The RTD board of directors voted Tuesday night to offer the job of general manager to Phil Washington, a no-nonsense retired Army sergeant major who had been an assistant general manager under the departed Cal Marsella.

The vote was 13-0 with RTD board Chairman Lee Kemp of Broomfield and member Jack O’Boyle of Lone Tree absent.

Phil Washington, RTD's newly selected general manager

Washington, a retired Army sergeant major, will lead the troops at the transit agency in crafting a strategy for getting the program done. RTD is involved with the Metro Mayors Caucus and other civic leaders in trying to come up with a consensus solution to the tough problem. RTD has faced heavy criticism from Aurora and north metro communities whose rail transit lines are currently under-funded and in danger of long delays in completion beyond 2017.

The most vocal of those mayors in criticizing RTD’s direction, Mayor Erik Hansen of Thornton, said Wednesday he didn’t like the decision to hire Washington, saying it was “a bad sign” that RTD won’t change from that direction.

RTD is considering asking voters, perhaps next November, for another 0.4-cent sales tax increase to get all the lines done on the original schedule.

The vote on Washington at the regular monthly board meeting was actually a motion to negotiate an employment contract with Washington. The board is under pressure to be tougher on costs after Marsella’s departure. Marsella, whose base salary was around $300,000 plus bonuses and a generous pension and sick leave plan.

In choosing Washington, the board bypassed outside candidates Douglas Kelsey, who as president of British Columbia Rapid Transit Co. in Vancouver, B.C., helped guide a public-private development of a 40-mile rail line serving Vancouver International Airport, and former United Airlines executive Sean Donohue, who had been responsible for United’s system operations control center as well as the financial and operational performance of United Express.

A panel of community leaders RTD had selected to interview the three finalists had unanimously recommended that the board choose Kelsey.

“It speaks volumes about what an exceptional agency we have that following an exhaustive nation-wide search, the best candidate for the job was right here at RTD,” Kemp said in a statement after the meeting. “Phil has clearly demonstrated to us over the past six months that he is more than ready to lead this agency forward.”

Among Washington’s first orders of business will happen Friday, when he will visit the FasTracks offices and individually interview each project manager for all 10 FasTracks rapid transit corridors and other construction elements.

Washington said he wants project managers to “scrub the budget” and, essentially, start from zero to find places to cut back costs while still delivering the basic program. He wants managers to determine what they actually need to build versus what they want to build, adding that enhancements can be added later if new revenues come along once the basic projects are completed.

That could mean such things as single-tracking some of the corridors that have double track sections. It is technically possible to run most of the proposed train schedules on single tracks but with the addition of passing sections, typically at station platforms, to allow trains to pass in the opposite direction.

This idea had already been suggested by leaders such as Hansen, who has criticized RTD for failing to provide more alternatives for lines such as the North Metro commuter rail that will serve Thornton.

But Hansen was critical of the selection of Washington because it showed the transit agency wasn’t ready to break from the past.

“it’s disappointing because it’s a strong signal that RTD is not ready to atone for the sins of the past,” Hansen said. “And since the community panel recommended someone else it also shows how insular they are. This is a bad sign.”