Four members of the Regional Transportation Authorityβs citizen committees have been sent notices of their potential dismissal for making βreckless claimsβ after expressing concerns about RTA operations.
All four volunteer members represent the city of Tucson in committees charged with developing a new 20-year transportation plan and overseeing the current $2.1 billion RTA plan voters approved a half-cent sales tax to fund in 2006.
Members of the citizensβ committees have expressed frustration with the ongoing process of deciding what an RTA Next will look like, citing difficulty placing items on agendas, inconvenient midday meeting times working members have difficulty attending and a harsh interpretation of Open Meeting Law they say stymies discussions.
The four letters of potential dismissal include the same warning from RTA Executive Director Farhad Moghimi: if the committee member persists with the alleged violations, he wrote, βI will request that the RTA Board remove you from the (citizensβ committee).β
The notices Moghimi sent on Dec. 1 and Dec. 5 all cite βmaking reckless claimsβ or βallegationsβ that violate the code of conduct as a basis for potential dismissal, but do not explain why said claims lack merit.
β(Citizensβ committee) members are sort of a conduit between the public and this process,β said Abby Okrent, a recipient of one of the notices whoβs also an assistant public defender at the Pima County Public Defenderβs office, and has used her legal knowledge to push back against RTA staffβs claims. βIf weβre being cut off, I donβt think that speaks well for how the broader public is going to have any input into this plan.β
Moghimi, on the other hand, said, βsome PAG employees, including me, are being harassed and intimidated for performing our contractual and fiduciary responsibilities and for holding a few members accountable for violation of law or PAGβs code of conduct.β PAG, the Pima Association of Governments, is the metropolitan planning organization that oversees the various RTA-related committees.
The PAG Regional Council, a nine-member board of Pima Countyβs jurisdictions and the Arizona State Transportation Board, met for three hours on Nov. 3 and for two hours on Dec. 8 to discuss βcomplaints by PAG staff regarding harassment and retaliation,β but never announced legal action. Since the conversations are βconfidential or privileged matters,β Moghimi said, he couldnβt clarify if the letters were the result of discussions that took place behind closed doors or if they spell out the totality of the harassment concerns.
All four recipients of the notices said they did not receive a clear warning that their conduct could amount to a potential dismissal before receiving the notices, and many of the actions cited in the letters involve concerns expressed or emails sent out months ago.
The issues surrounding the RTAβs committees come at a critical time as the citizensβ committee is helping to develop another $2 billion plan to bring before voters while the RTA grapples with funding the remaining projects promised to voters β most of which are in the city limits.
At the City Councilβs Dec. 6 meeting, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said she was limited in what she could say as part of the board that discussed harassment allegations in executive session, but said the concerns brought up by citizensβ committee members are βjust more barriers to the city of Tucson to be able to continue forward.β
Letters of potential dismissal
Rachel Wilson has been trying to get on the citizensβ committee since 2018. After suffering retinal damage, sheβs no longer able to drive and experiences difficulty performing simple tasks such as picking up a prescription, going grocery shopping or meeting up with friends without the ability to drive.
Wilson got on a spot on the citizensβ committee in 2022 as a new member from Tucson with hopes βto make mobility in Tucson better.β The citizensβ committee is tasked with prioritizing which projects will go into the next RTA that could go before voters as soon as 2024.
βThe ability to go places is at the heart of freedom, and when you canβt go places because you canβt drive, you are kind of imprisoned,β Wilson said. βThatβs why Iβm so desperate to try to make things better.β
Tucsonβs new citizensβ committee members resulted from a concession the city made at the beginning of the year when Tucson vowed to leave the RTA by Feb. 1 unless it had more of a say in the boardβs decision-making processes. The city agreed to a compromise that involved increasing city-designated members on key RTA committees and decided to stay at the table.
But Wilson and other citizensβ committee members said they havenβt been able to fully discuss issues that matter to them most, like transit capacity and pedestrian safety. Instead, the committee is sorting through road corridor projects submitted by each jurisdiction using a project evaluation tool.
Moghimi said per RTA statutes, βthe new plan has to identify corridors by name and then propose improvementsβ and βOnce the named projects are identified the (citizensβ committee) chair will be ready to move on to the other elements of the draft plan.β
Wilson said keeping up with committee tasks has become like a βpart-time jobβ in addition to her career as an immigration lawyer. Lately, those tasks have included pushing back against RTA staff for what she called βroadblock after roadblock,β the latest being a notice that her conduct could cause her to be removed from the committee.
Members have said theyβre discouraged from speaking outside of meetings, and when trying to relay information for future discussions, are told Open Meeting Law prevents them from doing so. Some committee members have pointed to indications that Moghimi and RTA Board members arenβt following PAGβs own interpretation of the law β an allegation that spurred some of the letters threatening committee membersβ removal.
The letters of dismissal also accuse citizen members of breaking PAGβs code of conduct. The list of rules committee members must abide by notes: βIt is not possible to list all the forms of behavior that are considered unacceptable while participating on PAG committees,β but provides examples such as βMaking false accusations or filing false report of wrongdoingβ and βDisrespectful conduct.β
Wilson emailed the RTA Board on Oct. 7 after she received a records request that showed a memo Marana Mayor Ed Honea sent the citizensβ committee echoed similar language Moghimi had emailed Honea weeks before.
