Denton County Transportation Authority Brings on New COO, Fills Four Open Positions
communityimpact.com
The Denton County Transportation Authority has named a new chief operating officer and filled three other open positions, officials announced in a release.
Maurice Bell joined as COO, while Sherrelle Evans-Jones was named chief financial officer. Bracey Goodwin IV was named director of safety and compliance, and David Magaña will be director of marketing and communications.
“It’s exciting that we have retained talented, bright and experienced leaders for our team, each of whom bring a wide variety of expertise that will keep DCTA moving forward,” DCTA CEO Paul Cristina said in the release. “With these key leaders now in place, we can better focus our organization on the future and on improving mobility solutions for Denton County residents.”
4 Ongoing Silver Line Projects Set to Continue in 2023
communityimpact.com
A number of projects are currently underway and will continue throughout 2023 in the Richardson area as part of Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Silver Line project.
The Silver Line is a $1.89 billion commuter rail line being built by DART that will connect travelers from Richardson and Plano to the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport with an estimated travel time of 51 minutes or less, according to figures released by the transit agency. The project is currently scheduled to be complete by late 2024.
DART held a Richardson community meeting for the Silver Line project on Jan. 24 at The University of Texas at Dallas. DART and design-build contractor Archer Western Herzog were on hand to outline the latest designs for the project and construction developments as well as answer questions, according to the event’s description.
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On Monday, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning until Wednesday at noon, expecting sleet and freezing rain throughout the North Texas region, and Gordon Shattles, media representative for DART, said there are no plans to change services due to inclement weather.
Shattles said DART is “much better prepared,” and has begun to work together with cities to ensure that services can continue throughout a winter storm.
“The biggest thing is we’re working very closely with all of the emergency preparedness departments across the North Texas area,” Shattles said. “A great example is that the roads that we use to transport our bus, they make that a priority when they’re sanding those roads. We also have sand available for our employee parking lots to make sure our employees have the ability to get to work and provide this service.”
DART services 13 cities, and the average weekday ridership in November 2022 was 142,000 riders across bus and rail.
Houston Metro’s Lambert Retiring at the End of 2023
Tom Lambert, who joined the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Houston Metro) in 1979, its first year of operation, and later became the agency’s first chief of police and, ultimately, president and CEO, will retire at the end of 2023.
“I have been blessed to have worked with talented staff, a dedicated board and a wonderful community of partners to provide outstanding multimodal transit options to this region, but after nearly 45 years at Metro, now is the right time to retire,” Lambert said.
Lambert served as chief administrative officer and executive vice president at Houston Metro before being named president and CEO in 2013, which makes him the longest serving leader in the agency’s 43-year history.
Dottie Watkins Takes Helm of CapMetro as President and CEO
Dottie Watkins, a native of Austin, Texas, who began working for CapMetro as a part-time bus driver, has been named president and CEO of the agency following approval by the CapMetro Board of Directors on Jan. 30.
Watkins has been serving as interim president and CEO since June 2022 following the departure of Randy Clarke, who left CapMetro to become general manager and CEO of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
CapMetro is at the start of its expansion program, Project Connect, supported by a voter-approved property tax. Finding a leader the community could trust and CapMetro staff could respect was important to the board.
