MDOT Exec Hall 'Banished' to Parking Lot Trailer

October 23, 2005

By Eric Stringfellow

estringfellow@clarionledger.com

Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall has enjoyed a corner office inside the Mississippi Department of Transportation in downtown Jackson.

That all changed last week.

Eric Stringfellow

Hall, a Republican who has been at odds with the two Democrats on the three-member panel, said he and his staff were evicted from department headquarters. They are operating from a trailer in the parking lot of MDOT's field office in Rankin County across from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.

"I've been banished," Hall said Friday. "It's obviously backlash for exposing their plans to expand. We are in a construction trailer. I never thought they would follow through. It's so juvenile. It's unbelievable."

It is indeed unbelievable, if Hall's ouster is related to his questions a proposed renovation at MDOT headquarters expected to cost millions. One commissioner insisted Hall's relocation was a space issue and not punitive, but the timing is suspect.

Expansion feud

Hall and commissioners Wayne Brown and Bill Minor are feuding over a proposal to renovate and expand MDOT's 10th floor. Minor and Hall believe the space could be better utilized to ease constant overflow in MDOT's 42-seat conference room.

Hall believes the project, expected to cost between $1.4 million and $2.5 million, is poorly timed and may be unnecessary. While attending a meeting in Puerto Rico, Hall said Brown and Minor voted to relocate his office.

Brown could not be reached Friday, but Minor said Hall's staff was moved because of a space problem.

"We decided to move his staff out of the office, but he decided to move. That's his choice," Minor said. "Commissioner Hall has an office down there. He can go there 365 days a year if he wants.

"We want to put more people on the 10th floor. His staff should be out in the field like the other commissioners' staffs are. No one should be there trying to run the office. Our job is that we are policy makers."

That's interesting.

Minor clearly sounded miffed about the attention the renovations plans have attracted.

Suspicious timing

"All we've done is hired an architect to study the building on a 3-0 vote, not a 2-1 vote," Minor said.

The timing of Hall's relocation?

"We talked about doing this four or five weeks before the vote," Minor said.

Hall, in explaining his vote for the study, has said he didn't know the project would be so costly. And he does raise good points. Public servants should always be good stewards, especially during days of strained budgets.

They also should behave like good responsible citizens, something that seems lost on commissioners. In addition to the proposed renovations, commissioners have fought over MDOT's executive director.

Now, the staff needs space and a commissioner has been sent to the boonies. If the move is not punitive, it certainly looks like it.

Hall is right, even if it's just his staff, the relocation sounds juvenile. How can the commissioner function in one place if his staff is in another?

He can't.

Everyone knows that, including Brown and Minor.