(The following story by Edie Gross appeared on the Free Lance-Star website on March 26.)
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Nearly six months after the head of Virginia Railway Express resigned under pressure, board members at the commuter-rail agency are closing in on a replacement.
Seventy-five people have applied for the job vacated in October by Pete Sklannik, the agency’s chief operating officer for three years.
That number will be whittled down to about five finalists who will be invited to visit, probably in mid-April, said Al Harf, executive director of the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission. The PRTC and the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission share oversight of the VRE.
“We got an excellent response,” Harf said of the number of applications received.
Members of VRE’s operations board say they’re looking for a number of characteristics in a new chief operating officer: Someone who is comfortable negotiating with Amtrak and track owners CSX and Norfolk Southern. Someone who can push for more state and federal funding. And someone who can handle VRE’s growing ridership.
“I think you need someone who can manage and work well with the staff, who knows the railroad business, someone who’s very in tune to our philosophy of making our customers happy,” said board Vice Chairwoman Elaine McConnell, a Fairfax County supervisor. “And also, you’ve got to have a businessman.”
VRE’s growth rate has been in the double digits most of the past five years, making it one of the fastest-growing transit agencies in the nation. That growth has slowed somewhat in the past year as VRE trains have run out of room for additional passengers.
The average daily ridership last month was 14,500 people. The agency’s operating and capital budget is about $54 million this year.
The agency will need to start running more trains in the coming years, said Chairman John Jenkins, a Prince William County supervisor.
Buying that equipment, finding places to store it and persuading CSX, Norfolk Southern and Amtrak to allow the extra trains will be priorities for the next person at VRE’s helm, Jenkins said.
VRE’s board placed Sklannik, its former chief operating officer, on paid administrative leave in early August after hearing complaints about what officials then called “management-related issues.”
An outside auditor looked into the claims. VRE officials have never released the audit, claiming it involves a personnel issue.
But board members said in October that the report showed examples of excessive spending by Sklannik on meals, cell phone calls and trips.
Sklannik, who was making $126,000 a year, resigned on Oct. 3. Last month, he was hired as the chief operating officer of the Trinity Railway Express, a commuter service that links Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.
In the meantime, VRE’s assistant chief operating officer, Dale Zehner, has served as the interim head of the organization.
Since Sklannik left, the VRE board has clarified spending rules for employees, Jenkins said. The board recently created an audit and finance committee that will go over the books on a regular basis, he said.
“We have a lot more managerial controls in place,” he said. “I’m confident it’s going to run–and run right.”