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Great Community Transport Annual Report

2016-2017

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Blue Mountains Citizen of the year 2017Woman of the West

Centenary Medal

Helen established Mountains Community Transport in 1985. She built that organisation and its capacity over many years. At the same time, she was a leader in building the NSW community transport sector and its services for older people and younger people with disabilities across NSW. Mountains Community Transport, like many Mountains community services, was characterised by passionate community involvement, strong involvement of volunteers and a commitment to meeting the broad range of health, social and personal needs of clients. In 2005 Mountains Community Transport merged with Nepean Community Transport to form Great Community Transport. Helen brought her energy and passion to settling the merged organisation and providing these services to the residents of Penrith and the Blue Mountains as the new organisation. Helen was recognised as a leader within the Mountains community sector and as a strong advocate to local, state and federal government for community transport and for disadvantaged people. Her advocacy and impact was recognised by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in a message of condolences read at her funeral. The depth of feeling at Helen’s passing was visibly apparent in the huge turnout of people from all walks of life at her moving funeral service. Her impact was also recognised and remembered by City Councillors, State and Federal MPs from Penrith and Blue Mountains.Helen was passionate about service delivery and also about trying to find ways to do more, do better. She was an innovator and a tireless campaigner for improving services for clients. She initiated a number of IT projects looking at ways to get better use from vehicles and to make booking and scheduling easier and more effective. These are both problems with which the industry continues to wrestle. We extend out deepest condolences to Helen’s partner Phillipa, her sons and the whole family. Helen will be deeply missed and not just by GCT. As Lyn Bright, CEO of South West Community Transport recently said, as well as our personal loss, we have lost a great brain and immense, grounded experience, which, we had hoped might continue to contribute to the development of the NSW community transport sector.

Vale Helen with our deepest respect and gratitude.

Helen Walker OAM27.4.51-14.9.17

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In 2016-17, Great Community Transport was funded under the Commonwealth Home Support Program and the Commonwealth Community Support Program under contract with Transport for NSW. We also received funding for health related transport from Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District and NSW Health.

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Table of Contents

Helen Walker OAM .................................................................................................32016-2017 at a glance ............................................................................................6Board, Staff and Volunteers ....................................................................................8Chairpersons Report ............................................................................................10CEO Report .......................................................................................................... 11Operations Manager Report .................................................................................13Treasurers Report ................................................................................................14SmartLink and BMCC Access Bus ...............................................................................................15Volunteer Role of Honour Penrith ..................................................................................................................18Volunteer Role of Honour Blue Mountains .....................................................................................................20With thanks ...........................................................................................................22Financial Report ...................................................................................................23

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2016-2017 at a glance

• 60% medical & health related• 25% of these are taking people

to dialysis and chemotherapy

• 20% social trips• 20% meals & shopping

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Board, Staff and Volunteers

Name PositionKevin Richards Chairperson

Meg Zvirbulis Vice Chairperson

Dean Saunders Treasurer – Resigned December 2016

Ogi Cvijetic Treasurer- From March 2017

Mark Flynn Secretary

Glenn Fernandez Board Member

John Krisenthal Board Member

Catharine Pruscino Board Member

Board of Executives

Office Team

Name PositionRob Lake CEO – Appointed April 2017

Milad Jonaidi Service Operations Manager – Appointed October 2016

Andrew Mitchell Volunteer Driver Support/Smartlink Co-Ordinator/Site Co-Ordinator - Lawson

Kerri Simpson Assistant Co-Ordinator – Appointed December, 2016

Kendra Herron Client Intake Officer

Sharon Sloan Volunteer Support Worker

Helen Wilson Finance & HR Manager – Appointed March 2017

Susan Pearce Accounts Clerk

Michelle Atkins Administrative Support & Document Control Officer

Mina Neary Finance/Admin Manager – Resigned March 2017

Grahame Edwards Client Support & Access Worker – Resigned February 2017

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Nasser Atmar, Matt Blamires, Peter Blunden, Steve Cairns, Paul Cobden, Trish Donnelly, Stewart English, Steve Hrepka, Kim Jackson, Steven King, Gil Lighezzolo, Peter Lynch, Clive Nash, Peter Odell, Helen Pope, Barry Wadeley, Rod Watson & Roslyn Wollaston.

