New Florida Toll Agency Pursues Director, Finance Plan

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Central Florida Expressway Authority plans to interview four candidates for its executive director's position, and move forward with its first major financing in January.

Board members decided at their Nov. 13 meeting that they will meet with applicants in the first week of December. The winner is expected to be offered a salary between $175,000 and $200,000, but that is subject to change.

CFX was created by the Florida Legislature this year to replace the scandal-ridden Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority. The new board covers Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties.

The top candidates — two with private firms and two with public agencies — were culled from more than 50 applicants after a search, according to CFX board chairman Welton Cadwell.

Mathew Click, from Arlington, Va., is HNTB Corp.'s vice president and national director of priced managed lanes. His previous jobs included being government affairs director for the Florida Turnpike Enterprise, and a transportation planner for Orange County.

Katherine Nees, from Richardson, Texas, is deputy director of the strategic projects division for the Texas Department of Transportation. Before that she was vice president/national director for the transportation consultancy group at Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. She also worked for the North Texas Tollway Authority.

Phillip Miller, from Oviedo, Fla., is AECOM's associate vice president/toll advisory services manager in Orlando. He previously worked for the engineering firm Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, now Atkins NA, as well as Wilbur Smith Associates, now CDM Smith.

Robert Sweeney, from Saint Ignace, Mich., is chief executive officer of the Mackinac Bridge Authority in northern Michigan. He has also been transportation service center manager and an engineer with the Michigan Department of Transportation.

The board also approved applying for a $191.5 million loan from the TIFIA program to finance some of its $500 million share of the long-awaited Wekiva Parkway.

The low-interest loan through the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act will cost less than bond financing, and help accelerate portions of the project, said interim chief financial officer Lisa Lumbard.

The expressway authority plans to issue bond anticipation notes in January after commercial closing on the TIFIA loan. The BAN is to be taken out with the proceeds of the TIFIA loan in July 2018.

CFX plans to fund other Wekiva costs with $127 million of senior lien revenue bonds and cash.

The parkway is a 25-mile toll road that would complete a beltway around metropolitan Orlando. CFX is funding a 15-mile portion of the project, while the Florida Department of Transportation is funding the remainder.

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Transportation industry Florida
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