Westmoreland County Transit Authority officials say they have taken $232,000 from a former contractor's performance bond to cover the costs of hiring a new contractor and repairing neglected buses.
Solicitor John O'Connell told the authority's board of directors Thursday that the withdrawal was made after he had discussed bills with Monroeville attorney Steven F. Kessler.
Kessler represents David Sunstein, owner of Pennsylvania Transit Services, an Adamsburg-based company that has been running authority bus routes for 14 years.
O'Connell told the board that the money is needed to pay for the transitional costs in hiring contractor Edenfield Stages Inc., of Fayette County, to take Pennsylvania Transit Services' place. In addition, money is needed for Edenfield Stages to perform years worth of routine maintenance that authority officials say Pennsylvania Transit did not do.
In November, escalating concerns about bus maintenance led the authority and Pennsylvania Transit Services to part ways with six months left in a five-year contract. Maintenance reports reviewed by the Tribune-Review indicated that some buses were operated last summer with broken windshields, malfunctioning speedometers and bald tires.
In February, authority member D.D. Amadio said he was outraged because one of the buses never had an oil or filter change, despite the odometer reading of 37,000 miles.
Authority Executive Director Larry Morris said most of the repairs have been made. He commended Edenfield Stages for the work.
"We're getting ahead of it now," Morris said. "They're doing a great job for us."
In a previous interview with the Tribune-Review, Sunstein defended his reputation in the busing business. He said transit-authority officials "are making unreasonable demands to fix things I don't know how to fix."
Sunstein also said he has been unable to break even on his deal with the authority. He said that during the last two years, he has spent about $144,000 of his own money fixing transit-authority vehicle transmissions.
Kessler said he is unaware the authority had made a withdrawal from the $373,000 performance bond that Sunstein posted to insure his work. Kessler said he would like to retrieve the money.
"I haven't been told that they did that," Kessler said. "I'm hoping there's a way to resolve it."
