DART CEO Change Amid Funding Fights

0:00It's April 4. This is Dallas News today, local news powered by AI, Dallas Area Rapid Transit just made a big leadership switch. The board unanimously ended CEO Nadine Lee's contract and tapped Jean Gamers, their general counsel since 2019, as interim CEO. Gamers has been a Texas attorney since 1997 and worked as a Dallas County prosecutor before joining. Under Lee, Dart rolled out a major bus network redesign and launched the silver line rail from Plano to DFW Airport this October. They also shifted focus to better operations, reliability, and customer service coming out of the pandemic. But her exit hits at a tough moment with funding fights heating up. Nearly half of Dart's 13 member cities rebelled over the one-cent sales tax that funds most operations, leading six to Planned May withdrawal votes. That could have gutted the system. A February compromise on mobility plans and funding ease and pain, getting Plano, Irving,

1:01and Farmers branch to drop their elections. Still, Addison, Highland Park, and University Park have ballots pending, so Dart held a public hearing Tuesday on potential service cuts and is, prepping for changes. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup looming for North Texas, this shake-up test starts stability, but Lee says the groundwork she laid sets. And them up to thrive in the region's transit future.