The six finalists to become the next executive director of the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council gathered in Vancouver on Friday as the agency prepares to make its pick.
The candidates met the RTC board of directors during a daylong series of interviews at Vancouver City Hall. The board could make its decision as soon as next month.
The field includes two local candidates: Katy Brooks, senior manager of transportation planning and community affairs at the Port of Vancouver, and Matt Ransom, project development and policy manager for the city of Vancouver. Another hails from Clallam County on the Olympic Peninsula, with three others coming from Hawaii, Texas and Virginia.
The contenders are vying to replace Dean Lookingbill, the only executive director in RTC’s 21-year history. Lookingbill is retiring Dec. 27.
During a public lunch Friday, the candidates expressed varying reasons for wanting to lead RTC, Southwest Washington’s metropolitan planning organization — an agency that shapes long-term visions and helps steer federal and state dollars to local projects. RTC’s scope includes Clark, Skamania and Klickitat counties.
Rich James works as Clallam County’s transportation program manager. While that county’s direction is fairly set, Southwest Washington and the Portland-Vancouver area must adapt as the region develops, he said.
“Congestion here is going to be a bigger and bigger problem,” James said. Absent building your way out of it, he said, “how do you make your existing infrastructure work better?”
The three out-of-state candidates all described the Northwest as a desirable place to live. Stephen Williams, who worked as executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission in Charlottesville, Va., said he believes his skill set would suit RTC. His most recent employer has a much broader focus, he said.
“I really view my strength as being on the (metropolitan planning organization) side, being in the transportation planning realm,” Williams said.
The board also interviewed Brian Gibson, executive director of the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization in Honolulu, and Karl Welzenbach, executive director of the Sherman-Denison Metropolitan Planning Organization in Sherman, Texas.
Brooks and Ransom both hope to take on a new role in the county they already call home.
“I really believe in the region, and the growth and the goals we have,” Ransom said.
The RTC board next meets on Dec. 3.
