Зал заседаний Батлерского транспортного управления назван в честь умершего наставника Джо Хашачака

Hasychak brought Butler’s public transit forward Joe Hasychak may be gone, but he left his mark on Butler County: His name now graces the boardroom of the Butler Transit Authority, a testament to his contributions to Butler Township and the county as a whole. “He was very inspirational as a leader in the community,” said former Butler Township manager Gerald Patterson. “He loved Butler Township, he did everything he could to make it better and he was a really good person to people. He was a good board member because he cared for everybody and he wanted to treat people right.” Hasychak, who died on Aug. 29 at the age of 85, made a significant impact on Butler County as a member of the Butler Township Board of Commissioners between 1980 and 2016 and as a board member for Butler Transit Authority between its founding in 1989 and 2025. During his time as a Butler Township commissioner, one of his major accomplishments was spearheading the construction of the township’s municipal building, which began construction in 2002 and opened in September 2004. The building, at the corner of Whitestown and Duffy Roads, is still in use today. “When I was hired, we were in a building in Lyndora and we kind of outgrew the building. We had our police department there also,” Patterson said. “So we looked to get a new facility. We had to get something that could fit all of our operations. That was a big project.” John Paul worked alongside Hasychak at the Butler Transit Authority for 25 years, from the time Paul was appointed as director in 2000 until Hasychak’s retirement. According to Paul, Hasychak’s views on public service can be summarized in a single exchange which occurred shortly after the two first met. “When he hired me, he said, ‘John, if this place is the same in five years, you're not doing your job,’” Paul said. “Before we got to five years, I asked, ‘Joe, is the place still the same?’ And he said, ‘No, it’s not the same at all.’” Hasychak was one of the founding members of the board — or, as it was initially called, the Butler Township City Joint Municipal Transit Authority. In its early days, the authority was a joint venture between the City of Butler and Butler Township, both of which provided operational funding. “He was very instrumental in forming the transit authority,” Patterson said. “There was no bus service back then. Those two groups put it together and he was on the transit authority board for years.” Under Hasychak’s run, the authority transitioned from municipal oversight to Butler County oversight, with the county now providing the annual local funding match commitment since 2018. Hasychak also oversaw numerous infrastructure improvements for the authority, including the construction of a new headquarters and bus storage depot at Pullman Center in the Lyndora section of Butler Township. The facility opened in 2011 and received an expansion in 2021. “Before that, we didn't have a facility to store our vehicles or service the vehicles,” Paul said. “He was instrumental in helping us get the funding from the federal government and the state to build that facility.” As a show of appreciation, when Hasychak retired from the transit authority board at the end of 2025, the organization renamed its boardroom after him.