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Mass diplomacy

As the relatively new HARTline chief, Ray Miller is a walking target, but he arrives with thick skin, a peacemaker's personality and vision.

TAMPA - It was Ray Miller's first week as chief of Delaware's transit agency in 1999 when a public relations disaster erupted.

A dozen people chained themselves to the bumpers of buses to protest route changes they said created hardships for the elderly and disabled.

"They were hostile," said Stephen Kingsberry, who worked with Miller for six years.

After holding a series of meetings with the group, Miller defused the showdown, Kingsberry said. By the time Miller left the agency six months ago, it had been recognized by the mass transit industry as one of the nation's best systems.

"The disabled riders ended up liking him and trusting him," Kingsberry said. "Ray turned this agency around, and part of the reason why is because he could calm a crowd down and get his message across."

If any job needed someone with people skills, it's the executive director position at the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority.

Miller started the $130,000 job in January after six years in Delaware. He's at the helm of an agency with a $54-million budget, 600 employees and a busload of watchful critics.

Two disgruntled former employees who accuse HARTline of illegal spending and wrongful terminations attend every board meeting. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the authority's streetcar operations. And two of HARTline's 12 board members, Hillsborough County Commissioners Brian Blair and Ronda Storms, want to slash the county's funding for the bus system - a move that would confine service to city limits.

Miller took the job for the challenge and Tampa's attractive climate and location.

"People say I'm crazy, but I see a tremendous opportunity here to advance transit for an area that will need it for the future," he said.

It won't be easy, said his predecessor, Sharon Dent. Her 15-year tenure ended amid complaints about HARTline's spending on the streetcar, which links the Tampa Convention Center and Ybor City.

"There's a war between the city and the county," Dent said last week. "Ray will be forced into a position of satisfying starkly different interests. He'll be a target."

He already is.

Last month, Blair began criticizing Miller, who is still unpacking boxes at his new home in Beach Park.

Blair says Miller made some bad decisions so far, including supporting the expansion of the streetcar system into downtown. Blair sees it as a sign that HARTline hasn't changed.

Miller shrugged when asked about Blair's criticisms.

"I'm not going to respond to him in a public forum," Miller said. "I'm doing these things at the direction of the board. It is awkward to have a board member on an entity that he doesn't support."

City Council member Linda Saul-Sena, a former HARTline board member, said Blair is one of many politically motivated critics ideologically opposed to public transit.

"People have been gunning for (Miller) since he's been here, and that's not fair," Saul-Sena said.

For all the fire aimed his way, Miller seems relaxed.

Tan, with pepper-gray hair, the 57-year-old is quick to smile. Nearly 30 years in the mass transit industry have not dampened his enthusiasm, which he exudes when talking about how bus and rail can help cities grow.

But he footnotes his observations by pointing out that he serves at the behest of a board.

"Smart cities invest in transit," Miller said. "What has to happen is a champion emerges. But that's not me. If I try to advance (mass transit), it's not going to happen. That's because people don't feel good about HARTline right now."

He has embarked on a campaign to change that perception. He seeks out community groups, leaders and passengers. He tells them about HARTline's positives: how its buses carry 10-million passengers every year, that ridership is up by 11 percent.

He has tried to boost the spirits of his employees.

"They're licking their wounds," he said. "I'll be the doctor."

When he heard streetcar operators complain about the heat, he told them they didn't have to wear their thick uniform vests.

In Delaware, when he accepted the agency's "Most Outstanding System" award in 2003 - the Oscar of mass transit - he invited the union chief to join him on stage.

"Usually the director and union leader were at odds, but not with Ray," said Kingsberry, who replaced Miller as the executive director of Delaware Transit Corp. "He's got a common touch."

Miller said he doesn't know what to make of John Dausman and William Schnell, the former HARTline employees who attend all the meetings and comment about spending. Dausman sued HARTline, alleging he was fired in 2003 after he blew the whistle about spending irregularities involving the streetcar.

Miller cannot talk with Dausman and Schnell until the legal conflicts are resolved. He doesn't know much about the FDLE investigation, he said, except that it involves the streetcar. Miller said he can't worry about critics or exposes. He only wants a chance to improve HARTline's credibility and service.

"It's my tack to stay focused," Miller said. "I can't control what people do or say."

Some board members say he has already impressed them.

"His style is a total change from his predecessor," said Everett Morrow, a civil engineer whom county commissioners appointed to the HARTline board in 2002. "He's very observant and absorbs a lot of information before making a decision."

Dent, who now lives in Coral Gables and works for an engineering firm based in New York, said Miller showed skill by changing bus routes and schedules this spring without losing ridership.

"That sounds like a small thing, but that can make or break a transit line," she said.

Miller is also personable, said Saul-Sena, who helped choose him over four other candidates.

"What put Ray over the top was that he was more comfortable," she said. "That told me he'd be better at getting the community behind HARTline."

The political firestorm hasn't rattled him.

"I knew what I was getting into."

Michael Van Sickler can be reached at 226-3402 or mvansickler@sptimes.com

AGE: 57

JOB: Executive director of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority

FAMILY: Wife, Julie; no children

HOME: Beach Park

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from Penn State University; master's degree in urban planning and transportation engineering at the University of Utah.

LAST MOVIE: Cinderella Man

LAST BOOK: Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

FAVORITE TRANSIT SYSTEM: The Toronto Transit System because you don't need a car to live in the city, although he's "not advocating for Tampa to turn into Toronto tomorrow."