1 BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF OHIO 2 - - - 3 In the Matter of a Request by : the Jefferson County : 4 Engineer's Office for an : Exemption from the Requirement: 5 Under R.C. 4511.63 for School : Case No. 17-592-RR-RCP Buses and Hazardous Materials : 6 Vehicles to Stop at a Grade : Crossing Located on County : 7 Road 75 in Springfield : Township, Jefferson County, : 8 Ohio. : 9 - - - 10 PROCEEDINGS 11 before Daniel E. Fullin, Attorney Examiner, at the 12 John Gregg Elementary School, 212 County Highway 75A, 13 Bergholz, Ohio, called at 1:18 p.m. on Monday, May 1, 14 2017. 15 - - - 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC. 23 222 East Town Street, Second Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215-4620 24 (614) 224-9481 - (800) 223-9481 25 - - - Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 2 1 Monday Afternoon Session, 2 May 1, 2017. 3 - - - 4 EXAMINER FULLIN: The Commission has 5 called for hearing at this time and place, which is 6 the John Gregg Elementary School in Burkholz, Ohio, 7 Case No. 17-592-RR-RCP, which is a request for an 8 exemption for school buses and other types of 9 restricted vehicles from stopping at the grade 10 crossing at -- identified as Wolf Run Road, County 11 Road 75, in Jefferson County, Ohio. 12 I'm the Attorney-Examiner that's been 13 assigned to this case. I'll just begin by saying 14 what we're looking for here is the -- the County 15 Engineer's Office I believe it is that made the 16 request, maybe even on behalf of the school system, 17 and the statute requires a public hearing. So we're 18 here for a public hearing. 19 Any member of the public can testify 20 about this, but what we're especially looking for is 21 some testimony to be provided to support the reason 22 for granting the exemption, because the normal rule 23 of the law provides that everyone must stop. So 24 we're looking for the reason why it would be a safer 25 thing to grant the exemption than it would be to Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 3 1 leave the existing law in place. 2 So why don't we go ahead and have 3 Mr. Hilty introduce himself on the record, and you 4 can really take it from here in terms of putting on 5 your case. 6 Why don't we -- anyone that wants to 7 testify that's expecting to testify, I'll probably do 8 it all at once now, it would be best to have the 9 testimony be sworn or affirmed testimony. So if you 10 will each that are doing it will raise your right 11 hands. 12 If you all swear or affirm that the 13 testimony you'll give today will be the truth, the 14 whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 15 (Witnesses placed under oath.) 16 EXAMINER FULLIN: Thank you. All right. 17 MR. HILTY: My name's Eric Hilty. I 18 work for the Jefferson County Engineer's Office. We 19 petitioned to abandon the grade crossing due to the 20 fact that it's no further being used by the railroad. 21 It has been paved over years ago; so it actually 22 cannot be used. 23 We all feel that it is safer for buses 24 not to stop; therefore, they don't have to interrupt 25 traffic while they're traveling there, and one less Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 4 1 obstacle for the bus to work around being that 2 there's no actual crossing being used. 3 EXAMINER FULLIN: Okay. What's the 4 visibility if you're coming from behind a bus and 5 it's getting ready to stop, you're familiar with the 6 area, you know you're not going to stop? 7 MR. HILTY: It's right in the middle leg 8 of an S turn. There's decent visibility from one 9 side, but it's not the best visibility. 10 EXAMINER FULLIN: So, again, it might be 11 safer for that one -- 12 MR. HILTY: Bus to continue, yeah. 13 EXAMINER FULLIN: -- to not have the bus 14 stop? 15 MR. HILTY: Yeah. 16 EXAMINER FULLIN: So you don't have to 17 prepare with as much force as someone stopping before 18 you? 19 MR. HILTY: Yeah. 20 EXAMINER FULLIN: Anything else that you 21 wanted to add to your testimony? 22 MR. HILTY: Nope. That should be all. 23 EXAMINER FULLIN: Okay. Who wants to 24 testify next? 25 MS. BAKER: I'll go. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 5 1 EXAMINER FULLIN: Okay. 2 MS. BAKER: My name's Crystal Baker. 3 I'm an employee of Edison Local Schools as a bus 4 driver. 