Transportation panel picks interim director, rips ‘tortured’ selection process as ‘debacle’

Just seven viable candidates apply for $200,000-a-year job after national search.

EDITOR’S NOTE: On Thursday July 21, the full board of the Transportation Planning Agency voted unanimously to hire Valerie Neilson as executive director. Commissioner Maria Marino was absent.

It’s not often that a public-sector job paying nearly $200,000 attracts just seven viable candidates after a national search. It’s even rarer that two of the three finalists are dismissed outright after vigorous, public questioning.

But that’s where the five-member panel selecting the next person to head the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency, which oversees billions in transportation projects countywide, found itself Thursday afternoon.

The panel, featuring two north county representatives — Palm Beach Gardens Mayor Chelsea Reed and Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Marino — waffled between selecting the agency’s interim director, who almost got the job in December without a search, or leaving the agency in limbo for months by reposting the job. 

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Who’s in charge? Resignation leaves transportation agency adrift

Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency Executive Director Nick Uhren resigns but won’t say why; board considers hiring former deputy Valerie Neilson.

As the federal government unleashes billions for transportation, the head of the countywide agency charged with prioritizing how all that money is spent has resigned.

Nick Uhren’s decision to quit the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency after eight years left the agency’s 21-member board scrambling Thursday to find a replacement for the $200,000-a-year job.

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