Governor Rell has faith that the many Connecticut residents who travel the orads and rails in the state have important ideas about how the DOT needs to be reformed, or fixed. That is an important step in opening up the discussions past the DOT management centric discussions thus far. According the Advocate, a culture of fear, prevented DOT staff from making decisions. A culture of fear? Who came up with this? From the Advocate:
One speaker said intense public scrutiny of DOT employees could have contributed to some of the agency’s failures and indecisiveness the past few years.
“The side effect of contract reform the past seven years has been a culture of fear that has challenged even the best employees at DOT,” said Donald Schubert, representing the Connecticut Roadbuilders Association. “The fear is basically destroying the working relationship, not only between the department and the construction industry but also between people within the department.”
Asked by state budget chief Robert Genuario, a member of the panel, what he meant by a “culture of fear,” Schubert said some DOT employees have told him they are afraid they could be penalized or even sent to jail if they unknowingly made a decision about a contract without the approval of the agency’s commissioner and other state leaders.
The only way to land on a Go Directly To Jail contract would be if that contract was a shady as a three dollar bill. So how about calling the DOT contracting end what it is, tainted as long as career management at the DOT packed the process with incompetence and cronyism.
Two good suggestions emerged from the panel.
With more than $3.5 billion allotted to the DOT the past two legislative sessions to help improve highways and mass transit, some lawmakers believe a reorganization of the agency could help keep many proposed projects moving forward.
State Sen. Donald DeFronzo, D-New Britain, co-chairman of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, said the panel should consider breaking the DOT into separate autonomous agencies, including one that would focus solely on mass transit and another that would remove Bradley International Airport from the agency’s control.
“The size and responsibility of the agency really needs to be considered,” DeFronzo said.
Members of the Connecticut State Employees Association, Service Employees International Union Local 2001, urged the panel to invite “rank-and file” engineers, inspectors, planners and others working within the DOT to the commission to help with the reform process.
Rank and file engineers should absolutely be able to freely discuss what’s wrong with the DOT culture of fear. And the DOT should be split into autonomous agencies. The rail system deserves its own agency that can concentrate on mass transit objectives instead of competing against road building objectives.
Advocate, Panel hears pitch for DOT reform, By Mark Ginocchio, August 10 2007
