Cleaning up Metra mess a local job

A year after its former director killed himself amid an investigation into financial abuses, the fallout continues for Metra as it attempts to win over a skeptical public.

As transportation writer Marni Pyke reported last week, the cost of Pagano’s fraud along with the resulting investigations into what went wrong has topped $3 million so far.

So it’s not without merit that some have called for a complete overhaul at the rail transit agency — starting with the board of directors. State Sen. Susan Garrett, a Lake Forest Democrat, is the board’s leading critic in the General Assembly and is supporting legislation that would require all the Metra board directors to resign.

While we are sympathetic to that call, we have concerns about the state stepping in and requiring it. The directors are appointed locally by county chairmen from Cook, DuPage, Kane, McHenry, Lake and Will counties, suburban Cook County board members and Chicago’s mayor. We don’t believe their local authority should be usurped.

But we do believe that each one of the board members needs to state his or her case for reappointment to the person responsible for the nomination. And each nominating person should explain fully the reasons for reappointment or removal.

That’s what DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin did, accepting former board Chairman Carole Doris’ resignation and appointing someone else.

We do think other board members, including Arlington Heights Village President Arlene Mulder, could make a strong case to stay on — they have taken several steps in the last year to increase transparency and to ensure financial controls are now in place.

But the biggest change was their hiring of a replacement for Pagano. Alex Clifford, a former top executive with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is by all accounts a popular choice ready to make the hard decisions to right the ship.

“I’m a CEO who likes to be seen out on the lines. I’m trying to give folks an assurance I’m different from the previous administrations and it’s a new day,” Clifford told Pyke. And he brings some well-received candor as well.

“I just don’t know what is around the corner as we continue to dig deep into this organization. I can’t say that we’ve found everything.” To that, we say keep digging.

Meanwhile, a new chairman needs to take the reins as well. We believe Metra would be best served if one of the new board members (there are two so far), without any Pagano taint, is named chairman. It’s one more move that could help silence some of the agency’s critics and further assuage the public as fare hikes and service cuts are mulled.