2026 May Minutes

Meeting of RMTD Governing Board

 May 20, 2026 / 4:30 PM

210 E Progress Drive, Dixon, IL

Guests – Chet Olson, Kristy Jones, Marcus Cox, Steve Davis, Charlie Simms

Public Attendance – None.

Public Comment – No public comment.

Executive Director – Greg Gates

IDOT Capital team will be here from 2 PM to 4 PM for a site visit on Thursday April 16th.  The team will be completing a final review of the Maintenance Building Construction (Capital funding from 2018) and then also discussing the REBUILD 1, REBUILD 2 and REBUILD 3 funding grants of RMTD.

On this Friday, April 17^th at 10:00 AM, Reagan MTD in collaboration with its Architect/ Engineering partner, Larson & Darby, will be holding a public bid opening for General Contractor of the Oregon Office Construction project. The bid opening will be held at  Larson & Darby in Rockford.  It is expected to have 4 to 5 bids for general contractors. Once the lowest bid has been identified, Reagan MTD will begin the process of making sure that General Contractor is eligible for consideration.  Additionally, Reagan MTD will complete Pre-Award Concurrence paperwork for submission to Illinois Department of Transportation. 

The FY27 IDOT Contract Applications have been submitted (5311 and DOAP).  The 5311F, Intercity bus application is still outstanding.  Awaiting signatures from Greyhound.  Rural Winnebago’s DOAP and 5311 applications will be submitted to IDOT soon. Waiting on final minutes from the County Board’s public hearing which was held on April 2^nd.

Whiteside County Annexation. Reagan MTD held a meeting with IDOT, Whiteside County Government and Whiteside County Public Transportation last week.  Everyone is still working through the process including securing a launching pad for the buses and bringing all the staff over.  Greg is reviewing the audits from 2020, 2021 and 2022 Fiscal years.  The 2023 audit should be available in May.  Audits for FY 2024 and 2025 should be wrapped up within the next 6-9 months.

RMTD will need to develop a plan for announcing the changes being made to the fare infrastructure. Marcus Cox will be leading that effort.

A contract with CGH is in process. Whiteside County Transit’s main phone number (815) 625-7433 will be transferred so it will be a direct link to our phones in Dispatch.  Greg will be working with Amy Robbins to do a press release and a video podcast regarding the annexation. 

The Memorandum of Understanding with Whiteside County was approved by the County Board on March 18^th.  RMTD and Whiteside County have both signed the MOU.   Emily Hammer, Whiteside Transit Director, has confirmed that she will not be accepting a position at RMTD.  She is going to stay with the Senior Center.

During IDOT’s monthly webinar, leadership announced that they would be rolling out another round of capital funding, anticipated for summer.  CVP Vehicle Procurement.  IDOT still plans to announce another round for submitting for buses and minivans, likely this summer.

The Transit Desert study, being led by the NIU Center for Governmental Studies, went live in Ogle County for feedback from that county’s residents. Once this process is completed, NIU/CGS will begin the process of developing a final report for Reagan MTD.

Assistant Director of Operations – Steve Davis
Ridership Report – It is the third month in a row we have had a total of 3,000 rides.  Revenue miles / non-revenue miles – closing this gap.  We had the biggest week we have ever had with 54 rides in Winnebago. 

Sent all paperwork for the disposal of Whiteside vehicles. That paperwork was received back today (Wednesday). Should be able to have the titles signed off tomorrow when IDOT is here for the site visit.

Steve went to Whiteside to meet with Dispatch and Drivers and discuss any questions they had.  One Driver is for sure not coming over as part of the transition to RMTD.  Originally we thought we were getting 14 staff from Whiteside.  It is looking more like 8 staff now.  RMTD will need to do a lot of hiring to get a sufficient number of drivers.  Currently we are thin on drivers in both service areas. 

Manager of Finance – Kristy Jones
Financial Report.  List of Expenses / Financials – We are three quarters through the fiscal year.  Percentage of budget recognized should be 75%.  Workers Comp – increased the rate for the Custodian which was not budgeted for the fiscal year.  This has been taken care of this for next year’s budget.  Employee Training was over the budgeted amount – CTS came in and did a training with Dispatch.  This was not an anticipated expense.  All total recognized by 68% of our budget expenses with 31% left to spend over the next 3 months. 

