Coyote Run Bus Service: Little Change? Financially Feasible?

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Here's what we were told at last night's town meeting on Coyote Run:

• Nothing will change in terms of service and area coverage for the ADA-elegible riders and Senior Citizens from now through June of 2013.
• All bets are off after that date as to who will operate the service and how it will operate.
• There is a fee schedule based on travel zones.  Fees are less if you are ADA-eligible.
• The town will continue to own all equipment.  Coyote Run employees will continue to be town employees. The town will continue to have a transportation department.
• The Coyote Run name will be replaced by a "Sun..." name that is used by the RTA. The RTA will discontinue its Handi-Car service to Oro Valley.  Handi-Car riders will be switched to this Oro Valley service.

 During the meeting, the 75 plus attendees asked a number of questions including:

• Will there be new equipment?  Answer: Yes, and the town will be procuring it.
• How does this plan save the town $300,000, the approximate cost of Coyote Run. Answer:  It does not. The town will continue to fund this new service, receiving a per rider fee in return from the RTA (Source: Appointed Council Member Solomon)
• Why was Coyote Run identified by the town council for change when other areas, such as the Police Budget, have been "off-limits" to cost reduction?  Answer: This is not the time or place for that questions (Source: Appointed Council Member Solomon)
• When will the financial aspects of this change be made available for public review? Answer: About the same time the full council sees it, which as a week before it goes before the council for approval.
• What has the town done to notice the 10,600 seniors impacted by this change? Answer: "Councilman Waters and I got tired of calling people." (Source: Appointed Council Member Solomon)

This was a "sales meeting".

The towns' transportation administrator, Amy Ramsey, waxed enthusiastically about how great this change was going to be.   The RTA representative talked about how good this new situation would be.  Terry Thompson, who appears to be the primary spokesperson for the ten person group "Friends of Oro Valley," said that his group has been working on this new arrangement for seven months and that this it is a really good deal. Council Member Lou Waters said that "times are changing" and that the town needs to look a doing things differently (note: This statement does not include the Police Department).  Appointed Council Member Steve Solomon continually advocated for the deal.

Appointed Council Member Steve Solomon's behavior at the meeting was  annoying.  He stood and paced at the side of the room.  Clearly a proponent of this new arrangement, he continually interrupted town officials when they were trying to answer questions.  He kept telling people, essentially, that this is good deal and that we should simply go along with it.  

At one point, I asked Council Member Mary Snider, who was sitting quietly in the back of the room, if this was a meeting that Appointed Council Member Steve Solomon was running. She told me that the Council Members were there to answer questions.  (Council Member Barry Gillaspie also attended).

In other words, we were told not to get in the way of this deal!

Perhaps this change is a good thing for the town and for the users of the Coyote Run bus service.   Certainly, the "Friends of Oro Valley" thinks so.

We can not agree that this is the case until we have seen the financial feasibility of this new arrangement with RTA.   Until we understand how the money flows, we will not go "gently into the night."

"Trust but verify." That is our position with this town council.

We are certainly not going to trust the financial judgment of Appointed Council Member Steve Solomon, the Council Member and 2012 Council Candidate who appears to be a leading advocate for this change.  Why, you ask?  Solomon defaulted on a major bank loan for which he is personally liable.  Along with others, he was was adjudged by the Superior Court of Arizona to owe more than $6 million, plus interest to Washington Federal Savings Bank on 8/23/2010 (Case: C20093236).

No. We think we will wait to see the "final agreement".

We will make our assessment of whether this is a good deal for all after the facts are in.
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