Jason Williams

jwilliams@enquirer.com

The process of hiring a third-party contractor to run the city's streetcar cannot be limited to just Cincinnati-based companies.

City Councilwoman Amy Murray on Tuesday told members of the transportation committee that federal guidelines call for the bidding process to be open to any company regardless of where it's based.

Murray, chair of the committee, said she has been hearing talk that a council member could introduce a motion calling for the process to only be open to Cincinnati-based companies.

"We're having a hard enough time coming up with $3.8 million a year" to run the streetcar, Murray said. "I want to see bids from everyone who's interested. If we narrow it down to who is allowed to bid, we could drive the price up."

Since the federal government has $45 million invested in the $133 million streetcar project, the feds have a say in the bid process. The Federal Transit Administration guidelines say "we can't restrict the process geographically," said Sallie Hilvers, spokeswoman for the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority.

SORTA will oversee running the city-owned streetcar, including the third-party contractor that will run the rail line's day-to-day operations. The city and SORTA currently are negotiating an operations agreement, which tentatively could be in place for the next transportation committee meeting on Nov. 12.

Councilwoman Yvette Simpson told transportation committee members she would like to see a local company be awarded the streetcar-operations contract. She said it would help provide more jobs for local citizens, and could offer more job opportunities if the streetcar route is ever expanded.

No motion has been filed or introduced calling for the bidding process to be restricted only to Cincinnati-based companies. It's uncertain whether council members are being pressured by local unions and companies to try to limit the process to only include bids from Cincinnati contractors.

Streetcar operation costs continue to be a contentious issue. Mayor John Cranley wants to keep the expected annual operations shortfall completely off the city's books, and he has challenged pro-streetcar City Council members and private supporters to find alternative money sources. The Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation and a group of private donors in December committed $9 million to help pay for the first decade of operations, but no other funding source has been identified.

The 3.6-mile streetcar route through parts of Downtown and Over-the-Rhine is scheduled to open to passengers in September 2016. •