Finance leader resigns, points to Tri-Cities transit CEO’s questionable actions
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- Ben Franklin Transit CFO resigns, alleges financial wrongdoing by CEO
- He claims CEO and 2 board members tried to divert $3M in reserves
- Union and staff allege contracts were awarded to friends and family
Ben Franklin Transit’s top financial officer has resigned and accused the public agency’s leaders of a concerning pattern of disregarding financial standards.
Among the allegations were efforts by the chief executive officer and some elected board members to divert millions in taxpayer money designated for transit projects to a new fund for grants for their own city or county projects.
Chief Financial Officer Alex Smith left the agency at the end of October, writing in an email sent after his resignation that his departure was due to some of the chief executive officer’s questionable actions.
Smith accuses CEO Thomas Drozt in the email of “repeated discussions” with at least two board members about creating a $3 million program with reserve money without proper board approval or oversight.
Smith also claims Drozt made other financial decisions, including allegedly skirting requirements to award contracts to friends and family.
“The combination of the family connection, payment prior to the dates listed on the invoice, unverifiable business information, and lack of documented deliverables known to staff raised significant concerns for me related to conflict-of-interest compliance, procurement integrity, and the safeguarding of public funds,” said the email, which Smith shared with the Tri-City Herald.
Transit Board Chairman Will McKay, a Benton County commissioner, told the Herald in a brief statement that the board members also recently received a copy of the resignation email and have asked the agency’s attorney to look into the concerns raised.
“Legal counsel is working with outside legal counsel and staff to review and advise the board regarding concerns identified therein. If warranted, further action by the board of directors will be taken upon a meeting of the board,” he wrote.
Drozt did not return calls about the allegations. The Herald also reached out to all 10 members of the transit board, which includes elected officials from each of the cities and counties. All declined to comment or referred to McKay’s statement.
Herald requests for more information on the allegations have been unanswered.
The board was set to meet Thursday, Dec.11.
Expected standards
Smith told the Herald that he felt he had an obligation to speak out after his advice as the transit agency’s finance leader was disregarded.
“I am not sharing these matters out of personal disagreement with Mr. Drozt,” Smith wrote in his Nov. 24 email to the board.
“My only intent is to ensure the Board is aware of situations that may warrant oversight, review, or clarification. I am not asking the Board to draw conclusions without further examination, but I do believe these issues deserve scrutiny consistent with the standards expected of a public agency,” he wrote.
Smith told the Herald that he previously worked with Drozt and came to work with him in the Tri-Cities because he thought he knew what to expect, but that Drozt’s decisions became alarming.
“My hope is that Ben Franklin Transit continues to operate with transparency, integrity, and accountability deserving of public trust,” Smith said in his resignation email.
The agency operates public transportation in Benton and Franklin counties with an annual operating budget of more than $70 million primarily funded from a public sales tax and other state and federal money. The agency also keeps tens of millions of dollars in required reserves to repair and replacement of their fleet of 400 vehicles.
His claims were recently bolstered by a news release from the transit agency’s employee union, which included invoices for $60,000 in luxury golf carts and raised other concerns in line with Smith’s resignation letter.
The Herald has filed a Washington Public Records Act request for documents related to the allegations.
Russell Shjerven, the secretary for Teamsters Local Union No. 839, wrote that Drozt was awarding sole-source contracts to family and friends and wanted to eliminate union jobs.
He wanted to know when the board would take it seriously.
“It’s time they are all held accountable,” Shjerven wrote.
Traci Bronson, the union’s representative on the board, said staff was already aware of some of the allegations, because objections by employees had been raised and ignored.
She described the board as a “good ol’ boys club” with members willing to look the other way when it benefits them.
Bronson has served on the board for about two years, and was a longtime alternate before that. While she sits on the board and has input, the employee representative is a non-voting board member.
Proposal to move $3 million
The most egregious accusation against Drozt details discussions outside the normal board process to move $3 million in cash reserves into a “grant-like” program based on informal discussions with some board members.
Smith said in his email and interview these conversations, and apparent directives, happened outside normal channels, without staff analysis, public feedback or board approval for framework and regulatory compliance.
“There were repeated discussions involving the diversion of roughly $3 million of BFT cash reserves into a grant-like program based on informal conversations with select board members, rather than through a public, full-board decision-making process,” Smith wrote.
“These discussions occurred outside normal channels, and the lack of formal analysis, public vetting, or Board-approved framework raised concerns regarding compliance with delegated authority and transparency obligations.”
