CORRECTION MADE, MR DAY DID NOT APPOINT SUE CERRA TO THE TRANSPORTATION ADMINISTRATORS POSITION.
Rockland County government is like the movie "Groundhog Day", where a man finds himself in a time loop, repeating the same day again and again. Rockland County Government is much the same. Mr. Day stated his government would be a "new day", a total change in the way the government was run in the past. But I am having hard time seeing that presently at the Transportation Department.
The Rockland County Transportation Department was without a Transit Administrator since Bill Schule left about a year ago, Mr Vanderhoef was still the county executive at the time. Last November the last appointment made by Mr Vanderheof was to make Susan Cerra Transportation Administrator. Who is Sue Cerra. Did she work for another transit system? There was no bio on her when she was appointed, but she was the spokeswoman for Mr. Vanderhoef. Now I am sure she is a very nice person and worked very hard for Mr. Vanderhoef, but what credentials did she have to head a Transportation Department that at the very least was in a state of confusion with buses that should have ordered and replaced the old ones. That necessitated the County having to increase the TRIPS maintenance budget by $40,000. Never mind a transportation contract that took two years to award. Never mind TOR drivers that are trying to get health care benefits from the current carrier that they had under the previous carrier. The Department needed a leader.
When I heard that Vincent Marzella Jr. left TOR to work for Brega Transport I felt he did a disservice to the County. I have since changed my mind. Mr Marzella was the protege of the last administrator and knew as much about the system as anyone. He should have been appointed to that position, I think anyone would have left under those same circumstances . The reality is he would have been making the decisions anyway, but through Susan Cerra.
Maybe the county puts little importance in it’s mass transit system, and that is a shame. Why would the County have to take 4 “hand me down” buses that were retired from Albany? It took many years and a lot of work by many good people that unfortunately do not work for the county anymore to get the system were it was in its heyday. The Transportation Department has lost it’s rudder….and that is sad.
