If Butler's leaders intend to move the city forward, better communication will be needed than what was indicated at a planning and zoning commission meeting Wednesday.

The Butler Township-City Joint Municipal Transit Authority has been working for three years under the belief that a new bus depot would be built on the Trinity Industries property along Hansen Avenue. But with $2.5 million in federal tranportation money already approved for the project, plus an additional grant from Butler County, the authority received the rude awakening on Wednesday that city council support for that location apparently has evaporated.

It's troubling that the authority has been allowed to work in one direction while city leaders have been working quietly in another - that those leaders who oppose the bus depot for the original site didn't exercise the courtesy to make their feelings known sooner.

It's unconscionable that Mayor Leonard Pintell and others on the council have, by their lack of communication, permitted the transit authority to spend a substantial amount of money on land that the authority might not end up using.

John Paul, transit authority executive director, said Wednesday that after completion of the second phase of environmental testing on the site, the authority will have spent $100,000 on that land - not money from government grants, but the authority's own money.

If the bus depot is forced to go elsewhere, the authority should be reimbursed for what it has spent on the site.

Pintell now wants the targeted bus depot site for an office building - part of his proposed West End revitalization initiative. He prefers that the bus depot, a proposed park-and-ride lot, parking spaces and an authority administrative building occupy what currently is the BOC Gas property.

Pintell has been working on a West End redevelopment proposal for much of his more than two years as mayor. It is reasonable to believe he should have made his feelings known long before now, even if only as a positive gesture toward U.S. Rep. Phil English, who has helped the authority in regard to the bus depot's federal money.

Whether a site change would affect the federal money in any way can't absolutely be gauged at this juncture, but Paul said the Trinity site was a selling point for the depot with federal officials because it is close to social services in the area.

The lack of communication raises a question about the underlying motive - what was hoped to be gained - by keeping the authority focused in the "wrong" direction.

Such shoddy handling of efforts so important is sometimes the reason why projects become sidetracked and fail. Butler has yet to realize a major revitalization success in the West End, any other residential neighborhood or in the downtown business district. Springing unpleasant surprises on those who should be "in the loop" on all new developments and new thinking about a specific project isn't the means to a successful end.

The issue of a zoning change needed for the bus depot on the Trinity Industries site has thus become secondary to the bigger issue of communication and cooperation.

Pintell's efforts on behalf of the West End are laudable, but his performance and leadership in regard to the new bus depot's location aren't.

The mayor should convene a public meeting of the city council with all agencies involved in the West End initiative, help everyone get on the same page, and then reveal what he hopes will happen next. A change-of-mind isn't necessarily bad, but keeping it a secret to the possible detriment of others - in this case, the transit authority and ultimately the community as a whole - is outside the parameters of what should be happening.

This effort to take a forward stride must not end one or two steps back.

- J.R.K.