Both the Finance Committee (on 04/25/2022) and the Transit Commission (on 04/26/2022) took up a request to approve a contract amendment between Valley Transit and Lamers Bus Lines for the trolley service that runs on weekends in the downtown area.
This was a very rushed request, and the final request didn’t come from Lamers until noon on 04/25, so no information was included ahead of time in either of the agenda packets. Adding to the disorganized feel of the request was the fact that Valley Transit General Manager Ron McDonald was sick with Covid so was working from home and appearing remotely and did not have the opportunity to run some numbers.
General Manager McDonald explained to each committee that for the last several years Valley Transit has contracted with Lamers Bus Lines to provide trolley service throughout the summer months starting the first Thursday in June and ending on the Saturday of Octoberfest. Most recently, they entered into a contract for 2019-2021 which included two one-year extension options. The contract Lamers signed gave a dollar amount for the first year and said that each successive year that number would increase by 2.5%. The contract also stated that if neither party contacted the other about not extending the contract, that it would automatically extend into a third year.
Valley Transit calculated that the 2.5% increase would cause the rate in 2022 to be $79.97 per hour. Lamers came back, after the timeframe in which the contract could be terminated, and said they couldn’t do it for that amount because of significant increases in the cost of wages, fuel, and parts. They would, however, be willing to do it for $90.96 an hour, a 13/9% increase from the previous year. The difference between the two numbers worked out to slightly more than $5,000 over the course of the season.
Valley Transit already operates its little bus on the trolley route, but in the summer, they contract with Lamers to do it, so they could take the route over in the summer from Lamers. The change would not require a budget amendment because they did have sufficient dollars in their contractual budget. So, they could either amend the contract and extend the trolley service this year, or they could terminate the contract with Lamers and Valley Transit could take over the route with a regular bus.
One of the Transit Commission members asked if Lamers was within the 90-day option window, and when General Manager McDonald said that they had passed that and the contract automatically kicked in, the board member pointed out that Lamers was contractually obligated to provide the service, but General Manager McDonald raised the idea that they might also just default on their contract.
Another issue was that, the trolley service had been around longer than that particular bus route was and Valley Transit had never operated that route during the summer but had, instead, always contracted it out to the trolley during the summer months. If Valley Transit took it over for those months, it would become unionized work, and once it became unionized work it would likely remain unionized work. That wasn’t “bad”, but it was something that needed to be considered.
General Manager McDonald was not happy about the situation. A decision couldn’t be held off on because, if they decided to have Valley Transit take it over, they would need to follow union procedures and put out bids for their drivers which took a certain amount of time, and everything needed to be in place by the end of May. His preference was to contract with Lamers for the 2022 season and then look at other options for 2023 and beyond. There was brief discussion of Valley Transit possibly purchasing a trolley of its own, and General Manager McDonald noted that there was grant money available for them to do that almost immediately.
Due to the rushed nature of the situation and the fact that he was at home with Covid, he didn’t have the cost differential between contracting with Lamers at the higher rate and bringing the service in-house with the little bus they normally use for that route. There would be a cost to having Valley Transit take over because normally the driver that drives that route is free to take on other duties during the time that the trolley is running. Additionally, it was noted that 60% of transit costs are covered by Federal dollars and 40% is covered by local dollars. Additionally, it sounded like Outagamie County specifically supplies the local share for that particular route because it was created at Outagamie County’s behest after the county moved the residents of the former Conway Hotel down to Eagle Flats and then realized they needed bus service to that area.
General Manager McDonald also noted that Appleton Downtown Inc and businesses along the route also really appreciated the trolley service because it helped move people from downtown through the riverfront.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2) thought the trolley service was both iconic and beneficial to the community and that the $5,000 overall increase was low enough to not be concerning. General Manager McDonald also felt that it was a fairly negligible cost difference.
Ultimately, Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) was the only person on either committee who voted against it. His feeling was that they didn’t need to spend extra money contracting with Lamers and could have Valley Transit take over the service even if they didn’t have a trolley.
[It sounds like the cost not covered by federal money would only be around $2,000 more. Logistically speaking it was probably easier to shell out that money to keep things running smoothly for this season. But, all in all, Lamers came off as pretty unorganized and kind of unprofessional for not catching this during the 90-day notice period and for then foisting this on Valley Transit at the last minute when it was they, Lamers, who messed up.]
View full Finance Committee meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=955145&GUID=E1C4EF8F-7D29-4818-83D3-4960180EF744
View full Transit Commission meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=935848&GUID=EB1005FA-557B-4B42-A432-58BDE489D35F
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