TARTA Board Receives New Trustees From Ottawa Hills, Sylvania Township

TARTA is excited to welcome two new appointees to its Board of Trustees: Village of Ottawa Hills representative Dana Dunbar and Sylvania Township representative Ben Malczewski.

Dana Dunbar is the Co-Owner and Chief Financial Officer of American Frame in Maumee, where she has been part of the team for 38 years. She was a member of the Ottawa Hills Village Council for eight years and also served as a trustee for Lake Erie West Regional Council for six years and President of the Endowment Board at Hope Lutheran Church in Toledo. She is a graduate of both Indiana University (BA) and the University of Toledo (MBA, Finance).

“Efficient, reliable public transportation is so important to the well-being of a community, and I am grateful for this opportunity to help steer TARTA as it builds on our mobility system,” said Dunbar. “As an organization funded by the public, it’s so important that it is driven by the public, through both stakeholders and the people who use the system and depend on it every day.

“I look forward to adding my voice to those of the wonderful volunteers already on TARTA’s Board of Trustees.”

Ben Malczewski is the Vice President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Toledo and is President of the Sylvania Rotary Foundation and Downtown Sylvania Association/Red Bird Sylvania. His leadership and engagement experience also includes a longtime appointment on Penguin Random House’s Library Advisory Board, more than 15 years as the Author and Speaker Coordinator for both the American Library Association and Ohio Library Council’s annual conferences, and nine years at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library, the last three as Manager of the Downtown Sylvania Branch. He is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), University of Toledo (BA, English Literature), and Wayne State University (Master of Library and Information Science).

“Transit is more than just a way to get around, it can be an economic driver and a way to ensure that the wonderful things about northwest Ohio are accessible to everyone,” said Malczewski. “This is especially true for our senior community as well as those with mobility challenges, who without TARTA would find it so much more difficult to reach employment, medical appointments, and so many other essential destinations.

“The needs of this area continue to change, right along with our business landscape and the travel practices of the people who call northwest Ohio home. Our public transportation system needs to continue to adapt right along with that wave of change, and I’m excited to be a part of helping TARTA do just that.”

Dunbar is completing the term of trustee Brittany Ford, which comes up for renewal on May 31, 2028. Malczewski will serve a full 3-year term that began on October 1 and runs through that same date in 2029.

TARTA thanks Brittany Ford and Sylvania Township representative Joel Beren for their vision, leadership and expertise during one of the most active periods in TARTA’s history.

TARTA provided more than 2.2 million fixed route trips, 120,000 TARTA Move paratransit trips and 52,000 TARTA Flex on-demand trips in 2025. Ridership numbers are on pace to eclipse those again this year, which would mark the sixth consecutive year of increased ridership on all services.

TARTA’s Board of Trustees also includes: