Piascik hired as new Coast RTA chief; Norton-Dew resigns

Brian Piascik was hired as the new Coast RTA general manager and he’ll have to take over duties without a chief financial officer as Julie Norton-Dew, who also served as interim general manager, resigned Friday.

The resignation comes about one week after Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus publicly criticized Norton-Dew for not providing information the county requested through a funding agreement where the county provides $1.05 million annually and asked for certain documents in exchange. He used the words “total insubordination” and “derelicts of the duty” to describe Norton-Dew’s lack of response to the requests. Norton-Dew has maintained that she has responded to what county officials have agreed to and since she has been employed by Coast, “all financial records and audits were clean.”

Coast Board President Bernie Silverman said he saw the writing on the wall.

“We knew what we had to do, or what we were asked... We’re trying to ensure relations with the county,” Silverman said. “I think it was tied to our belief that we had to do this to work together with the county.”

Norton-Dew told The Sun News on Friday that she does not regret taking the interim position in April 2014 after the firing of former CEO Myers Rollins, and said it was time to spend more time at home. Some Coast board members have indicated that more changes in the executive staff of Coast may be coming.

The final papers were signed Friday to officially name Piasick the new chief of Coast RTA — an agency that has had a bumpy past with its last two CEOs fired, a failed bus shelter program prompting the repayment to the state of $75,000 annually for the next five years, and a tumultuous relationship with Horry County Council, its largest local funder.

Piascik is coming from The Colony, Texas where he worked in nearby Dallas for URS Corp. serving as its transit group manager. He will make $140,000 annually and has quite a challenge ahead of him. He will work to get the agency off the ground in fiscal year 2016, which begins in less than two months, working with a budget he had no say in.

Piascik could not be reached for comment Friday. He begins his role Monday, where he will be on his way to the coast from Texas. His start date was bumped one week earlier after the board learned of Norton-Dew’s resignation, effective Friday. Silverman will serve as interim general manager over the weekend.

Norton-Dew spent five years in the private sector throughout the Grand Strand serving as payroll and human resources manager to accounting manager and eventually staff auditor until she lost her job in 2009. Rollins had hired her as a part-time accountant in 2009. Norton-Dew eventually worked her way up to senior staff accountant with Coast RTA and then became its chief financial officer in 2011. She was tapped to become interim general manager in April 2014 and resigned that post and her chief financial officer post Friday.

Norton-Dew said she does not regret putting herself in the public eye of one of the more scrutinized organizations in the area.

“Absolutely not,” Norton-Dew said. “I have no regrets taking on the role of general manager. I learned a lot and I felt what I did was very important to our community. And I feel that I did the best that I could with the resources that Coast was given.”

She said she did not feel like she was being forced out.

“I think it’s just time for me to look at doing something different,” Norton-Dew said. “I’m ready to move on and take on a new challenge.”

Lazarus said his criticism, although specifically naming Norton-Dew’s positions with the agency, were not targeted at anyone in particular.

“I wasn’t being specific about anything,” Lazarus said. “I just was telling them they needed to look in their agency. Something was going on that was not giving us good answers and not responding to the request of council.”

Lazarus said he is not concerned with the lack of continuity from the interim leader to the new leader.

“Not really,” Lazarus said. “To me it gives somebody with no knowledge or background of the past and look deep into the books. I think that will be his first mission. I’m sure with his talents, he’ll reach out and find a CFO pretty quickly and they can go into the books and find out what’s going on.”

Another name that came up as a possible change for executives at Coast was Felicia Beaty, the transit’s chief operating officer who has been with Coast since 2007. Asked whether there would be a change in Beaty’s role with the company, Silverman said, “Anything’s possible. I don’t know that right now.”

Beaty did not return a request for comment.

Silverman said it should be evident Coast is making major changes to turn itself around.

“Without any other changes, that’s a big change,” Silverman said of the new CEO. “We’re hoping that these are changes in the right direction for us. We need to work with our funders... I appreciate everything [Norton-Dew]’s done, but we’re looking forward to a new start, a new person, a new relationship with the funders, and we’re looking forward to moving forward.”

The agency is on an “at risk” list at the state level, and Piascik will be the go-to person to get the transit off the list. Coast has been required to provide financial updates to the county to receive its quarterly payments from the county, which total $1.05 million annually. Horry County councilmen have taken Coast officials to task on, among other things, a lack of communication, that has frustrated some councilmen.

Piascik has advised small communities and states throughout the nation on transportation issues.

Piascik is the permanent replacement for Rollins who was fired after the state asked the agency to refund more than $300,000 for the failed bus shelter program. Before Rollins, Coast’s former chief Benedict Shogaolu pleaded guilty to three felony public-corruptions charges in 2006. He was fired from Coast in 2004 after an investigation by the agency’s board showed he misspent public money, mistreated employees and possibly violated state and federal laws.

Norton-Dew said she has worked beside Piascik for a little bit as his contract was being negotiated and approved.

“Brian is well aware of the challenges of the company. I think he’s going to do a great job,” Norton-Dew said. “I was very happy at the choice that the board made. ... Brian is going to be very successful. He cares about transit and he cares about the importance of transit and what it means to the community.”

Lazarus said he is eager for Piascik to start.

“I met Brian and I look forward to working with him,” Lazarus said. “It looks like he has a wealth of knowledge and experience, and hopefully we can get Coast RTA on the right track.”

This story was originally published May 8, 2015 at 11:19 AM with the headline "Piascik hired as new Coast RTA chief; Norton-Dew resigns."