Senior Shuttle Bus To Come To Collinsville Township

By Charlie Feldman

cfeldman@timestribunenews.com

A vehicle lease agreement with Madison County Transit for a senior shuttle bus got the green light from the Collinsville Township Board at its Tuesday, August 10 meeting.

S.J. Morrison, MCT director, was unable to attend the meeting but sent a briefing paper with the basics of the agreement. Copies were handed out to trustees when the topic came up for discussion and vote.

“They’re going to go out and purchase a brand new bus for us,” said Township Supervisor Derrick Cox. “And on top of that, they’re going to provide five thousand dollars in the annual maintenance package to get the oil changes – and I can’t imagine there’d be five thousand dollars each year for maintenance, but there could be.” He said that they would also help offset some of the fuel costs.

“I believe it’s a five-year agreement,” he said. “We have to provide insurance.”

According to the agreement, maintenance must be done once a month.

Three days a week the shuttle could go to Maryville and unincorporated parts of the township, Cox said, and there could also be day trips with a cost to the seniors, some possibly subsidized from the budget for the senior program which has not yet been used. A naming contest for the bus is in the works.

Although there was some concern over administering and planning such a program and meeting the requirements of the binding risk statements the township was signing (like an audit for the program), the vehicle lease agreement passed unanimously.

The board also approved updates to its bylaws discussed at length at its last meeting.

The new version of the bylaws brings Township meetings more in line with how other communities such as Maryville, Glen Carbon and Troy have been conducting their business for a long time. The many changes were outlined in the July 20 story about the last board meeting and can be read on the Times-Tribune Facebook page.

In other action the board approved:

• updates to its website.

• a resolution in support of the Collinsville Sunrise Kiwanis. A $250 donation will be taken out of the youth budget that is currently in place. The board meets on the second Tuesday each month at 7 p.m. at the Collinsville Township Senior Center, 420 East Main Street in Collinsville.