MnDOT now requiring two-year contract from Trailblazer

At a Trailblazer Transit Board meeting June 26, the joint powers of McLeod, Wright and Sibley counties discussed the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s (MnDOT) new contract obligations.
The new requirement between MnDOT and transit boards across the state calls for two-year contracts as opposed to one-year contracts.
The most significant change is that MnDOT is asking for two years of budgetary information from Trailblazer while allowing for more fiscal flexibility on Trailblazer’s end, though it’s not entirely clear how the added elasticity will impact public transit.
The contract will consider budgetary information received from Trailblazer, similarly to how it’s worked in the past, but on a two-year outlook to save MnDOT time and administration costs. Trailblazer, as well as other public transit boards across the state, likely won’t be saving any time with the switch Trailblazer’s Executive Director Gary Ludwig said. But he also supports and understands why MnDOT is implementing a two-year contract system.
John Groothuis, a representative from MnDOT, said there would be opportunities for “special situations” to amend contracts, and significant capital operating expenses — like purchasing additional buses or adding employees — will need to be planned two years ahead of time.

(For the complete story, see the July 3 print edition of The Chronicle.)