Dear Mr. Mason:
As a courtesy to you, let me inform you
that, over the course of the Spring and Summer, I intend to conduct a
performance review of our MPO (the one you administer). To that end, I intend to
publish my findings.
I hope you welcome the scrutiny as a
means of improving our MPO's performance, whether it is performing
satisfactorily or not. I also encourage you to embrace my team's findings as a
catalyst for encouraging citizen involvement with our MPO.
As you doubtless already know, MPO's
were formed for purposes of encouraging "regional decision-making". To the
extent consultants time-and-again seem more respected by MPO's than do local
citizens (and, to the extent we heard troubling testimony about this as far back
as the early '90's when I was a U.S. Senate Transportation L.A.), I should like
to encourage you to prioritize more effective outreach to our friends and
neighbors.
I should further like to encourage you
to submit not only to audits (as required, and as you've been doing), but also
to PERFORMANCE audits (a different animal altogether).
Moreover, I should like to ask that you
cite your governing authority on our MPO website (federal authority as well as
state authority, both statutes and regulations). To my knowledge the website
ignores this vital information. Underscoring the importance of such information,
I noticed that a recent correspondence you disseminated via email contains an
incorrect statutory citation - one that confuses a federal statute with a DOT
regulation.
Finally, I must ask for
clarity...
I suspect I know the answers to the
following questions; but, for the benefit of my team and our fellow citizens,
please tell me:
1. Were you appointed by our MPO policy
committee? If so, then who was serving on the committee when you were appointed?
If you were not appointed by the policy committee, then who appointed you?
2.
When were you hired/appointed? Are you a political appointee with a term of
service? If so, then when does your term fall subject to expiration or
re-designation?
3. Which public official(s) hold you accountable for
performance? Put another way, who does Tom Mason answer to? The question is an
important one because – insofar as more than 90% of your budget comes from the
feds; insofar as the money runs through WyDOT and is administered by the City of
Cheyenne; and insofar as the MPO policy committee consists of both state and
local officials – your chain of accountability is confusing to average citizens.
I might add that it is also confusing to Mayor Kaysen because, at a recent town
hall meeting, this key member of your governing policy committee was unable to
address the question: "Who does Tom Mason answer to?"
4. Is Tom Mason subject to performance
evaluations? If so, then may I see the most recent one (rest assured I will not
ask to look at it until April at the earliest)?
5.
When is our MPO up for re-designation?
6. In the event our MPO is operating
beyond its purview (keep in mind that, in various jurisdictions, this DOES from
time-to-time happen), what recourse or remedy do citizens have to alleviate such
a problem? Shouldn't this be addressed via published MPO policy? Again, this
goes back to the vital question of accountability and the basic functioning of
bottom-up Self Government.
7. What guidance can you provide on
codifying new state language addressing our MPO's chain of
accountability?
8.
Are you aware that MPO's are restricted from using taxpayer resources to lobby
or to campaign for changes to public policy? I expect we will address this issue
in the statehouse next January. Any recommendations on language? And,
9. Are you willing to adopt an official
MPO policy stipulating a "performance" audit to coincide with your routine,
three-year audits? If money is a concern, then perhaps our MPO would be willing
to adopt an official policy submitting to privately funded audits.
Thank you, Tom. I hope you find value
in this interrogatory. I expect my team will conduct more of them.
Respectfully,
Tim Bieligk,
On behalf of myself and sundry MPO
constituents
2512 Carey Avenue
Cheyenne, Wyoming
82001
307-215-4553
No comments:
Post a Comment