ACEC/CT Update

NYC Relaxes Qualifications for Chief Building Position

So, in a city where several major crane collapses and other structural disasters have focused attention on the need to clean up the city building department and were several building inspectors have been charged with corruption, what do you do to tighten discipline and bring the department back up to the highest standards? Why, relax the qualifications for the job to eliminate the requirement that the person needs to be licensed, of course! See the NYT article.The New York Society of Professional Engineers and other professional organizations opposed this move and they may sue. How much to you want to bet that the person Mayor Blumberg has in mind for the job is a lawyer?

Governor Rell Orders Spending Freeze

Governor Rell has ordered state agencies to freeze state spending in the remainder of the fiscal year which ends June 30th. She has included a travel ban and a hiring freeze. She has ordered staff to make recisions in next year's budget. The short-term spending cuts should not impact building projects at DPW or ConnDOT which are funded by state bonding.

School Construction Coalition

ACEC/CT is one of the founding members of the School Construction Coalition which has been formed to repeal a law passed last year that required bidding for architectural and construction management services for local school building projects using state funds.

The Coalition now includes CT Conference of Municipalities, AIA/CT, AGC, CSCE, School Superintendents, municipal attorneys and many others. Many school projects involve investigation of several alternatives (Should we renovate two old schools or build two new schools or one big school?) Bidding makes this analysis almost impossible. Many school districts are small and don't have the expertise to put together a reasonalbe bidding scope.

In spite of widespread support from the design and construction industry and municipalities, the Education Committee has not yet committed to bring the matter up for consideration this year. The Coalition is lobbying to get this matter on the agenda.

Governor Proposes Spliting DOT

Governor Rell gave her 2008 budget address for the opening day of the 2008 session of the Connecticut General Assembly. Among the highlights:

The Governor proposed splitting the Connecticut Department of Transportation into a Department of Highways and a Department of Public Transportation, Airports and Ports. She is recommending 50 new engineers for the DOT (or whatever departments), 42 bridge inspectors, a 511 phone system for traffic news, a citizen’s ombudsman, a chief operating officer for DOT (or whatever) and a new office of planning.

The Governor proposed repealing the business entity tax.

Ethics reforms would include more disclosures by state employees who sign or negotiate contracts and a ban on fundraising by the Governors’ staff and spouse.

In order to keep engineering students in the state, the Governor recommends a $300,000 loan reimbursement program for engineers who stay and work in Connecticut.

Transportation Committee Oversight Hearing

Acting DOT Commissioner Emil Frankel appeared before the General Assembly's Transportation Committee for a pre-session overview of the Department of Transportation. A copy of the Commissioner's statement to the Committee can be downloaded in the Bill Tracking section at right.

Commissioner Frankel is a temporary fill-in while the Governor conducts a national search for a permanent DOT chief. Frankel stated that he is not applying and would not accept the position on a permanent basis.

The Commissioner addressed bridge safety, projects advertised, mass transit projects, I-84 corrective work, transit-oriented development and staffing problems.

In order to assist the Acting Commissioner in addressing the many problems facing the troubled agency, Frankel is bringing in four experienced transportation administrators form the federal government and other states to act as consultants: Michael Saunders from Federal Highway Administration; Peter Stangle former Chairman and CEO of the MTA; Jack Lettiere, former Commissioner of NJDOT and Gail Stenard, former Administrator of the Maryland Transit Administration. They will assist Frankel in starting the process of designing a new ConnDOT structure, focusing on what staff is needed and what skills that staff needs.

In other comments during the hearing, the difficult contracting process was again discussed. Legislators are hearing from business which refuse to work for the DOT or suffer economic hardship when they do contract with the State.

Several legislators talked about the convoluted lines of authority and responsibility for transportation and planning in the state among ConnDOT, the Office of Policy and Management, the Bond Commission, the Transportation Strategy Board and 15 Metropolitan Planning Organizations. Who's responsible for transportation planning? (I don't know, but ConnDOT seems to always get the blame!)

Governor William O'Neill RIP

Funeral services will be held Thursday for former Connecticut Governor William O'Neill. The longest serving governor of the 20th century (10 years), Governor O'Neill assumed office upon the resignation of Governor Grasso who was suffering from cancer.

