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WEIRTON -- Public transit will continue to be available in Weirton following a vote Tuesday by city council, although what form the service will take still has to be determined.
During its meeting, Weirton Council approved an ordinance "transitioning Weirton Transit Corporation into a Department of the City of Weirton."
Ward 4 Councilman George Ash offered two amendments to the ordinance, establishing an effective date of Nov. 1, 2023, and setting Tuesday's vote as an emergency reading. He asked for a roll call vote, receiving unanimous approval for the amended ordinance.
As the ordinance received support from all seven members of council on an emergency reading, it will not need a second vote.
While the vote has been taken, City Manager Mike Adams noted there still is work to be done.
"The lynchpin was getting this decision made," Adams explained. "We're going to have to sit down and see what we need."
That work includes establishing a workable budget for the city's transit service, as well as determining the number, location and frequency of routes and other services, as well as the number of buses and other vehicles, and staffing.
"It's going to be a work in progress," Adams said, noting there will be a need to fine tune operations as they move forward. "You just have to run things efficiently."
Ward 5 Councilwoman Flora Perrone, who sponsored the ordinance and has been serving as the Weirton Transit Board of Trustees chair for the last year, explained it is anticipated there will be "significant reductions" in order to work within the financial framework available.
Adams expressed thanks to Bill Robinson and others at the West Virginia Department of Transportation for their guidance in the transition, which he said will be continuing for the next several months.
Perrone also extended her appreciation to Mike Paprocki, executive director of the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission for his assistance during the process.
"I told him to send the city his therapy bill," Perrone joked.
Interim Transit Manager for WTC, Dawn Smith, also offered her thanks to council.
"It's been a long few months," said Smith, who stepped in as interim manager following the resignation of Phil Gilcrest in July.
In related matters Tuesday, Ash amended one of two salary ordinances voted on to include the position of transit director, with a pay range of $63,798 to $76,096.
Tuesday's decision was the culmination of two years of issues surrounding Weirton Transit, which started with the discovery in the fall of 2021 of various financial issues for WTC, including approximately $125,000 in unpaid taxes and penalties.
After working for more than a year to establish a payment plan, and with financial support from Weirton Council, those funds were paid to the IRS; however, officials announced Weirton Transit was running low on funds and had to make adjustments to its services in order to continue operating. Those adjustments included the elimination of several routes to avoid having a temporary shutdown in June. That same month, though, facing the possibility of again not having enough funds to operate for a full fiscal year, the board of trustees voted to begin the process of dissolving the private, non-profit organization which has overseen the transit service since it was founded in the late 1980s.
Weirton Transit's board is set to meet tonight, where it may begin the final portions of its dissolution.