Metra needs to explain costly buyout
In the early days of railroading, freespending titans carried on with little concern for the public. That’s not how you’re supposed to run a railroad these days, but it seems the board that oversees Metra trains hasn’t been told. Why else would board members spend hundreds of thousands of public dollars to force out their chief executive officer without clearly articulating what he failed to do?
CEO Alex Clifford resigned last week, and his buyout could total $750,000. What justification does Metra have for bestowing so golden a parachute on a man whose contract was to run out in eight months anyway? What guarantee do we have that this board will work better with whomever is hired to replace Clifford — someone who must be a transit professional?
As Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, said, “The public and the transit rider deserve to know what is going on with the system and what is going on with the management of the system.”
Last Friday, Metra Chairman Brad O’Halloran said, “. . . this payment is a small price to pay for the ability to move forward and attempt to garner more state and federal investment in Metra.”
Ticket buyers and taxpayers won’t think the price is small — it’s enough for an average Zone D ticketholder ride round trip daily for 462 years. As for securing state and federal dollars for public transit — which are getting scarcer in both Springfield and Washington — there’s more to the CEO’s job than that.
The chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority, which funnels funding to Metra, has ordered a review of Clifford’s severance agreement. Also, some state legislators want Metra board members to explain themselves — an excellent idea.
Metra is scarred by earlier scandals, including forged memos by its former executive director, who committed suicide, to cover up $475,000 in unapproved vacation pay for himself.
It’s time for the board to get the agency back on the right track.