August 6, 2020

The Honorable Mayor John Cranley

City of Cincinnati
801 Plum Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Dear Mayor Cranley and City Manager Boggs Muething-

Thank you for negotiating an agreement in good faith with SORTA.

As you know, the SORTA board approved this agreement last week
and gave authority for it to be signed in substantially the form they
reviewed, and we were pleased to see that the City Council
unanimously approved the agreement yesterday.

This is undoubtedly a win for transit in our community. We will have

an agreement that: appropriately transfers assets both physical and
financial to SORTA (avoiding a costly and potentially lengthy fight);
ensures the city and county are now treated equitably with regard to
fares; and protects a baseline of service for riders in the city for
decades to come. We were pleased that this contract, which both
the City and SORTA approved for execution, would transfer the
entirety of the transit fund to SORTA, providing dollars that will be
used to help us close the timing gap created during the pandemic to
expand service, and the related increase in staffing required to
deliver the Reinventing Metro plan.

However, we were confused and concerned yesterday when City

Council appeared to vote to spend that money twice, even after the
Council approved the negotiated agreement that transfers all of that
money to us. During the most troubling time our organization has
faced, every dollar is dear to us and the riders who rely on Metro to
get to work, shop for their families, and access healthcare. Because
of the pandemic, we are uncertain as to what tax receipts will look
like in the coming years. No one wants to slow down the
implementation of Reinventing Metro. But even setting aside the
need, which is impossible, we negotiated with the city in good faith
an agreement that fully transfers the fund to us (less, of course and
as is customary, the funds held in escrow for tax settlements). To
seemingly redirect this money away from the people of this city who
rely on Metro for basic transportation needs after our agreement
was approved for execution is concerning, and as such we are
evaluating our options. Obviously, City Council’s actions yesterday
substantially change the basis on which the SORTA Board
approved for execution the agreement all of us had spent so much
time negotiating.
We would like to request a meeting with you next week to discuss
our potential next steps, and how the developments yesterday
interfere with our ability to execute a contract that has long-term
and advantageous policy implications for bus service and bus riders
in the City of Cincinnati.

We're available at your convenience and look forward to discussing

this important issue.

Regards,
.

Kreg Keesee
Chair, SORTA Board

Cc: Andre Garth, Chief of Staff/Managing Counsel

Kim Schaefer, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP
SORTA Board