BTA moves closer to county-run role
BUTLER TWP — The Butler Transit Authority passed a motion Tuesday to accept a section of a memorandum of understanding that could make the authority a county-run organization.
The memorandum of understanding was passed by Butler City Council in August.
John Paul, transit authority executive director, said the memorandum would need to be agreed upon by Butler Township and Butler County before further steps were taken to merge the transit authority into an organization run by the county and include the township and city.
The section of the memorandum that was voted on regarded the name of the authority's service, which is “The Bus.”
The authority voted to accept that, should it became a county-run organization, the name would stay “The Bus” for 10 years, after which the county could change the name as it saw fit.
“It's still premature,” Butler Township Commissioner Dave Zarnick said of the memorandum. Zarnick, who was at Tuesday's meeting, said the township has not heard back from county officials regarding whether they are committed to a merger.
Zarnick said the township will vote on the memorandum at its next meeting. Following that, if it was agreed upon, township and city officials would have to meet.
“The city and township will sit back down again and say, 'we're ready to move forward,'” Zarnick said.
Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson said in August that because the county would run the organization, the township and city would still have representatives in the organization but would save money on annual fees.
He estimated the city would save about $25,000.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars isn't a lot, but that's a place we save money,” he said. “Is that money we can spend? Maybe, maybe not. Right now we're trying to find a way to balance our budget, so that's $25,000 we don't have to spend.”
