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Federal Transit Administration conducting review of Trumbull Transit
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Consultants hired by the Federal Transit Administration have been conducting a review of Trumbull County’s transportation system, Trumbull Transit, to look into complaints the FTA has received about the program.
The consultants also are reviewing the high number of concerns the FTA had written into its report in its last three-year review of the program in 2016, said Mark Hess, the system’s administrator.
Trumbull Transit provides rides costing $1.50 to $2 each way for senior citizens. The countywide senior-citizen levy subsidizes the service to keep the price low.
Trumbull Transit also provides rides for children who have disabilities through the county’s educational service center. Trumbull Transit receives federal transit funding in addition to other funds.
Among the issues raised in the three-year-review were ones related to following federal rules for working with disadvantaged business enterprises, according to a copy of the “findings” provided to The Vindicator. These are for-profit small business concerns where socially and economically disadvantaged individuals own at least a 51 percent interest and also control management and daily business operations.
For example, one corrective action the FTA required was that Trumbull Transit provide documentation showing that it has updated its contract language to include all “appropriate [disadvantaged business enterprise] clauses and assurances for good faith efforts, nondiscrimination and termination/substitution and prompt payment.”
Hess said it would appear that most of what the FTA is examining now relates to the findings from the three-year review, and he expects the FTA will be satisfied with what Trumbull Transit has done to correct the issues.
Hess was administrator of the transit system when it was operated by the city of Niles and called Niles-Trumbull Transit from 2004 to 2011.
Hess continued to assist the Trumbull County commissioners for a few years after the county commissioners took over control of the system in 2012. Michael Verich has served as mobility manager for the service for several years. Hess returned to operate the system as administrator in October 2015 and has operated it for the past two years along with Verich.
Hess is retiring from the county at the end of this year.
He and Terry Thomas, president of Community Bus Service of Youngstown, the company that provides the rides through Trumbull Transit, agree that Hess’s retirement is another reason for the FTA review.
Hess said he thinks the FTA wants to know how the service will be operated when he is gone.