NWA GO

Today we announced our group name change from Ozark Rail and Bus Transit Society to NWA GO. You can still look us up online by looking up ORBTS. The website now reads NWA GO. 

We incorporated 2 years ago, and voted in a Board of Directors. Two years is the time limit, as I understand it, for our Board of Directors. It is time to vote in a new board. Here is a list of the eight (8) positions we need filled. 

President – our fearless leader

Vice President – one heartbeat away from the Presidency – will handle publicity

Secretary – keep notes like these and files of all kinds

Treasurer – the power behind the throne since they control the money 

Operations Manager – the one who sets up events 

At Large Board Member 1 

At Large Board Member 2

At Large Board Member 3 – the At Large members help the Board maintain quorum in case one or more of the regular Board members has to miss a meeting. Face it, things happen; illness, family emergency, work emergency, vacations to take you away from emergencies. We have 725 members as of today, we can spread out responsibilities.

The Board meets once a quarter. We don’t have a nomination for Treasurer. The ideal candidate is an accountant. The other candidate can work with an accountant whom we hire. If anyone wants to be Secretary we need you as well. This position is especially important as we will spend more money this year. We will want to help fund out of town trips (see below), print leaflets to pass out, and all kinds of other goodies.

We listed activism for 2023. We are developing work groups for writing Letters to the Editor. A Public Meeting Work Group will get citizens to go to city and county meetings to speak up and advocate for mass transit. We want to create a Work Group for Farmers Markets, and other public events. We will try to reestablish a Ride the Bus Day event. We brain stormed a Scavenger Hunt where the participants break up into teams, and go to businesses to find items. We want to get people on buses and learn to use the ORTA app. It’s a fun activity and will attract good attention. And Arkansas will need more good attention in the next couple of years.  

We are planning a trip to Little Rock to address the Arkansas House, and Senate Transportation Committee. We want the Arkansas Ledge to mark more money for public transportation. We have some contacts in Little Rock we will also meet with. It will be a day trip. As established above, we could use gas and lunch money.

Additionally I learned that Arkansas is 4th in the USA in terms of highway mileage per capa. We spend a great deal of money on highways, $1.2 billion, or $40K per resident. So 9% turned to mass transit is something Arkansas can do. Overall it is less expensive to invest in public transportation than it is to keep building highways. 

Our next meeting is at the same GO time, same GO location, on February 11, 2023. See you there.