Twin Transit Hires ‘Joe Bus’ as Director of Transit Services

Joe Clark is back behind the wheel.

Clark, a long-time Chehalis resident and school board member, accepted an offer Monday to take over as Director of Transit Services for Twin Transit beginning May 1. He will assume the role previously called “general manager” nearly three months after the resignation of former general manager Derrick Wojcik-Damers.

A well-known figure in Chehalis and Centralia, Clark has lived in the area for nearly three decades and served on the Chehalis School Board for the past 20 years. He beat out more than 60 fellow applicants for the position and said he plans to take a hands-on approach to shaping the role of Twin Transit as Lewis County continues to grow and evolve.

He began his career in transportation with the Centralia-Chehalis Pupil Transportation Co-Op more than 25 years ago and still goes by “Joe Bus” among longtime colleagues in the public sector as well as his wife, Elizabeth.

“I felt like if I was going to make a career change, I wanted to do something that was going to impact the community,” Clark said. “Something that wasn’t going to be just another job, but would have some influence into what the Twin Cities are about to become. When you look at the jobs coming to the ports, the need for housing and where that will be built and how that all changes public services and transportation, all of that got me excited to take this organization to the next level.”

Twin Transit Advisory Board Chair Chad Taylor explained Monday that during the hiring process, the board determined the title of general manager to be outdated for what is expected of Clark, thus the change in title.

Clark served as assistant director of the Centralia-Chehalis Pupil Transportation Co-Op before moving up to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. There, he served as deputy director in charge of transportation funding and appropriations for nearly 300 school districts across Washington. At one point, he held the title of chief information officer for OSPI.

For the past 18 years, Clark has worked for the MGT Consulting Group as a consultant for public organizations and governments across the country and beyond. He cited transportation projects in Florida, Georgia and Kansas among those he’s consulted on.

“Whenever you’re hiring for a public position, there’s always that thought in the back of your mind that it would sure be nice to get someone local, but there are so many times when there isn’t someone local who is also qualified,” Taylor said. “We got lucky to get someone who is extremely qualified and was at a time in his career that made him available. … Joe being local was an added bonus, really.”

Though his job has required him to travel as many as 40 weeks per year — an estimated a total of 200,000 miles traveled by air in 2018 — Clark has remained involved with the co-op via by way of the school board. He supervised Dale Dunham, assistant director of transportation for the co-op, when Dunham began there as a driver.

“He’s a really good guy to work for, conscientious about his employees and gets along with everyone,” Dunham said. “I can’t think of anything bad to say about him.”

Clark expressed a desire to explore partnerships between Twin Transit and area schools to help students travel in for programs such as Running Start at Centralia College, construction and trade instruction in the Centralia School District and STEM offerings in Chehalis.

Dunham said Clark has always been supportive of the co-op when it has been in front of the Chehalis School Board, and that if he can come up with an idea along those lines that passes muster with school officials, they would certainly want to take a look at it.

“I was just over at the co-op the other day working with (Gibb Kingsley and Dunham) on rerouting the district,” Clark said. “With the new schools opening both in Centralia and Chehalis, they have to reroute before next fall. I’ve also been involved a lot in transportation funding locally, like the purchase of buses, on an annual basis.”

Clark emphasized on Monday his desire to create open lines of communication and collaboration with members of the communities it serves. Twin Transit will soon examine both the future of its planned transit center in downtown Centralia as well as potential changes or additions to its service schedule.

Twin Transit came under fire from local officials last year as plans for an expansive building on South Pearl Street in Centralia became public and its leadership pushed for a ballot initiative to expand the Lewis Public Transit Benefit Area countywide. Additional moves such as changes to bus lines on Market Street in Chehalis drew the ire of residents who felt they were left out of the discussion.

Rebecca Staebler, a member of the advisory board and the Centralia City Council, said Monday that she expects efforts on both fronts to remain paused until further evaluations can be done once Clark settles into his new role. Development of a long-term master plan for Twin Transit and its facilities is a stated goal of Clark and the advisory board.

“It’s a perfect opportunity to have that dialogue and share it with all the entities in the community who want the same things, who want our community to thrive and be among the top small towns in the country,” Staebler said. “It’s great to have someone who really understands the culture here, but is not so narrow that they can’t see the benefit of getting outside the culture and can bring in other experiences.”

Clark will be tasked with mending fences not only between Twin Transit and its business compatriots, but also between his office and rank-and-file agency employees.

Wojcik-Damers resigned in February following an investigation into complaints filed against him by employees as well as revelations of a felony theft conviction under a previous name. Lewis County Commissioner Bobby Jackson resigned from the advisory board last month after receiving criticism for his handling of the investigation into Wojcik-Damers and for making inaccurate public statements about expansion of the LPTBA.

Both men are still party to an open investigation by the state Public Disclosure Commission into alleged use of agency funds in support of the ballot initiative, which voters soundly rejected last fall. They were also named in a tort claim filed by employee Alison Meyn seeking a total of $20,000 in damages as a result of Jackson escorting Wojcik-Damers onto Twin Transit property despite instructions to work from home during the investigation into his conduct.

With the permission of the advisory board, Clark plans to hold a series of community engagement sessions over the summer to allow people the chance to tell Twin Transit staff what they want to see from the agency.

“My intention is to be very involved with the cities and Lewis County to understand where the residential and commercial growth is going to happen. With the Port of Centralia, for example, I want to go talk to (Executive Director) Kyle Heaton and ask him how we can better serve there. I want to do the same thing with (Vice President) Steve Ward at Centralia College. The key to our growth is to pace our services with how the area grows.

“It’s a new day for Twin Transit, and I want people to see that. We’re not going to be status quo anymore.”