Rod Hamiltion – Resigned April 2017, Ian Napthali – Resigned March 2017

Henry Ostrowski

Casual Driver/Carers

Casual Driver

“Hooray for the wonderful

Volunteers who look after us

so well. Paid drivers are also

a great help”

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Chairpersons Report

The passing of our founder and former Manager, Helen Walker OAM, after such a brief retirement has had a profound impact on GREAT. This tragedy will be deeply felt by her family, friends, colleagues and our organisation. We can only offer condolences to them and commit to work hard to maintain GREAT Community Transport as the provider of much needed services in our communities to keep Helen’s legacy alive.This year also saw the departure of three long term staff members Mina Neary, Finance Manager, Kendra Herron, Client Intake, and Sharon Sloan, Volunteer Support, who each had many years at GREAT. We wish them well in the future. At the Board level, we also lost our Treasurer, Dean Saunders this year and I would like to take this opportunity to formally acknowledge the outstanding contribution that Dean made to GCT and to thank him publicly for his work.We have welcomed a new Executive Officer, Rob Lake, who is bringing significant community transport experience to the job; a new Finance Manager, Helen Wilson, with much NGO experience in the Mountains; and lastly a new Treasurer, Ogi Cvijetic, an Accountant with NGO experience who works in Penrith. In September of last year, we signed the first new ‘style’ contract with Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) intended to transition our organisation and other CTs to the new ‘consumer directed care’ model, with a more business oriented approach that defined key performance indicator and measures. The implementation has presented challenges particularly in reporting but at this point nothing insurmountable. This contract ends 30 June 2018, we look forward to signing our next contract with TfNSW. This year also marks the completion of our first full year utilising the new CTABS software program from RouteMatch. It has had the usual teething problems that come with new software but office staff and drivers have adapted and built skills in its use. Operations Manager, Milad Jonaidi, has been recognised by TfNSW and RouteMatch as one of several NSW ‘super users’ and was granted a scholarship and chosen to travel to the US for further advanced training. He is now recognised as such and supports other Community Transport organisations in the use and implementation of RouteMatch.Let me also extend heartfelt thanks to our CEO, Rob Lake for his leadership and for all the work that has been done by our staff and volunteers over the past year. The care we provide for our clients would not otherwise have been possible.Finally let me express my appreciation and thanks to my fellow board members for their dedication and hard work over the past year. Their work has been invaluable and vital.SincerelyKevin RichardsChairperson

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CEO Report

The Great Community Transport (GCT) AGM in 2016 saw some major change. The retirement of Helen and Phillipa signalled the end of a long, powerful collaboration building and leading GCT. The Blue Mountains community’s acknowledgement of this by awarding Helen Citizen of the Year in January 2017 was a fitting recognition. Helen’s sudden death last month is tragic and felt deeply by the staff, Board and volunteers at GCT.In her final report as Manager, Helen signalled the broad range of changes facing Great Community Transport, aged and disability community services and transport services in NSW.I want to thank the staff, volunteers, drivers and Board of Great Community Transport for all their work in managing the transition at GCT since September 2016. Milad, as Operations Manager, successfully navigated his way through the needs of our funders, clients, staff and Board. The team in the office at GCT have worked hard to get on top of the intricacies of Routematch, the new needs and demands of My Aged Care, and, more recently, the NDIS. I thank all of them for that. I, with everyone else, was sad to farewell Kendra and Sharon, who started and finished their 10 years at GCT together. We’ve welcomed some new drivers and office volunteers and have begun to work more collaboratively with our community transport colleagues in Blacktown, Hawkesbury and Lithgow.The decision to consolidate GCT offices into one based at Kingswood, and operate client services out of Kingswood, while a hard one to make, has brought with it some unforeseen benefits in helping to tie the organisation and its services together across Penrith and the Blue Mountains.Since I began in April 2017, I’ve welcomed the chance to engage with the history and traditions of GCT, in particular the strong role played by volunteers throughout the organisation and the can do approach in meeting the needs of our clients. I look forward to taking that approach into our NDIS work now that we are fully registered and into the rapidly changing world of aged care community services. It is, however, in the world of transport that we might see, and see soon, some of the bigger changes. Changing regulations and redesigned contracts at both Transport for NSW and the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District bring a bigger focus on measuring and improving our work. As Helen foresaw, a business approach is increasingly essential for community services in responding to the business approach by Commonwealth and State government funders. If this approach is well grounded within GCT, and we use it to maintain and develop our flexible and supportive approach to the needs of our current and future clients, we are well placed to move ahead.

