Local News in Brief : Countywide : 38 Nominated for Seat on Transportation Panel

Former state business and transportation official Dana W. Reed, former county Environmental Management Agency director George Osborne and slow-growth advocate Russ Burkett are among the 38 people who have filed applications or were nominated for a seat on the Orange County Transportation Commission, the agency said Friday.

Reed is considered by many to be the front-runner for the seat being vacated by James Roosevelt, who is retiring at the end of this month. Roosevelt is the son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The eight-member, policy-making commission sets transportation priorities for the county but does not build roads or run the county’s bus system.

Among those who either applied or whose names were submitted by others are developer Don Koll; water district director Peer Swan; Joe Catron, chairman of Drivers for Highway Safety; automobile dealer Dennis Hardin; EMA employee E.J. (Jim) Hinkson; lawyers Wylie Aitken, Elizabeth Tierney and Donald B. Black; former Orange County Grand Jury foreman John R. Gill, and Genevieve Guiliano, assistant director of the UC Irvine Institute of Transportation Studies.

The seat is that of the at-large public member. The other members are elected councilmen and county supervisors. Keith McKean, the Caltrans district chief, serves in a non-voting, ex-officio capacity.

The commission has the selection matter on its Monday meeting agenda, but a panel spokeswoman said she didn’t know whether the selection would be made at that time or at a later session.