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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2017 ODOT review could lead to hiring more consultants Next steps after $1 million audit By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — A $1 million management performance audit of the state Department of Transportation may yield no specific recommendations for how to improve accountability or reduce waste at the agency. Instead, the Department of Administrative Services plans to recommend that the state spend more money and hire more independent contractors to address issues such as con- flicts of interest in contracting and projects overdue and over budget. The work product from those contractor studies could take up to a year, Department of Administrative Services Director Katy Coba told law- makers on committee sub- group examining accountabil- ity measures Wednesday. The state paid New York- based McKinsey & Co. $1 million to evaluate the perfor- mance of the agency before lawmakers consider approv- ing hundreds of millions of dollars in new transporta- tion funding later this session. The new revenue would likely come largely from a hike in the state’s gas tax and registration fees. Gov. Kate Brown ordered the review to help allay law- makers’ concerns the agency wasn’t prepared to handle the new projects efficiently and effectively. “You can understand why a couple of us are incredulous,” said state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose. When hiring additional consultants to reform ODOT, “how do we not waste a boat- load of money?” Johnson asked. Coba suggested that law- makers could still move for- ward with the package, noting that the management review was generally favorable of ODOT. “The McKinsey report, as I would interpret it, basically says ODOT is a solid opera- tion,” Coba said. “They are in the top quartile for West- ern departments of transpor- tation. This is a not a broken organization.” McKinsey released a report of findings about the agency in February. The consultants con- cluded there is an unclear gov- ernance structure for ODOT and the Oregon Transportation Commission, which sets policy for the agency. The agency also lacks a strategic vision for the future and accountability mea- sures, the consultants found. Accountability measures could be proposed in-house or by legislators on the legisla- tive Committee on Transporta- tion Preservation and Modern- ization, which is responsible for crafting a transportation package. For instance, lawmakers could restore the authority to hire and fire the ODOT direc- tor to the Oregon Transpor- tation Commission, as some former commission chairmen have suggested. That author- ity now lies with the governor. Despite McKinsey’s favor- able report of the agency, some lawmakers will remain dis- trustful of the agency, said Rep. John Lively, D-Springfield. Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stay- ton, said he was “less than impressed with the quality of what” McKinsey released. The Department of Admin- istrative Services initially had planned to produce recom- mendations from McKinsey’s findings by March 1. That due date was pushed back to April 15, after the co-chair and vice- chairs of the transportation package committee asked the department to “slow down,” Coba said. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. A NOTE TO OUR READERS The Daily Astorian The Daily Astorian will be undertaking routine maintenance at the newspa- per’s building Friday after- noon, which will require that power be off between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. While the newspaper will remain open for busi- ness during those hours, the computer system will be offline and the telephone system will have limited capacity. As a result, some Clatsop Post 12 Dead pedestrian identified The Daily Astorian Richard Franklin Pollock, 44, of Ketchikan, Alaska, has been identified as the pedes- trian who died after being struck by a car on U.S. High- way 26 last week. Pollock was standing in the road just east of Seaside on the morning of March 14 when he was struck by a 2011 Sub- aru Legacy traveling east. The highway was closed for roughly four hours after the crash. Oregon State Police have yet to reveal why Pollock was standing in the roadway. W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 customers who may try to contact the newspaper may not be able to complete the call. The newspaper’s man- agement apologizes for any inconvenience the out- age may cause during those hours. Lasagna Dinner with Veggie, Salad and Garlic Bread Friday Mar. 24 th 4 pm until gone 8. 00 $ 6PM “Karaoke Dave” ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION Clatsop Post 12 The residents and staff at Suzanne Elise Assisted wiving Community will be hosting an 1132 Exchange Street 325-5771 ESTATE SAwE 4 AwZHIEMER’S SATURDAY, MARCH 25th 9AM - 2PM N e w Join us for great deals, refreshments and a raffle! All proceeds will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Association. Full color, scenic montage postcards of Astoria now available at the Daily Astorian office! 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