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The Observer Corps
Pignone Says XWay Chief Should Be Fired
But citizens' panel refuses to back her proposals
By Ann Hellmuth

Fran Pignone may have been thousands of miles away in Aspen on Tuesday but that didn't stop her dominating the final meeting of the blue-ribbon panel on the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.

But while Pignone, on conference call, proposed and counter proposed for more than two hours, it was obvious that the other members of the Citizen's Advisory Committee had no intention of backing her suggestions.

The five members appointed by Orlando mayor and authority chairman Rich Crotty were almost uniformly expressionless - and provided zero support - as Pignone relentlessly questioned nearly every one of the 26 findings in a draft of the panel's final report and made four proposals of her own, which were mostly beaten back for lack of a seconder.

There was no seconder when Pignone, appointed to the committee with the backing of the LWVOC as a truly independent voice, called for a recommendation that the authority's board immediately take action to replace executive director Mike Snyder, whose contract was recently extended for another five-years, paying him $246,000 annually.

A seconder couldn't be found when Pignone proposed that the committee recommend to the authority's board that it reexamine in "a public and fully disclosive manner, the pertinent financial information underlying the need for the recent toll increase" and look for other ways to raise money by cutting costs.

Silence greeted Pignone's suggestion that the expressway's board seek out a new independent swaps advisor to thoroughly examine and recommend alternatives for dealing with the agency's variable debt rate.

Chairman Daniel Webster did accept Pignone's proposal to add wording - "if they provide greater savings" - to an item suggesting that the authority piggyback on other purchasing agreements. And she did get "which will save approximately half-a-million dollars a year" dropped from another item dealing with savings to be achieved by performing maintenance of cameras and signage. Pignone argued that no one knew what the savings would be.


An air of exhaustion hung over the Florida Turnpike conference room as Webster read the final item on the draft report - a proposal that the authority develop a performance reporting system around how the authority competes for its share of customers and revenue, financing dollars and public trust.

The citizen's committee missed its June deadline to recommend reforms to the scandal-ridden expressway authority, which a Feb. 27 grand jury report criticized for compelling its vendors to face an "organized shakedown" for election contributions.

It was no surprise when the vote on the amended final report came. Webster, Carolyn Gosselin, Lars Houmann, Bill Merck, LeRoy Pernell voted for and Pignone against.

"Some may think it's not enough, some may think it's too much," an obviously relieved Webster said as he pronounced the committee's mission completed. ".....I hope the recommendations will help and better days for the expressway authority are ahead."