A previous post opined the Sound Transit Board’s decision to fire CEO Peter Rogoff during their Sept 23rd meeting was a surprise for many. The Seattle Times Sept 24th article responded to the decision with a photo caption:
Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff will be replaced in 2022 following more than six years of accomplishments with the agency
The decision to find a new CEO resulted in Sound Transit Board’s October 28th meeting agenda including the following: (the meeting itself was "off-air")
F. Resolution No, R2021-18: Establishing a CEO Selection Committee for the period of time necessary to develop a recommendation to the Board on a candidate to serve as the next Sound Transit CEO and appointing Board members to serve on the CEO Selection Committee in addition to their current committee appointments and leadership roles.
This blog’s response was a post detailing why Rogoff should be fired:
The bottom line is the Sound Transit Board should fire Rogoff. He not only fails to recognize the DSTT limitations on light rail capacity, he refuses to implement the transit capacity available with added bus service. He also refused to add the parking needed for access to either transit mode. That riders added by the light rail extensions will reduce or potentially end access for current riders.
The Board apparently is in no hurry to replace him. The first indication was the following December 1, 2021, announcement:
The Sound Transit Board of Directors will convene the first meeting of its CEO Selection Committee on December 2 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The committee will receive an overview of the CEO search process, timeline and work plan. The committee will also consider a potential action to direct the CEO to contract with a CEO search firm.
The committee’s decision to consider “directing Rogoff contract a CEO search firm” to replace him exemplifies the Board’s abdication of responsibility. The other concern for the meeting was the public comment submission by “Transit Choices: Transit for all.” It began with:
We want to thank outgoing CEO Peter Rogoff for his many years of service to this region. Under his leadership, Sound Transit has delivered important transit service and adopted policies and projects that have advanced the Puget Sound’s transit system through incredibly challenging times.
Transit Choices clearly didn’t recognize Sound Transit’s Prop 1 extensions have done nothing to increase DSTT transit capacity. That Rogoff has failed to recognize the need for parking with access to transit or the benefits of BRT, making delusional forecasts for light rail ridership. Instead, their CEO concerns were listed under two major requirements for his replacement:
Sound Transit should commit to hiring a new CEO with a strong background and experience in racial and social equity
Sound Transit should commit to hiring a new CEO with a strong background and experience in multimodal access, affordable housing, and equitable TOD (Transit Oriented Development)
Apparently Transit Choices saw no need for Sound Transit’s CEO to understand what constitutes effective public transit though I’m not sure what multimodal access is.
The Committee’s criteria were included in the Agenda for the CEO Selection Committee Meeting Thursday, January 26, 2022, 2;00 to 3:30 p.m.. (Presumably, it’s Wednesday the 26th rather than Thursday the 27th).
CEO recruitment discussion
Stakeholder feedback report
Qualities, skills, abilities, and experiences to look for in a new CEO
Challenges and opportunities facing the new CEO
Major projects underway and on the horizon at Sound Transit
It’s not clear what “Qualities, skills and experiences they are looking for” since, like Rogoff, none of the elected officials on the Board have demonstrated they understand what constitutes effective public transit. What's clear is they are in no rush to find a replacement. It’s been 4 months since they decided to replace Rogoff and they’re still talking about qualities they will look for.
The committee's big problem is not going to be when will they find someone, but whether they'll find anyone with a modicum of transit competence willing to be the CEO for an organization pursuing the biggest transit system boondoggle in history. Appeasing Transit Choices only adds to the problem.
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