As TriMet wades through budget crisis, some question process to appoint transit board
Local control is better, right?
On the surface, it seems like a common-sense notion: Perhaps the Portland region's elected government should appoint the people who run the region's transit service, instead of Oregon's governor.
After all, Metro councilors represent about 250,000 people each in relatively compact districts; Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has 3.8 million constituents. If transit riders are unhappy with the way their transit system is run, will they have an easy time catching the ear of the person who decides who's on the TriMet board?
Jonathan Ostar doesn't think so. The director of OPAL, a social justice advocacy group, Ostar said he'd like to see a change to the way the TriMet board is appointed.
"The current TriMet board is just not responsive enough to the needs of transit riders in general, but specifically people who are transit-dependent," he said.
TriMet's seven board members serve four year terms "at the pleasure of the governor," according to the TriMet website. They represent seven districts across TriMet's service area.
And they've been getting an earful lately.
Symptoms of success
As the regional transit service grapples with an ongoing budget crisis, newspapers, blogs and evening news are slammed with stories about frustrated riders and transit advocates calling for TriMet to do better.
It's a level of exasperation and ownership usually reserved for school boards, the price of gas and changes to Facebook. TriMet's so integrated into the regional fabric that changes to service and prices are big news, its challenges subtly highlighting its success.
With greater responsibility comes a bigger microscope, under which TriMet's decisions are made. TriMet board member Steve Clark said that microscope happens to be focusing on a time when the board is untangling decades of decisions.
"What we're dealing with are matters that were laid before us a long time ago," he said.
Those matters – generous pension benefits and collective bargaining rules that give more leverage to the transit operators' union – are why it's unlikely Metro would use its authority to take TriMet over.
"The assumptions that TriMet's problems are created by governance are misaimed."
-Metro Council President Tom Hughes
The Metro Charter allows for a takeover – all that's needed is a consultation with regional elected officials and a majority vote of the Metro Council.
Metro Council President Tom Hughes said a takeover wouldn't change the fundamental problems TriMet has.
"The assumptions that TriMet's problems are created by governance are misaimed," he said. "TriMet's problems are created by an unfavorable state law that requires their negotiations to take place in a particular way, which leads to a labor contract that ultimately is unsupportable."
The halfway option
In his 12 years on the Metro Council, Rod Park often joked that he had an ordinance in his back pocket to change the way the TriMet board was appointed.
Park, who left the council at the end of 2010, said the ordinance would have allowed the Metro Council to appoint the TriMet board instead of the governor. Metro News was unable to obtain a copy of the ordinance, which was never introduced into the record.
"If they had been locally appointed, would Portland and the region have more of a say than what's going on right now?" Park said. "People have always touted local control. That would allow local control of the TriMet district."
That's the argument Portland planning commissioner Chris Smith made in a column in the Portland Tribune in April. In an interview this week, he said people are simply likely to feel more connected to their Metro councilor.
"Nobody goes to Salem to complain about TriMet," Smith said. "For citizens, it's a complete disconnect that that's where the authority is."
"Nobody goes to Salem to complain about TriMet."
-Portland planning commissioner Chris Smith
Ostar, of OPAL, said his group is talking about whether to push for changes to the TriMet board appointment process, possibly taking those changes to the 2013 Legislature.
Councilor Rex Burkholder said there's not much logic to the ultimate power of overseeing TriMet coming from the state level. He suggested an arrangement similar to that Metro has with the Metro Exposition and Recreation Commission, which advises operations at the Oregon Convention Center and other venues, so questions about bus stop locations don't get bogged down at the Metro Council.
But none of that will happen without dealing with TriMet's larger budget problems, he said.
"If you just inherit all of the financial burdens and incongruities of the agency, you're just shifting from Peter to Paul, and who cares? You're still not going to be able to do what you want to do, which is provide the best quality service in a way you can afford," Burkholder said.
As detached as it looks?
Barbara Roberts is the only Metro councilor who has appointed TriMet board members (and played a role in the resignation of another). She said the geography of TriMet is incidental to the process of choosing board members.
She said the public should have no problem going to the governor if they have a problem with TriMet.
"That is their responsibility as citizens to speak up, if it's not working," she said. "That's their relationship as citizens with their governor."
Lynn Peterson, Kitzhaber's transportation advisor, said the governor's office takes stakeholder feedback into account when selecting TriMet board members, including conversations with OPAL, employee unions and business representatives. Those conversations are ongoing, as Kitzhaber has another board appointment to make soon.
She said it's important that TriMet's issues be considered on a broader level, not just based on the needs of one particular district.
Peterson said the governor's office has received 25 emails from constituents about TriMet since January. (See editor's note)
There are some positives to the current arrangement. Smith pointed out that some legislators might feel more attachment to TriMet given that the Oregon Senate must confirm the governor's appointments. And Hughes said Metro playing a more active role in the affairs of TriMet could create conflicts of interest.
"They don't need to throw the board out with the bathwater. They have our attention."
-TriMet board member Steve Clark
"There is a problem with the agency that does overall transportation planning across modes suddenly taking over a particular mode for delivering service," he said. "That gets us into a complicated situation that's better off to avoid."
Clark, who represents eastern Washington County on the TriMet board, asked for patience from transit customers.
"The matters associated with contracts for employee groups… are enormous," he said. "The community has our attention, and I would ask them to continue to remain involved and to watch how we move forward. They don't need to throw the board out with the bathwater. They have our attention – watch and see what happens. I think they'll be impressed."
Note: An earlier version of this story said Kitzhaber's office didn't know how often constituents had reached out to the governor about TriMet. That information was made available shortly after publication, and the story was updated to reflect the additional information.