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In closing, I’d like to again thank Kevin, Meg and the Board for the support, interest and energy they have for GCT. With Milad, I want to thank Michelle for her advice, experience and constant energy for GCT. Andrew, Kerri and Susan bring experience and enthusiasm for GCT operations while Helen has picked up the critical role of finance manager, with its many responsibilities and managed them all with aplomb. To the volunteers across the office, care and driving roles, thank you for being the front face and the eyes and ears. Much of the goodwill and reputation we hold is due to the warm and positive way you work with our clients and our colleagues. Our drivers continue to be a positive point of contact for clients. They work with a professional attitude as drivers, while often going the extra mile for their comfort, safety and enjoyment of their trip, be it social, shopping or health related.

Rob LakeCEO

CEO Report

“Had a wonderful

time on outing yesterday to

Cliffhanger Café. The

driver was great and played

music on the trip home”

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Operations Manager Report

2016-2017 was a very busy year for Great Community Transport (GCT). We delivered nearly 45,000 trips and travelled almost 640,000 kilometres using a combination of GCT and volunteer vehicles, and vehicles from other agencies.There was a lot of change at GCT with the introduction of the new IT program - CTABS which is revolutionising the way community transport services operate as well as bringing services in line with contemporary practice in terms of Technology. GCT really took on and embraced this change and special mention must be made of the GCT staff who demonstrated their competence and professionalism through their hard work and resilience to ensure the success of the project. The year also brought upon change in the management of the organisation after Helen Walker announced her retirement in September 2016 after nearly 30 years of service. This was an emotional time for many, as Helen sadly passed away in September this year. Her legacy will live on and the service will continue, knowing where the service started and where it is today and appreciating the hard work and dedication that went into building the solid foundations of the service. As a young man coming up in the sector, I personally learnt a fair bit from Helen and always appreciated her tough but fair approach to her work which saw me flourish and thrive in the time I was working with her.The year also brought changes in the way of funding and contractual reform in the sector. These changes have implications on the way we operate in terms of our funding bodies and our service and reporting obligations. They have been impacted by many factors such as the rollout of the NDIS and the new contract with TfNSW which was implemented in October last year. We have constantly been preparing and making changes to ensure compliance. At times this has proven to be resource intensive and placed an increased burden on staff. However, we have managed to ensure that we continue running services with minimum impact on the service user’s other than the mandated changes which in some areas have already provided service improvements.Another challenge which we faced over the last year has also been a shortage of staff in different areas as we’ve had some staff turnover within the organisation. We have recruited new staff and provided training and have been fortunate enough to attract new staff with strong backgrounds in their field of work. This has allowed them to settle in very quickly and they are doing a terrific job. Despite the changes in the period, we have focussed on service delivery and and to plan ahead for future changes and challenges. As an operations manager overseeing service delivery I can confidently say that we are heading in the right direction and hope to take what we have and build from it not only to ensure the survival of this great service, but to further improve it for the next financial year.

Milad JonaidiOperations Manager

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Treasurers Report

I am pleased to present the Great Community Transport financial report for the year ended 30 June 2017.In the past year, Great Community Transport has continued with profitable results and strengthening the balance sheet. For the third successive year, Great Community Transport has finished with an operating surplus. Revenues remained largely in line with last year, underpinned by continued funding support from Transport for NSW and to a lesser extent NSW Health and Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health DistrictGreat Community Transport has maintained a strong balance sheet which has continually strengthened over the past few years, with $1.50m in net assets. I was a new appointment to the Board as Treasurer in March 2017, and with the new finance team, am excited and in a good position to introduce improvements at Great Community Transport. Due to timing, no major changes to the financial management were undertaken during the financial year. All changes to make Great Community Transport services more cost effective were started after the end of financial year. Improvements and innovation in fleet management, service costing, invoicing and cash management will help ensure a strong financial position in the future while we continue to provide high quality customer experience to our clients in Penrith and the Blue Mountains.I would like to thank all of the staff, volunteers and board members for their work, support and dedication to current changes implemented and I look forward to working with them to help implement more improvements in the future.Ogi CvijeticTreasurer

FY2017 FY2016 FY2015 FY2014

Total Revenue 2,115,514 2,015,263 2,139,428 1,948,177

Passenger Contributions 335,956 295,309 330,735 319,065

Net Surplus 20,445 15,600 35,724 (34,713)

Cash at Bank 900,042 1,144,988 1,209,778 867,139

Net Assets 1,508,828 1,431,074 1,415,474 1,379,750

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SmartLink BMCC Access Buses

SmartLink www.smartlinktransport.org.au is an online tool to book small buses for hire. On the site, there is info about different buses available, driver license requirements, size, costs and whether with or without a hoist.Under SmartLink, there are 2 options for bus hire:• BMCC Access Buses. The Blue Mountains City Council provides 20-seat Toyota Coaster buses

at their Katoomba and Springwood Fleet depots. These buses are for the use of registered Blue Mountains community groups.

