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Past head of VDOT advocates downsizing 50%

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dickboyd View Drop Down
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    Posted: 15 Dec 2005 at 1:15pm
When Democrats are in power, work on the road gets done by civil servants. Everyone complains about the lack of response. When the Republicans are in power, the civil servants are replaced with private sector contractors. Everyone complains about the lack of response. Where is the Commonwealth Transportation Board when you really need them?


Past head of VDOT advocates downsizing 50%



Both Senate Transportation Committee Chair Marty Williams and former
Virginia Transportation Commissioner Phil Shucet say substantial
employee cuts at the giant agency may be in order.


Shucet believes the employee count at the Department of Transportation
can drop below 5,000, down from the current 9,000, without harming the
agency's mission.


Williams wants a thorough study before committing to cuts. But
recently, in an interview with Virginian-Pilot reporter Christina
Nuckols, he also cited below-5,000 as a possibility.


Shucet, who knows the ins and outs of VDOT better than almost anyone
after three years at the helm, has a clear vision for how to go about
cutting. For starters, he sees no need to retain the large, in-house
maintenance operation.


"The idea of outsourcing maintenance functions is one that has been
discussed with increasing interest," said Shucet in a recent letter
to key senators, including Williams and Senate Finance Chair John
Chichester. "I think it's the right thing to do."


The biggest obstacle, aside from the almost certain protests of many
VDOT workers, may be the bitter aftertaste from the state's last
major downsizing at VDOT.


In 1998, the legislative watchdog agency JLARC documented an 800
percent increase in engineering consulting work for VDOT over the
previous decade. JLARC attributed much of the increased costs to a
series of employee buyouts pushed by former Gov. George Allen in the
mid-1990s.


As talented and experienced professionals jumped ship for the private
sector, the state wound up paying many former employees substantially
more for their services after they joined private firms.


http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=96884&ran=81193


dickboyd@aol.com
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