Gov. Ron DeSantis reappointed Jim Holton to the Board of Directors of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Department on Friday.
Legislature created TBARTA in 2007 to develop a transportation master plan for a seven-county region in west central Florida. The agency includes the counties of Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota.
The TBARTA Board of Directors has 17 members, four of whom are governor-appointed representatives of the business community.
Gov. Rick Scott appointed Holton to the Board of Directors of TBARTA in November 2015. Holton is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Other members are the Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.
St. Petersburg-based Holton is a lawyer with Hall Booth Smith and the president and owner of real estate investment company JWH Properties. He served on the Florida Board of Enterprise, the Florida Transportation Commission, and the Board of Governors of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
Holton earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his law degree from Boston University.
Holton was one from Florida 29 voters to cast a vote for the former president Donald Trump in November.
TBARTA oversees Envision 2030, Tampa Bay’s first regional transit development plan. TBARTA has also proposed a rapid transit bus project that will link downtown St. Petersburg, the Gateway Area, Westshore, Downtown Tampa, the USF Area and Wesley Chapel.
Holton’s reappointment must be ratified by the Florida Senate.
