RTA situation must be fully investigated

It begs credulity to believe that longtime Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority board president George Dixon III could rack up more than $1.1 million in alleged unpaid health premiums, unmerited health benefits and unreimbursed personal cellphone costs without it coming to the attention of senior RTA officials . ...

RTA trustee and South Euclid Mayor Georgine Welo said in a statement that the internal probe found that Dixon enrolled in the RTA health plan in April 1994 but “after 1997 never fully paid his premiums in accordance with board policies.”

She added that he “actively manipulated the system,” apparently to cover his tracks, and she promised that the board would “do whatever it takes” to recover RTA money. ...

At the time of Dixon’s resignation, he was the only trustee taking RTA health benefits. Recently, the RTA board voted to cease offering such benefits to trustees. Last January, the board initiated a process to change its bylaws to create term limits for its board president and vice president. Both are wise moves.

But beyond all, the public needs to be assured that senior RTA officials’ responsibility in this sorry episode of, at best, sloppy oversight, and at worst, malfeasance, is fully investigated.

Read the full editorial from the Plain Dealer at bit. ly/2rWUiD4