A board that oversees the implementation of millions of dollars worth of transportation projects across Pima County is facing a shakeup in leadership.
The tension came to a head Monday on the first public meeting of the Regional Transportation Authority Board to include newly appointed member Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz.
The nine-member RTA is a collection of top elected officials from the region’s cities, towns and tribal communities that is tasked with overseeing the implementation of projects included in the 20-year half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2006. It also manages tax revenues, project schedules and budgets, among other responsibilities.
Heinz, an established critic of RTA Executive Director Farhad Moghimi, started his term by immediately requesting a review of Moghimi’s performance.
It’s not the first time Heinz has targeted Moghimi, who has faced criticism from several Tucson officials who say he favors suburban jurisdictions over the city when it comes to his management of the RTA. Nearly three years ago, Heinz called for Moghimi to be fired, sharing concerns over a lack of a performance review for the executive director and poor management of the regional plan.
The performance review Heinz wanted Monday didn’t happen.
Heinz
Heinz said he had requested the executive session item March 16. Moghimi, who is tasked with putting items requested onto the meeting agenda, told the board was in the airport between flights that and did not have access to his computer but worked with staff to put his own performance review on the meeting agenda.
However, the posted item lacked language required by law, he told the board on Monday.
By the time the item was fixed and reposted it was too late to meet state public notice requirements, essentially taking it off the meeting agenda, said Thomas Benavidez, the board’s longtime attorney.
Moghimi
He also cited another problem: Moghimi’s contract has a clause stating that says his performance reviews must be done in a joint meeting session between the RTA and the related Pima Association of Governments, even though the membership is the same.
“Checking with Farhad, he’s not willing to waive that provision,” Benavidez told the board.
The last time Moghimi had a performance review, in April 2024, he didn’t invoke that clause in his contract. Heinz said later this week that he believes Moghimi invoked the clause this time “because he was probably going to get fired.”
Heinz said during the meeting this was “the most difficult thing to agendize” in his career, and that he believed Moghimi “intentionally obfuscated” his review.
The Board, after a roughly half-hour discussion on the reasons why a performance review would not occur that day, voted 6-2 in favor of scheduling a joint PAG-RTA special meeting within the next 10 business days for the performance review.
Ahead of the board’s vote, Heinz tacked on the review of Benavidez’s contract too.
Sahuarita Mayor Tom Murphy and Oro Valley Mayor Joe Winfield voted against it. Pascua Yaqui Tribe Chairman Julian Hernandez was not present due to sickness.
Heinz confirmed Wednesday night that Benavidez resigned from his position as legal counsel in a letter to PAG board members Tuesday.
In his resignation letter, according to Heinz, Benavidez told board members that they “should have an attorney you trust and respect” and that “clearly, that person is not me.”
