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McGourty leaves ITD-PT helm for nation's capital, marriage

Kim McGourty, manager of ITD's Public Transportation unit (ITD-PT) since September 2017, will leave the department December 17 and get married a few days later.

McGourty is marrying former ITD Public Transportation manager Mark Bathrick, who left ITD in December 2016 to take a job at the Federal Transit Administration's headquarters in Washington, D. C.

Bathrick and McGourty never dated while he was working at ITD, however McGourty explains "after leaving ITD in 2016, he had a few weeks in town around the holidays before moving to D.C., so he asked me out for dinner and that's when it all started".

He proposed at Rockefeller Center in New York a few months ago when she was there on vacation.

They are getting married December 22, and she'll move to D.C. after the Christmas holiday.

This is a major step in McGourty's journey, which has already been epic. McGourty was hired on as an intern just after graduating from Boise State University in 2014, to work on an Interagency Working Group project for the department. She spent a few weeks learning the ins and outs of ITD, our partners, and the world of state government, then did a brief stint as an admin for Construction, Design Traffic, and Environmental, before joining the public transportation team in 2015.

During her two years as a Grants and Contracts officer for the PT office, McGourty streamlined grant programs and budgets exceeding $10 million dollars each year, revised policy documents, and mended relationships with transit providers and stakeholders across the state. She spearheaded Idaho's Workforce Transportation Initiative, a program encouraging public transportation as a viable option for commuting to work, and continued to lead the Interagency Working Group.

McGourty, Juanita Risch, Shauna Miller, and Rachel Pallister operated as a team of four for about nine months after Bathrick left and before McGourty filled the manager's slot.

As public transportation manager, her first priority was to quickly fill vacancies, building a fully staffed PT team of five grants officers to operate and excel within their areas of responsibility.

"A huge thank you to my team — Juanita, Shauna, Rachel, Joshua Leavitt, and Drew McGuire — for all their hard work in seeing our programs thrive."

A few highlights from her time as manager include finalizing the Statewide Public Transportation Plan, a five-year planning document, that took two years and was a massive undertaking, McGourty said. PTAC, transportation agencies, consultants, and interested stakeholders. Additionally, she led the PT office through a rigorous four-day federal audit from the Federal Transit Administration, outlining programs, policies, and procedures from the last three years, resulting in a very positive and rewarding outcome.

For the past year, McGourty served as a steering committee member for AASHTO's Multi-State Technical Assistance Council, influencing policies and best practices in public transportation around the country.

"Kim has lead the PT program to new levels of credibility, cooperation, and teamwork," said ITD Chief Deputy Scott Stokes. "Through her leadership, the trust and relationships with our partners, stakeholders, and providers has never been better."

McGourty doesn't know what role public transit will play, but the future for her is bright. She was, after all, the public transportation manager by age 25. That topped Bathrick by a few years (he was 27 when he became PT manager in Nov. 2014).

"After leaving ITD, I will be getting married and starting my next adventure in the nation's capital, and look forward to taking the knowledge and skillset from ITD and Idaho with me in my next endeavor."

Editor's Note: Jeff Marker will assume the reins of the Public Transportation Office. Please check next week's issue for that story.