New SANDAG CEO Mario Orso fires Ray Major, chief economist and deputy CEO

• Coleen Clementson, also a deputy CEO in the previous administration and interim CEO before Orso started, left the agency in June rather than return to another role.

Catch up quick: SANDAG controls billions of dollars in regional infrastructure spending, both from a local sales tax it collects and as the recipient of state and federal funds for major highway and transit projects.

Flashback: The agency's troubles started in 2016, when its tax program faced a multibillion-dollar shortfall and a new tax it was proposing was likely to face the same difficulties.

• But that issue exploded when uncovered emails from Major, then new to the agency, revealed in colorful language that he had discovered the agency's forecasting disaster months earlier.
• That led to the departure of SANDAG's CEO, state legislation reforming the agency and the hiring of a new, transit-focused executive.

State of play: Major ascended to deputy CEO under that new executive, Hasan Ikhrata, but the agency moved into a new series of problems.

• Ikhrata polarized SANDAG's board, with rural, conservative and small-city mayors aligning against his vision, especially his attempt to charge a driving fee to decrease emissions.
• Last year, the agency began grappling with allegations that a mismanaged South Bay toll road had incorrectly charged drivers.
• Ikhrata announced his resignation almost exactly one year ago.

What we're watching: Orso takes over the agency with a clean slate — and a measure on this fall's ballot asking voters to increase sales taxes for new transportation projects.