One of the most noteable achievements of Governor O'Neill's administration was the establishment of the Special Transportation Fund and the renovation of much of the state's transportation infrastructure after the disasterous Mianus River Bridge collapse in 1983. Governor O'Neill led a $5.5 billion transportation plan that transformed a long-neglected state system of roads and bridges. It will be one of his most enduring legacies.

DOT Commission Working Groups

The Governor’s Commission to Reform the Department of Transportation met Friday to discuss two important working group reports and outline their direction in reporting to the Governor. The meeting was recorded by CTN, although I don't see it on the schedule just yet.

The Commission had a December 1, 2007 deadline for reporting to the Governor; however, they have pushed that deadline back to December 17 to accommodate the fact that they have had to hold more public meetings than anticipated.

Rather than attempting to review and reformulate the state’s transportation plan, the Commission will be looking at the organization of DOT and how it can change the “culture of fear” that the Commission found permeates the much-maligned organization.

The Working Group on People and Culture (see report) talked with DOT employees and conducted a survey of employees and a sample (about 15%) of contractors, including ACEC/CT members. The report notes that over one-third of DOT employees will be eligible for retirement within 5 years. This is on top of a crippling loss of experienced staff during the Rowland administration. Recruiting engineers and management needs to be a top priority at DOT. The Committee also wants to the Governor to look at how the state’s university system can do a better job of providing DOT and others with more engineers and other technical professionals.

The Working Group also recommends the Department adopt specific goals and make progress reporting on those goals available on their website. (See Virginia DOT as an example: http://www.virginiadot.org/about/cj_organizing.asp .) The Department should also look at other best practices as outlined by AASHTO and the TRB.

The Working Group recommends that the DOT establish a Leadership Council to work on leadership development, communications and staffing issues. The DOT should also develop a system of continuous improvement and commit resources for training and knowledge capture of the workforce.

DOT Commissioner Gina McCarthy, who is a Commission member, made a rather bizarre comment that the Commission look at the whole process of work flow and how contractors make profit from extending projects as much as possible. This was strange because the DEP is blamed as a cause of many delays for DOT projects. Most contractors (which include design professionals as well as construction contractors) lose money if the project is delayed.

The Working Group on Organization and Procedures (see report) is recommending that the DOT establish a “chief operating officer” who can manage the internal processes of the Department while the Commissioner is busy with interfacing with the Governor, General Assembly, other departments and the public. The working group supports the Department’s plan to split the Engineering and Highway Bureau into two separate bureaus.

The Working Group does not recommend splitting up the Department into separate department or authorities for mass transit or airports.

The Department should begin a complete redesign of its business practices. The Commission was overwhelmed by small businesses (and some large) that would not do business with the DOT because they could not be paid reliably. Better business processes will also encourage more small and minority businesses to work with DOT.

The Working group emphasized the need for transparency that ACEC/CT has strongly recommended. They also expressed concern that the QBS process deprives the state of the benefits of cost competition—a perception that we will have to address.

DOT staff in the field must be given the responsibility and protection to make decisions and resolve disputes.

US House Passes Transportation Bill

The US House of Representatives has passed a transportation appropriation bill and sent it to the Senate for approval. The bill fully funds highway and transit projects, as outlined in the 2005 SAFETEA-LU transportation authorization bill. Over the course of 5 years, SAFETEA-LU includes more than $85 million for the I-95 Corridor Improvement Project, the largest transportation project in Connecticut and $46.6 million for the Q Bridge project. This year, Connecticut will receive approximately $428.5 million in SAFETEA-LU highway funds and approximately $125 million in transit funding.

Senate Overrides President's Veto of WRDA

The US Senate has voted to override the President's veto of the Water Resources Development Act, a $23 billion authorization bill for US Army Corps of Engineers water projects. The House voted to override the veto earlier and thus the bill is enacted into law. However, the bill just authorizes projects. Before the money flows, the money will have to be appropriated by Congress.

But it looks good in an election year.

House Overrides President's Veto

The US House of Representatives has voted to override President Bush's veto of the Water Resources Development Act (HR 1495). Republicans joined Democrats in the override which would provide over $23 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. The Senate is expected to also vote to override the veto. All of Connecticut's five representatives voted to override the bill which was supported by ACEC.