Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs law to overhaul RTD board
In fitting fashion, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a Regional Transportation District reform bill while riding an RTD bus.
"The Denver metropolitan area deserves an A+ transit agency, and I think we all know through our own ridership, through the stories from our constituents, through many others, that we are not there," said Polis.
SB 150 will make significant changes to how public transit in the Denver metro area is governed, slashing the number of board members by 40%.
"Having a smaller board -- a more nimble board -- will hopefully allow people to be able to work more collaboratively and also think more holistically in terms of what is in the interests of the entire RTD district," said Jame Flattum, the president and founder of Greater Denver Transit, who supports the bill.
Chris Nicholson, who currently serves on the RTD Board of Directors, has a different opinion.
"The district that I'm in for Denver is going to go from 200,000 people that I represent to about 600,000 people, and that makes it one of the biggest districts in the state compared to other types of governance," said Nicholson.
"Boulder traditionally has had two seats on the board, one for City of Boulder, and one for kind of everywhere else, and as a result of this change, there is a good chance that the entire county of Boulder is going to be represented by someone who's not even living in Boulder, that they're living in Adams County, so ... you create these situations where people may feel like they are not getting their voice heard simply because of the size of these districts," Nicholson added.
In addition to cutting the number of board members from 15 to nine, four will now be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. The remaining five director seats will remain elected.
"RTD originally, the 15-member board was an anomaly, right. RTD was only one of about five or so transit agencies of the thousands across the United States that had an elected board," said Flattum.
"Appointees directly by the governor on the board gives a much bigger role to the state that can be good or bad depending upon who your governor is."
Salaries will also increase to attract high-quality candidates.
But the reality is, RTD is facing a $200 million deficit with ridership down significantly in the last few years. Will this bill solve those problems?
"No, no," Flattum responded. "This was fundamentally a bill that was about doing what could be done with the resources that were available, right? The state, right now, has no money. RTD has no money, right? Even though, as an advocate, I would love to see money unlocked for RTD, this legislative session was going to be almost impossible to do that."
"When your town is flooding, it is not productive to have a long argument over the composition of the city council," said Nicholson. "We have real serious problems that are going to be those same real serious problems in 2029 when the new board takes over, and this bill doesn't address any of them."
The changes to the board of directors will take effect during the 2028 election.
The new law also mandates a study to be conducted on paratransit services. The study will look at the needs of riders with disabilities and how RTD is currently serving the community to identify any changes that need to be made.