Mathis to Chair Transit Board

The Metropolitan Transit System board on Dec. 8 chose Harry Mathis to succeed Leon Williams as the agency's chairman.

Mathis is a retired Navy captain and a former San Diego city councilman, and no stranger to the regional transportation agency. He has served on the MTS and San Diego Trolley boards since 1994. In 2003 he became a nonvoting member of the MTS board and executive committee and continued in that capacity until October 2005.

His salary will be $1,500 per month.

Mathis had been competing with Lynn Schenk , a former congresswoman and chief of staff to Gov. Gray Davis , for the job.

Williams, who has held the chairman's job since 1994, is retiring.

, Brad Graves