his handout as a source of funding for LifeStream. I believe that all the communities LifeStream serves are very generous, giving communities yet when someone asked if he had contacted the community foundations of the seven counties LifeStream serves to request donations, he answered that he had spoken to only two of them.
Even though federal funding cuts on all programs have been in the news for what seems like forever, somehow these cuts seem to have caught Mr. Adkins off guard. The idea of an aging population with the increased requirements for LifeStream services and the statistic that beginning in 2011 Baby Boomers began turning 65 at a rate of 10,00 per day seems to have caught him off guard. For the past two years he has asked for county support for rural public transportation, with no support allotted, but “suddenly” the New InterUrban can no longer be subsidized by LifeStream beyond 60 days??
The big question is should we taxpayers bail LifeStream CEO Mr. Adkins out? Even though I know how much of a lifeline the InterUrban is for critical services for those who require it and the impact of lost jobs in our community, I say no. He has not proven that he can responsibly manage in a tough economic environment and he demonstrated to me that he, himself, was not willing to put forth much effort to keep this critical service available to all citizens. As I told him when I spoke with him after the meeting, he and only he is responsible for the loss of the New InterUrban. Only he should be held accountable for its failure.
Pat L. Smith
Muncie[[In-content Ad]]
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