Moghimi has since clarified his email that listed suggested changes to the citizen committeeβs guiding principles β which included getting rid of the phrase βmitigate for environmental impactsβ and removing βequityβ as a consideration for RTA Next projects β was reiterating a conversation the executive director previously had with Honea and were not his suggestions.
Wilson cited the similarities between Moghimiβs email and Honeaβs memo in her email: βRTA staff has actively cried βOpen Meeting Law violation!β at us every time we ask for more open communication, and it appears that Mr. Moghimiβs secret conversations with members of the (Technical Management Committee) might actually be (Open Meeting Law) violations,β she wrote.
That email constituted a βreckless claim,β according to Moghimiβs notice to Wilson of her potential dismissal.
Both Tucson City Attorney Mike Rankin and Daniel Barr, an attorney with nearly 40 years of experience in media and political law, have questioned PAGβs Open Meeting Law policies, which include prohibiting committee members from emailing each other or meeting in person outside of committee meetings to discuss items that may come up in official discussions.
Rankin told Tucsonβs mayor and council at a Nov. 14 meeting that if PAGβs interpretation of the Open Meeting Law was βin fact how the Open Meeting Law applied to members of a public body, the members of the public body could not responsibly carry out their functions.β
Barr said the Open Meeting Law βdoes not prohibit people less than a quorum of the public body discussing issues.β A potential violation could arise if a quorum is established outside committee meetings β which would take 17 members of the 33-member citizensβ committee.
Moghimi argues at least two members could form a quorum based on the varying memberships of the three subcommittees that some committee members participate in. PAGβs attorney Thomas Benavidez also weighed in on the matter, writing in a memo, βThe law must be interpreted to apply broadly to prevent inadvertent violation.β
While Wilsonβs potential dismissal was partially based on βreckless claimsβ of suggesting Honea and Moghimi violated Open Meeting Law, Abby Okrentβs warning included an allegation that she broke the law when she emailed the entire citizensβ committee.
Paki Rico, PAGβs community affairs administrator, emailed citizensβ committee members clarifying a point of confusion discussed at a previous meeting: that transit is a component of the RTA plan, and should not be considered a priority. Okrent replied to the entire committee β an action PAGβs attorneys consider an Open Meeting Law violation β disagreeing with the interpretation.
Okrent, an attorney, said, βI do not concede that sending emails to the list with informational items such as news articles, or the literal statute guiding our work, is a violation of the open meetings laws. I found the (notice of dismissal) to be a little bit incoherent. But the message is very clear. The message is meant to silence any sort of dissent, or sharing of whatβs happening with the public or with our elected officials,β she said.
Ruth Reiman, a Tucson resident and member of the RTAβs CART Committee that monitors delivery of current RTA projects, received a notice of her potential dismissal for accusing βthe CART chair, Charline Robinson, of derelictions of her duties on multiple occasions,β Moghimi wrote.
The warning, Reiman said, is likely the result of her frequent emails to Robinson in unsuccessful attempts to place items on the agenda.
βI have been rather aggressive in my approach, but I started off nice,β Reiman said. βItβs (Robinsonβs) responsibility to see that the committee fulfills its mission, and by avoiding these topics, sheβs not fulfilling the mission of the committee. If thatβs accusing her of dereliction of duty, I guess thatβs what I did. But whether itβs grounds for dismissal is kind of ridiculous.β
Amanda Maass, another Tucson member of the citizensβ committee, was told she accused βthe RTA Board members, and staff, of interfering with RTA plan development process or violating the RTAβs rules,β Moghimi wrote. βPAG staff have reported your inappropriate conduct, and the CAC Chair has discussed these concerns with you previously.β
Moghimi attached a July email to the warning letter from the citizensβ committee chair, Tom McGovern, who told Moghimi he communicated to Maass at an in-person meeting βthat some staffers are feeling harassed by herβ and βshe acknowledged these complaints and expressed that she in no way has intended to harass anyone.β
According to Maass, the conversation went much differently than McGovernβs email portrays. While the chair did bring up staffβs concerns, she said, he didnβt provide any specific details of how her actions amounted to harassment.
βI was aware that staff were unhappy with people emailing them, but I was told by (McGovern) that he didnβt see any bad behavior from me that would raise concern,β Maass said. βI will categorically deny that that email accurately summarizes the communication β¦ I was never sent a summary of it acknowledging that I agreed with it.β
Moghimi said the committee members βwere first counseled by the Chair, then the entire committee received a reminder memo from the attorney reminding them of the open meeting law and compliance with our rules and then another memo from the chair asking them to comply with the code of conduct before finally individuals received a notice of potential dismissal.β
But none of the four recipients say they were alerted their actions could lead to dismissal from their respective committees prior to receiving Moghimiβs letters.
Okrent said she βnever construed any of the general admonishment emails about those things to be directed at my behavior.β None of the committee members report one-on-one meetings with the chairs of their committees that specifically outlined any wrongdoing.
Moghimi was unable to provide definitions for what PAG considers a βreckless claim,β βretaliationβ or βharassment,β and instead said, βconcerns are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.β
Mayor Regina Romero has taken a different tone on the matter, and suggested at the city councilβs Dec. 6 meeting that a third-party attorney weigh in on the issue.
βWeβre trying to do everything we possibly can to work with other jurisdictions and the executive director, but it just seems as though thereβs roadblock after roadblock put in front of us, and not by my colleague jurisdictions,β Romero said.