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WARREN -- The Trumbull County Transit Board is holding a special meeting later this month to decide how to use about $350,000 in federal funding before it expires at the end of September.
If a plan for the money, which must go toward helping seniors and people with disabilities access transportation, is not developed, the money will go back to the federal government and could affect whether Trumbull County receives any of those types of funds in the near future.
The transit board could give the money to the Ohio Department of Transportation, let it lapse or choose a local project to spend it on, Mike Salamone, Trumbull County transit administrator, said. But ODOT would have to plan a project in Trumbull County targeting the same group by the same deadline, which is an unlikely scenario.
TWO PROPOSALS
Salamone has presented two projects to improve sidewalks along bus routes in Warren and Howland, and is working on securing a partnership with the city and the Trumbull County Engineer's Office. Officials in the communities are supportive of the projects. Salamone is seeking local match commitments from Warren and the county to supplement the costs and said he believes he will be able to have letters of intent on hand by the 3 p.m. June 30 special meeting, which will be held electronically.
The two-pronged project would include one proposed by the engineer's office -- a sidewalk stretching 2,243 feet from Gretchen Drive NE to the new sidewalk installed at Genesee Avenue NE at the Giant Eagle Plaza.
The proposed Elm Road sidewalk improvements will tie into this existing sidewalk and therefore, will provide safe pedestrian access from the (WRTA) bus stop to destinations all the way to Gretchen," the proposal states.
The estimate for the project is $146,283.
The second prong of the project would cost approximately $200,000 and would include improvements to sidewalks along the Western Reserve Transit Authority's bus routes in Warren.
"Eastgate suggested that (Americans with Disabilities Act) sidewalk improvements could be completed along the main WRTA Trumbull routes. The city of Warren serves as the transit hub for the county with seven routes leading from the central business district to other destinations in the surrounding communities. Most of the city's sidewalk corridors along the county's WRTA routes have been brought up to ADA standards; however there are several sidewalk corridors that still need attention," the project proposal states.
Several areas would be targeted for uneven sidewalks in disrepair and sidewalks that make it difficult for people walking with assistance or using a wheelchair to transverse, including the areas around Southern Boulevard, according to the proposal. The projects also could include improving ramps on and off sidewalks, pedestrian crossing boxes and joining incomplete projects, and would have to be within a quarter of a mile of a WRTA route.
ALTERNATIVE OPTION
There is one other push on how to spend the money, but it is not viable for several reasons, Salamone said. Transit board member Jim Pirko argued the board should use the money to offer seniors and disabled people rides.
The transit board no longer is providing rides itself through a contractor and owes its last contractor about $2 million for rides given in previous years. The Federal Transit Administration no longer will allow the transit board to provide rides without having funding upfront.
If the transit board were to use the money for rides for seniors and disabled people, it would have to come up with about $70,000 in local matching funds. An effort was made at the beginning of the year to secure some matching funds, but failed as WRTA took over door-to-door transportation in the county and created fixed-route bus services with grants from the state and in partnership with the city and county.
The board also would need at least $200,000 to front the money to a provider. A provider would have to be selected through a request for proposals process. That process is bound to take longer than the transit board has before the $350,000 expires, Salamone said.
The board has about $118,000 in funds, which isn't enough.
Even if the board were able to find the money, it would only be able to provide a few months worth of rides, Salamone said. So, the transit board would be tasked with creating an entirely new program, going through an RFP process, finding around $300,000 in funding and getting FTA approval, all before mid-September.
A few months of rides -- about 15,000 to 20,000 -- would be a fleeting way to spend the money, especially when WRTA offers door-to-door and fixed-route transportation for the general public and the Trumbull County senior levy funds rides, as do other organizations and some communities, Salamone said.
SIDEWALKS SUPPORTED
Installing sidewalks is something that would benefit the community for years, he said.
"Improving the sidewalks would be doing something that would last for years, and improve accessibility for seniors and people with disabilities," Salamone said following a meeting Thursday.
Board members Martha Yoder and Carl Clemens spoke up in favor of using the money on the sidewalk projects, and member Linda Kirkland said the sidewalk project sounds like the most viable way to use the money. Pirko and member John Fowler favored seeking out more funds to offer the temporary rides instead. Member Robert Faulkner was not available for the meeting and member Marlene Rhodes did not seem to take sides, but reiterated the point Salamone made about not having the funds to pursue a ride program.
Pirko called the project "asinine," which Yoder said wasn't fair.
The sidewalk project is supported by the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, it shows community collaboration and improves accessibility to transportation for seniors and disabled people, which is something the FTA looks for when it approves projects, said Mirta Reyes-Chapman, transit program manager for Eastgate.
"We don't ever want to see money go back to the federal government, and this a good project that supports the goals of the FTA and the community," Reyes-Chapman said.
Reyes-Chapman said the deadline to spend the funds is fast approaching and a decision should be made as soon as possible because the project could be held up once it goes to the FTA for approval.
The board is expected to select a project at the special meeting. In the meantime, Pirko said he will try to round up some funding, and Salamone said he would secure local match commitments from the communities involved in the sidewalk project.
rfox@tribtoday.com