Major state transportation leaders announce departures as mounting issues affect commuters

Two leaders of Western Washington’s largest transportation agencies announced – less than a week apart – that they will step down from their roles as mounting issues continue to affect commuters.

SOUND TRANSIT:

Julie Timm, CEO of Sound Transit, announced last week Tuesday that she will step down effective January 12 to “return to the East Coast to take care of family matters.”

Timm’s announcement comes after she had served almost a year and a half of her three-year contract. She was approved to head the agency in June of 2022 with the contract slated to run from September 2022 to December 2025.

Pete Rogoff, the prior CEO of the agency, stepped down in mid-2022 after he had served the role since 2016.

KIRO 7 reached out to Sound Transit and requested an in-person interview. A spokesperson for the agency declined our request but shared Timm’s email she had sent to her staff:

For the past several months I have been struggling to balance the needs of long-distance care and support for my aging father with the intense requirements of leading Sound Transit as CEO. Over the past week in collaboration with Board Leadership, I came to the difficult, but I believe the correct, conclusion that my family needs more of my focus. While not impossible, it would be incredibly challenging for me to maintain a split focus while maintaining the intense level of support and stability Sound Transit deserves from its CEO as we enter into a historic level of openings and new construction.

The Board has expressed their full commitment that they will provide stability during the transition period as a new CEO is selected to lead the vision and mission of the ST Program, and they will be providing more information in the coming weeks.

KIRO 7 also received an email the board sent out:

A transition team will be put into place, comprised of members of the Board and staff leadership from Sound Transit to navigate through these times, the details of which will be shared as soon as we are able. The board will also appoint an interim CEO in the weeks ahead.

We look forward to joining you at a special all-staff meeting soon to address your concerns and to answer your questions. Please look for an invitation with more details in the coming days.

The announcement comes as the agency is focused on expanding its transportation system.

WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES:

This week, the Washington State Ferries announced that Patty Rubstello, assistant secretary of the agency, who has served 33 years at the Washington State Department of Transportation, will be stepping down as well.

The announcement comes as commuters are seeing many cancelations, delays, shortage of working vessels, and an aging fleet.

KIRO 7 requested an in-person interview, instead, a spokesperson for the agency shared an email Rubstello had sent out to her team on December 15, explaining her decision:

My time at WSDOT has been amazing, especially the time I have been able to spend here at WSF learning about all the amazing things you do to move our customers across the Salish Sea. But it is now time for me to make an adjustment and prioritize more of my time being the grandma I’m so excited to be.

I plan to step down as assistant secretary in early 2024, after my successor is chosen and is ready to assume this role. Together, we are making great progress in strengthening our workforce, building our fleet and upgrading our infrastructure to ensure system stability for years to come. This momentum must continue, and I will do everything I can to make sure your next leader has a good understanding of our situation before stepping down.

Roger Millar, secretary of transportation for the Washington State Department of Transportation, wrote in a separate email:

What’s next? The silver lining is that we will have Patty for a few more months as we gear up for an international recruitment to find her replacement. Having that continuity, especially with the start of legislative session on Jan. 8, is crucial.

COMMUTERS:

KIRO 7 spoke with commuters riding Sound Transit and our state’s ferries about the scheduled departures on Tuesday.

“I don’t feel great about it,” said Lance Haulter, who uses Sound Transit. “I use it every day to get to work.”

Finnian McGodrick, who also uses Sound Transit, said he’s hopeful for the new leadership team.

“I hope that somebody who is qualified will be put into place so that everyone can use this station for what they need to do,” he said.

KIRO 7 also spoke with Roland and Nancy Miller, who were parked near the ferry terminal in Edmonds.

“It’s sad to lose two top people,” Roland Miller said. “It’s going to leave some questions in their (commuters) mind of what’s going to happen.”

Both Roland and Nancy told us that they do not believe the announcements will stop the ferry system, however, they believe the new leadership team will have to navigate and address the mounting problems commuters have been facing for years.

“They need strong leaders for sure. Strong leaders who can do the job,” said Nancy.

Roland stressed that he would like the agencies to look for internal candidates for the open positions as Timm is scheduled to return to the East Coast to her family.

“I just like to see our state to step up and look inside and see if we can find somebody. Maybe there’s somebody in the Department of Transportation still that are good quality people who can do the job,” he said.

TRANSPORTATION ANALYSTS:

KIRO 7 spoke with two transportation experts to better understand the effects of the announcement.

Don MacKenzie, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UW, said commuters should not be greatly concerned.

“I don’t think it’s a need to panic. This isn’t going to be an overnight disaster, and it’s not going to be an overnight fix,” he said.

MacKenzie acknowledged the mounting problems commuters have had to navigate through over the past years.

“It’s not acceptable. We need to see fixes here, but again those fixes aren’t going to come overnight,” he said. “The ferries are part of our state highway system so it’s not really fair to people in these ferry-connected communities to ask them to deal with years and years of reduced service.”

MacKenzie said he hopes the new leadership team will address, what many consider a broken ferry system, by thinking outside of the box.

“It could be an opportunity to find someone who again brings the right mix of experiences, knowledge, and skills and able to build the team around them to really make this happen,” he said. “Our neighbors to the north of us in Vancouver broke ground on their train system 40 years ago and it’s been 100% driverless since day one. This can increase capacity, it allows you to run trains closer together safely and it also reduces the costs of adding more trains if you’re not paying for a driver on a train.”

Interim director of the Washington State Transportation Center, Ryan Avery, said the announcement does not surprise.

“It happens at this time of year as we’re heading to the holidays and people just begin to think about what they want the next year to look like,” he said.

However, the expected departures will come with anticipated unique obstacles.

“It’s going to be a challenge. This will be a challenge for whoever will be the new leaders of those organizations,” he said. “I think it’s really important for the agencies to make sure the employees feel well supported.”

Avery said he believes the current team at both agencies will be able to navigate through the transitional period, but he also acknowledged possible issues both could face, including low morale, staffing shortages, possible burnout, etc.

“This will be a challenge for whoever will be the new leaders of those organizations,” he said.