The Butler County Transportation Improvement District Board named formed board member Rick Bailey interim director, replacing Mike Samoviski, who begins work as the new Hamilton city manager July 1.

"My background, educationally, is engineering,"e; said Bailey, 55, a retired division manager of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, where his main responsibility was to administrate highway funding. "e;But I realized early that my interest was in the transportation sector."e;

The board unanimously approved the motion naming Bailey to the position. He will serve as full-time interim director until August. His yearly salary will be $70,000.

The board will revisit the issue during its August meeting and decide whether Bailey is to be named permanently to the position, said retired Butler County Court of Common Pleas Judge John Moser, who led the committee assigned to overseeing the selection of a candidate.

"At that time, Rick will decide if he's happy with us, and we'll decide whether we're happy with him," Moser said. "e;Then he would become director."

The board commended Bailey for his past contributions to the TID and to the community as a whole. Prior to the vote, some discussion centered on whether Bailey would serve on a part-time basis, or in a full-time position.

Moser indicated that one Butler County Commissioner expressed his desire to see Samoviski's replacement serve part time, while fellow board member Ed Shelton said the remaining two commissioners indicated that they would to see the position be full time.

Neither Moser, nor Shelton, named which commissioner they spoke with regarding the issue. Ralph Reigelsperger, board member and Public Works director, argued that because the TID has several planned projects, the position should be full time.

The board voted in favor of the position being full time, with only Moser dissenting.

Bailey is a 1968 graduate of Lafayette College, in Pennsylvania, and a 1972 graduate of Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, where he received his masters in transportation planning.

"I'm really excited about this opportunity. Especially to head this July 15 visionary get-together," Bailey said, referring to the board's next meeting at the Harry T. Wilks Conference Center.

The key focus of the July meeting is for board members to hear from consultants examining the board's strategic vision plan.