Different Texas agency, same Texas corruption?

The North Texas Tollway Authority keeps making the "news".  WHY?

Because they've been through 5 guys in 5 years.  WHY did the latest head resign?  Because he was going to be fired.

WHY?  Because he thinks some of the million(s) of tax dollar relationships with some of the same companies since the 1950s are too cozy.  And maybe all those connections the board members have with the companies and politicians could be considered a conflict of interest. 

Hell, this is Texas...WHO are we kidding?

Is it time for the sunset of NTTA?

It ain't the only "Authority" that's overdue.

When it comes to Toll (Toal?) Roads and Rivers, it's all about WHO you know.


Some notes YOU can't afford to miss in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram articles this week.

The recommendations come after several potential conflicts surfaced involving individual board members, as well as the tollway authority’s institutional relationship with a handful of firms that are paid tens of millions of dollars per year to perform engineering, legal and other services.

Board chairman Kenneth Barr of Fort Worth disclosed that his brother is a lawyer with Locke Lord, a firm that does about $6.9 million a year in tollway authority legal work. Barr said he consulted with the tollway authority’s legal counsel, also a Locke Lord attorney, before accepting a board position in 2008 to ensure there was no ethical conflict.

The report said the tollway authority had “perceived and potentially real conflicts of interest” with HNTB, an engineering firm that is currently under contract for about $15 million a year in tollway work. When asked later what that meant, Alvarez & Marsal managing director Ron Orsini said the audit has uncovered a situation in which one HNTB consultant was approved to pay an invoice for another HNTB consultant – all with the tollway authority’s blessing.The report didn’t attempt to catalog how often the arrangement existed, or how long the practice had been in place, Orsini said.

Ethnicity has become an issue in recent months, when tollway staff disclosed that most of their contracts are awarded to firms governed by white males – although the report points out that the tollway authority is making progress in diversifying its contractors.

But the report also found that tollway staff publicly discussed winners of procurement contracts before the board had voted to approve the contracts.“Some board members did not trust the staff’s procurement process. It’s not clear when a procurement officially ends,” said Eric Noack, Alvarez & Marsal vice president.

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Tight in Tarrant County

5 years, 5 Directors...WHY?

Seems some think it would be a good idea to bring in new firms instead of the ones who have been given the contracts since the 1950s.  You read that right.

Another North Texas Tollway Authority Director is out, if he didn't resign, he was going to be fired for not going along with the gang. 

Freeways (ha) and rivers are big business in Tarrant county.

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Allen Clemson formally resigned Friday as North Texas Tollway Authority executive director, becoming the latest in a long line of top managers who couldn't get along with the agency's governing board.

Clemson, a former Dallas County administrator, was the fifth CEO in five years at the tollway authority when he arrived in June 2009. But he eventually fell out of favor with the nine-member board for pushing too quickly to bring in new firms to handle legal, engineering and other professional services.

The tollway authority has been criticized for relying too heavily on a handful of firms, several of which have been under contract since its predecessor agency was founded in the 1950s. Even so, some board members want to be cautious in severing those relationships, noting that millions of dollars in work -- including the planned Chisholm Trail Parkway toll road from Fort Worth to Cleburne -- is at stake.

"It will be an agreed-to separation," Clemson told the Star-Telegram on Friday, saying he resigned because he had been told that he would be fired by the board next week anyway. "The die was cast. Wednesday was going to be my last day."

The resignation comes weeks after former Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr was elected chairman, succeeding Victor Vandergriff of Arlington, a Clemson supporter.

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Corrupt Connections

The LBJ freeway project is now headed by a former John Cornyn staffer.  How much experience do political staff members have building freeways?

Now, former Fort Worth Mayor, Kenn Barr has been appointed to head the Tollway Authority.

WHY did someone new need to be appointed?  Oh that's right, the past Chairman felt there may be conflicts of interest that weren't in the public's best interest.  Sounds like he thought maybe the chosen few getting the contracts weren't the best option.  Someone going against the Fort Worth Way?  Kudos Victor Vandergriff.  As for Clemson, who agrees with Vandergriff - the board is trying to have him removed.  Surprised?  No one else is either. 

Read about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  YOU can't afford to miss it, after all, it's YOUR money. 

Vandergriff has pushed the board to stop relying on a small number of engineering, legal and other consulting firms for nearly all its professional services. Those firms have been paid tens of millions of dollars during the past couple of decades, and Vandergriff and Clemson have sought to bring in fresh blood.

The issue of conflict also has swirled around discussions of tollway authority contracts.

Barr disclosed this year that his brother had been an attorney with Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, the firm that for years has handled much of the agency's legal consulting work. Barr clarified that when he joined the tollway board he sought advice from the agency's legal counsel before voting on items involving the firm.

But other board members, including Vandergriff, have sought changes in board policy that require a more public process for board members to disclose potential conflicts.

In 2009, Barr created a consulting partnership with Brian Newby of the Newby Davis legal firm in Fort Worth, records from the Texas Secretary of State's office show. In March, Barr and other tollway board members approved a legal services contract with Newby Davis in conjunction with Cantey Hanger, to provide legal services for buying right of way for the Chisholm Trail Parkway.

On Wednesday, Barr said the partnership with Newby, a limited liability company, was created for a specific business deal that never materialized. He added that no money changed hands and that he had forgotten about the arrangement until reminded of it in an interview.

Barr also entered into a partnership with David Chappell of Cantey Hanger in 2010, records show. Barr said he pays Chappell rent for office space.

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