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PSTA chief to retire this July

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published March 29, 2007

Just as the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority faces crucial decisions over its largest expansion, it is losing its longtime executive director.

Roger Sweeney, who turns 62 this summer, will step down as director of the county bus system July 1. He has served in that position since 1991.

Though Sweeney said the decision to retire was made weeks ago, authority board members said they were surprised by the announcement.

The authority already finds itself without a deputy executive director or a chief financial officer.

And the board is planning its biggest new project ever, a rapid bus transit system linking downtown St. Petersburg to the gulf beaches.

Those discussions may now be delayed, though Sweeney insisted Wednesday that they will continue.

"The timing is obviously terrible," said PSTA board member Karl Nurse.

Sweeney has clashed recently with officials in St. Petersburg over the proposed rapid bus system, with the two sides disagreeing on the design of the vehicle as well as its route.

The conflict rose to the point that John Bryan, a St. Petersburg City Council member who also sits on the PSTA board, questioned whether Sweeney wanted the system to succeed.

"Maybe he could see the light," Bryan said of Sweeney's retirement Wednesday. "I knew he knew there was some real discontent. That may have been what motivated him."

PSTA board member R.B. Johnson said the questions surrounding the proposed system and its delay may have dogged Sweeney.

"I think he's frustrated," said Johnson, who is vice mayor of Indian Rocks Beach. "People are upset with Roger because things are not moving fast enough. Things are not moving fast enough because we (the board) keep changing our minds."

Sweeney said Wednesday his decision to leave had nothing to do with the future of the rapid transit system, which is to be a model for a launch countywide.

He plans to continue to push the program in his final months. "I'll work hard if not harder to move this thing forward," he said.

In his 16-year tenure, Sweeney shepherded unprecedented growth of the county transit system.

The county more than doubled the number of buses running on county roads and added 4.4-million new riders annually.

The agency also built a new $40-million headquarters, replaced much of its bus fleet and lowered wait times on many of the county's most popular routes.

"The hardest thing to measure, but what I am most proud of, is that people realize PSTA is a valuable asset in our community," said Sweeney, who makes $123,844 a year. "When I first came here, people were asking, 'Do you really need a transit system?' "

A former maintenance general manager for Greyhound bus lines in New York, Sweeney consistently has won praise for his management of the county's 207-bus system.

But he also has faced sharp criticisms for what critics call a go-it-alone style that often brushes aside local governments.

Sweeney, for instance, did not attend a recent transportation summit that brought together elected leaders in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

"We can provide better public transit if we do a better job working with St. Petersburg, Clearwater and the county, all of which we have some bumpy things going on with," Nurse said.

PSTA board members, a group of whom will meet today to begin to discuss a replacement, say they hope to find someone more willing to partner with other communities.

"Sometimes, I think Roger may have been his own worst enemy," said Rick Butler, a PSTA board member since 1998 and a member of the Pinellas Park City Council.

"You need to be shaking hands with all these different governments. You need to be listening, trying to work together," Butler said. "Roger was always abrasive when it came to that."

Bryan attempted to oust Sweeney once in 2004 over management style disputes. But board members decided he should keep his job.

Now, he's leaving on his own terms.

[Last modified March 29, 2007, 01:35:13]