The program has trainers who are certified and experienced to come to you or near you to provide required training or refresher courses. Your request for training will be circulated to the nearest RTAP trainer.
To support the training needs across the state, RTAP has trainers available that are certified to provide to your agency various trainings. Each trainer identifies what they can offer to you. RTAP pays for each of them to travel to you for your training needs. Coordination will be made when classes are scheduled to have attendance be as close to maximum as possible.Â
Goal of the RTAP trainers
All the trainers will be training the same content with their own style and ways to engage with the participants. Â
If you have any questions regarding the RTAP trainers, contact deb.brisk@mnrtap.net
Rural Transit Assistance Program Trainers
Melissa Hansen
Melissa has been a certified RTAP trainer with the State of Minnesota for the last five years. She is currently a certified Master Trainer with RTAP in Passenger Assistance, Maltreatment Awareness and Defensive Driving. Additionally, she is a certified American Red Cross Instructor.
She has been in transportation since 1997, as a school bus driver for 13 years and is currently with DARTS, a non-profit organization providing STS transportation and other community services.
At DARTS Melissa is the Transportation Supervisor/ Driver Development and Safety Coordinator; she oversees Driver Training, Customer Service, Dispatch, and Driver Scheduling. She also plays an active role in creating transportation policies and ensuring compliance with the Federal Drug & Alcohol program rules & regulations.
JoAnne Brackey
JoAnne and her husband owned and operated a small trucking company for over 20 years in southern Minnesota. JoAnne helped run the day to day operations, which included payroll, dispatch, and compliance. During a portion of this time, JoAnne also operated an 80,000-pound milk truck delivering milk from the dairy farms to food processing plants. In 2004, JoAnne started driving with Albert Lea Transit (ALT)/Cedar Valley Services. In 2007 she was promoted to Transit Coordinator, which is when JoAnne started training for RTAP specifically for transit agencies in Southern Minnesota. In 2014 ALT consolidated with Steel and Mower counties, becoming SMART Transit, at that time JoAnne was promoted to Operations Manager. JoAnne enjoys all aspects of training to help drivers be successful.Â
Peter Brown
Peter Brown has been an RTAP trainer for over 10 years. Peter started in the NEMT industry at a non-profit as their Transportation & Safety Director. He oversaw their operations and performed many duties including relief driver. After that he started an NEMT company in Cambridge, MN working as both a driver and overseeing daily business operations. Today he is in the Metro area and provides training all of the state. He has an informal approach to training with an emphasis on questions from the participants and sharing his many personal experiences based on his time in the NEMT industry and the numerous training classes he has supported.
Melanie Mornard
Melanie has been in training and development for over forty years. She is a licensed safety professional and as a global trainer she has established safety and training programs throughout the United States and Canada. She has taught train-the-trainer courses for the American Red Cross, the National Safety Council, and through her company Mornard & Associates. She received awards for excellence in training from the Red Cross and the Department of the Army. Currently she develops eLearning courses, works with small and medium size companies to develop their safety programs, and teaches as an independent consultant.
