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Report from May 5 meeting of the Citizens' Advisory Committee of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority

By Ann Hellmuth

There we were gathered in a sun-filled conference room near the Florida Turnpike, armed with our notebooks and League of Women Voters badges, prepared to observe government in action. Or maybe one should say, watch a group of regular citizens try to burnish and restore the image of a tainted government agency.

It was the May 5 meeting of the Citizens' Advisory Committee of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and Andrea Kobrin and I were there to bear witness to the power of the LWVOC, which had fought to get activist and league member Fran Pignone appointed to the committee as a truly independent voice.

By 9 a.m., everyone was in their place and former state Sen. Daniel Webster kicked off the two-hour session by naming the committee's three main goals: restore integrity, reassess intent, restore image. Strong words, which brooked no argument. After all the scandal-plagued expressway authority had been the subject of months of unfavorable publicity and a highly critical grand jury report slamming the agency.

Even the citizens' committee had not escaped controversy. Called the "bluest of blue ribbon committees" by Orange mayor and expressway authority chair Rich Crotty, who originally named all six members, the panel was initially viewed as being too friendly to Crotty. Then over the mayor's protests, a majority of the agency's board staged what the Orlando Sentinel called a "minor revolt," voting to add a public watchdog group member to the citizens panel. The league immediately recommended Pignone, a move that didn't please Crotty but which the authority's board approved.

The panel has until the end of June to recommend reforms for the agency, which the Feb. 27 grand jury report criticized for compelling its vendors to face an "organized shakedown" for election contributions. To add fuel to the fire, the day before the report was issued, the expressway board had approved a controversial 25-cent increase in tolls to raise funds for the stalled Wekiva Parkway. There had also been calls for the firing of agency director Mike Snyder, who had recently received a five-year contract extension that pays him more than $246,000 annually.

Into the turmoil, stepped Webster, who was named chairman of the Citizens' Advisory Committee by Crotty. He was joined by Florida Hospital CEO Lars Housmann; UCF VP and chief financial officer Bill Merck; FAMU law school Dean LeRoy Pernell and later senior CNL VP Carolyn Gosselin and Pignone.

Opening the May 5 meeting, at which Pignone made her debut, Webster said the panel was still looking into employee salaries and had met with Snyder but "I would suspect that every raise given in the last five years was justified. I don't believe a state worker deserves to have a salary cut. I don't think teachers and other employees who lose their jobs aren't valuable. But there is pressure to take action on salaries."

Houmann, whose study area is finding ways to repair the authority's integrity, focused on the expressway's new building, which he described as "not opulent but first class" with ample space and obviously built for future growth. The original $8 million price tag had soared to $23.5 million and at present the building is underwater, he said.

Pignone suggested that the authority get the existing appraisal updated, to which Houmann replied: "It was worth $20 million a year ago and now is worth $18 million." He said there was a possible buyer considering the expressway authority's old building, which was originally priced at $4.2 million but "we won't get that."

Merck reported on ways to transform procurement practices. The agency has been criticized for avoiding competitive bidding on many projects. He opposed rolling back the toll increases, fearing the impact such a move would have on grading the agency's bond debt service. But money might be saved by reducing the number of lights on tollways and thereby cutting energy costs.

Pignone agreed with Merck's concerns about the size of the authority board - five members - and the problems that caused in getting quorums for sub-committees. There were suggestions that the board appoint outside members to its committees. Pignone called for them to be approved not just by the authority chairman, but the entire board. She also pushed for the use of the interim auditing firm to help the authority identify state of the art best practices to incorporate into their plans and procedures.

"The best reforms are when people come in and do performance audits and recommend changes that can be implemented" by internal auditors, Pignone said.

Pernell, reporting on ways to restore ethics, said it was vital to remove "any appearance of impropriety" and there was a need for "a better handle on an enforcement mechanism for correcting conduct." The law school dean also called for protection for whistle blowers and said he favored having ethics questions involving the expressway authority handled by an external committee.

Webster, assessing the agency's financial condition, suggested a variety of cost-cutting measures ranging from lowering tolls for electronic customers; getting rid of more cash collection lanes, piggy-backing on existing local and state government contracts; generating savings by merging Florida toll agencies and giving away transponders so drivers would use the electronic payment method.

In a sign of the tough economic times, Webster agreed that while the Wekiva Parkway needs to be built so the beltway around Orlando can be completed, "today's not the day to start the project."

The panel's next meeting will be held May 19 at 9 a.m.

Ann Hellmuth is a co-president of the LWVOC. Andrea Kobin is chairman of Hot Topics and co-chairman of the Local Government Committee.