DETROIT – The Regional Transit Authority is considering whether their CEO, Michael Ford, should stay or get a pink slip.
The transit mogul allegedly used thousands of dollars for such things as expensive boutique hotels and trips to attend meetings at which he never actually appeared.
Ford wrote a check to the RTA for $18,000, money the RTA says is payback for overpayments.
Expense reports reveal expensive and lavish business trips stemming back to 2015. The first questionable expense was a trip to Washington, D.C., to attend a travel conference.
Ford allegedly went there two days before the conference and came back two days after it, and spent as much as $560 a night in the JW Marriott hotel during that time.
The other notable expense on the report was a trip to San Francisco in October 2015, during which Ford stayed for two nights at a boutique hotel costing over $500 a night.
Ford was also reimbursed for gasoline expenses which came in hundreds of dollars at a time.
The RTA board emerged after an hour-long executive session, and its chairman, Paul Hillegonds, reported:
"We had a lengthy discussion, and our review of contract issues is still ongoing we've made no final decision."
Whether Ford's payments solve his problems or make them worse is anyone’s guess.
