Port Orchard City Councilman John Clauson will replace Dick Hayes as executive director of Kitsap Transit, the agency’s board announced Tuesday.

Clauson was chosen out of 10 finalists to replace the retiring Hayes, said Kitsap County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido, who will be 2012 chair of the transit board . She believes Clauson, who is Kitsap Transit’s Service Development Director and started working for the agency as a bus driver in 1983, is a “great fit”.

“He’s been involved in transit for decades,” Garrido said.

Contract negotiations must be completed with Clauson before his start date in the new position is announced. A search for a new executive director began when Hayes, a 27-year veteran in transit work, announced his retirement over a year ago.