It is unclear which board members Drozt allegedly spoke with, though Franklin County leaders have regularly lamented that they should be able to reduce transit funding in order to pay for the needs of the county.
A source with knowledge of the meeting told the Tri-City Herald that the conversation took place with two board members, Drozt, Smith and another member of the finance team. According to the employee, the intent was to create a fund that could be used by board members for projects within their own municipalities that were not directly related to transit.
The employee asked to remain unnamed out of concern for potential retaliation.
The attempt to create the fund likely fell apart when the finance team refused to sign off on it, Smith told the Herald.
Smith said Drozt even had a news release ready to send out celebrating the creation of the fund.
This fund does not appear to be mentioned in BFT’s 2026 budget packets, which are set to be voted on at the board’s Dec. 11 meeting.
Drozt is proposing a $2.6 million increase to the operating budget for the executive and administrative services department, though the board packet does not detail what it is for.
It is unclear who would have oversight of the funds, how applications would be weighed and who would have approval authority. Much of BFT’s funding comes with strict requirements from state and federal regulators.
“It’s unusual, it just seems like they’re trying to create all these new kinds of accounts and ways to hide it,” Bronson said.
Contract for a friend
Smith also claimed that Drozt gave a contract to a friend from Arizona. Public records show Daniel Matta, of Phoenix, formed a limited liability company in Richland in June.
“This combination of a non-competitive procurement, a close personal connection, and the undisclosed criminal history raised significant concerns about transparency, risk management, and reputational impact to the agency,” said Smith’s email to the board.
The company, called Something Unlimited, was awarded a contract worth more than $125,000.
Board packets show the transit agency made monthly payments ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 to Something Unlimited for consulting services. The payments began as far back as April, months before the company was registered in Washington state.
The payments are included under monthly vouchers. It’s unclear if a contract for consulting services would have needed board approval.
Public records show Matta has a history of owning companies with similar names.
Matta was convicted of sexual conduct with a minor in 2018, and after a series of appeals over evidentiary questions he served five years in prison, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.
Drozt previously worked for a Phoenix area transit company and recruited several members of his executive team from the area, including Smith.
Payments to family member
Drozt is also accused of issuing a nearly $5,000 payment to his stepson’s newly formed company for a training Smith said he found no evidence took place.
The alleged June payment of $4,895 to CivicEdge Consulting LLC was supposed to be for 16 hours of leadership workshop services in July.
“Staff have told me they are not aware of any such workshop having taken place, and I have not seen documentation showing that the services were provided. The website listed on the invoice (civicedge.com) does not function and redirects to an unrelated business, and the business address shown on the invoice does not exist, which further calls into question the legitimacy of the vendor information,” wrote Smith.
Public records indicate the company is registered in Laveen, Ariz., to a Vladmir Estela Gomez, the son of Drozt’s current spouse.
Unlike the Something Unlimited payments, board packets from this year do not appear to mention these workshops or a payment to the company.
AI vendor request
Drozt is also accused of discussing a non-monetary benefit from an AI technology vendor.
Smith said he was present during the conversations at a conference where Drozt allegedly asked the AI company for “access to an additional, unrelated piece of software described as a horse-betting or wagering analytics application” if the vendor was chosen.
“Mr. Drozt then instructed staff to ‘creatively sole source’ the procurement rather than use the required competitive process,” wrote Smith.
He said the range of the contract was $250,000 to $1 million.
Smith wrote there were also discussions about using “the AI system in ways that could reduce represented union positions, prior to any procurement, Board review, or required notice to union leadership.”
“Directing staff to circumvent competitive procurement for a contract of this potential magnitude, while also discussing an undisclosed personal benefit and workforce reductions, presented serious compliance, governance, and ethical concerns to me,” wrote Smith.
$61,000 on golf carts
The union officials raised additional concerns about the agency’s spending on five luxury golf carts.
Invoices show the transit agency spent more than $60,000 on five Evolution D5 Ranger 4 golf carts and upgrades to them in June. The golf carts were purchased for use at “special events,” according to Shjerven.
The golf carts came with a price tag of about $8,700 plus $2,500 in upgrades each for a total of nearly $61,000 after taxes.
Another $650 in parts such as lighting and signing was also ordered for the carts, according to the invoices. It’s unclear if there was any cost to install these extra kits.
Bronson said the transit agency had grant funding to buy two of the carts.
This story has been updated with more information about Daniel Matta’s conviction.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
