Title
PARATRANSIT SERVICES, INC. CONTRACT RENEWAL
SUMMARY STATEMENT:
The City’s contract with Paratransit Services, Inc. expires on May 31, 2015. In accordance with the terms of the contract, the City notified Paratransit Services of its intent to renew the contract for an additional three year term. Staff has negotiated the impacts of cost increases and operational challenges experienced by Paratransit Services during the current contract, and recommends increasing the budget to provide paratransit transportation services.
The contract with Paratransit Services provides for annual price adjustments on April 1 of each year based on 80% of the Portland Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, except that no price adjustments are implemented for the final two months of the contract. During the term of the current contract, CPI price adjustments totaled 3.42%. These price adjustments have not allowed Paratransit Services to address significant operational issues affecting their ability to comply with the contract and the ability of RiverCities Transit to comply with federal law regarding disabled transportation.
Major issues affecting operations include, but are not limited to:
· Driver recruitment and retention - Low wages make it very difficult to recruit and retain drivers. Each driver must obtain a commercial driver license with passenger endorsement, maintain a commercial driver medical certification, and be subject to random drug and alcohol testing. However, starting wages are currently $9.96 per hour; this wage is only slightly higher than the current state minimum wage of $9.47 per hour, and notably less than starting wages at our local school districts (about $16.50 per hour) and RiverCities Transit fixed route drivers ($19.53 per hour).
· Affordable Care Act mandate - The Affordable Care Act mandate that health insurance be provided to employees working 30 or more hours per week has severely restricted the ability to use...
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