Huntingburg transit van means more to residents than just a ride

Huntingburg — The Huntingburg Common Council began the meeting to a full house last night as most of the chairs were filled by residents all there for a common cause.

They were there to support Sue Tooley as she made a request to the council regarding the city transit system.

Among her other duties as the office manager, Tooley is also the transit director and nearly all the extra attendees at the meeting were there to give testament to how the Huntingburg bus system has helped them live better lives.

Tooley and her staff of drivers mentioned the idea that they should come in and let the council know how important the transit system is to them. So many volunteered to speak that Tooley had to turn some away.

After introducing the staff who operate the transit system, Tooley asked everyone in the room to raise their hand if they or a family member has used the transit service. Every hand in the room went up.

Nancy Stratman, co-owner of Bill’s Shoe Repair, was one of the first to volunteer to speak. “I am the daughter of the late Bill Tormohlen,” she said, “and my dad rode the van every week if not every day. These women took time out of their day to come pick him up anytime. He said he saw more of Huntingburg riding with them than he ever did driving.”

Bill Powell told the council that his parents, Jack and Jean Powell, relied on the transit service to see each other while his mother was at The Waters convalescing after hip replacement surgery. “They were fantastic. They would take him to The Waters [of Huntingburg], he could have lunch with my mother every day, visit with her and get home safe,” Powell said.

Randy Mullin, an amputee, told the council he didn’t know what he could do without the service he uses daily. “I’ve been using it for six years,” he said.

“I couldn’t believe that the city van would do this. Anything so benign and trite as to take some old guy to Dairy Queen every morning for coffee,” Judy Olinger said about her husband Norb who suffers from dementia. “But thankfully they do that. It is part of his socialization which is really important. It is a great service. It is a great ministry. The people who run it are not only professional at their job but they are also caregivers and they are very, honestly, caring.”

Shirley Vogler, who drove while mayors Dale Helmrich and Connie Nass were in office, stated she never thought she would use the van but now even she uses it.

The council approved a resolution to apply for federal funding Thursday night. Tooley said she expects the city to receive about $45,000 in federal funding for 2014 and about $18,000 from state. The city collects about $10,000 a year from fees and the city provides the balance for the transit service’s $110,000 yearly budget.

“They [council] have heard all the numbers from me during budget but they’ve not seen this side of it,” Sue said. “When we talk about getting x amount of federal funds and x amount of state funds and the City kicks this much in, they kinda give me looks. When I knew I had to give the report, I had already given the numbers report so we wanted to show them the people. I think I made some of the council members believers tonight.”

Mayor Denny Spinner was surprised by the amount of people that appeared to support the service. “I hear the traffic from the office, but putting faces to it was really impressive,” Spinner said. “It is a service that can impact lives. Seeing how much it really does mean to these people, it makes you feel good that it is a service that we can provide and can really impact lives in ourr community.”

“It is a service. It is a service,” she emphasizes, “It is bringing a lot of independence to these people that they couldn’t have without it.”