A plan to succeed North Texas transportation director Michael Morris is set.
Morris, leader of the North Central Texas Council of Governments’ transportation department for 35 years, filed a succession plan earlier this month in case he retires soon. The plan will be discussed Thursday at a meeting of the Regional Transportation Council, an independent policy group of 45 elected and appointed officials. No action will be taken.
Morris, described by Democratic state Sen. Royce West of Dallas as the Tom Landry of transportation, had his job discussed by the council of governments’ executive board during a nearly two hour closed session Nov. 20. He declined to speak on the matter after the meeting.
In a Dec. 5 letter to transportation council chair Rick Bailey, a Johnson County commissioner, and other council members, Morris outlined a 2025-2027 transportation department succession plan.
Citing the multi-decade experience of the department’s assistant director and senior staff, Morris wrote that there is “tremendous flexibility” for succession in the department.
“If circumstances arise that cause the Transportation Director to be unable to fulfill his responsibilities, Assistant Director Dan Kessler is more than prepared to become Acting Transportation Director,” Morris, 70, wrote.
He also said that two senior program managers could be promoted to acting assistant director positions with one focusing on internal activities and the other on external activities.
When Morris decides to retire, he will inform Bailey and former Ellis County Judge Todd Little, who was appointed executive director of the council of governments in May.
Little told the Fort Worth Report last month that the organization is preparing for long-term mobility projects and looking for an eventual successor to marshal transportation projects needed to accommodate 4 million people expected to move to North Texas by 2050.
“We’re planning for the future,” Little told the Report.
Morris declined to comment Monday through a council of governments spokesperson.
Morris has support from various regional officials, including Arlington Mayor Jim Ross who at a Nov. 18 City Council meeting addressed Morris’ potential removal from his job.
“He has been a vital part of what goes on throughout North Texas, not just Arlington, but all of North Texas for decades and decades,” Ross said.
Fort Worth council member Elizabeth Beck, a former transportation planner who worked with Morris, drafted a letter of support for her former boss.
“Having both worked for and served with Michael, he is a tremendous leader and asset to our region,” Beck told the Report.
Because hiring a new transportation director could take up to six months, the plan calls for Morris to remain as an adviser during that search period. He would maintain a high-quality staff and minimize decisions that would be left to the new transportation director, Morris said.
“When I retire from NCTCOG as Transportation Director, I am requesting to serve as ‘Director Emeritus,’” Morris wrote. “It is anticipated that this will occur on the hiring of the new Transportation Director.”
RTC members would develop a process to work with Little to interview final candidates for the transportation director position.
Upon the hiring of a new director, Morris would work for the council of governments under a professional services agreement as a senior adviser for a year with the possibility of subsequent one-year agreements. In that role, Morris would assist the new transportation director, implement current mobility responsibilities for the FIFA World Cup 2026 games in North Texas, monitor nonfederal funding programs and agreements, and assist transportation council members with the approval of the new director.
“With the approval of 2027-2029 Management and Operations funding program, the Transportation Department will be focused in 2026 on getting all necessary (Texas Department of Transportation) and federal approvals to expedite these tasks moving forward,” Morris wrote.
The succession plan, he wrote, “maximizes the current capabilities of the NCTCOG Transportation Department and develops transition advisory services (while) maintaining the significant accomplishments of the Regional Transportation Council.”
Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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