orlando orange county expressway authority

Orlando Sentinel newspaper reports this weekend grand jury records apparently linking Orlando Orange County (Toll) Expressway Authority (OOCEA) chief executive Mike Snyder to the political fundraising from toll authority vendors. This long drawn out affair has cast a pall over OOCEA over the last several years.

A February 2006 memo written by the tollroad's then PR and marketing chief Ron Pecora on a "fundraising strategy meeting" said:

Orlando FL mayor and chair of the toll authority Rich Crotty says he wants longtime operations contractor and consultant PBS&J out at the Orlando Orange County (Toll) Expressway Authority (OOCEA).

Shakeups are looming at toll authorities in Orlando FL and Pennsylvania.In Orlando the release of a grand jury paper about shenanigans inside the local toll expressway authority threaten the tenure of CEO Mike Snyder and longtime general contractor PBS&J, while in Harrisburg PA the Governor Ed Rendell has said he's investigating whether he has the leg

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.

Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) has done a partial opening of their fifth tollroad. Saturday Feb 14 they cut the ribbon on TOLL-414 and about two-thirds of its length is open to motorists with Florida transponders.

A grand jury report in Orlando Florida says that under former chairman Allan Keen there was a "culture of corruption" at the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) that amounted to an "organized shakedown" of vendors on behalf of Republican candidates for office.

Tolls are going up on Orlando tollroads by about a third April 5, the first toll increase since mid-1990. Most of the toll increases are of 25c - most mainline plazas presently 75c go to $1.00. Mainline plazas with higher toll rates also rise mostly by 25c. many ramp tolls go from 25c to 50c but quite a number don't rise.

The Orange county council of mayors want the governance of the Orlando Orange County (Toll) Expressway Authority (OOCEA) to be changed to provide them with a majority on the governing board, the Orlando Sentinel reports. OOCEA like other ostensibly regional toll authorities in Tampa and Miami is a creature of state legislation which in its case provides for a five person board, four of whom are appointed by the state governor.

An extensive audit of the Orlando Orange County (Toll) Expressway Authority finds that consulting contracts have not be sufficiently competed, that controls over contracts and spending are often lax, records are poor, and that it needs to bring many functions in-house.

The authority concurs with many of the criticisms though it contests some. The audit was under the control of County Comptroller Martha O Haynie.