By The Herald Editorial Board

The decision as to who is best to head Sound Transit — the three-county public transportation agency now building out an extensive light rail system — fell to experience and familiarity.

The agency’s board of directors, 17 city and county elected officials from Snohomish, King and Pierce counties, unanimously elected one of its own, King County Executive Dow Constantine, who began his work heading the agency on Tuesday, stepping down from his county leadership position of more than 15 years.

Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, chair of the agency’s board of directors, in an interview this week with fellow board member and Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello said the board’s selection of Constantine was based on his years of service and leadership and his dedication to Sound Transit.

“He’s obviously very personally committed to the mission of Sound Transit and building a really healthy transportation system throughout the region,” Somers said.

The search process considered more than 60 applicants nationwide, narrowed down by a search firm to about 15 who were reviewed by a board committee of most of its members, then narrowed to five finalists on which, Somers said, there was “remarkable consensus.” That list was further narrowed to three top picks for final in-person interviews with a group of selected “stakeholder” officials and other community representatives who provided more than 200 pages of feedback on the three candidates.

Each of the final three had unique qualifications, Somers said.

“One of the board members said at the meeting last week that there was no unicorn candidate,” he said. “Each one of the three brought something very substantial to the table.”

Constantine won out, both Somers and Mello said, because of his deep knowledge of the area, his long professional and government experience leading King County — including its own transit agency, Metro — and his long service to Sound Transit itself.

“He knows the agency. He knows the challenges we face. He knows the board. He knows the players. He knows the politics,” Somers said. “And so from day one, he is fully primed and hits the ground running.”

Mello likewise noted that all three candidates demonstrated experience in leading complex organizations, capital budgets, operations and safety issues.

“The what-next,” Mello said, “keeping momentum going, knowing the politics and nuances of the region, that did set Dow apart.”

As well, both — who represent the counties at either end of the “spine” for Link light rail in Everett and Tacoma — said they were confident in Constantine’s commitment to prioritizing that work, now timed to reach the Tacoma Dome by 2035, south Everett by 2036 and Everett Station by 2037.

As important as Sound Transit’s chief executive has been and will be to that work, Somers doesn’t excuse the agency’s board of city and council elected officials from its leadership role, particularly as that board charts goals and objectives for the next year and further with a new leader.

“The board decides how we move forward,” Somers said. “And over the next year we’re going to have some particularly big decisions in front of us.”

Among them, he said, are projects for extensions to Ballard and West Seattle and how those might affect funding and schedules for Everett and Tacoma. The board has begun a review process of alternatives, given available funding.

“Dow’s committed to that process, to be a fair arbiter,” he said. “And (Mello) and I are committed — as are many others — to getting that spine built.”

The good news for the southernmost and northernmost terminals, Somers said, is that those projects may ultimately may be less costly and more efficient in terms of numbers of passengers served than other projects based in King County.

“But that debate is going to have to happen before the board,” he said.

At the same time, there are questions for the sustainability of federal funding from Congress and the Trump administration, compared to that of the Biden administration and its full support for transportation infrastructure, and rail transit in particular.

Mello and Somers admitted to apprehension about future funding as the system plots out about $151 billion in projects between 2017 and 2046.

“Again, this is where Dow stood out,” Mello said of Constantine. “He has already established a very trusting relationship with our (Congressional) delegation, who have delivered for transit time and time again.”

Even if there are attempts to claw back some federal funding or skimp on future grants, Somers said, “I’m not sure that any of the candidates would have given us a stronger leg up than Dow.”

Constantine will be well compensated for that work. He starts with a base salary of $450,000 and a contract with up to $91,000 in bonuses and performance pay. The pay range for major transit agency CEOs, according to coverage of a contract for the 2023 hiring of a CEO for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority found a low of $280,000 at New Jersey Transit and a high of $485,000 at Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

That compensation will set a high bar for accomplishment expected by patrons and taxpayers for the three-county Sound Transit system that includes bus and the Sounder rail service, as will the public’s own familiarity with Constantine and a potentially short honeymoon period for the official.

And while it’s now not uncommon for agency boards to choose their leaders behind closed doors — to assure a wider selection of qualified candidates — and with little to no consideration of public review and comment, such decisions place even greater responsibility and risk for those board members if decisions don’t pan out as promised.

Sound Transit light rail boardings, since it opened its station in Lynnwood last August have seen Link system ridership increase to about 100,000 people a day, reaching a record high of 3.1 million boardings in October and 3 million in January, exceeding even its prepandemic numbers in 2019.

The local officials who serve on its board and its new CEO must now show steady growth and continued milestones between now and the next dozen years to deliver on the days that “golden spikes” go into the ground at each end of the Link system’s spine.