Meeting of RMTD Governing Board
July 15, 2026 / 4:30 PM
210 E Progress Drive, Dixon, IL
Roll Call
4:31 PM
Ermir Ramadani, Board Chair
Greg Sparrow, Vice-Chair
John Finfrock, Board Member
Jeremy Englund, Board Member
Greg Gates, Executive Director
Kendra Hull, Secretary
Guests – Steve Davis, Kristy Jones, Marcus Cox (via phone), Mary Maszk, Brian Maszk, Chet Olson, and Charlie Simms
ACTION: Approval of June 24, 2026, Minutes –
Discussion: No discussion
Motion: Greg Sparrow
Second Motion: John Finfrock
Minutes approved unanimously.
Opposed: 0
Public Comment – Chelsea Halinski is doing a great job as Transit Manager. (Charlie Simms).
Executive Director – Greg Gates
Welcome Mary! Mary is from Carroll County.
PTA funds – $130,000 in the PTA account. Audits still have many to be completed. The remaining amount will come to us after.
Did sign the service contract with CGH hospital for service in Whiteside County. Greg has an appointment with OSF. Dixon Township will formulate a plan. Coyote will be doing advertising.
Rural Winnebago County Transit Services – The first year of transit service in Rural Winnebago County has wrapped up as of June 30, 2026. Overall, the Rural Winnebago County Public Transportation service continued to steadily grow ridership as the fiscal year went along.
Contracts for FY 27 are live.
Kristy and Greg are going to a PCOM training on 8/12 and 8/13 in Springfield. Kristy would like to learn more about this process.
We have capital for REBUILD 4 coming out in a couple weeks. This is specific to Representative LaHood’s Community Project funding. We are working with IDOT in getting an exemption categorical exclusion of those in tune with NEPA requirements.
RMTD is continuing with marketing efforts such as billboard advertising, radio messaging as well as direct digital messaging.
Greg is working on a correction action plan with IDOT. We have been asked to look at the processes, which some were incorrect. IDOT feels like it is in good shape and will be going out this week.
Senior Deputy Director – Marcus Cox
Over the past 15 days, since the integration of Whiteside County, the team has come together and has provided exceptional service out of the gate. Everyone has done a great job and kudos to those that have allowed this to take place.
Pre-award for the maintenance vehicle – We had $65,000 from REBUILD 3 to purchase two vehicles. We purchased the Toyota Tundra a couple years ago with local funds. We have submitted the preaward package which has been accepted and moved on to the next round. This will allow us to get the truck that we need for Derek and our maintenance team.
Working with CTS to get our application up and running so our passengers can book their rides through an app and not have to call in. They are anticipating getting this resolved by July 22nd. We will conduct a test group with Lee County Probation. Once this is confirmed and we can get this successfully booked, we would like to roll this out to allow passengers to book through the app to reduce the number of phone calls in the dispatch office.
Push to talk – to avoid drivers having to use their personal cell phones. These have been ordered, should be here at the end of the month. Will create a SOP to see what that would look like.
No shows and same day cancellations impact on our daily service. Marcus was in contact with someone from a West Virginia company who used utilized AI to assess their data and to figure out how to avoid no shows. We are currently working through this. More information to come.
All operator contracts have been returned and executed except one. We should have this in the next few weeks.
Deputy Directory – Steve Davis
Prior to July 1st, Whiteside County was scheduling two weeks out and passengers would have to wait 30 minutes. This has caused some scheduling hiccups. We had 59 same day cancels on Monday. We are trying to figure out how we can get everyone on board with all the changes. Steve has been talking to people to see what could be done differently. Very high number of rides compared to what we normally have.
FY ended with 3000 more rides than RMTD had the year before. We did not hit the 3000 mark in June, however June’s numbers still crushed past years.
Steve went over the handouts that he distributed. All numbers correspond and give a greater insight on not just the rides, but how efficient we have been and how this has been maintained.
There were 173 cancellations / no shows in the first 7 days in Whiteside. We are providing more rides than what was being done prior to July 1st. We are doing great picking up where they were and adding more passengers.
Our employees have been doing a lot of training. Very happy with everyone and the job they are doing.
Jeremy asked that the counties be broken out in the report quarterly. Steve will complete this.
Director of Finance – Kristy Jones
Kristy distributed financial documents to the Board members. Year to date is not complete. She is still working with a provider who fell behind with submissions. She still has to get through January, February, March and June. She highlighted numbers on the budget.
Kristy went over the 2026 golf outing. Right now, we show $7,645.56. There are a few people who have not paid yet, so this will change.
Work comp audit for FY26 is scheduled for August 11th.
Financial audit with Wipfli has started. They sent us lists for both funding streams, so we have to go through getting the information and getting it back to them.
RMTD did receive a $1,000 grant from United Way in Ogle County We also received a donation from the Burton Foundation. Marcus is working with the transit managers to identify dialysis patients so they will be provided rides from this donation.
Kristy just completed a training which was put on through the American Treasurers from the US and Canada and is scheduled for a frontline cash handling training later this month.
She did send in the procurement paperwork for the Accufund service. We are hoping for a live date of January 1.
