LOCAL/NATION
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia lgainesvilletimes.com
Midweek Edition-April 3-4, 2024 7A
Hall agencies see few changes in bus company after fire
Photos courtesy of Ruth Riggins
A bus owned by a state-contracted company, T&T Transportation, became engulfed in flames in Lula.
Ruth Riggins, 77, a member of the Senior Life Center,
narrowly escaped a bus before it erupted in flames in
front of her home in Lula in November.
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@gainesvilletimes.com
Editor’s note: This pub
lished in a previous E-Paper
edition and is being pro
vided here for print-only
readers.
It's been more than a
month since a state-con
tracted bus company was
given a 30-day correc
tive action plan following
numerous complaints from
two Hall County agencies
— including one after a
77-year-old woman escaped
a bus mere moments before
it erupted in flames.
But both those agencies,
the Hall County Senior Life
Center and Avita Commu
nity Partners, told The Times
that they have not seen any
notable improvements.
‘Nothing has changed’
“It's pretty much the
same," said Ruth Riggins,
the Senior Life Center mem
ber who narrowly escaped
the bus fire in November.
“We've been kind of getting
here later and later every
day."
“The buses are late
every day, and they're just
mechanically unsound,"
said Jean Anderson, 85,
a member of the Senior
Life Center. “Nothing has
changed — nothing.”
“My staff haven't noticed
any substantive changes,”
said Phillippa Lewis Moss,
who oversees government-
funded community services
in Hall County, includ
ing the Senior Life Center,
which filed more than two
dozen complaints from
December to January.
Avita, a nonprofit that
provides services to those
struggling with addiction,
mental illness and devel
opmental disabilities, filed
76 complaints in Septem
ber and August alone. And
while things have improved
slightly since then, said
Avita CEO Cindy Levi, “it's
still not an acceptable level.”
Just last week, Levi said,
a bus pulled up with a bro
ken window “with an actual
hole in it about the size of a
softball... and it was a cold
day, you know, like one of
those 30-degree mornings.”
The next day, she said, the
same bus had “duct tape
over the window and duct
tape over the headlight that
was also busted.”
On top of that, she said
Avita clients are sometimes
forced to ride the bus for
more than three hours at a
time, sometimes right after
eating lunch, due to ineffi
cient route planning.
“We are still getting com
plaints from families regard
ing the time that their loved
one is getting home,” Levi
said.
‘We’re not
going to respond’
The bus company is
Deanna Speciality Trans
portation, an Augusta-based
nonprofit that receives $6.49
million annually through
the Georgia Department of
Human Services. (Deanna
subcontracts its services to
T&T Transportation, but
both appear to be owned
and operated by the same
people. DHS said in Febru
ary that T&T would cease
work as a subcontractor in
seven to eight months.)
Deanna CEO Shawn
Thomas declined to respond
to the continuing complaints
when reached by phone
Thursday.
“We're not going to
respond to that,” he said.
“You can deal with the
state.”
Thomas also declined to
comment in a phone call last
month, saying “it makes no
difference” that his company
receives taxpayer dollars,
a response that Moss had
criticized as “shameful and
unacceptable.”
When one of Deanna's
buses erupted in flames in
November, it wasn't the
incident itself that disturbed
Deanna Operations Manager
Louvenia Kendrick—it was
the nerve of the Senior Life
Center director who fded a
complaint.
“It is very disturbing that
someone can pull their self
together to file a Complaint
when two people came close
to loosing (sic) their (pre
cious) lives that no one could
control,” Kendrick wrote in
the complaint resolution
form. “There is no resolu
tion to add because he (the
driver) saved your client life
and barely saved his own.”
Letting down the
‘disadvantaged’
DHS is contractually
obligated to hold Deanna
accountable and to ensure
that taxpayer funds are being
used to provide quality
transportation services.
But DHS officials had
apparently been unaware
of many of the complaints,
including the bus fire. It
wasn't until The Times
began asking questions that
DHS placed Deanna on a
30-day corrective action
plan.
The Times asked DHS to
respond to Moss's statement
that there have been no “sub
stantive changes” following
the plan.
DHS spokeswoman
Ellen Brown responded in
an email March 20, say
ing Deanna “has completed
most of the items in the cor
rective action plan ... but has
been granted an extension to
complete customer service
training.”
Brown added that Deanna
“has provided regular
updates to DHS's Regional
Transportation Office
related to the other items
in the CAR including those
related to appointments/
scheduling and vehicle
safety.”
In light of the persistent
complaints, however, it
seems that the “updates”
given by Deanna have not
been accompanied by mean
ingful change.
Moss had found it “dis
turbing” that so many people
at DHS had been unaware
of the mounting complaints
against Deanna. Neverthe
less, she had been hopeful
that DHS and Deanna might
be able to “correct the ship”
with the 30-day corrective
action plan.
Now, more than 30 days
later, her hopes have been
thoroughly dashed.
“Pretty much everything
is status quo,” she said
Thursday.
Anderson, one of the
bus passengers, called the
Senior Life Center a “jewel
in Gainesville's crown,”
and said it's a shame that
the seniors there aren't
being provided quality
transportation.
“What really bothers me
is... the people that they're
serving here, the majority
of them are disadvantaged,”
Anderson said. “The major
ity of them are low-income.
The only transportation they
have to get to the Senior
Center is with that bus
service.”
‘They were quite
disappointed’
Moss and Levi did note
one positive development,
though.
They said three DHS
officials made surprise vis
its last week to the Avita
and Senior Life Center and
inspected some of the buses,
including the one with the
broken window and the
busted headlight.
