“We had some money for propane buses on a grant, part of the low and no emission program, which had gotten a lot of examination with the new administration because there was a lot of battery electric buses and things that people just didn’t like in the new administration,” Dutkevicz said.
The $3.58 million grant, which covers 80% of the total $4.47 million cost, is for the buses but also planned infrastructure work.
BCRTA plans to expand its Hamilton campus on Moser Court to accommodate the propane buses.
Phase 1 includes making the Hamilton property solely dedicated to operations, training and maintenance departments. Phase 2, for which plans and a timeline haven’t been publicly announced, would include an expansion of the campus. Only about a third of the property is developed.
Dutkevicz was told the grant has to go through a “grant review task force” at the U.S. Secretary of Transportation’s office in Washington before it is released.
Journal-News reached out to Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, Sen. Bernie Moreno and Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy — all of whom Dutkevicz said he reached out “to get (the money) loosened up.”
According to a Husted spokesperson: “Senator Husted’s office has been in contact with the Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration to ensure the process moves quickly and Butler County receives the funding.”
The communications director for Moreno told Journal-News they were “looking into this.”
Davidson’s office did not to respond to requests for comment.
Dutkevicz also sent an email to Federal Transit Administration Executive Director Matthew Welbes, saying, “I can’t serve my community, I can’t pay my bus dealer and construction prices are going to continue to escalate before we finalize this grant and I can start construction on a propane fuel island ... this gridlock is serving no one.”
In the email, Dutkevicz also said he had received little feedback from elected officials except “FTA is not answering them.”
Melissa Mejias Newton, FTA Director of Governmental and Legislative Affairs, responded to Dutkevicz: “The unobligated portion of this competitively selected Low-No project is under review in the Secretary’s office; as U.S. DOT works through a backlog of more than 3,000 unobligated grants from the prior administration, FTA Region 5 will share updates as they become available, and while we cannot provide an exact timeline for any individual grant, the Department is working diligently to accelerate the distribution of funds.”
Journal-News reached out to Mejias Newton for an update on the status of the grant and did not receive a response.
