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BY JOYCE LOBECK - SUN STAFF WRITER
Yuma's public transit system has gotten a reprieve until Aug. 31 while officials scramble for ways to save YCAT and Dial-A-Ride.

That was the consensus Thursday of the executive board members of the Yuma Metropolitan Planning Organization, which oversees the Yuma-area's public transit service.

The action delays a decision by the board at its April 29 meeting to suspend the service June 30.

Charlene FitzGerald, YMPO executive director, told the board she is confident funding sources can be found to keep the buses rolling while the community explores the possibility of forming a transit authority and asking voters to approve a tax to support it.

After some discussion about the actual intent of the board's April 29 meeting, Greg Ferguson, who sits on the YMPO board as a representative for the Yuma County Board of Supervisors, made a motion to direct FitzGerald to explore funding sources to continue YCAT and Dial-A-Ride.

He later made a second motion to move the suspension date to Aug. 31.

Both motion were approved.

Yuma City Mayor Al Krieger voted aye, but expressed concern that the minutes of the April 29 clearly stated the board had approved suspending the bus system and questioned why FitzGerald was continuing to work tirelessly to find a way to save it.

She responded that as part of her job as head of planning organization, she had been asked by board members and received a number of calls from the public concerned about the impending loss of the system.

Krieger stressed that he was representing taxpayers and faulted previous boards for their failure to ask "hard questions and try to get answers" that led to the financial crises and several "dismal" audits that were critical of the organization's record keeping.

Yuma County Administrator Robert Pickels then took the podium to explain the findings of some research he had taken upon himself as to whether Yuma County had the statutory authority to form a rural transit administrator and seek an excise tax.

In his opinion, a new Arizona law sponsored by Yuma Rep. Russ Jones paved the way for smaller counties to ask voters for a public transit tax but failed to establish that counties of less than 200,000 could form a RTA.

However, Pickels continued, he believes the municipalities within Yuma County could petition the Yuma County Board of Supervisors to establish an intergovernmental public transportation authority, which could potentially be funded by an excise tax if approved by voters.

Even so, he said, he doesn't think there's time to properly evaluate a ballot tax question for the November general election as ballot issues are due by early July.

FitzGerald responded that she has been working with Ken Rosevear, executive director of the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce, who flew to Washington, D.C., to meet with Congressman Raul Grijalva.

"That was a helpful trip," FitzGerald said. "Grijalva's staff is working on finding some funding solutions."

She's also been working with the Federal Transit Authority, other communities with public transit systems and local agencies that serve the main ridership of YCAT and Dial-A-Rider: the lower income, students, elderly and disabled populations of the county.

"I have found some potential solutions," she said. "I have encouraging news ... but I need time to find solutions."

She vowed those solutions would include documentation that the system would be technically, financially and legally responsible.

FitzGerald also recommended a committee be formed to develop the scope and market plan of a revised public transit system that would serve the community more efficiently at less cost.

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