Orange County Transportation Corridor Agency CEO Samuel Johnson resigned on Nov. 18 amid an ongoing misconduct investigation.
Johnson has worked at the TCA—which manages the county’s toll roads—since 2015 and became CEO in 2020. He has been on paid administrative leave since Sept. 5, when the TCA’s board of directors voted to hire an outside firm to investigate him over allegations of misconduct.
Details of Johnson’s misconduct are unclear, and a spokesperson for the TCA was not immediately available for comment.
In response to the allegations, TCA board chairs Peggy Huang, a Yorba Linda city councilwoman, and Newport Beach councilman Will O’Neil released a joint statement.
“As soon as we learned of the allegations against Mr. Johnson we took swift action—placing him on leave before the next business day and bringing in an outside firm to conduct a thorough investigation,” the statement reads. “This investigation included interviews with numerous individuals and reviews of various types of information. Before our boards could act on the findings of the investigation, Mr. Johnson submitted his resignation.”
Deputy Chief Executive Officer Valarie McFall—who has been acting CEO since Johnson was placed on leave—will continue to lead the organization, according to the statement.
The board is currently searching for a permanent replacement for Johnson.
The TCA operates 420 miles of toll roads in Orange County—including the 73, 133, 241, and 261 toll roads.
In recent years, the TCA has been criticized by county residents and officials who say it has gone beyond its intended purpose.
The agency was created in 1986 by the union of two joint power authorities to build new toll roads that would eventually become public freeways. The roads’ $2.8 billion construction was financed by toll-revenue bonds that were intended to be paid off by 2023.
In 2020, the Orange County Grand Jury released a report titled “$28 Billion for a $2.8 Billion Road,” which estimated that the TCA will not have its debts paid off until 2053—and by then, it will have amassed $28 billion from tolls.
Despite not having built a new road since 1998, the TCA’s annual budget is $400 million.
In the report, the grand jury argued the TCA should make plans to pay off its debts and transition the toll roads to freeways to lessen the financial burden on Southern California drivers.
In a June 2021 letter to the grand jury, Johnson replied the report contains “inaccuracies and missing elements … some of which involve background information and others that will influence our formal response.”
Last year, the City of San Clemente left the TCA over a disagreement on whether the agency should expand the 241 freeway into San Clemente.
