Island Transit’s interim director begins his six-month stint no later than Dec. 15.
The transit board approved a contract, in a 4-1 vote, to hire Kenneth Graska as the temporary chief during a meeting Friday marked by a strange little game of musical chairs.
Both Oak Harbor Councilman Joel Servatius and Mayor Scott Dudley showed up to represent the city on the board, causing some confusion and tension.
“I don’t know why you chose to make a spectacle of it,” Servatius said to the mayor before agreeing to bow out.
“I’m not the one who is,” Dudley replied.
Under the negotiated agreement, Graska will be a contract employee and earn $62.50 an hour. He will receive a housing allowance of up to $1,350 a month, car allowance of up to $400 a month and airfare allowance of up to $350 a month.
After lengthy discussions about the budget, the board entered executive session to discuss the proposed contract.
Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson, a member of the IT board, said the members were aware of Graska’s history in Snohomish County, where he resigned as director of Community Transit in the midst of a bribery scandal. He was never implicated in wrongdoing, but an audit harshly criticized his management style as “autocratic and intimidating,” according to a 1993 story in the Everett Herald.
Price Johnson said Friday that Graska was open with the board members about his history. She said they checked his references and conducted a background check.
Price Johnson and Servatius, who participated in the interview process, said what swayed them was that members of staff thought highly of Graska after interviewing him.
“What weighed the most heavily for me was the feedback from the boots on the ground,” Servatius said, “the people who will be working with him on a daily basis.”
Langley Councilman Jim Sundberg said he was also impressed with Graska’s work managing transit for the Microsoft campus.
Coupeville Councilman Bob Clay outlined the extensive process the board followed to find an interim director. He said the human resource director from the Whatcom Transit Authority volunteered to assist in the process, and was a great help.
Staff from other transit agencies also assisted.
Three of the seven applicants were interviewed by the board and department heads at Island Transit during a marathon meeting Nov. 14. The candidates were even asked to run a simulated staff meeting.
“It was an extensive process,” Clay said.
Dudley was out of town and didn’t attend the six-hour-long interview process. Servatius filled in for him.
Dudley and Servatius disagreed, however, on how long the councilman was to continue on the board.
In an email to Dudley’s secretary before the Nov. 14 meeting, Servatius agreed to take part in the interviews, but wrote that he wanted to “see the process through.” She answered that the mayor was agreeable to that.
Servatius announced during Tuesdays council meeting that he would continue on the board the following Friday in order to finalize the contract. He thanked the mayor’s office for being agreeable; Dudley didn’t respond.
Dudley subsequently had his assistant send Servatius a letter saying that he would be serving on the transit board that Friday.
As a result, both showed up for the IT meeting and sat at the board table.
Dudley objected when Servatius seconded a motion.
Dudley pointed to IT’s attorney, who said Dudley was the official representative because the council voted to appoint him and the council didn’t take any official action to change that appointment.
Servatius, the official alternate, agreed not to participate, but remained at the table and sat through the executive session.
It’s up to the Oak Harbor council to clarify who is representing them, Price Johnson said.
In the end, only Dudley voted against the contract; Island County Commissioner Aubrey Vaughan attended via speakerphone.
Dudley didn’t express concerns with Graska, but with what he called the board’s lack of oversight that led to its financial troubles.
“This board should be the last decision makers,” he said.
