‘It wasn’t overnight’: New details on sudden dismissal of GET CEO Michael Tree

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Questions linger following the abrupt dismissal of Michael Tree, CEO of the Kern Golden Empire Transit District, Bakersfield’s primary public transportation system.

17 News has received a copy of Tree’s contact.

As we’ve been reporting, GET employees are perhaps most upset by Tree’s firing.

In fact, some still are calling for Tree’s reinstatement, which the Board said at this point is out of the question.

“We listen not just to the drivers, but we have to listen to maintenance, we have to listen to admin and the executive staff and to customer service…” said Cindy Parra, GET Board chair, who has been with the district for nearly 10 years.

“It wasn’t overnight. I mean, that’s all I can say,” she said of the termination.

That’s what Parra told 17 News when asked if the decision to dismiss Michael Tree was as sudden as it seemed.

“We hire and separate,” Parra said of her Board’s role.

The district is reserved in what’s said about Tree’s dismissal, repeatedly citing it’s a personnel matter.

Parra explained, “There was a lot of things that we did agree with him on. But the vision just wasn’t totally in line with the culture at GET, and I don’t wish any ill will or anything.”

But Parra declined to specify the disagreements, and if there had been employee complaints against Tree, who seems to have received nothing but praise since his taking over.

Tree served just four months before the five-member Board — to which he reported — fired him following a special June 17th meeting.

His base annual salary was about $241,000.

Jim Worth, the attorney for the district, said Tree received termination pay.

Had Tree been fired due to reasons like neglecting duties as CEO or committed acts of dishonesty or other acts involving moral turpitude, he likely would not have received that pay.

Worth emphasized the district does not allege Mr. Tree violated any of those provisions.

Longtime Director of Maintenance Chris James, who has been at GET for 40 years, is the acting CEO for up to six months and is also a candidate for the permanent role.

“We approved a 90-day contract with an evaluation done at that 90 days,” Parra said. “[James] knows every, pretty much every job that’s on that yard. He started as a bus washer when he was a teenager.”

Parra added that James was behind the transit centers at the CSUB and BC campuses.

And Worth said James receives considerably less than Tree did in the position.

Michael Tree did not respond to requests for comment.

Employees, particularly drivers, are also calling on the Board to resign.

When asked if any member was considering leaving, Parra told 17 News, “I don’t think so. We would like to build that trust [with workers] again.”

Parra detailed that the Board’s strategic plan includes, among other things, solidifying a relationship with employees, upping GET’s downtown availability, as well as moving out of the current administrative building due to construction of high-speed rail.

Speculations over Tree’s dismissal included a difference in vision when it came to the future of GET’s on-demand microtransit service.

Tree strongly leaned towards a replacement of that service with rideshare companies Uber and Lyft.

Parra said that failure to see eye to eye wasn’t a dealbreaker in Tree’s being let go.

She did acknowledge, though, “A combination of what Mr. Tree had in mind to fix that and micro transit could’ve been a solution, rather than just getting rid of micro transit all together.”

Parra said the nationwide search for a new CEO is on pause right now.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17.