New CATS chief named: Carolyn Flowers
Carolyn Flowers has been hired as the new chief executive at Charlotte Area Transit System. The announcement will be made at 10 a.m. this morning at the Government Center. Flowers takes over in January.
She replaces Keith Parker, who left earlier this year to run the transit system in San Antonio. CATS deputy director John Muth served as interim CEO after Parker left in May and made himself a candidate for the full-time job.
Instead, City Manager Curt Walton, working with County Manager Harry Jones, Matthews Town Manager Hazen Blodgett and Davidson Mayor John Woods, who was the Metropolitan Transit Commission member representative, selected Flowers.
She comes to town after serving as Chief Operations Officer for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where she has presided over a $900 million operating budget and 6,000 employees. Her duties there include bus service and freeway-service patrol.
Parker was the third-highest paid city employee, earning just under $198,000 per year, when he left CATS. Flowers will earn almost the exact same amount, with a salary of $197,500. Flowers' experience also includes stints as budget director for the city of Beverly Hills and as financial manager at Wang Laboratories.
"I look forward to leading CATS and working with our experienced staff to continue building one of the finest transit systems in the country," Flowers says in a prepared statement. "The people in the Charlotte region can count on my experience and commitment to continue to provide service and make our system world-class."
At CATS, Flowers inherits a big job. She will preside over a bus and rail system with ambitious expansion plans — and declining revenue. In fiscal 2009, which ended June 30, the designated half-cent transit tax generated $61.8 million, or 18.7% less than the $76 million expected. Budgeted tax revenue for the current fiscal year is anticipated to rise only slightly, to $62.7 million. Those shrinking taxes have already rendered the 2030 transit plan unreachable without delays or reshuffling. During the next decade, the transit system projects a $286 million gap in tax revenue.
Several major projects are in preliminary phases or under consideration. These include a $1 billion light-rail extension running through University City and a $375 million commuter-rail line to Huntersville and, perhaps, Iredell County. Earlier this year, City Council approved a $4.5 million engineering study for a proposed 10-mile, $457 million streetcar system running from Eastland Mall through uptown and out to Beatties Ford Road. All of the projects are counting heavily on federal and state funding, with much of those hopes dependent on a forthcoming overhaul of transportation funding by Congress next year. Even if the federal grants are made more accessible for streetcars, CATS can’t pay for the line, leaving construction costs in the city’s hands.
Seventy candidates were considered for the job, with sevcn finalists interviewed.
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Sources: Charlotte Biz Journals, Charmeck.org, LA City, Passenger Transport, Youtube, Google Maps
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