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2015 SESSION

15104029D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 742
Offered February 4, 2015
Commending Donna Shaunesey.
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Patrons-- Toscano and Ware; Senators: Deeds and Garrett
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WHEREAS, Donna Shaunesey has served JAUNT, a regional rural transit system serving Central Virginia since 1974, with extraordinary dedication from 1982 to 1994 as assistant director and from 1996 to 2015 as executive director; and

WHEREAS, Donna Shaunesey has worked with her dedicated staff, the JAUNT board of directors, six localities, and JAUNT’s partners in the community to grow and maintain a coordinated system, serving over 2,500 square miles, including the City of Charlottesville and the Counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Louisa, and Nelson; and

WHEREAS, during Donna Shaunesey’s tenure, JAUNT provided transportation for over four million people who needed to access employment, medical services, and community resources; and

WHEREAS, Donna Shaunesey has had a distinguished career of serving the public transportation community statewide and nationally as president of the Community Transportation Association of Virginia from 2009 to 2012 and as state delegate for the national Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) in 2000 and 2001; and

WHEREAS, Donna Shaunesey ensured the rural transit perspective was always represented on numerous boards, committees, and work groups, as demonstrated by her recent participation in the Transit Service Delivery Advisory Committee, which was established to advise the Department of Rail and Public Transportation in the development of a distribution process for transit capital and operating funds; and

WHEREAS, Donna Shaunesey has contributed to the evolution of coordinated, rural public transportation through her representation and participation on projects of national significance, such as serving on the Transit Cooperative Research Program’s Methods for Forecasting Demand and Quantifying Need for Rural Passenger Transportation panel from 2007 to 2011; and

WHEREAS, Donna Shaunesey’s leadership and growth of JAUNT was recently recognized nationally, when the organization was named one of five rural public transportation systems receiving the Federal Transit Administrator’s Award for Outstanding Rural Transit System, honoring JAUNT’s sustained service and work to enhance mobility and increase access to employment; and

WHEREAS, Donna Shaunesey has served the community through her participation on the Charlottesville/Albemarle MPO Policy Board and Technical Committee from 1996 to 2015, offering her perspective and advice on issues ranging from alternative transportation studies to long-range transportation planning; and

WHEREAS, Donna Shaunesey’s values for environmental stewardship are reflected in her volunteer service to organizations like the Nature Conservancy from 1997 to 2012, as well as her leadership during the 2013 Better Business Challenge for which JAUNT received the Green Leader Award; and

WHEREAS, Donna Shaunesey demonstrated her continued desire to be a leader in the industry by becoming one of the first four transit managers in the country to be named a Certified Community Transit Manager under the CTAA program in 1994; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Donna Shaunesey, a dedicated public servant, for her 31 years of service at JAUNT in Charlottesville; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Donna Shaunesey as an expression of the General Assembly’s appreciation and admiration for her work.