RTA cautiously eyes plan for new boardroom

With commuters squashing into trains and buses, the Regional Transportation Authority shouldn't spend thousands on a spacious, new board room, one director warned Thursday.

The agency is adding staff and needs more room for employees at its 175 W. Jackson St. headquarters, officials said. As a result, the RTA will move its travel information center further west to the Metra building at 547 W. Jackson. With the extra space, new offices and meeting areas will be created and the boardroom relocated as well.

RTA directors asked staff to finalize a $250,000 contract with Tilton, Kelly and Bell architects to develop designs and a negotiate a five-year $750,000 lease with Metra.

RTA finance staff estimated it will cost $100,000 to move the travel center, which provides callers with directions on public transit. Another $300,000 to $400,000 is necessary to install a new phone system. However, Metra will rent space at half the $34-per-square-foot cost the RTA is paying now.

As for the boardroom, at the high end, it could cost $1 million, officials said.

Director William Coulson cautioned against such expenses coming at a time the economy is tight and people are cramming into trains to avoid high fuel costs.

"I rode a Metra train today and it was overcrowded and everyone was inconvenienced," Coulson said. "As a board, I'm not sure this is the right time to do this."

RTA Chairman Jim Reilly said the budget for a boardroom can be trimmed.

"There's no question in my mind we need additional office space, but before going forward with a boardroom, it ought to be as plain and simple and inexpensive as can be," he said.

Space in the current boardroom gets tight when large crowds show up. There's a need to enlarge it to hold more public hearings and to accommodate three extra directors who were added when a new state mass transit policy was enacted, Executive Director Steve Schlickman said. The legislation also gave the RTA additional authority over the budgets of Pace, Metra and the Chicago Transit Authority.

"The boardroom isn't very flexible right now," Schlickman said."We intend to have more public hearings. If we want to be an effective agency, we need the resources."