WILLMAR –– A new name was selected today for a newly-merged regional transit system that goes into effect next year.
Starting Jan. 1, the Kandiyohi Area Transit and the Renville County Heartland Express will begin operating as one entity under the new name of Central Community Transit.
While the new name may not be as snappy as KAT, which is what the Kandiyohi Area Transit is known as, the Central Community Transit name fits a merged two-county transit system that may eventually grow to include other neighboring counties, like Meeker County, which already shares a route with KAT.
The name will also be paired with a tag-line “Connecting Communities Together” said KAT Transit Director Tiffany Collins.
Both the name and the motto share the CCT acronym.
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“We can grow with that name,” said Kevin Crowley, who is the mayor of Pennock and also serves on the joint powers board.
Having a name allows Collins to obtain a new federal identification number that’s needed to get funding.
“It was a big deal to get a new name today,” she said.
Meanwhile other aspects of the merger are continuing to be worked out, including salary differences between employees.
The transit staff in Renville County belong to a union and have higher salaries than the KAT employees, said Collins.
She said the two groups of employees, which includes 28 individuals at KAT and 12 with Renville County, will need to decide if they want to belong to a union or not.
No matter what their decision is, she said employees will not take a pay cut with the merger.
“There are no plans to have any staff see less wages,” she said.
