RTA authorizes $55,000 office renovation

A new lease on the Regional Transportation Authority's life means construction at its headquarters.

RTA directors Thursday approved spending up to $55,000 for renovations to their Chicago offices.

The construction results from adding employees to handle extra work created by recent legislation that also bailed out public transit agencies.

Currently, the RTA employs 84 people, but officials expect to hire about a dozen more workers. The majority of the new staffers will be assisting the agency with planning related to its beefed-up oversight role of the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace.

The General Assembly in January approved increasing the state sales tax in the region to increase revenues for the three service boards, which are overseen by the RTA. Part of the legislation also gave the agency greater authority over strategic planning for mass transit in the metropolitan area and more budget and auditing authority.

Up until now, "the RTA is not meeting the expectations of the region," Executive Director Steve Schlickman said. "We must do more planning and more coordination with the service boards."

The work will involve reconfiguring the existing space and building new offices at the agency's home on the 15th floor of 175 W. Jackson.

The new law also added more RTA directors, increasing the board from 13 to 16. Agency officials said the current board room is cramped but didn't give details about future changes.

The contractor performing the work will be Knudsen Construction Inc. of Calumet City, which came in 11 percent lower than other bidders, officials said.