Scott Green reflects on serving communities

After nearly five years as the head of the Delaware River and Bay Authority, Scott Green is stepping down. The reason?

"I'm old," he quipped.

Green said he is leaving the post because the time is right: the governor who appointed him, Jack Markell, is leaving office. Green said it was only fair to new Gov. John Carney to appoint his own head of the authority. In addition, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be leaving office in January 2018, so it was important to Green to allow for fresh starts in both states.

Green said he will continue as chairman of the board of trustees of Delaware Technical Community College, and he will continue to live in Rehoboth Beach, a place he has grown to love since moving there in 2007 with his wife, Barbara.

A native of Philadelphia, Green came to the authority in 2008, a year after he retired from working at MBNA in Wilmington. Alternately self-deprecating, chatty and reflective, Green said before that, he had served as counsel to, among other clients, the Delaware House of Representatives.

"I didn't have any intention of doing anything else. I was a commissioner here in '08, and when the opportunity came up to be executive director, it was unusual. This is an interesting place, and I was happy to do it. It was an unintentional thing to do. At the time I thought I would do it for a couple of years to bridge to the next person. But, I liked it, and some of the changes here took longer," Green said. "Next thing I knew, I'd been here five years."

He said the biggest challenge he faced as director of the authority was maintaining infrastructure. The authority is a bi-state agency that manages the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the New Castle and Cape May airports.

"All three of the businesses are afflicted with aging infrastructure," Green said. "The bridges are approaching 70 years old. You have to keep maintaining everything, and the older they get, the more difficult they are to maintain. It's really a challenge to keep up with, to plan for, to execute. It's a challenge to spend the money at the rate you need to."

Another challenge for Green was walking the line with two governors with two different management styles. He said he liked Markell's more hands-off style, while Christie wanted things done his way, which was unusual because DRBA has typically been an independent agency that operated free from either state's rules but with approval from both.

"He believed things should be done a certain way, and that was his way, in particular the way things were done in New Jersey. It's not a question of whether it was right or wrong, but it was the first time either governor from either state took the position that the DRBA had to do things in one particular way. That was a very difficult thing to negotiate at times," Green said.

One thing Green is proud of is an increase in ferry ridership, which was at a low ebb when he first became a commissioner, a time when people saw the ferry as just another form of transportation.

Green said people had lost their sense of wonder and fun. Worse, the low ridership was demoralizing to the staff, he said.

To that end, the authority began a marketing plan aimed at making the ferry fun again: sprucing up the boats with new chairs and new paint. Naturalists were invited to talk about birds found on the route between Lewes and Cape May, and members of the Lewes Historical Society were invited to give talks.

In addition, Green said, he tried to make the terminals a destination in and of themselves. In Lewes, the authority worked with the late Matt Haley and Scott Kammerer of SoDel Concepts to improve the menu at On The Rocks deckside bar, Green said. The Lewes terminal also began live outdoor concerts as another way to bring people in. Green said the intention was to get people to come to the terminal and be inspired to take a ride on the ferry.

The changes, Green said, have led to three straight years of increased ridership.

"I'm the ferry's No. 1 fan. I was before I came here, and I will be after I leave," Green said.

After living in New Jersey for a year, Green moved to Rehoboth, discovering the town after coming over on the ferry.

"Jersey Shore's a great place to go on a weekend. It's not a great place to live," he said.

Green said his love of service came from his parents, who always seemed to be fundraising or serving on some board, an ethic he says makes him feel less like an outsider.

Green said he enjoys looking out at the ocean from the overlook at Fort Miles, and it's the sense of community and the natural beauty of Delaware that keep him here.

"One of the best ways to know a community is to be out there serving it," he said.