At a called meeting April 6, Vicksburg’s NRoute Transit Commission will approve an application to share in $17 million being awarded to transit authorities in the state via the $787 billion federal stimulus package.

The commission set the meeting Wednesday after discussing ideas to pitch, including two trollies for downtown use, additional buses, vans and equipment.

Evelyn Bumpers, director of the three-year-old system, proposed a permanent maintenance facility to house NRoute’s administrative office and provide income by servicing transit vehicles from the seven-county region.  The commissioners wanted to review a more detailed proposal of such a facility before approving the application.

“The one thing everybody is worried about is, if we get this facility are we going to have the income to support it or will it drag us down,” said Commissioner John Wayne Jabour.  “We don’t want to obligate ourselves to some expense that could force us to cut back in other services in the future.”

Vicksburg’s nine-vehicle fleet operates from a base in the Walnut Street parking garage.

Three other regional transit maintenance facilities exist in the state, Bumpers said. Along with the facility, additional vehicles and trollies, she said, computer and radio equipment, security systems and cameras would all be included in the request. Bumpers said the application has to be submitted by April 13 to the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Bumpers said 20 other transit agencies in the state will be submitting applications for funds. “Everybody is going to get something, I’m certain,” she said.

Bumpers said the funds will be awarded in September and will become available to recipients in October. Attending the meeting were Bumpers, Jabour, Gertrude Young, Malissa Winfield, Mark Buys and Diane Gawronski.

For 2009, Jabour will be president, replacing Young, while Gawronski will remain vice president and Winfield will remain secretary.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com