By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Adams County’s public transportation system is continuing to grow its numbers.
“Trips are up, everything is up,” Michelle Lengerich, who guides the system, told Decatur City Council at its latest meeting.
Lengerich was on hand with her assistant, Leah Koob, to give council an update on the transit system’s progress and to ask for a small bump in council’s annual donation to the Adams County Council on Aging.
She is executive director of the transit system and the council on aging. Council has been helping to fund the council on aging for years, most recently to the tune of $22,000, She asked for and received $23,000.
The transit system, now in its third year, having started on January 2, 2024, “is showing great progress; every month, our numbers are up,” Lengerich told council.
She said 60% to 70% of its trips are for medical reasons, much of it for dialysis. “Transporting a family member three times a week for lifesaving dialysis can be quite an undertaking for a spouse or children,” she underscored in a written report.
“We currently have riders from various locations in the county, Decatur, Berne and the Geneva area, who are receiving treatments at the Decatur site,” the executive director told council.
Meanwhile, “a bulk of it (trips) is for Decatur residents, but we do go all over the county,” Lengerich pointed out.
The system has seven vehicles, for which a large garage was constructed near the west side of the MERIT Center, where the council on aging is situated.
The system has 11 drivers and is looking to hire two more.
Of course, costs of the gasoline that fuels those vehicles continues to rise. “We’ve already burned through our fuel budget for the year,” Lengerich noted.
COURTYARD; She also talked briefly about the courtyard the council on aging is seeking to build at the MERIT Center for seniors. It would be situated on the south side of the building.
According to Lengerich, just under $50,000 has been raised toward a goal of $95,000 to build the courtyard.
The funds raised thus far have come from over 800 donors, small amounts to large amounts, Lengerich told council. “The whole community has bought into our project.”
The courtyard will be known as the Braun Myers Courtyard and Gardens, Lengerich said last year.
Matthew Braun and Jaden Myers were students at Northwest School when they died.
Jaden was 10 years old when he passed in 2016. Matthew died in 1987, struck by a car while riding his bicycle.
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