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.
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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.
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