Chesapeake city manager recommended to lead HRT

Chesapeake City Manager William Harrell was selected Tuesday as the top candidate for the job of president and CEO of Hampton Roads Transit.

HRT's executive committee interviewed three finalists for the job and agreed to advance Harrell to the full commission as its preferred choice to lead the transit agency. The commission is scheduled to meet Jan. 26 and will vote on a replacement for Philip Shucet, who has headed the agency for the past two years.

The other two finalists are Dan Anninos, Army Corps of Engineers chief of staff who formerly headed the local corps office; and Harry Black, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Global Commerce Solutions, based in Washington, D.C.

Chesapeake Councilman Rick West, who also chaired HRT's search committee, said, "It might cost me political capital to lose such a good man in Chesapeake. He has proven integrity, competence and regional credibility."

If selected, Harrell would leave his hometown of Chesapeake facing a $13 million budget deficit and navigating some major road projects, including the Dominion Boulevard expansion, Poindexter Street improvements and the Jordan Bridge opening.

Mayor Alan Krasnoff said, "I would like to be selfish for Chesapeake and hope he doesn't leave, but I understand if he does."

Harrell said Tuesday that if he gets the HRT job, he anticipates presenting a budget to the council in March and developing a transition plan "in order to make sure that nothing's going to fall through the cracks."

"All of that would have to be worked out," he said. "Both being local opportunities, I think I'd have an opportunity of doing some double time, possibly working on HRT in my personal time while we transition."

Harrell has been Chesapeake's city manager since 2007, managing a nearly $950 million budget and more than 3,400 employees. HRT has a budget of $92 million and a staff of 1,027.

The HRT job was advertised at a salary of $235,000. Harrell makes $175,000.

None of the three top candidates has public transit experience, but HRT board members are OK with that. West said transit experience did not make the HRT board's top five list of qualities it wanted in a CEO.

"We have confidence in the existing staff to teach, guide and make recommendations to the CEO," he said.

West acknowledged it's no longer the same leadership team from when light-rail costs skyrocketed and construction lagged. Since Shucet was hired on a two-year contract in February 2010 to finish light rail and restore credibility, only one senior manager has remained, and the agency has hired its first staff attorney and internal auditor.

Harrell said he's not unfamiliar with transit. He worked on transit issues in Richmond and Greensboro, N.C., where he served in the city manager's offices.

"Over the last two years, significant progress has been made with the credibility of the agency, and I'd want to build on that," he said.

Other key challenges, he said, would be developing creative ways to fill transit seats and maintaining funding from financially strapped federal, state and city partners.

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com