“Although I wish it was
not an unannounced inspec
tion ... I'm still glad that
they came out, and they did
speak to some seniors and
to the staff at the Senior
Center and also to the staff
at our location to get some
information,” Levi, the
Avita CEO, said. “So from
DHS's perspective, I'm glad
to see that they did some
follow-up.”
“It was good that the
leaders got to see this first
hand,” Moss said, “and it
was clear they were quite
disappointed.”
Secretary of State probing Oakwood special election discrepancies
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Editor’s note: This pub
lished in a previous E-Paper
edition and is being pro
vided here for print-only
readers.
The Georgia Secretary
of State is investigating
Oakwood's March 12 spe
cial election, which was
certified by Hall County
Elections despite county
officials pointing out
discrepancies.
“Beyond that, I can't pro
vide more info,” spokesman
Robert Sinners said in an
email late Thursday, March
28.
How long the inves
tigation will take is “all
dependent on (its) size and
scope,” he said. “Some take
time, others are wrapped up
quickly.”
The probe follows on the
heels of a strongly worded
statement from Hall Coun
ty's State House members.
“It is inexcusable that
200 people who were ineli
gible to vote in the city were
allowed to vote and that 22
voters who were eligible
to vote were not given the
opportunity to vote,” the
lawmakers said.
“This should not happen.
This situation only stands
to create distrust in our
elections process. We are
calling on state and local
election officials to take
action to address and fix the
issue.”
The letter contains the
signatures of state Reps.
Derrick McCollum, Brent
Cox, Matt Dubnik, Soo
Hong, David Clark and
Emory Dunahoo.
State Sen. Shelly Echols
said in reaction to the House
letter, “I do not disagree at
all with the letter. This is a
serious matter that must be
addressed by the appropri
ate elections boards.”
The election at issue is
the successor to Dwight
Wood, a Post 4 councilman
who died Sept. 21 and can
didate Rhonda Wood's late
husband. The city's elec
tion ordinance says that
his replacement will serve
through Dec. 31,2027.
Initial results showed
Wood had won by an unof
ficial vote of 302-214.
The Times reported ear
lier this week that officials
said 200 voters who do not
live in Oakwood cast bal
lots in the election and that
22 Oakwood voters who
should have been able to
vote in the race were given
ballots that did not contain
the race.
A document citing the
issues doesn't say what
caused the discrepancies but
says that Elections Director
Lori Wurtz has investigated
this matter and “determined
that these ballot discrepan
cies were not the result of
actions of the Hall County
Board of Elections and Reg
istration and its staff.”
She has not commented
on the matter but did pro
vide The Times a certifica
tion document dated March
12 and amended March 22.
The document shows
Rhonda Wood with 302
votes and Volley Collins,
214, and has a note at the
bottom saying “Please see
statement of Hall County
Board of Elections and Reg
istration attached hereto
and incorporated herein by
reference.”
The attached statement
notes the discrepancies. It
also says 319 Oakwood resi
dents voted in the election,
but 519 ballots were cast.
“I want to know where
these numbers are com
ing from — how they are
getting those,” Wood said
Friday, March 30. “It's got
me floored
a bit. Wel
come to
politics.”
“All I
know what
to say is
'Wow,' ”
Collins
said of
the election developments.
“You just want something
to explain exactly what
happened.”
After days of silence,
the Hall County Board of
Elections issued a state
ment Friday, saying that the
board, “immediately upon
discovering that incorrect
ballots had been issued to
certain voters in the election
for Oakwood City Council,
initiated an investigation
to determine what went
wrong,
who was
at fault,
and how
to prevent
the issue
from ever
happening
again.
“At this
time, we can confirm that
we have determined that
the problem did not occur
on the county level, and
was not the result of the
actions or omissions of any
employee or agent of Hall
County.”
Asked why the board cer
tified the election despite
the discrepancies, Vice
Chairman David Kennedy
said that upon the advice
of the county attorney, “the
thing that the board certi
fied is merely that those
numbers were the numbers
returned by the machines.”
“The board issued the
certification along with a
statement... specifying that
the certification was proce
dural and noting the exact
nature of the problems with
the election, and that infor
mation was communicated
directly to the city and the
candidates,” he said.
“Since the election was
procedurally valid, the
board was advised by the
county attorney that the
procedure to challenge
the election would be for
a party with a stake in the
election to challenge the
result in court.”
Oakwood was prepar
ing to swear in Wood at 6
p.m. Tuesday, April 2, at
Oakwood City Hall, but
City Manager B.R. White
said Friday that would be
canceled upon the recom
mendation of City Attorney
Donnie Hunt.
Hunt said the swearing
should be delayed until the
Secretary of State com
pleted its investigation.
“I have advised the city
staff and council members
to refrain from commenting
on the election issues as it
would be inappropriate for
them to comment,” he said.
“Oakwood did not run
this election and had no
input beyond qualifying
candidates. As the cur
rent issues have nothing to
do with qualifications, it
would be inappropriate for
the City to comment on the
actions of others.”
Transportation Forum
Tuesday, April 9
11:30 am -1:00 pm
Lanier Technical College
Ramsey Conference Center
$20 Chamber Members • $25 Guests
Includes Lunch ■ Reservations Required
Gerri Collins,770-532-6206x106
Email: gcollins(a)ghcc.com
Reservations Online: CHCC.com/EVENTS
G Rochester
PINNACLE BANK
One Bank for Life
Featuring
Russell McMurry
Commissioner
Georgia Department of
Transportation
GDOT
Greater Hall
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Open to the Public | 770-532-6206
l • •
in r • m
tl h
Collins
Wood
