Former elected board member supports RTD shakeup

Re: “Bill in works to overhaul RTD,” Feb. 7 news story

As a former member of the RTD board of directors (District A, 2009-2017) and a founding and current member of the board of directors of Transportation Solutions, a transportation management association serving southeast Denver, I favor the changes being considered by the Colorado legislature for RTD.

While I enjoyed participating in democracy as an elected official and contributing to the success at the Regional Transportation District — through the enhancement of mobility in metro Denver by development of the Fastracks portion of the train system — a board appointed by the other relevant governmental agencies rather than elected will enable RTD to more successfully provide equitable and cost-effective mobility to the citizens and businesses of the metro area.

An RTD board that is mostly appointed will enable much more effective coordination of the services provided by RTD with other government agencies.

The RTD experience with an elected board has revealed the dysfunctionality of board members representing separate districts competing for service by the agency. Also, the lack of qualified candidates revealed by the needed reliance on write-in candidates during RTD elections reveals the frequent motivation of such candidates simply to run for elected office rather than contribute as qualified mobility advocates.

Yes, members of the board of an agency such as RTD should represent the stakeholders of the agency, but it is more important that they are qualified to manage the staff of the agency to accomplish its mission. — Bill James, Denver