RTD accountability panel urges board overhaul, 5 elected and 4 gubernatorial appointees recommended

The Joint Transportation Committee on Feb. 4 heard the final report of the RTD Accountability Committee, which recommended restructuring the Regional Transportation District's governing board from 15 elected members to nine total seats: five district-elected members and four governor-appointed positions subject to state Senate confirmation.

The panel, which delivered a 31-recommendation report to the legislature and the governor on Jan. 30, said the change is intended to add technical expertise in finance, land use and transportation planning, and to include a labor seat to ensure workforce perspective. "Ridership, ridership, ridership," Alexis Singer, an accountability committee appointee, told the committee, summarizing the panel's urgency about reversing the system's decline.

Why it matters: presenters framed the proposal as a structural response to falling ridership and a deteriorating fiscal picture rather than a critique of individual board members. Barrick Abramson, the committee facilitator, said the current board's size and low-election visibility limit effective strategic oversight and recommended statutory change rather than ballot referral so implementation can take place "as soon as feasible by the 2028 election."

What the report recommends: the committee's headline governance items include a nine-member board (5 elected, 4 appointed by the governor with Senate confirmation), a two-year chair term and a full-time chair position, eligibility limits (two full four-year terms), higher ballot signature thresholds for candidates, reinstating a transit academy to prepare prospective board candidates, and increased board compensation benchmarked to inflation.

Reaction from the field: support and concern both surfaced during committee questions and public testimony. Advocates and local-government speakers including Harold Dominguez, city manager of Longmont, argued the hybrid model would bring needed expertise and systems thinking: "An RTD board that is made up of elected officials ... alongside appointed members that bring specific areas of expertise gives the board the best chance at looking at the whole system," Dominguez said. By contrast, Matt Larson, a current RTD board member who submitted a minority report, warned the changes "take away too much representation" and said he feared a governor-centered appointment process could reduce local voice.

Appointments and accountability: several legislators pressed the committee on why gubernatorial appointment was chosen rather than local nomination or a judicial-style vetting commission. Chair Maria Garcia Barry said committee members debated multiple appointment models and settled on gubernatorial appointment with specified appointment criteria and mandatory Senate confirmation as a guardrail against unilateral executive selection.

Numbers and context: committee members said the group held 12 public meetings, invested 43 hours in meetings plus substantial between-meeting work, received more than 30 public comments, considered more than 120 ideas and distilled 31 recommendations. The panel repeatedly tied governance proposals to the need for a clearer districtwide strategic vision to improve ridership and financial stability.

Next steps: the report is now before the legislature. Committee members urged the Joint Transportation Committee to consider statutory language and to consult appendices in the published report for voting records and minority opinions. The accountability group offered to provide follow-up briefings to lawmakers.

Ending: lawmakers thanked the panel for the report and said they will study the recommendations during the session; no legislative action was taken during the hearing.