San Luis Obispo - Caltrans - State of California

SAN LUIS OBISPO REGION
COORDINATED HUMAN SERVICES-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PLAN
INTERVIEW AND MEETING SUMMARIES
NCI (formerly North County Industries) Interview at SLOCOG offices
Agency site at 14 th and Pine (consumer site address) in Paso Robles
January 12, 2007
Annette Estrada
Amy Hicks, Senior Client Service Coordinator
This is a workshop/ supported employment, program providing work training experience to
adults with developmental disabilities. Day time programming and work experience is provided
between, some on-site at the 14 th and Pine address and some out in the field at sites at a
variety of locations. The agency caseload at the time of the interview was 146 persons, all
clients of Tri Counties Regional Center. Funding for programs comes from Tri Counties and
from the California Dept. of Rehabilitation and Department of Developmental Services.
Transportation Services Provided
The agency directly provides transportation with a fleet of approximately 15 vehicles. The
agency transportation budget is about $100,000 annually. Operating expenses are not directly
reimbursed by the primary funding sources (Regional Center and State Dept. of Rehab).
Vehicles: Several have been purchased with 5310 funding (about 4) but most have been
obtained through a variety of other funding sources including the Department of Rehabilitation
and private donations. At present, all vehicles are used daily and the agency has no spare
vehicle. Only some vehicles are lift-equipped.
Maintenance is done by local dealers and independent garages. There are two to three of
these that NCI regularly uses and conducts maintenance activities around the vehicle downtimes.
Agency experience with the 5310 program has been very unsatisfactory, specifically a long lead
time to procure the vehicles and extensive maintenance requirements for most of the 5310-
funded vehicles. Caltrans recently released one 5310 vehicle, given the vehicle’s excessive
maintenance requirements – this vehicle had recently received a new transmission and other
major work with about 160,000 miles. But Caltrans was in agreement that its maintenance had
become excessive.
Service Provided: Transportation provided by the agency is only for trips to and from the
program or to and from the work sites in the field. The agency transportation budget was
reduced by half, from $200,000 to approximately $100,000 in 2003 when the Tri-Counties
Regional Center reduced its funding base to the agency. Prior to that, NCI had provided doorto-door
transportation for a significant number of consumers. After this cutback, a system of
“designated pick-up locations” was instituted to reduce vehicle miles traveled and driving time.
Under this “designated pick-up location” system, there are two pick-up areas – one in
Atascadero and one in Paso Robles. Consumers have to get themselves to these central
locations, either by walking or some other means. They are picked up in the morning and
dropped off at these places.
Drivers: Drivers are agency-staff with other responsibilities. The pull-notice program to
monitor driving records is maintained by human resources. Training for drivers is not extensive,
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OCTOBER 2007