Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon elected Sound Transit Board chair

Claudia Thomas of Lakewood and Fred Butler of Issaquah elected vice chairs.

The Sound Transit Board of Directors today unanimously elected Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon as the Board's chair for a two-year term beginning in 2010.

"The voters placed an enormous amount of trust in us by approving the Sound Transit 2 expansion plans in 2008," Reardon said. "I look forward to continuing my role on the Board as we begin the work of delivering on the commitments we've made to expand the regional transit system."

Reardon began his second four-year term as Snohomish County Executive in January, 2008. Prior to his taking office as Snohomish County Executive in 2004, Reardon served five years in the Washington State Legislature, most recently in the Senate and prior to that in the House of Representatives, representing the 38th Legislative District. Before serving in the State Legislature, he worked as an economic development specialist with the Downtown Seattle Association, a downtown Seattle economic development organization.

Reardon replaces outgoing Board Chair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, whose two-year term as chair ends at the end of the year.

The Board today also unanimously elected Lakewood City Council Member Claudia Thomas and Issaquah City Council Deputy President Fred Butler as vice chairs.

Sound Transit is governed by an 18-member Board of Directors; 17 members are local elected officials, and the 18th member is the Washington State Department of Transportation Secretary. Local elected officials include mayors, city council members, county executives, and county council members from within the Sound Transit District.

The Sound Transit 2 plan includes $18 billion in regional mass transit expansions including 36 miles of new light rail expansions to north to Northgate, Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline and Lynnwood. The plan also expands light rail east to Mercer Island, Bellevue, Redmond/Overlake, Highline and south to the Star Lake/Redondo area north of Federal Way. The work is scheduled to be complete by 2023.