What’s next for RTA with Costello out?
A changing of the guard at the beleaguered Regional Transportation Authority raises new questions about who will be in charge after Executive Director Joe Costello retires in February.
The agency has been under the microscope recently as a task force appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn examines the future of the region’s transit agencies.
There have been conflicting calls to abolish the RTA and consolidate all four agencies or to give the authority more power.
Costello’s departure “adds to the drama of the whole debate about how to run transit and how it’s organized,” DePaul University transportation professor Joseph Schwieterman said. “It adds a moving part that could affect the recommendations by the governor’s task force,” which will be issued in early 2014.
Costello, 58, announced Tuesday that he will retire after 19 years at the agency, which oversees Metra, Pace and the CTA.
“In the past, we have followed a nationwide (executive director) search, and we probably will do the same again,” RTA board Director Pat Durante said.
There’s also a lot of interest in who will be chosen as interim leader, if a permanent replacement is not named by February, when Costello departs.
The RTA’s second in command is Chief of Staff Jordan Matyas, an attorney who is also son-in-law to Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
“The Madigan connection could complicate things,” Schwieterman said.
Republican state Rep. David Harris of Arlington Heights added it could be a problem when the RTA lobbies the speaker and Senate president for funding during the spring session if the head of the delegation is related to Madigan.
“The family ties cannot be ignored,” said Harris, a member of the Mass Transit Committee.
Another possible contender as interim leader is Senior Deputy Executive Director for Planning Leanne Redden, who has been with the agency since 2005. Redden previously was planning chief at the Illinois tollway and before that Schaumburg transportation director.
Costello, a CPA, previously served as the RTA’s chief financial officer from 1995 to December 2010, when he was appointed as executive director.
Under his tenure, the agency issued more than $3 billion in bonds and received an award for budgeting. But Costello also was the subject of an internal inquiry regarding sexual harassment, which was later referred to the state inspector general’s office. The inspector has not issued any findings in the case, and RTA officials would not comment on the inquiry.
The salary range for the executive director is $188,000 to $282,000. RTA officials would not say how much Costello’s pension will be. His salary is $222,000 annually.