Major shakeup at Orlando FL toller promised by chairman

Orange county mayor and Orlando toll authority chair Rich Crotty says he's planning a major shakeup of the Orlando Orange County (Toll) Expressway Authority (OOCEA) including cancellation of a longstanding engineering contract with PBS&J and firing chief executive Mike Snyder. Crotty was responding in the local media to a scathing letter by Harvey L Massey, a prominent local businessman and the chairman of the toll authority's audit committee.

Change at the top

Massey's letter calls on the board to "Terminate the Executive Director's contract" saying under Mike Snyder's management "we continue to experience turnover, controversy and poor management accountability."

He continues: "Each director should consider the amount of controversy and the lack of public trust we have encountered over the past several years... It is time for a change at the top."

Political chicanery

Massey says a recent Orange county Grand Jury paper is an indictment of OOCEA management staff "either oblivious to the world they work in or participants in the political chicanery."

This is a reference to criminal investigations into political fundraising from vendors by former chairman Allan Keen, PR and marketing contractor Ron Pecora, and PBS&J consultants at the authority, and a no-work contract for $107k to silence a local activist. The investigations produced no significant indictments, but produced a picture of an agency that looked corrupt.

Authority chairman Crotty is quoted in today's Orlando Sentinel as saying he will urge his fellow directors to terminate the PBS&J contract and intends to discuss with them Massey's proposal that executive-director Snyder be replaced and toll increases scheduled for next month be rescinded.

Crotty says of Massey and himself: "He and I both have a reform-minded agenda of late."

Hitting up vendors

Massey in his sensational letter says top staff of PBS&J which has had a general engineering contract with OOCEA since 1982 were "consistently hitting up" OOCEA vendors for political contributions for four years.

"This wasn't done once or twice, this failure of good judgment and commonsense went on for four years, from 2002 through 2006," writes Massey.

Snyder knew

Massey says it "defies logic or credibility" to think Snyder and other managers didn't know, especially since the disgraced former chairman Allan Keen said in an email obtained by the county Grand Jury: "...I on purpose do not copy these emails to Mike (Snyder) but he is aware of everything that I do, and in turn, how much you help me get there."

Massey says this statement "has every appearance of a pay to play situation at its best."

Massey accuses PBS&J of misbehavior in soliciting political contributions saying "they know better than to behave in the manner" described in the Grand Jury paper. He said that the political activity of PBS&J employees at the toll authority which occurred under the since-departed chairman Allan Keen defied "both reason and commonsense."

Botched management of head office build

The audit committee chairman also accuses PBS&J of making a "$15 million error" on the new headquarters building which they designed and managed for OOCEA. He cites as unacceptable the situation in which, according to the county auditor, the toll authority has become completely dependent on PBS&J to function.

Massey also says the Authority bought vehicles for contractors which were titled to those contractors and for which the Authority never got the residual value when contracts ended.

Grand Jury 'presentment'

A 41 page Grand Jury paper has just surfaced called a 'Presentment.'

Written in October 2007 in the aftermath of the State Attorney's investigation of OOCEA it was kept under wraps until now through legal maneuvers by ex-Chairman Allan Keen.

It says that during Keen's period of chairmanship from 2002 to 2006 "fundraising for various issues and political candidates close to Allan Keen's heart was undertaken at his behest" at the toll authority.

Snyder was appointed executive director around the same time Keen became chairman in 2002.

Started raising funds for high school band

The Grand Jury paper says: "Chairman Keen utilized two primary consultants to the OOCEA as the means to raise funds from the vendor family of the OOCEA, Pecora & Blexrud, the marketing consultant to the OOCEA and PBS&J, the general engineering consultant."

Then mobility campaign

Ron Pecora and Bob Paulsen of PBS&J were first enlisted in fundraising by Keen in 2002 when the chairman asked them to raise money from OOOCEA vendors for a high school band where a daughter of Keen was a band player.  They then hit on vendors to support a "mobility campaign" and then moved to raising money for Republican political candidates.

Keen had promised the candidates funds and made partial contributions himself, handing over the balance to Pecora and Paulsen to get out of OOCEA vendors.

Lists of potential contributors ranked by business done

Vendors being solicited were listed by the amounts of OOCEA contract payments.

$468,352 was raised from vendors for political candidates favored by Keen in what is described by the Grand Jury paper as "an organized shakedown of OOCEA vendors."

They charge that that political fundraising "created a culture of corruption by giving the appearance that it is necessary to contribute to these candidates in order to continue doing business with the Authority."

They say they received no evidence of direct threats by Keen or of "collections agents" Pecora and Paulsen of retribution for failure to contribute, but the persistence and frequency of the requests was "coercive."

Secrecy attempted

Keen indicated he knew the fundraising was improper by using his private and business email and fax system rather than OOCEA's, the grand jury paper says.

One email said that Mike Snyder was fully aware of the fundraising activities but was not copied in order to keep them secret.

The paper says that Keen and his fundraisers worked particularly hard on behalf of county mayor and then-board member, now-chairman Rich Crotty, raising $62,900 for him.

Crotty's response

Crotty says in a March 5 letter to the board of OOCEA he was "absolutely stunned" to read the grand jury statement that Keen had raised nearly $63k for him and that his campaign records show the amount was only $8,300.

$54,600 is missing?

The chairman and mayor writes that he had a campaign finance committee to raise money for his campaigns and never asked anyone at OOCEA for money.

Pecora testifies that Crotty never asked him to do fundraising.

Crotty in his letter to the board proposes a rule that board members be explicitly prohibited from soliciting vendors for political or charitable contributions.

Massey letter:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/MasseyLtr.pdf

Grand Jury paper:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/f7bnrd

Crotty response to Grand Jury

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/Crotty.pdf

TOLLROADSnews 2009-03-12