Metra’s board voted 8-3 to end a 14-year-old policy rotating its chairmanship between Cook County and the collar counties, then unanimously elected former chair Romayne Brown of Dolton to lead the railroad again. The decisions give Metra a new leadership structure as regional transit governance shifts under the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, while leaving the board to balance local representation with systemwide coordination.
Brown, who chaired Metra from 2020 to 2024, was nominated for the new term by outgoing chair Joe McMahon, the Kane County director whose term ended Sept. 1, according to the Chicago Tribune. McMahon cited Brown’s record, while Brown told the newspaper she intended to work with Illinois, Cook County, Chicago and the collar counties.
Brown's return follows a groundbreaking earlier tenure. She was Metra's first African American female board chair, appointed to both the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority board and the Metra board by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in July for a five-year term, according to HF Chronicle. Before joining Metra's board in 2013, Brown spent more than 31 years at the Chicago Transit Authority starting in 1978, finishing her CTA career in 2010 as Vice President of Rail Operations, per Illinois.gov. In October 2024, Metra dedicated a railcar in her honor recognizing her leadership through pandemic-era operational challenges and her collaborative relationship with transit labor unions, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
A Rotation Policy Falls Amid Legal Advice
The rotation policy began in 2012 and alternated the chairmanship every four years between Cook County and the five collar counties, according to the Tribune. Metra’s attorneys advised ending it, saying geographic rotation conflicted with the statutory mandate for unified regional governance under the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act, the Daily Herald reported.
McMahon offered an amendment to preserve the rotation, but it failed after a tie vote in which Christian Diaz abstained, the Tribune reported. Chicago and Cook County directors opposed retaining the rule, while collar-county directors supported it. The board also approved a change allowing future chairs to be elected by a simple majority instead of the previous requirement that eight of 11 directors agree, the Daily Herald reported.
Suburban Leaders Push Back
Brian Sager, a former Woodstock mayor, argued that the rotation provided fair representation, according to the Tribune. Joseph Szabo, a Chicago director and former Federal Railroad Administration chief, supported collaboration across the region but favored sharing the chairmanship over time, the newspaper reported.
Don DeWitte, a Republican state senator from St. Charles, characterized the change as a Chicago Democratic takeover of the mass transit system, according to the Tribune. The dispute reflected broader suburban concerns that Chicago and Cook County could gain influence at the expense of the suburbs. McMahon said he respected the board’s decision and would continue advising Metra; he also cited ridership gains, safety improvements and major union contracts reached during his tenure, the Tribune reported.
New Regional Authority Reshapes the Board
The governance dispute follows the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act, passed in 2025 to replace the Regional Transportation Authority and give the new authority greater power over Metra, Pace and the CTA. The law provided an estimated $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion in additional annual operating funding, according to Metro Magazine. NITA replaced the RTA on June 1 and expanded regional oversight of fares, capital planning and service coordination across the three agencies, according to the Metropolitan Planning Council.
The new authority's overarching regional board includes 20 members, with appointment power split evenly among the Illinois governor, Chicago mayor, Cook County board president and collar county board chairs — five seats apiece, HF Chronicle reported. Hoodline previously covered Mayor Brandon Johnson's NITA board picks as the new super-agency took shape.
What the NITA Reorganization Changes
The Northern Illinois Transit Authority’s proposed 2026 regional budget says NITA replaced the RTA on June 1, 2026, and now has responsibilities including setting fares, coordinating service, overseeing long-term capital planning and developing more unified rider tools such as seamless mobile ticketing. The budget also says NITA’s 20-member board is divided equally among appointments by the governor, Chicago’s mayor, the Cook County board president and the collar-county chairs; NITA’s chair and executive director are selected by the board and must be confirmed by the Illinois Senate, according to NITA’s proposed 2026 regional budget. Those provisions describe NITA’s leadership and appointments; they do not themselves establish a geographic rotation requirement for Metra’s chair.
The same budget projected 384 million passenger trips across the regional system in 2025 and 393 million in 2026, figures that are forecasts rather than reported results. The governance question also revives an older regional concern: a 2014 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development study found that the 1983 RTA restructuring preserved a fragmented, patchwork transit structure rather than creating a unified regional system.
Brown said the collar counties would retain a voice and that transit agencies could not improve service by working separately, according to the Tribune. She said she intended to represent the entire region and focus on an accessible, affordable, reliable and safe system. The board also elected Brian Shanahan of Mokena, a railroad coordinator for the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers and a former Metra employee, as vice chair, the Tribune reported.
Operational Challenges Ahead
Brown inherits a board still grappling with equipment troubles. Metra continues to face capital equipment delays on its fleet modernization program, as delivery of 200 new railcars ordered from manufacturer Alstom in 2021 missed its expected 2024 start date due to technical and design issues, according to the Daily Herald. The board is also still managing fallout from past safety incidents; in April, Metra's board approved $43 million in legal settlements tied to a fatal 2020 collision involving a train, vehicle and pedestrian at 87th Street and Pulaski Road, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the $43 million crash settlement.
