Attorney Peter Billings Jr. is Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini's choice to fill a vacancy on the Utah Transit Authority board.
"I wanted to appoint someone who cares as deeply about transportation issues as I do," Corradini said Monday. "Peter fits that description."Billings would succeed former Gov. Calvin L. Rampton on the board.
Rampton was appointed to the board last fall by Corradini but said last month that he was quitting to devote more time to his retirement.
He also said he could not enthusiastically champion efforts to create commuter rail along the Wasatch Front.
"I am sorry he won't be with us," said UTA board President James E. Clark of Bountiful. "Like (Rampton), we all have a lot of questions about commuter rail."
Billings chaired the state Democratic Party in the early 1990s and has been an attorney for 24 years.
Appointment of Billings would bring UTA board membership to 13, two short, with two more slots to be filled.
Utah County commissioners are interviewing candidates for an open seat, and Salt Lake County commissioners have one appointment to make.