Director of Human Resources – Kendra Hull
Staffing Update – As of June 1st, we have hired 18 new employees: 12 – Drivers (6 of which were from Whiteside), 4 – Dispatchers (all from Whiteside), 1 – Auto Mechanic, and 1 – Transit Manager. We have also promoted 2 – Dispatchers. One to Transit Manager and one to Accounting Clerk.
On July 20th, we have another Driver starting (Adrian Harlan) and Kendra is working on references for a PT Driver. As of today, we are still recruiting three PT and three FT Drivers. We will be recruiting at the Dixon City Market on July 22nd, 29th and August 5th. Kendra will be representing RMTD at the Goodwill Job Fair, with Chelsea Halinski, at the Dixon Elks on Tuesday, July 28th.
Kristy and Greg will be at Tools for Schools at the Dixon Elks on August 6th. Stephanie Schrader and Nikki Grimes will be representing at the Family Fun Fair in Sterling on Friday, August 7th.
Safety Committee – Met yesterday and will begin reviewing the Safety and Security Manual in August with the goal of having this to the Board in December.
Kendra will be out of the office beginning on July 30th and will be back on August 10th.
Old Business
Oregon Office Construction – Reagan MTD is working through the Pre-Award Concurrence paperwork with the Illinois Department of Transportation. This concurrence paperwork is for finalizing the hiring of a general contractor for the construction of the district’s new office in the City of Oregon.
This made it through the 2nd person at IDOT. It is now going to the Bureau Chief and then continues until it gets its final signature. Today represents the 30 days out of when the bill will expire.
RMTD is in the process of seeing if we can use the architect and engineer for the Oregon construction for the expansion of this facility (LaHood money).
We are also looking into solar and geothermal and if we can put it as part of Rebuild 2. We can utilize the architect and engineer, if we expand the scope and not have to go out for bids.
Compliance Review Preparation – No update.
Whiteside County Annexation – It’s official! As of July 1, 2026, Whiteside County is part of the Reagan Mass Transit District service area. Closing on the annexation was finalized between RMTD and Whiteside County the afternoon of June 30, 2026. As an interim solution, Reagan MTD and the Whiteside County Senior Center have agreed to lease a portion of the Center’s parking lot and inside storage, where the district’s buses and vans for Whiteside County can be stored.
Reagan MTD By-Laws Revision (ACTION) – We need representation from Whiteside. Matt Cole will revise the bylaws. It is recommended that we disperse the seats by the number of rides in each county. Take that as a metric for deciding on membership around the board. We will need to revisit the subject matter once we grow.
Most rural transportations have representation from each county. The Board believe this merits more discussion. Would like to have a working discussion with Matt Cole. Whiteside County will not have representation on the board until the working discussion with Matt. Whiteside County cannot have representation on the board until the bylaws have been revised.
Record Destruction Policy – No update.
Admin Truck (REBUILD 3) (ACTION) – Pre-Award Concurrence paperwork has been submitted to IDOT for the purchase of the proposed administrative truck for use by the district’s mechanic. The REBUILD 3 contract with Reagan MTD will expire as of September 30, 2026.
Motion: Greg Sparrow
Second Motion: John Finfrock
Opposed: 0
New Business
457 Plan – Still work in progress.
Bid: Parking Lot Seal / Striping – This should have a regular conversation. The parking lot is getting to the point where it should be resealed and restriped. Given how we interface with procurements, we will have to go out for bids for the lowest market price. Would like the board’s support in moving forward with this. Board agreed for RMTD move forward.
Resolution to Approve Whiteside County Senior Center Lease (ACTION) – $7 per square foot. It was originally $10 per square foot. Steve and Marcus went over to the Whiteside County Senior Center and met with them regarding this. We are looking at another facility which would be less than $7 and has a lot of room for the vehicles to be inside.
Motion: Greg Sparrow
Second Motion: John Finfrock
Opposed: 0
Resolution to Approve an Amendment to Operator Contracts Regarding Local Match
Requirements (ACTION) – Reduce the amount of local match by 24% to 20%.
Motion: Greg Sparrow
Second Motion: John Finfrock
Opposed: 0
Amendment to REBUILD 1 Budget / Local Funds (ACTION) – We have been waiting 5 years since the application went in, and the cost has gone up since then. We would like to keep this project moving forward. We want to do a budget amendment and push the line items over into the construction line. Greg shared the letter that was shared with IDOT that outlines this. Line items associated with vans, equipment, property and miscellaneous equipment. $62,000 left that we would have to cover with local funds.
We would get one vehicle and be able to keep the construction project and pre-award project moving. Reshuffle funds to meet the needs. We have had a response from this letter and that this will not stop the project from moving forward.
Motion: Greg Sparrow to adopt this amendment.
Second Motion: Jeremy Englund
Opposed: 0
Other Business
No other business.
Closed Session – No closed session.
Motion to Adjourn: Greg Sparrow
Second Motion: Jeremy Englund
Opposed: 0
Time: 5:27 PM
Next Meeting: August 19, 2026 @ 4:30 PM