‘A fresh start’: NITA board gets to work, picks chair to lead new transit agency

Northern Illinois Transit Authority directors unanimously picked a board chair Thursday but the decision over an interim executive director caused some pushback.

Directors voted at NITA’s inaugural meeting for transportation expert Tom Kotarac to lead the board.

“This is something really rare. A genuine opportunity for a fresh start,” said Kotarac, who previously served as a Regional Transportation Authority director.

Directors also approved hiring former Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Jamie Rhee as interim executive director and were updated on a controversial new law restricting municipal controls over parking near train stations.

The fledgling agency replaces the RTA as a result of the 2025 NITA Act. It gives NITA greater authority over Metra, Pace and the CTA in terms of fares, planning and finances.

Along with added clout, NITA will receive millions of additional dollars through a sales tax increase and transfers of state gas sales tax funds.

Rhee’s appointment came after the board met in executive session. RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden announced her retirement recently; her last day has not yet been determined.

Rhee, an attorney, “is one of the region’s best public servants,” Kotarac said.

The appointment came with some scrutiny from Director Oswaldo Alvarez, who said he wasn’t aware Rhee was a potential candidate until the executive session. He called for an emergency meeting so the board could vet other applicants to make sure “we make the best decision possible.”

Nineteen of 20 directors approved the choice, with some noting Rhee was not interested in a full-time position. Her tenure is expected to last up to six months.

Kotarac said when the board chooses a permanent executive director, it would engage in a thorough, open process.

“We have to focus on the riders first,” Rhee said. “Showing those immediate improvements and hitting the ground running is going to be very critical on Day One. Transit has to be clean, safe and reliable.”

Officials approved hiring executive search consultants K&A Partners to assist in finding a permanent chief.

“We’re looking for the best of the best,” said Kotarac, who is senior vice president for transportation and infrastructure at the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

People over parking

The agency is also launching a map showing locations where the People Over Parking Act, part of the NITA Act, will be in force.

The law prohibits municipalities from setting minimum parking requirements for new developments within a half-mile of train stations.

Parking minimums tend to assume everyone drives, can inflate housing costs, as well as underuse valuable land, NITA planners say.

However, Director Brian Sager, a former Woodstock mayor, noted “this is one of the things in the Collar Counties which has raised considerable concern about the state’s override of local zoning laws, if you will.”

“This is something that still needs to be looked at and fine-tuned,” added Director and Romeoville Mayor John Noak.

Top priorities for NITA are reducing crime on the CTA and delivering a universal fare system.

“We have an enormous responsibility to deliver and the NITA Act provides us with a historic level of investment, and just as importantly it gives us new tools to coordinate, unify and improve the transit service for the region,” Kotarac said.

He envisioned a region where “we are building around transit stations in partnership with local communities and their elected representatives in ways that grow ridership, strengthen neighborhoods and take full advantage of the development potential that exists around our transit system.”

“And where a customer can travel from Chicago to the suburbs, to Huntley and even Rockford with one easy to use system. One ticket, one timetable.”

Kotarac was a former deputy executive director for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and also worked as a senior adviser to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

Rhee’s previous positions included general counsel for the O’Hare Modernization Project, deputy chief of staff under Mayor Richard M. Daley and chief procurement officer.

Details of her contract are still under discussion.

mpyke@dailyherald.com