Kankakee County approves Showbus contracts, applies for state and federal rural transit grants

Kankakee County Board on April 8 approved three related resolutions authorizing the county to apply for federal and state rural transit funding and to purchase transit services from Showbus for state fiscal year 2026.

County staff said the package includes a federal allotment application (identified in the record as "section 53 11"), a downstate operating assistance grant application, and a purchase-of-service agreement with Showbus to operate the county's rural general public transportation service. Ben, a county staff member, said the three pieces are submitted together as a single application to the state.

"When we apply for funds for rural transit for to partner with Showbus, we essentially have 3 pieces to that," Ben said. He added the county followed its usual solicitation and received a single respondent, Showbus. "I would say as far as the local funding is concerned, we put $15,000 in local transit that is approved in our budget. So no additional expenditure request is needed."

Board member Aaron Donald moved the first motion on the package; the motion was seconded by Jason Crutcher and approved by roll call. The board also separately approved a purchase-of-service agreement and a downstate operating assistance grant resolution by roll call votes later in the meeting; each motion carried.

The resolution documents give the county board chairman authority to sign and, if necessary, amend the agreements during the grant year to streamline compliance if state paperwork changes. Ben said amendments are rare but that the authorization would allow staff to respond quickly to any state requests.

The county did not discuss alternative operators in the meeting record; Ben said there was a single respondent to the solicitation. The county budget line for local transit at $15,000 was described as already approved within the fiscal-year budget, and no additional county appropriation was requested during the April 8 meeting.

The three resolutions appear in the board record as: (1) "Resolution authorizing execution an amendment of section 53 11 grama agreement, fiscal year 2026"; (2) "Resolution regarding purchase of service agreement with Show Buzz to operate the county's rural general public transportation service state fiscal year 2026"; and (3) "Resolution authorizing execution and amendment of downstate operating assistance grant agreement fiscal year 2026." Each was moved, seconded and approved by roll call vote.

The measures take administrative steps to pursue state and federal operating dollars and to contract operations; no additional county-wide budget increase was approved at the meeting. The board did not discuss specific service routes, rider fares, or performance metrics during the public discussion recorded in the transcript.

The board approved the measures by roll call; the transcript records affirmative votes from attending members and records the motions as carried.

Looking ahead, the county staff will file the grant applications and finalize the purchase-of-service agreement with Showbus for the 2026 state fiscal year, subject to the executed documents.