Pay Hike in Works for Head of Transit Board

James Mills, chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, will become the first member of the board to receive substantial financial compensation for his work if a recommendation approved by the MTDB’s executive committee Thursday is approved by the full board.

Currently board members are paid $100 for each meeting they attend. MTDB spokeswoman Judy Leitner said that the board approved an ordinance more than a year ago allowing for additional compensation for the chairman. Under the amendment recommended by the executive committee, Mills would receive $30,000 a year in exchange for spending a minimum of 1,000 additional hours working on the board’s behalf as a lobbyist and public representative. Mills, a former state senator, was appointed chairman for life by the governor.

‘A Half-Time Job’

“It amounts to approximately a half-time job,” said La Mesa Mayor Fred Nagel, who serves on the five-member executive committee. “(Mills’) services have been very valuable to this region . . . he has brought to this region in the form of grants and contacts tenfold or more, one-hundredfold probably, of what we’re paying him.”

Another member of the executive committee, County Supervisor Leon Williams, said that $30,000 was far less than what Mills deserves to be paid.

“I don’t think, personally, the recommendation we made is sufficient,” Williams said. “If we were to hire a private consultant to do what Jim has already done, we would have to pay many, many thousands of dollars. I believe his compensation is small and I intend to say so at the board meeting.”

As chairman, Mills serves as the MTDB liaison to a number of regional and national organizations including the California Transit Assn., Californians for Better Transportation and the American Public Transportation Assn. Mills led the campaign for Proposition A, a sales tax increase that is expected to raise more than $2 billion in funds for mass transit and roadway improvements over the next 20 years.

Mills, a political consultant, said that over the past year he has not had enough time to give his MTDB activities the attention they deserve.

“I’ve missed a lot of meetings because I was out doing things to pay the rent, to pay the mortgage,” said Mills. “ . . . I suggested that if I were to put in more time, it would be beneficial to the organization but that I wouldn’t be able to put in a great deal more time unless I were paid for it.”

Mills said that if he had the time to serve as the agency’s primary public spokesman, it would have the additional benefit of freeing the professional staff to focus their attention on the jobs they were trained to do.

“When we take our engineer out to speak to community groups, that takes time from what he should be doing,” Mills said.

And, Mills pointed out, the passage of Proposition A would result in the MTDB having an even greater need for that kind of liaison.

‘New Projects’

“We’re going to be starting a lot of new projects,” Mills said. “It will entail lots of discussion with the communities that will be affected, discussions of how Proposition A will be administered.”

Mills said he felt there was nothing wrong with his receiving this kind of compensation when other board members do not, since none of the others are called upon to give as much of their spare time to the MTDB as he does.

Nagel agreed.

“None of us really have time to give it the effort that he does,” Nagel said. “We want him to continue doing these things and we want to encourage him to do more.”

Nagel said the money to pay Mills would be coming out of a general office account and not result in cuts to any existing programs. “This will not in any way interfere with transportation plans for this region,” Nagel said. “We’re talking about very large budgets. There’s certainly $30,000 available for Jim Mills.”

If the committee’s recommendation is approved by the full board next Thursday, it will have a second reading two weeks later. If approved the second time, it will go into effect after 30 days, but Mills will be paid retroactively from the date of the full board’s first vote.

The contract the ordinance will enact between Mills and the MTDB can be terminated with 60 days notice from either party and will not apply to Mills’ successor unless it is again approved.