• SmartLink Buses. Other organisations provide their buses for hire by community groups within the BMCC and Nepean LGAs. They are listed under the general category of ‘SmartLink’. Currently GREAT Community Transport, Springwood Baptist Church and Blue Mountains Youth Works provide these vehicles.

There is a long-standing agreement between the Blue Mountains City Council and GREAT Community Transport (GCT) that the BMCC Access Buses will be administered by GCT. This includes managing all group bookings, receiving and disbursing payments, registering groups, registering drivers and ensuring that vehicle bookings are scheduled accurately and to the benefit of Borrowers. A similar arrangement is in place for other Lender organisations.Drivers for Borrower Groups are required to be registered with SmartLink and obtain a BMCC ‘Green Card’. For groups that don’t have access to a qualified driver, SmartLink has a pool of Volunteer drivers that are available to assist. Provision of these Volunteer drivers incurs an additional fee for the Borrowing Group. This fee is to cover extra administration costs and includes Public Liability insurance for the driver. On rare occasions, if a Volunteer driver is not available, a Paid driver might be supplied by GCT. However, this will only be agreed after a cost for the day has been negotiated.

User Groups and Target DemographicApproximately 300 Community Groups within the Blue Mountains and Nepean LGAs are registered on the SmartLink Transport Register. Of the total number of Groups registered, 60 are recorded as being ‘regular users’ (i.e. more than 2 bookings per year); 30 are recorded as ‘infrequent users’ (i.e. 1-2 bookings per year) and 210 have not booked a bus during the past 2 years.

SmartLink and BMCC Access Bus

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This chart gives an indication of the primary age demographics using the Community Access and SmartLink Buses. Anecdotal evidence suggests that those in the ‘general’ category are most likely in the upper level of the age bracket and have similar needs to those in the ‘elderly’ category. Access, comfort and price are key areas of importance to these groups.The Youth category is mainly comprised of youth groups and Public School special needs groups for educational trips and social outings.

SmartLink and BMCC Access Bus

47.40%

42.34%

10.27%

Activity 2016-2017In the year 1st July 2016 – 30th June 2017 the following booking statistics were recorded for the programme:

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“We are very appreciative of the service we received from GCT today. It was a trip that they would not have been able to make if it was not for our

service, and we are not saying this lightly, we are sincerely grateful”

“All the carers, drivers, office are all very helpful, job well done”

“ Wish to praise your driver who transported me last week. Grateful for his care and consideration.

Very pleased with his manner and excellent service, very helpful”

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Volunteer Role of Honour Penrith

Volunteer Position Started

Abdul-Aziz Agbere Service Car Driver 8/6/2013Linda Allen Receptionist 2/7/2014George Andrianakos Bus Carer 8/26/2014Zena Beardsmore Bus Carer 6/13/2014Bert Bouman Service Car Driver 5/20/2011Ruth Bramble Carer Car 3/30/2011Glenda Burns Bus Carer 5/13/2009Elaine Carroll Receptionist 6/24/2014Kevin Chidley Service Car Driver 8/1/2011Robert Chruszcz Carer 6/24/2009Beverley Clackson Carer 7/8/2011George Cornaia Carer 9/23/2016Maurice Dibbin Service Car Driver 9/19/2012Sara Dickie Receptionist 2/1/2010Suzanne Forwood Receptionist 6/6/2016Elaine Gibbons Receptionist 6/3/2014Terrance Gilligan Service Car Driver 1/27/2010Joy Goodchild Receptionist 3/1/2017Terry Hamlyn Medical driver 10/26/2010John Holdsworth Driver 6/13/2014Kay Hudson Receptionist 4/20/2016Barbara Krupa Medical Driver 9/7/2015George Knuyver Carer 3/1/2017Dennis Lennon Medical Driver 3/9/2009Lorraine McDonald Bus Carer 2/21/2006Linda McGee Receptionist 9/6/2013

