Interim Coast chief received $10K+ in meals, trips, training before resigning

Coast RTA, an agency that has traditionally struggled annually to stay in the black, spent more than $10,000 in training for the chief financial officer who just resigned Friday.

Since late 2013, Coast RTA, which is funded by federal, state and local tax dollars, spent more than $10,500 sending Julie Norton-Dew to crash courses in leadership in transit, training and conferences nationwide to get her up to speed on mass transit issues. It was a way to educate Norton-Dew on mass transit issues, said former CEO Myers Rollins, who suggested she take the American Public Transportation Association training.

Norton-Dew was eventually tapped to lead the agency on an interim basis after the Coast board fired Rollins.