Kreider Services.  They have hired a consultant to deal with the issue we have with their past records.  Rob reached out to Kristy today and they are setting up a phone conference.  He is going to be looking into the issues we have.  If this does not get fixed by the end of this fiscal year, we may have to go to court of claims to file for any reimbursements. 

Insurance. RMTD is in the middle of an insurance renewal.  It does not look like there will be a significant increase in premiums.  Kristy hopes to have some of the numbers for the next meeting.  Gallagher will be doing a presentation about what it would cost to add additional $3-5 million to what we currently have. 

FY27 Budget.  We were notified this year that revenue received from for-profit can go into our PTA account (like Crest Foods).  Kristy anticipates us having a surplus of $631,000.  The budget we submit to IDOT is required to be a “zero balance” budget.  What she has given the Board is what she anticipates our expenses will be.  As of July 1^st, DOAP will be 80/20.  The FY27 budget is conservative. 

Motion to approve the budget– Greg Sparrow
Second Motion – John Finfrock
Opposed – 0

Manager of Human Resources – Kendra Hull 
Staffing Update – Auto Mechanic, Accounting Clerk, Transit Manager and PT Driver are all posted internally and externally on Indeed.  Received three internal and one external candidate for Transit Manager.  We have received one candidate for Auto Mechanic, however they have not responded to schedule a phone screen.  At this time, we have not had quality candidates for PT Driver. 

Safety and Security Report – Met with Seth Janssen from Lee County last week.  Seth suggested doing a Tabletop training with just RMTD employees starting out.  This would be scenario based. Seth stated that he would be happy to come over to assist us if needed. RMTD Admin team is currently looking over the Emergency Response Handout – Situation Manual that Seth gave the Safety Committee.  We will begin planning at the next Admin meeting on Monday, April 20^th.   It is felt it would be beneficial to have Board Members attend, if possible.

Old Business
Fore Wheels!  Golf Outing – Had a Planning meeting right before the Board meeting.  Will plan to have our next meeting in the first week of May.  Greg mentioned that as of this afternoon, approximately $7,300 has been secured in sponsorship and/or golfer participants.

United Way Applications (Lee and Ogle Counties) – RMTD requested $2,000 from both Lee County UW and Ogle County UW.  As of today, RMTD has not heard anything.  Ermir encouraged RMTD to apply for more next year. 

New Business
Financial Policy / Revision –The financial policy has been finished.  The policy has been sent to Greg and Marcus for their review.  Once they have looked it over it will be sent out to the Board. 

Employee Wellness Plan – A Wellness program the Dixon Family YMCA has been shared with RMTD. It is a nominal cost – $250 annually – and would provide discounts for a Y membership. Greg will forward the email from the Y along to Kendra.

Record Destruction Policy – Nothing to report.

Accounting Software (ACTION) – Kristy explained to the board that she and Greg had vetted several potential software solutions for accounting – Accufund, Sage Intaact, Tyler Technologies, Fast Fund – with additional information also being sought from BS&A which never returned Kristy’s phone call.  After a review of the proposals, including the cost elements of each proposal, AccuFund was chosen as the most fair and reasonable solution. A handout from Accufund was shared with the board. Kristy would like to get approval from the Board to move forward.  The implementation fee may have to be paid up front and as such an expenditure was not planned for in the FY 2026 budget. This will need to go through Pre-Award Concurrence with IDOT.  AccuFund is capable in handling the expansion RMTD is planning for. 

Motion: John Finfrock to adopt the accounting software at least preliminary.
Second Motion: Greg Sparrow
Opposed: 0

Other Business
Strategic Plan Follow-Up – A handout was distributed.  Greg will email this to Aaqil.  The Board would like the Admin team to model one of the pillars and forward to them before front line staff are included in the process. 

RMTD Vehicle Parking – Rochelle – Located at Route 251 and Willis.  The building is climate controlled and can store up to five vehicles.  The owner is easy to work with and wants to sell the building to us.  IDOT has leased space there in the past for projects. 

Closed Session

Motion to Adjourn: Greg Sparrow
Second Motion: Aaqil Khan
Opposed: 0
Time: 5:33 PM

Next Meeting: May 20, 2026 @ 4:30 PM