5 As a bus driver going through the 6 procedure stopping at that stop, I have almost been 7 rear ended there because traffic doesn't realize that 8 I'm stopping there or not prepared for it. With my 9 procedure to get through there, it takes a little bit 10 of time; so cars coming don't see for 11 visibility-wise. It's paved over; so there really is 12 no reason to stop there. 13 Once you're going around the turn, the 14 actual road, the next one up, I believe it's 275, it 15 is also paved over on that railroad crossing. The 16 embankment in between those turns is actually washed 17 away; so there is no foundation underneath those 18 tracks, and they're actually exposed so a train 19 couldn't get through there anyway unless there was 20 repairs done to it anyways, I guess. 21 So I think it's a safety issue of 22 putting 50 to 60 kids in harm of stopping in the road 23 where you don't need to be stopped. 24 EXAMINER FULLIN: Can you tell me how 25 often the buses have to go through that crossing? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 6 1 MS. BAKER: I go through there twice a 2 day stopping four times a day. 3 EXAMINER FULLIN: Okay. 4 MR. DeBOLD: We have a total -- 5 EXAMINER FULLIN: All right. Anything 6 else that you want to add? 7 MS. BAKER: No. 8 EXAMINER FULLIN: Appreciate your 9 testimony. 10 Do you want to go next? 11 MR. DeBOLD: Joe DeBold. I'm the 12 transportation supervisor for Edison Local Schools. 13 In addition to what Crystal said, if 14 anybody's been on a bus with 50 or 60 students, you 15 know the State mandate is it has to be total silence, 16 all noise has to be suppressed. So it's strenuous on 17 the bus driver also to try to calm down 50 to 60 kids 18 for that time period four times a day. We run four 19 buses that cross that crossing, so with our high 20 school and grade school; so, you know, you're talking 21 four buses doing it four times a day. 22 On a -- on a mechanical standpoint, any 23 time you're stopping and starting the buses it wears 24 and tears on the buses, but you have to shut 25 everything down, you have to set your brakes, you Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 7 1 have to open up your doors, you have to open up your 2 windows. So there's a lot more procedures than most 3 normal stops with a school bus. So that would be one 4 thing that would be a little bit -- a little bit 5 monetary savings on the equipment. 6 Also, that area is pretty lack 7 supervised with police out here. You know, we're 8 pretty rural; so we, you know, rely on the Sheriff's 9 Department. You know, it's -- people know that. 10 It's an easy cut-across; so without getting off the 11 main roads they can cut part of the time off by going 12 on that road, so they do. They're not, you know, 13 heeding to the speed limit at all the times. So, you 14 know, when you can get through that system, that 15 area, it's, you know, not marked, any lane markings. 16 So, you know, we just try to get through there and 17 soon and as quick as we can without having as many 18 stops. 19 Stopping for the students at their homes 20 is safety enough, we feel, than stopping at a 21 crossing that's not needed. So that's why we 22 petitioned the County to petition the State to try to 23 get it exempted from us to have to do anything like 24 that. We talked to the actual rail owners 25 originally, and that's who gave us the information of Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 8 1 how to go about doing it. 2 EXAMINER FULLIN: Okay. Anything else 3 you wanted to add? 4 (No response.) 5 EXAMINER FULLIN: All right. Thank you 6 then. I think that is -- I'll note for the record 7 that there's no other members of the public here that 8 want to testify about this case, and with that I will 9 bring the hearing to a close. I appreciate 10 everybody's time. We're off the record. 11 (Thereupon, the hearing was 12 concluded at 1:26 p.m.) 13 - - - 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481 9 1 CERTIFICATE 2 I do hereby certify that the foregoing 3 is a true and correct transcript of the proceedings 4 taken by me in this matter on Monday, May 1, 2017, 5 and carefully compared with my original stenographic 6 notes. 7 8 9 _______________________ Carolyn D. Ross, 10 Registered Professional Reporter and Notary 11 Public in and for the State of Ohio. 12 13 14 My commission expires April 3, 2019. 15 (CDR-83840) 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614)224-9481