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COLUMBUS, Ga. — Two local Army veterans have successfully moved the city to expand the service coverage of METRA’s Dial-A-Ride program, which will now better serve Columbusites with disabilities who depend on the service to get around the city.

Ronaldo “El Rico” Morrison had used the city’s Dial-A-Ride service to maintain his independence for the last 12 years, taking the ride every day from his Columbus apartment to his office job at Access 2 Independence.

However, when Morrison moved to another area of the city, he was told that the city could not provide him with the same services he had been using for years — even though his new neighbors within the same subdivision were.

Back when Dial-A-Ride changed its route coverage area, Morrison’s neighbors were “grandfathered in” to continue receiving the service. Morrison, however, was not. Instead, he was now left with no way to get to work.

When Morrison asked the city how he was supposed to get to an area where Dial-A-Ride could pick him up, Morrison was told he would have to use his wheelchair to cross Bradley Park Drive and travel down several blocks without sidewalks to get to a designated pickup point. All the while, Morrison’s neighbors were receiving door-to-door service from the same program.

Both veterans of the United States Army, Morrison and his employer, Kirk Holcombe, decided to take action. They began contacting city councilors and other officials to see how they could work together to solve the issue — and not just for Morrison’s individual case, but for the city as a whole.

During the city council meeting held on August 22, Holcombe did what more employers ought to be doing throughout the Chattahoochee Valley: speaking up in support of their employees as the leaders they’re supposed to be, solving the problems of those they lead in the workplace, and ensuring their employees are taken care of and know that their employer has their back.

Together, Morrison and Holcombe made their case to city officials by speaking during the meeting’s public agenda. 

“I'm here to speak on behalf of Rico Morrison,” Holcombe began, “not only as an advocate … but as his employer. He is one of my best employees. He’s someone who comes to work every day who drives the office that I work at. It is very imperative that we get him into work.”

Holcombe described the many attempts he and Morrison made through various city entities in hopes of finding a pragmatic solution, which included asking the city to install sidewalks on Bradley Park Drive so Morrison could safely get to the city’s pickup site. All of their pragmatic suggestions had been denied by the city. 

At this point, councilors weren’t only listening, but were disgusted by the fact that it was even a problem.

After Holcombe and Morrison made their presentations, Councilor Jerry “Pops” Barnes (District 1) made a motion that the city make an exception for Morrison and pick him up for work. The motion was quickly seconded.

As dialogue progressed, the problem would turn out to be a bit more complicated to solve legally. Since the city’s Dial-A-Ride service is part of a federally-funded program, it must legally operate within strict parameters that require a series of public hearings and a ton of other bureaucratic navigation to change.

“If we honor one request,” said Assistant City Attorney Lucy Sheftall, “then we have to honor any other requests that are made for similar service.”

Councilor Glenn Davis (District 2) voiced his serious concerns to City Manager Isaiah Hugley about how Morrison’s neighbors were “grandfathered-in” to the service, but Morrison was not. Davis further stated he was under the impression that the city had already resolved the issue, which was now quite obviously not the case.

“It really bothers me,” Davis said, that other people were grandfathered-in but Morrison was not.

City Manager Isaiah Hugley responded to Davis by stating he held a meeting with METRA about the issue that very afternoon in hopes of fixing the issue. It was unclear why Hugley allowed the issue to originate in the first place, especially since city councilors said they were under the impression that it had already been fixed. 

Hugley told council that federal guidelines governing the program require that the patron must be within 0.75 miles from the designated METRA route. Because those grandfathered-in patrons remained within that distance, they were able to keep receiving  the service.

What Hugley did not mention, however, was that he could have endeavored to legally expand that distance  up to 1.5 miles when Morrison began advocating against the city on his own behalf. Instead, Hugley only held a meeting with METRA after seeing Morrison’s name on the meeting agenda.

Councilors, however, remained unanimously dedicated to finding a solution throughout the remainder of the dialogue.

Councilor Charmaine Crabb (District 5), said she doesn’t see why the city has been “picking and choosing” who was grandfathered-in to the Dial-A-Ride service and who wasn’t. “We should be able to find a way that anybody in this situation that needs assistance can get a ride to work, or get a ride to the doctor’s office. We’ve been told many times that METRA is doing very well financially, so we should be able to figure this out.”

Councilor Joanne Cogle (District 7) moved to amend Barnes’ original motion, asking her colleagues to vote in favor of extending the coverage area from 0.75 miles from the designated METRA route to the maximum-allowed 1.5 miles.

Cogle’s amendment was passed unanimously and added to Barnes’ original motion, which was then also voted on and passed unanimously. 

Councilor Judy Thomas (District 9), who was presiding over the meeting as Madame Chair in the absence of both Mayor Skip Henderson and Mayor Pro Tem Gary Allen (District 6), closed the issue with the following:

“We’re going to hold the city manager’s feet to the fire so we can get this done fairly quickly.”

We at the Muckraker would like to thank Morrison and Holcombe for their use of tactful civic engagement to better the quality of life for the people of our city. Their actions set the example for others to follow and reflect great credit upon themselves, Access 2 Independence, and the People of Columbus.

Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.

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