By Andy Ostmeyer and Debby Woodin

news@joplinglobe.com

Only days after Kansas officials announced cutbacks in highway funding, Missouri took the same road.

Pete Rahn, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, said Wednesday that as part of a plan to save $203 million over the next five years, 400 salaried positions within the department will go unfilled, and some MoDOT properties will be sold.

The news came on the same day that Rudy Farber was named chairman of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for a one-year term. Farber succeeds David Gach, of St. Joseph, who will serve as vice chairman.

Farber, chairman of the board of Community Band & Trust in Neosho, was appointed to a six-year term on the commission in March 2007. The commission governs the Department of Transportation. The chairmanship rotates on an annual basis.

Farber was in a commission meeting Wednesday afternoon and was unavailable for comment.

He was quoted in a statement issued by MoDOT as saying: “With the funding challenges facing transportation at the state and federal level, we on the commission have a great deal of work to do. However, I’m excited to lead the commission, and I look forward to working with the leaders and citizens of Missouri to determine the future for transportation in our state.”

Rahn said in a statement that the department will eliminate 400 salaried positions by June 30, 2013. This reduction will not be achieved through layoffs, but rather by immediately instituting a hiring freeze on 75 percent of positions that become vacant. The department also will reduce the number of offices and buildings it owns.

Asked about properties in Southwest Missouri that will be sold, Jorma Duran, MoDOT spokesman, said no list has yet been proposed.

“Today was more of a general statement from Pete Rahn talking about all the things that have to happen in the next five years,” Duran said.

He said the department has about 6,300 salaried and hourly employees.

MoDOT’s plan also includes spending cuts for such things such as inventory, vehicles and maintenance. The agency plans to mow grass, pick up litter and replace signs less frequently, and also to seek cheaper ways to stripe roads.

Projects on the current five-year State Transportation Improvement Plan, or STIP, will continue, but there is no certainty about what will happen afterward, Duran said

“They are still going to be finished,” Duran said of the current list. “We budget money to make sure we will have the money to take care of the STIP. What this is about is future projects. Anything in terms of a future road project or a future anything will stay future.”

The 2010-2014 state plan includes many relatively small projects in Southwest Missouri such as bridge repairs, as well as some larger projects. Among the latter are resurfacing of Missouri Highway 37 from Missouri Highway 60 to the Arkansas line, set for 2012, and ongoing upgrades of U.S. Highway 71 to interstate standards for a future Interstate 49 throughout Southwest Missouri. Some of the interchange work in Barton County already is under way.

That STIP funding also includes about $60 million for a Bella Vista bypass should Arkansas officials come up with their share of funding for the project.

Rahn, in his statement, said MoDOT funding is in decline because of stagnant state revenues, uncertain federal funding, rising employee benefit costs and no more money coming from Amendment 3 mandated bonds.

“I have been saying for quite some time that transportation funding is headed over a cliff,” Rahn said in his statement. “Now we are forced to make tough decisions that will make MoDOT smaller and change the way we do business.”

Last week, Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson announced a plan to balance that state’s budget, including the cancellation of $28 million in highway maintenance projects, six of which were in Cherokee and Crawford counties.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.





Commission



Other members of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission are Duane Michie, of Hayti; Grace Nichols, of St. Charles; Joe Carmichael, of Springfield; and Stephen Miller, of Kansas City.