KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, runs the risk of significant changes to its bus routes if officials can't reach a deal with the Kansas City Area Transit Authority (KCATA) by mid-August.
The contract between KCATA and the city of KCMO should have been finalized months ago, but negotiations continue as both sides point to potential problems in the agreement.
"Good question. What is the issue? I am still not 100 percent clear," said KCMO City Councilperson Eric Bunch.
KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas recently appointed Bunch to the KCATA's board. Bunch says that in his position as a councilperson, he didn't know about contract and funding issues until months after the council passed ordinances and approved budgets.
When asked if there needs to be work on communication, Bunch acknowledged, "I think communication definitely needs to be improved between the ATA and the city."
However, KCATA Board Vice Chair Bridgette Williams placed some responsibility on city representatives.
"Well, I would say the city has three commissioners on the board. If they are not getting communication, then that's on them," Williams said.
Williams identified three main issues with the current plan.
First, the City Council passed an ordinance for six months of funding, not a year.
Second, the contract is extremely specific, listing the types of buses the city wants for certain routes, which Williams hasn't seen in past contracts.
Finally, Williams places some blame for drawn-out conversations on the city's former City Manager, Brian Platt, who was removed from his position earlier this year.
She expressed confidence that the new city manager can get a deal done.
"I would say that he is generally concerned about making sure that the people who need bus service have bus service," Williams said.
KCMO has council meetings scheduled for next week, which will be their last chance to finalize a deal before the mid-August deadline.
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