WARREN — The Trumbull County Commissioners are expected to begin discussions about the future of public transportation in the county within the next several weeks, according to Commissioner Tony Bernard.

The county’s current transportation administrator, Mike Salamone, has announced he will retire in May, so the commissioners have to decide whether they want to replace Salamone or take a different direction.

During Tuesday’s weekly workshop, Daniel Keating, an attorney that worked with the Trumbull Transit Board before the system moved under the county’s control, suggested they should begin planning how public transportation will be provided to county residents in the future.

Keating said the former Trumbull Transit Board during the last year of its existence in 2021 provided 60,000 rides to the general public at a cost to the county — through Trumbull County Senior Levy funds — of between $420,000 to $450,000. Trumbull Transit Board was unable to provide public transportation to the general public more than a year prior to its dissolution because of a lack of federal funding.

“This is nothing like what is being spent now by the county only to transport seniors and the disabled,” Keating said.

The senior levy provides more than $700,000 for the transportation of seniors and disabled residents.

“It is in the hands of the county commissioners to revive public transit in Trumbull County,” Keating said. “The key is to put together a request for proposals for bids, specifically under the Section 5307 program. That opens it up for the public.”

Under federal law, the Section 5307 program recipients are designated public bodies, such as state DOTs, local governments or transit agencies, responsible for receiving and dispensing federal formula funds for transit capital, planning and operating assistance in urbanized areas of 50,000 to 200,000 people.

Trumbull County was formerly a Section 5307 grant designee, but gave up that designation after the previous transit board was dissolved. Commissioner Rick Hernandez on Tuesday said the county is at the 11th hour for making decisions.

Hernandez said he does not believe the county should hire another transportation administrator.

“I believe Warren needs service,” he said. “I believe the entire county needs service and the only way to do that is probably to get a company or service in here that can handle that type of volume,” he said.

Attorney Bill Danso of the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office said there are a few options for the area to have public transit, which include the establishment of a Regional Transit Authority, similar to what is being done by the Western Reserve Transit Authority in Mahoning County, establishing a transit board or the commissioners operating a system themselves.

“We’ve done bids in the past,” Danso said.

Even if the county hires an outside company to run the transportation system, Danso said a county employee will be required to oversee the program. Commissioner Denny Malloy suggested the city of Warren and other communities also should be involved in any decision-making process.

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin said the city and Niles formerly led the operation of a transit system before it was taken over by the county. Danso noted that some other communities that used the transit system when it was run through Warren and Niles contributed some funds to help financially support its operation.

In recent years, WRTA has worked with Trumbull County and Warren in operating specific bus routes. However, that program ended in 2025 when WRTA Executive Director Dean Harris decided not to continue applying for a grant used to partially finance the routes because the communities did not request WRTA to do so. The local matches were for a $300,000 Ohio Department of Transportation grant.

Trumbull County Human Resources Director Alexandra DeVengencie-Bush told the commissioners if they choose to go forward with establishing a Regional Transit Authority, it will have to have a dedicated source of funding.

“It has to have a substantial ongoing dedicated funding source even to be able to be sustained in the long term,” she said. “You have to sign up for that commitment, which will take community partners. In order to create that RTA, you have to create that board and each board member would have to be a community stakeholder.”

Bernard said he and his fellow commissioners will need to collect additional information before any decision will be made on public transportation in Trumbull County.

“I want to hear the pros and cons to each of the possible options,” Bernard said. “It has to be laid out.”