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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- The county supervisors that make up the 10-15 Transit Board met in Ottumwa Thursday and tentatively approved a new transit contract with the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Many of the supervisors had questions pertaining to the new contract, but most of all, the board wanted to know where the Iowa Department of Transportation’s oversight was during the time period in question.

10-15 Transit and its operator, the Ottumwa Transit Authority, have been operating without a contract from the Iowa Department of Transportation since a state auditor’s report alleged that personnel within the transportation service inflated passenger counts and also altered time sheets.

“The depth of their oversight, I would say, has changed. There was a change in personnel with-in that office in the last three years, and the level of oversight by some of those individuals prior to the release of the state auditor’s report or the allegations last November, I would say that they came in and sat down and talked to Pam Ward, and whatever she told them, they took as gospel,” said OTA attorney Gayla Harrison.

Wapello County Supervisor Greg Kenning addressed the board about the possibility of taking the department of transportation to court. Many supervisors are puzzled on how the department came up with its numbers (passenger counts) to begin with.

“I guess what we have to weigh is whether it is really worth it. To pursue this any further, having gone through this with another agency not to long ago, I know that once it gets to district court, there are no winners. The tax payers lose anyways – anyway you could possibly boil down. The only winners would be the lawyers. So, what we need to decide is; is it worth it? Is it worth pushing it further?” said Kenning.

The supervisors were made aware that 10-15 Transit will look somewhat different in the future. Consultant Bob Bourne, who was hired by the board at the meeting Thursday, made them aware that he will go county by county throughout the transit system, and help develop routes that will make 10-15 Transit viable, even with reduced funding coming in from the state.

Also discussed in the meeting was the issue of Lee County wanting to leave 10-15 Transit. The county supervisors of Lee County decided recently that they would best be served by an operation based closer to their county, which would be a service provided by the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission, or SEIBUS.

The entire meeting took place as federal investigators from the FBI and the Federal Transit Authority have been conducting interviews at the Ottumwa Transit office. This is the first time that personnel from the federal government have been involved in the investigation since the Iowa State Auditor’s report.