One of the 14 seats on Metro’s board of directors’ dais will remain empty when the board meets Thursday. The spot for the Prince George’s County alternate has been vacant since December, when the county terminated the contract of Marcell Solomon. Howard University administrator Artis Hampshire-Cowan has been nominated to fill the role but isn’t slated to be confirmed by the Maryland Senate until Friday.
The Metro board has undergone extensive turnover in the past few months, with half of the members changing guard through resignations, voluntary and involuntary.
But Solomon was the only member barred from returning.
He missed nearly two-thirds of Metro’s board of directors meetings in 2010, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of the meeting minutes. He attended 21 of 57 committee meetings and full board meetings all year.
Still, he earned $36,073.24 for doing so, according to Prince George’s County, far more than all other board members.
The compensation for Metro’s 14-member board varies widely by jurisdiction. Federal appointees and D.C. representatives don’t earn anything but free rides. Virginia members earn $50 for each meeting they attend, while Maryland representatives earn about $20,000 per year.
Prince George’s County has allowed as much as $100,000 in billable hours for its alternate. In 2009, Solomon billed the county for $39,656.90.
He did not return multiple calls for comment.
Solomon first came under fire in August when The Examiner wrote about board absences. He had the second-worst record on the board, behind D.C. Councilman Michael Brown, having missed just over half of the meetings in 18 months.
After the story ran, his attendance got even worse, dropping to 32 percent, according to meeting minutes.
The absences prompted the Metro’s Riders’ Advisory Council to suggest attendance requirements for board members, while the top transportation leaders in Maryland, the District and Virginia have called for equalized pay among directors.
Maryland transportation officials are pushing a bill in Annapolis that would require its two state appointees to file reports on their Metro attendance.
“Attending the meetings is an unspoken expectation of being a member,” said Maryland Department of Transportation spokeswoman Erin Henson.
The bill, though, would put the practice into law.
“We wanted to lead by example in the region,” she said. “The intent here is to make very clear what the expectations are for the members.”
