Six MassDot members agree to resign
All six members of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation board whose resignations were sought by Gov. Charlie Baker have agreed to step down, paving the way for Baker to remake the leadership team in charge of the embattled MBTA.
Almost a week after Baker and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack requested the resignations of the board members, all of whom were appointed by the governor's predecessor Deval Patrick, the officials on Tuesday complied either verbally or in writing. Pollack is the only person who will remain on the board.
"The Governor is grateful for all of the members' service to the Commonwealth, is thankful for their recommendations and looks forward to assembling a new team of transportation experts to assist MassDOT," Baker spokesman Tim Buckley said.
MassDOT board chairman John Jenkins and board members Andrew Whittle, Robin Chase, Joseph C. Bonfiglio and Dominic Blue all submitted letters of resignation, while long-time board member Janice Loux communicated verbally with the governor's team indicating she would step down.
The terms of two board members - Chase, the founder and former CEO of Zipcar, and Bonfiglio, a business manager for the Massachusetts and Northern New England Laborers' District Council - were due to expire this September.
Whittle could have served until September 2016, while the terms on the board for Jenkins and Blue, who only joined in October 2013, ran through the fall of 2017.
Loux, the executive vice president of the UNITE HERE union representing hotel, gaming and food service employees, is the longest serving board member, and her term was due to run into 2018. Loux was appointed by five governors, including Republicans, to serve on the board of the MBTA until former Gov. Patrick put her on the merged MassDOT board after the 2009 reform of the transportation bureaucracy.
The Baker administration declined to release the resignation letters turned in by the board members.
Jenkins appeared to strike a defiant tone last week in the face of recommendations that the MBTA be put under the oversight of a control board.
Baker is expected to file legislation, possibly as soon as this week, calling for the MBTA to be put under the authority of a fiscal and management control board for three to five years, a recommendation made by a task force assembled by Baker to review the transit agency after its dismal winter performance.
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