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October 12, 2016

The Honorable Joseph Sinnott, Mayor


Office of the Mayor
626 State Street, Room 500
Erie, Pennsylvania 16201

Ms. Kathy Dahlkemper, County Executive


Erie County Courthouse
140 West Sixth Street, Suite 504
Erie, Pennsylvania 16501-1053

Dear Mayor Sinnott and Ms. Dahlkemper:


Local decision makers need to act now for Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority
(EMTA) to continue service to the residents of Erie without state intervention. On Friday,
October 7, 2016, Judge William Cunningham deferred making a ruling and requested
that the County and the City work together to resolve the charter for the good of the
community. EMTAs reserve funds will run out on November 19, 2016 without actions
to provide funding to the authority to operate beyond that date. If the City of Erie and the
County of Erie cannot come to an agreement on renewing the charter this week,
PennDOT will have to step in under the authority provided through Act 89 of 2013, to
ensure that service will continue.
PennDOT is requesting a letter from the City and County by 12:00 noon on
Monday, October 17, 2016, that outlines an agreement between the City and the
County to renew the charter. If no letter(s) is received outlining such an agreement,
PennDOT will take immediate action to take over the service.
There is much at stake if the County and the City cannot reach an agreement.
The results of inaction to reach a resolution on charter renewal are:

The Phase II EMTA Maintenance Facility project, valued at $35 million, will not
go to construction.
A transit authority outside of the Erie area will be assigned to manage transit
service in Erie. All decision making authority over public transportation will be
with a board of directors outside of the Erie area.
EMTA will not be able to pay for or take delivery on new buses valued at
$500,000 scheduled for delivery in November.
If federal funds cannot be restored, the authority will have to make service cuts to
align costs with available funding that equates to a 22% reduction in service. In
addition to the service cuts, 33 EMTA employees will lose their jobs.

The Honorable Joseph Sinnott


Ms. Kathy Dahlkemper,
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October 12, 2016
I hope that the County and the City can settle their differences and reach a
resolution on charter terms so service continues to be managed locally, and the EMTA
riders and Erie residents can continue to receive full transit service.

Sincerely,

Toby Fauver, FAICP, Deputy Secretary


Multimodal Transportation

cc:

Andre Horton, Erie Co. Council


Bob Merski, Erie City Council
Julie Slomski, Governors Office
Yesenia Bane, Governors Office
Mark Smith, Governors Office
J.J. Abbott, Dept. of Aging
Leslie Richards, PennDOT
Richard Kirkpatrick, PennDOT
Danielle Spila, Bureau of Public Transportation

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