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Volunteer Position Started

Molly Moseley Bus Carer 7/12/2004Ray Mosley Carer 10/30/2013Richard Nelson Carer 10/17/2014Dianne Notton Carer 10/29/2015Janet O’Riley Carer 10/20/2013Ross Pierce Service Car Driver 4/4/2013Lenore Price Receptionist 2/8/2014Brian Rees Service Car Driver 7/22/2014Margot Shinn Receptionist 11/28/2013Pam Smith Bus Carer 1/16/2006Elsa Speechley Receptionist 9/22/2005June Stewart Bus Carer 2/24/2010Sandra Strachan Bus Carer/Receiptionist 3/1/2017David Taylor Medical Driver 11/18/2010Neville Taylor Medical Driver 1/13/2006Stephen Thornley Bus Carer 3/23/2011Debra Van Der Wielen Service Car Driver 12/5/2013Anne Veloso Receptionist 5/26/2015Daphne Ward Medical Driver 1/30/2007Jeffrey Watson Bus Carer 4/10/2005Marlies Wilcox Carer 8/19/2010Lance Winsor Carer 5/15/2013Pam Wyard Carer 2/11/2016

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Volunteer Role of Honour Blue Mountains

Volunteer Position Started

Carol Askar Carer 8/13/2003John Bates Service Car Driver 4/9/2014Sue Beevers Carer 6/10/2014Caitlin Berrell Carer 6/9/2016Wendy Blanchard Carer 10/13/2009Cathy Brown Receptionist 2/6/2015Joan Carr Medical Driver 6/29/2015Jen Chambers Carer 2/26/2014Robynne Cole Carer 11/1/2012Lynn Crossingham Carer 2/22/2012Nick De Brett Carer 10/29/2012Xanthi Dafnis Receptionist 2/9/2016Jackie Daschke Receptionist 9/21/2015Jenny Dillon Carer 2/13/2015Joan Egan Carer 3/3/2004Jeannie Elliott Carer 2/9/2016Paul Elliott Service Car Driver 2/18/2015Lynne Foley-Brown Receptionist 5/21/2014Jenny Foster Medical Driver 2/19/2010Lyn Gilchrist Carer 5/9/2012Neil Greenaway Carer 11/10/2011Sue Grimble Receptionist 3/24/2014Kim Hanlon Carer 3/15/2017Robert Harris Service Car Driver 6/3/2013Geoff Hatswell Medical Driver 8/19/2013

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Volunteer Position Started

Robyn Hayes Carer 8/8/2012Lyn Higgins Service Car Driver 2/2/2011Michael Hopkins Carer 3/7/2017John Isles Service Car Driver 3/28/2012Robert Lewis Service Car Driver 2/1/2011Phillip Lopes Carer 2/13/2015Melissa Martiensen Carer 2/9/2016Sara Matthews Receptionist 3/12/2014Erica Morris Carer 10/29/1996Julie Murray Service Car / Medical Driver 8/18/2015Sylvia Seers Carer 6/10/2005Kathleen Sheehan Service Car Driver 4/20/2016Denis Smith Medical Driver 2/14/2002Charles Stewart Medical Driver 6/8/2010Richard Talbot Service Car Driver 1/20/2014Irene Ti Receptionist 7/14/2015Alan Townsend Medical Driver 1/10/1999Sharon Van Keppel Receptionist 2/13/2015Jenny Wain Receptionist 11/2/2015Dian Walker Carer 10/30/2008Alex White Carer 9/24/2014Cheryl Williams Carer 3/20/2013

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JEAN HALE VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2016

Our Jean Hale Volunteer of the Year Award was presented by Milad Jonaidi, Operations Manager to Phillip Lopes. Phillip does a great job keeping the GCT fleet of vehicles washed and cleaned, among many other tasksCongratulations to all nominees. We are very grateful to have so many wonderful volunteers.

To all our wonderful supporters, staff, volunteers and friends for your kindness, support and generosity.GREAT Community Transport could not exist without assistance from both private business and government sources.To all those special companies, organisations and individuals who provide us with support, a BIG thank you.

IN APPRECIATION OF THEIR DONATIONS

Lions Clubs - Penrith & Cambridge ParkNepean/Blue Mountains Prostate Cancer Support GroupBridget BlairStan FabianThank you to Windsor Toyota for their long term loan of a 2016 Toyota Camry

With thanks

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Financial Report

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Our values:Respect

Community Focus Integrity

EmpowermentCommitment

Quality