Seattle Monorail Project board members have established an eight-person committee to lead the search for a new executive director. The agency's former executive director Joel Horn, resigned July 4 in the wake of a heated public meeting where the public blasted the proposed $11.4-billion, 50-year financing plan for a $2-billion, 14-mile monorail (ENR 7/11, p. 7).

Acting SMP board chair Kristina Hill, professor of urban design and landscape architecture at the University of Washington, replaced former chair Tom Weeks after he also resigned on July 4. "We're looking for a new executive director who is experienced in leading large, complextransportation projects, has a strong financial background, solid management skills, and who can bring a fresh perspective to the project," she says.

Elected board member Cleve Stockmeyer, a Seattle lawyer and environmental activist, will oversee the committee. Stockmeyer is joined by Hill and board members Paul Toliver, former Metro Transit Director; Cindi Laws, a political and public relations consultant; Clise Properties, Inc. president and chief operating officer Richard H. Stevenson; executive secretary-treasurer of the King County Labor Council Steve Williamson; and state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, an ex-officio board member whose district includes neighborhoods along Seattle's proposed 14-mile monorail.

In addition to choosing a committee to find Horn's replacement, the SMP board has decided that all of its members will examine project financing options and other key issues facing the agency instead of using a separate ad-hoc committee.