COTA chief Stitt announces retirement
Five days before COTA’s massive redesign of its bus routes kicks in, the transit system’s president and chief executive announced he will step down at the end of September.
“The timing is right,” Curtis Stitt, 63, said after making the announcement at Wednesday’s COTA board meeting.
“With the major projects that we’ve been working on for some time nearly complete, and the next ones are going to take a lot of planning and development, it’s a good time to bring in new leadership to usher these new projects in over the next few years.”
Stitt, whose annual salary is $284,000, has been with COTA for 18 years. He took over Feb. 1, 2012, as president and CEO.
Under Stitt, COTA has modernized the system and stabilized it financially. It is seen as an economic-development tool often used for employees to get to and from work.
The new COTA route system will begin Monday, the culmination of a twoyear project to fan out routes farther from Downtown and extend weekend service hours to help employees get to and from work in high-job areas. All rides will be free from Monday through May 7 in an effort to get people used to the new route system and attract riders.
Stitt oversaw the start of airport bus-shuttle service and the free Cbus service that circulates through Downtown between German Village and the Short North. The board announced at its meeting Wednesday that COTA would continue Cbus as a free service for at least three more years.
Stitt also helped secure $38 million in federal funding for the region’s first bus rapidtransit line, Cmax, which is to start running along Cleveland Avenue in January.
His replacement will have to oversee projects that will include working with the Smart Cities program to coordinate technology advances such as driverless buses and possibly other modes of transportation.
COTA employs more than 1,000 and provides 19 million rides annually. Of COTA’s $146 million annual budget, 85 percent — or $125.2 million — comes from two sales taxes. Last fall, voters renewed a 10-year, quarter-cent sales tax. The other quarter-cent sales tax benefiting COTA is permanent and was approved by voters in 1999.
COTA serves Franklin County and parts of Licking, Delaware, Union and Fairfield counties.
Stitt has worked for public agencies for 37 years. He’s also served as an attorney for the Franklin County Public Defender, the Ohio Secretary of State, Ohio Division of Credit Unions, Ohio Division of Banks and superintendent of Ohio’s Division of Financial Institutions.
A committee will be formed to conduct a nationwide search for Stitt’s replacement.
Officials hope to complete the search before Sept. 30, Stitt’s last day.
Though he’s retiring from COTA, Stitt insists he will remain active in the community and continue to serve on several boards. He also hinted he’s exploring other opportunities.