Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

Rockland County is moving to drop Brega Transport Corp. as the operator of the county bus system based on federal bribery charges involving a former company principal.

The move comes after the federal government issued a letter March 1 notifying the company's former owner, Richard Brega, that he and his companies were being immediately suspended from any federally-connected transactions until criminal bribery charges against him are resolved.

The companies include Brega D.O.T. Maintenance Corp. and Brega Transport Corp. Brega Transport Corp. has the $70 million contract to run the county's public bus system.

FTA officials said in a statement issued to The Journal News/lohud.com that the order would bar the Brega-related companies from bidding on future federally-subsidized contracts but did not preclude them from continuing with their existing county contracts.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day, however, said the county needs to move expeditiously to get a new operator in place to provide services for an estimated 10,000 bus riders a day.

Day said he remains concerned about the county potentially losing millions of dollars in federal subsidies if the Brega companies continue with their county work.

Jason Brega, the new president of Brega Transport Corp., and Chief Operations Officer Vincent Marzella didn't return telephone calls for comment. Jason Brega took over the multiple Valley Cottage-based companies as president after his brother, Richard Brega, resigned in the wake of his federal indictment in January.

The indictment accuses Richard Brega and his then-companies of falsely signing vouchers taking money for repairing and maintaining Rockland BOCES buses when, allegedly, no maintenance was done.

"The criminal indictment against Richard Brega impedes his companies’ ability to comply with the bus contracts and to provide all of the services that the county requires for its customers," Day said. “We believe it is in the best interest of the county and residents who use this service to find another operator.”

But getting a new operator comes with some hitches: While the county owns the TOR and TZExpress buses, the county doesn't have a maintenance shop without Brega's facility at 500 Corporate Court in Valley Cottage.

For now, Transport of Rockland and Tappan ZEExpress will continue to operate under Brega Transport until a transition to a new operator can be completed, Day said.

In its suspension letter to Brega and his companies, the Federal Transit Administration wrote: "The charges against you raise serious questions about your present responsibility and make your immediate suspension, and that of the companies you control, necessary for the protection of the public interest."

The letter notes that FTA regularly awards millions of dollars of grants to the Rockland County Department of Public Transportation to support transportation services in the county. The FTA funds between 15 percent and 30 percent yearly of the county bus contract, county officials said.

While under suspension, Brega and the two companies can continue to provide services to Rockland County pursuant to the terms and conditions of existing contracts, the FTA said. "Going forward, however, the county and any other recipient of federal funds cannot enter into any new contractual commitments with Mr. Brega and his companies."

INDICTMENT: Federal indictment against Richard Brega

RESIGNATION: Richard Brega quits companies

CLARKSTOWN DEBT: Richard Brega paying off decade-old bill to Clarkstown for land

The FTA order allows for Brega officials to appeal the suspension within 30 days.

Day said his action would bar the Brega companies from bidding on any new county contracts for three years.

Richard Brega's criminal attorney, Kerry Lawrence of White Plains, said he was not aware of the FTA's action.

Richard Brega, 49, allegedly paid bribes to BOCES Transportation Director William Popkave and falsified documentation to indicate his company, Brega D.O.T. Maintenance Corp., had repaired and maintained school vehicles, prosecutors said in a news release announcing the five-count indictment.

BOCES has since cut all ties to Brega companies.

The county's current bus operation and maintenance contract with Brega companies ends in November 2018.

Day said in an interview that the county strongly recommended to Brega officials that they assign the operation of the bus system to a responsible operator temporarily while the county seeks bids for a new company to manage the system.

If Brega officials don't find a successor within 30 days, Day said the county will seek emergency bids.

"The handwriting is on the wall," Day said, citing Brega's federal suspension. "We have to act to end our contract in the best interest of the ridership and the county treasury. We can't afford to lose the federal money."

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Brega, a Nyack High School graduate, started his business in 1997. His business is not connected with the Peter Brega bus company, which serves several school districts in Rockland.

Brega Transport Corp. has operated the county’s Transport of Rockland, known as TOR and Tappan ZEExpress bus lines, with a fleet of 60 buses, since 2013 after being awarded the five-year, $70 million contract in late 2011 by the Rockland Legislature.

Brega took over after providing a lower bid than the Rockland Transit Corp., a subsidiary of Coach USA, which had held the contract to run Transport of Rockland since 1976.

Then-Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, a Republican, opposed giving the bus contract to Brega, who had never run a bus system, and the contract went through a court battle before Brega officially took it over.

After Brega won the contract, Rockland Transit Corp. asked the state Supreme Court to throw out the contract and force the county to re-bid. Rockland Transit had held the contract since 1976 before losing out to Brega. The judge found Rockland Transit had filed its legal action too late.

Another controversy erupted when some legislators wanted the county to pay for the daily cleaning of the buses. Day opposed the move and it never happened.

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