Porterville files lawsuit against Tulare County Regional Transit Agency

PORTERVILLE, Calif. (KFSN) -- The City of Porterville is suing a authorities bureau that erstwhile provided proscription services to locals.

A quality implicit who volition wage the metropolis of Porterville millions of dollars for nationalist proscription services implicit the past mates of years is astatine the halfway of a suit filed by the metropolis connected Thursday.

The metropolis claims that the Tulare County Regional Transit Agency (TCRTA) owes it $3 Million.

That includes a $1.6 cardinal loan.

"The city, erstwhile the transit bureau was initially being formed, gave a indebtedness which became owed respective months ago, and which the transit bureau hasn't yet paid and past there's astir $1.3 cardinal successful attraction services," said Mike Maurer, the lawyer representing the City of Porterville.

TCRTA was formed successful 2020 and has been providing proscription services to astir each municipality successful Tulare County since 2023.

This past July, the City of Porterville decided to utilize their ain proscription services, locally operated by Sierra Management.

Abul Hassan, has been the Executive Director of the TCRTA since December.

"I was amazed due to the fact that we person not been served with a notice. The City of Porterville is suing the TCRTA. But having work the publication. My 1st content is this is governmental theater," Hassan said astir the lawsuit.

"The world is, the TCRTA has paid implicit $6 cardinal of services rendered to the City of Porterville done the people of the past fiscal year, which ended connected June 24, 2024."

Action News did larn that Richard Tree, the erstwhile enforcement manager of TCRTA, Richard Tree, is presently the City of Porterville's transit director.

The City besides confirms that Sierra Management, which is presently providing their services, is owned by Tree's brother.

"But the institution was hired separately from that employee. It was hired done a competitory process, and it was really the lone institution that responded to that competitory process," said Maurer.

Action News' petition for an interrogation with Tree was redirected to the city's attorney.

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