BURLINGTON — Mark Sousa, the general manager of Green Mountain Transit, was placed on paid administrative leave Monday for an undisclosed reason.
Tom Chittenden, the chair of the transportation agency’s board, confirmed Thursday evening that Sousa had been put on paid leave at a special meeting of GMT’s board Monday, held behind closed doors in executive session.
Chittenden would not say why Sousa has been suspended, saying it was a personnel matter and that he was committed to a “fair, thorough process.”
“I’m committed to a confidential process to protect all involved,” he said.
GMT has hired an independent third party, Burlington lawyer Nell Coogan, to conduct the investigation. Coogan has already started collecting information, Chittenden said.
The board appointed Jon Moore, the agency’s director of transportation, as the interim general manager.
“Jon Moore has been a stable, consummate professional who we all knew … He was a clear choice from the board’s perspective,” Chittenden said.
The news of Sousa’s suspension was first reported by local television station WCAX.
GMT has recently faced scrutiny during the roll-out of new service routes and for an incident in which a bus driver was fired after kicking students off a Burlington bus in an incident parents and community members believed was race-based.
Chittenden said the suspension was unrelated to either of those incidents, but was not more specific about the cause of Sousa’s suspension.
Sousa became GMT’s interim general manager in January 2017 before being hired to the position on a permanent basis in February 2017. He joined GMT in 2014 as operations manager.
