OTTUMWA, IOWA -- After a rocky year, an area agency that provides transportation services to a large portion of the Heartland has a new leader.

At Tuesday’s Ottumwa City Council meeting, Diane Gawronski was appointed the new director of Ottumwa Transit.

Ottumwa’s previous director was let go in early 2011 after a report from the State Auditor’s Office suggested that employee timesheets were being altered, and passenger counts were being inflated.

In June 2011, an interim director was named, Mark Hagist. Hagist worked closely with both the city and the state in getting both Ottumwa Transit and 10-15 Transit back on track.

Now that Gawronski has joined the Ottumwa Transit team, she has several goals. In an interview with KTVO, Gawronski shared that one of her main goals is to improve the image of the transit system.

“I think it has suffered over the past year; and although everybody has done a remarkable job in keeping it together, I want to make sure the public, just the general public feels good about the transit system and support it in anyway they can,” stated Gawronski.

Another goal that Gawronski wants to focus on is making sure her staff knows that they are appreciated.

“Coming here, and I understand and I sympathize with all of the turmoil that has transpired over the past year; I was not privy to all of it because I wasn’t here. But, I am sympathetic to those who had to endure some hardships, especially our staff,” stated Gawronski.

Gawronski also told KTVO that she wants to move the transit system forward, and not focus on the past.

With gas prices continuing to rise, Gawronski believes that more people will be using Ottumwa Transit. Even though Wednesday was her third day on the job, Gawronski is hard at work looking to improve Ottumwa Transit.