A new slate of officers will be welcomed into their leadership roles, and outgoing officers thanked for their service at the Des Moines Area Regional Transit (DART) commission’s regularly scheduled meeting July 7.
At its annual meeting last month, DART commission members voted in the following slate of officers.
- Chair – Steve Peterson, Windsor Heights City Councilman who represents Clive, West Des Moines, and Windsor Heights and who replaces Steve Van Oort, a Polk County Supervisor and former Ankeny Mayor, as the commission’s chairman.
- Vice Chair – Tom Gayman, Urbandale City Councilman who represents Grimes, Johnston and Urbandale on the commission.
- Secretary/Treasurer – Bob Mahaffey, Des Moines Councilman who represents Des Moines and Pleasant Hill.
“I can’t imagine a more exciting and pivotal time for our region,” said Steve Peterson, the newly- elected chairman of the DART Authority commission. “Public Transportation is being recognized as a key variable in the equation for creating the quality of life, economic development, and mobility opportunities we want for our citizens, businesses and visitors. I look forward to building upon the success DART has had with the DART Forward 2035 Plan and the launch of real-time customer information.”
“The past few years have been truly transformative since the development of the DART Forward 2035 Plan,” said Steve Van Oort, who has been the Chair of the DART Commission for the past three years. “I want to commend DART’s employees, its leadership, the commission and our shared communities for making so many things possible in recent years - the new downtown DART Central Station, the implementation of multiple technology projects that provide riders with real-time arrival and departure information, and improving services while continuously working to be fiscally responsible. We have definitely moved from being in the bus business to being in the connecting business. There is still much to do, but I am most confident in our new slate of commission leaders and the talented and dedicated staff of DART.”
