Back in 1997 Capital Metro our little transit agency in Central Texas was having some uhh troubles.
It was involved in an FBI criminal investigation. The Legislature was looking at gutting it. And some local politicians were crawling over each other to strip Capital Metro of the sales tax it uses to run the bus and transit system in and around Austin.
Well I was running for mayor at that time. And I used to say that Capital Metro was like a very well-dressed drunk that wed found unconscious disheveled sort of dirty and smelly and lying face-down in a gutter.
Some folks I noted wanted to roll the guy. They wanted to go through all of his pockets taking anything of value they could find including his money (and his suit probably) and maybe kick him a couple of times. And finally they wanted to get out of there before it started raining on him.
But as I said then there just had to be a better way. I felt like we needed a high-performing transit agency in our growing region.
So I believed we should at least try to pick the guy up force him to dry out clean up and get to doing the job we needed him to do. Rolling the guy wasnt going to get us what we needed to meet our transportation needs. We needed him to be a functioning member of society.
So the community came together and forced some big changes at Capital Metro. And for almost a decade Capital Metro seemed to have a vision of where it wanted to go ran an effective bus system and avoided the seedy questions of the 1990s.
In that time not even the most ardent Capital Metro bashers were calling for the agencys abolition.
The more things change. . .
I know those sound like small victories especially as weve watched the agency start weaving and tripping here in the last few years. I suppose you could say the old boy seems to have fallen off the wagon again.
The agencys recent problems were on full display last week thanks to legislation I passed last year to truly and completely reform Capital Metro. Ill get into last weeks developments in a minute.
But suffice it to say that for a while now Ive been very frustrated. And Ive used my position as Senator to force a new round of rehab.
The recent problems are well-known and well-documented. The commuter rail so many of us had supported was mired in delays and controversy and many people feel like they were not told the truth about what they were getting. The agencys finances were clearly a mess. And its governance was in crying need of an overhaul.
A bias for action
In 2007 shortly after first becoming a state senator and as then-Chair of the regions main transportation planning group I launched a peer review" process that looked at Capital Metros governance and compared it to other transit providers.
And last year I wrote reform legislation that re-made the agencys board requiring folks with real experience in management and finance will always be among the appointees to the agencys board of directors. It made the agencys auditor report directly to those board members instead of to management. It set regular reporting requirements on Capital Metros operations and finances.
And perhaps most importantly the legislation mandated a top-to-bottom review by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission a state agency that conducts extensive assessments of other state agencies and recommends whether or not they should be abolished.
Well that report was released last week. And it was as they say a doozy.
Getting everyone biased toward action
As I noted in my statement last week the Sunset report provides an unbiased clear-eyed look at steps Capital Metro must take to cut costs reform its financial and accounting systems enhance the safety of the new commuter rail line that opened this spring and find a way to better engage stakeholders.
This review and the report it produced is exactly what I wanted when I proposed the legislation and its exactly what this region needs. It builds on recent changes Ive encouraged (and in some cases mandated through my legislation) to its practices and its board.
Its the next step in this process the road map for where Capital Metro needs to go from here.
The agencys board now has to work with the Sunset Commission and implement these critical recommendations. But the board cant do it alone.
Riders administrative staff contractors and employees all have to take ownership and responsibility for the changes Capital Metro must make and the transit provider it must become.
It wont be a short easy or pain-free process. Every group and constituency will have to work together and work hard to make sure Capital Metro is a successful financially sustainable agency.
I sincerely hope they will. To have a truly comprehensive transportation system we need a strong transit provider and I believe that if it makes the necessary changes Capital Metro can be that provider.
Back in 1997 Capital Metro our little transit agency in Central Texas was having some uhh troubles.
It was involved in an FBI criminal investigation. The Legislature was looking at gutting it. And some local politicians were crawling over each other to strip Capital Metro of the sales tax it uses to run the bus and transit system in and around Austin.
Well I was running for mayor at that time. And I used to say that Capital Metro was like a very well-dressed drunk that wed found unconscious disheveled sort of dirty and smelly and lying face-down in a gutter.
Some folks I noted wanted to roll the guy. They wanted to go through all of his pockets taking anything of value they could find including his money (and his suit probably) and maybe kick him a couple of times. And finally they wanted to get out of there before it started raining on him.
But as I said then there just had to be a better way. I felt like we needed a high-performing transit agency in our growing region.
So I believed we should at least try to pick the guy up force him to dry out clean up and get to doing the job we needed him to do. Rolling the guy wasnt going to get us what we needed to meet our transportation needs. We needed him to be a functioning member of society.
So the community came together and forced some big changes at Capital Metro. And for almost a decade Capital Metro seemed to have a vision of where it wanted to go ran an effective bus system and avoided the seedy questions of the 1990s.
In that time not even the most ardent Capital Metro bashers were calling for the agencys abolition.
The more things change. . .
I know those sound like small victories especially as weve watched the agency start weaving and tripping here in the last few years. I suppose you could say the old boy seems to have fallen off the wagon again.
The agencys recent problems were on full display last week thanks to legislation I passed last year to truly and completely reform Capital Metro. Ill get into last weeks developments in a minute.
But suffice it to say that for a while now Ive been very frustrated. And Ive used my position as Senator to force a new round of rehab.
The recent problems are well-known and well-documented. The commuter rail so many of us had supported was mired in delays and controversy and many people feel like they were not told the truth about what they were getting. The agencys finances were clearly a mess. And its governance was in crying need of an overhaul.
A bias for action
In 2007 shortly after first becoming a state senator and as then-Chair of the regions main transportation planning group I launched a peer review" process that looked at Capital Metros governance and compared it to other transit providers.
And last year I wrote reform legislation that re-made the agencys board requiring folks with real experience in management and finance will always be among the appointees to the agencys board of directors. It made the agencys auditor report directly to those board members instead of to management. It set regular reporting requirements on Capital Metros operations and finances.
And perhaps most importantly the legislation mandated a top-to-bottom review by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission a state agency that conducts extensive assessments of other state agencies and recommends whether or not they should be abolished.
Well that report was released last week. And it was as they say a doozy.
Getting everyone biased toward action
As I noted in my statement last week the Sunset report provides an unbiased clear-eyed look at steps Capital Metro must take to cut costs reform its financial and accounting systems enhance the safety of the new commuter rail line that opened this spring and find a way to better engage stakeholders.
This review and the report it produced is exactly what I wanted when I proposed the legislation and its exactly what this region needs. It builds on recent changes Ive encouraged (and in some cases mandated through my legislation) to its practices and its board.
Its the next step in this process the road map for where Capital Metro needs to go from here.
The agencys board now has to work with the Sunset Commission and implement these critical recommendations. But the board cant do it alone.
Riders administrative staff contractors and employees all have to take ownership and responsibility for the changes Capital Metro must make and the transit provider it must become.
It wont be a short easy or pain-free process. Every group and constituency will have to work together and work hard to make sure Capital Metro is a successful financially sustainable agency.
I sincerely hope they will. To have a truly comprehensive transportation system we need a strong transit provider and I believe that if it makes the necessary changes Capital Metro can be that provider.
