Transit takes shutdown hit

All around Stoddard County, the effects of the government shutdown are beginning to take a toll. The offices of the USDA offices on Highway 25 north of Dexter have been silenced. Mingo Wildlife Refuge is inaccessible. Effective Wednesday, yet another shutdown will have a dramatic effect on county residents.

The Stoddard County Transit Service will cease its daily operations effective Wednesday, Oct. 16. The service that transports local residents to and from grocery stores and doctor's offices will shut down, due to a directive received on Thursday, Oct. 10 from the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Senior Multimodal Operations Specialist Bryan Heckman.

MoDOT provides half of the Transit Service funding.

Heckman notified officials at the local transit that even before the federal shutdown on Oct. 1, 2013, the Federal Transit Association (FTA) had MoDOT and all grantees, blocked from accessing funds since Sept. 24, 2013, allowing for the annual fiscal year change-over of FTA's computer systems. For that reason, the Stoddard County unit has not yet received their funding from September. Heckman said that although the necessary paperwork for funding may be completed, MoDOT is "unable to draw down the funds from FTA."

"As long as the Federal government is shut down," he told the local entity, "we will not be able to finalize your pay request."

The Transit Service's nine-member Board of Directors, with Myra Jines of Dexter serving as the board's president, credits good money management in the past with keeping the service running over the past two weeks. The board met early Monday to discuss the matter, and employees were told Monday afternoon that they were "temporarily" laid off.

Rachel Garrett serves as the Transit Service office manager. She will be the only staff member who will remain working, under the MoDOT directive.

"We have seven drivers with 10 transport vehicles and an office staff. They will all be laid off, but will have the option to collect unemployment benefits while we're shut down," she explained.

The local Transit Service is reimbursed through MoDOT on a monthly basis. Reports are turned in at the conclusion of a month's services, and a matching fund payment is then received early the next month after filing.

"We have not seen September's money, and we probably will not see October's until November or December," Garrett surmised.

On average, the service provides approximately 100 transports per week in the county. That number, Garrett, includes what is referred to as "Logisticare" trips, defined as those patients on Medicaid who need medical transports to physician's appointments as far away as Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Poplar Bluff. Those trips are run daily.

A significant portion of individuals utilizing the Transit Service are elderly and handicapped residents within Stoddard County.

Along with MoDOT, the services is funded through those Medicaid transfers, and also through funding from the City of Dexter, the Stoddard County Commission, partially from the Southeast Missouri Area Agency on Aging, and through donations.

Although Garrett will remain at the Transit Service office, the service will remain closed and calls will not be taken until the government shutdown is resolved.