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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2017
Draft plan released to reform ODOT Bend residents protest
apartment proposal
in wake of $1 million evaluation
By MARINA STARLEAF
RIKER
The Bulletin
A legislative committee will have
its own set of recommendations
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The state’s
administrative agency has laid
out a draft plan for reform-
ing weaknesses at the Oregon
Department of Transportation,
but deadlines for the reforms
lag behind legislators’ sched-
ule for approving a transporta-
tion package.
The draft recommenda-
tions by the Department of
Administrative Services are
based on the findings of an
independent consultant’s man-
agement review of the agency
finalized in February.
The state paid New York-
based McKinsey & Co. $1
million to evaluate the per-
formance of the Department
of Transportation before law-
makers consider approving
hundreds of millions of dollars
in new transportation funding
later this session. The reve-
nue to pay for projects 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 some
lawmakers’ concerns the
agency wasn’t prepared to
handle the new projects effi-
ciently and effectively.
lacks a strategic vision for the
future and accountability mea-
sures, the consultants found.
In its draft, the Department
of Administrative Services
recommended that the gover-
nor and Legislature convene a
work group to clarify the gov-
ernance structure and report
back by November.
ODOT should seek the
expertise of a manage-
ment consulting company to
develop a management plan
for the agency that would
define structure, roles and
measurements for success.
The agency also should
seek out a consulting company
to address waste in its fleet
and facilities programs and
convene procurement experts
from other state agencies to
review potential improve-
ments for contracting.
Other recommendations
ask for a communications
plan, align legislative stan-
dards with the realities of the
agency’s operations and ask
the secretary of state to con-
duct an audit specifically
on ODOT’s management of
funds in the highway program.
Finally, DAS recommends
conducting another manage-
ment review to identify the
progress of any changes.
Unclear governance
Released Friday
The consultants concluded
there is an unclear governance
structure for ODOT and the
Oregon Transportation Com-
mission, which sets policy for
the agency. The agency also
The draft recommenda-
tions were released to the EO
Media Group/Pamplin Media
Group Capital Bureau Friday
in response to a public records
request.
BEND — Catherine
Najand and her husband
moved from Southern Cal-
ifornia to Bend three years
ago so they could live in a
quiet, tight-knit community.
She bought a home on a
quarter-acre lot on the south
edge of town, where she
would live among ponderosa
pines, wildlife and look out
to dark, starry skies at night.
But just a few years after
moving in, neighboring prop-
erty owners are threatening
the things Najand cherishes
the most about her neighbor-
hood: They want to build a
192-unit apartment complex
just blocks away.
Najand isn’t happy.
“I came here because I
was told Bend is a commu-
nity,” said Najand. “It’s not
a community anymore; it’s a
moneymaking machine.”
Najand is one of several
residents protesting the pro-
posed apartment complex,
which would be located just
north of Ponderosa Street on
U.S. Highway 97. Although
developers are still in the early
stages of planning, Najand
and some of her neighbors
say the apartments won’t fit
in with the neighborhood and
will negatively impact their
community, which doesn’t
have sewer lines or adequate
Capital Bureau
The Department of Administrative Services has released
draft recommendations to reform the Department of Trans-
portation based on the results of a consultant’s evaluation.
The finalized recommen-
dations are scheduled to
be released this week, said
Department of Administra-
tive Services spokesman Matt
Shelby. The records were sub-
mitted to the Oregon Transpor-
tation Commission and ODOT
earlier this month. The com-
mission and agency have been
asked to give feedback on the
recommendations by today,
Shelby said.
The first of several work
products recommended in the
draft plan wouldn’t be due
until Nov. 1, months after the
state Legislature is scheduled
to adjourn.
Lawmakers on a legislative
committee crafting the transpor-
tation package say they plan to
move forward with their own
ODOT reforms. The co-chairs
of the Committee on Transpor-
tation Preservation and Modern-
ization formed an accountability
subgroup to look at such issues.
“When we decided to go
with the accountability group,
we kind of put aside what the
executive department was
doing and said, we are going
to do what we think needs to
be done from a legislative per-
spective for accountability and
transparency,” said committee
Co-Chairman Sen. Lee Beyer,
D-Springfield.
Rep. Alan Olson, R-Albany,
who heads the accountability
subgroup, said he would con-
sider the draft plan in a separate
set of recommendations he plans
to present to the full, 14-member
transportation package commit-
tee in early April.
Accountability measures
His recommendations are
likely going to include sugges-
tions for changing or clarify-
ing ODOT’s governance struc-
ture and other accountability
measures.
Olson said he is particularly
interested in an idea to provide a
website to the public where they
can track the progress of trans-
portation packages and whether
the projects are on schedule and
on budget.
The Capital Bureau is a col-
laboration between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
streets to handle hundreds of
new residents.
Najand is not unlike doz-
ens of other residents who
have protested new develop-
ments in Bend — specifically
apartments. Housing advo-
cates and city officials say
building up is the only way
to provide enough homes for
the city’s population; Bend’s
rent prices have skyrocketed
in recent years, pushing some
longtime residents out of the
city. But hundreds of other
Bend residents say apart-
ments will ruin quiet, sin-
gle-family neighborhoods.
Developers
haven’t
applied for any permits yet
for the Ponderosa Street proj-
ect, but the initial proposal
calls for multiple three-story
apartment buildings, a club-
house and pool, according to
documents submitted to the
city by Grant Hardgrave, a
civil engineer in Bend. The
192-unit apartment complex
would span 8.6 acres, which
are owned by multiple prop-
erty owners, according to
property records. Hardgrave
wouldn’t comment on the
proposal.
Colin Stephens, planning
manager for the city, said
before anything can be built,
the developers will have to
send notices to neighbors and
go through a planning and
permit process, which will
give people the chance to
appeal the project.
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