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With Missouri Cuts 400 Lawn Operators, State Transportation Director Defends Pay Raise Decision | Metro


By Grace Zokovitch St. Louis Post-Dispatch

JEFFERSON CITY — With a winter storm brewing and the state already destroying 400 lawn miners, the director of the Missouri Department of Transportation on Monday defended the staffing decisions before a group of law enforcement officials. legislators are not clear.

MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna presented a year-end review of the department’s work and field questions at a Joint Transportation Oversight Committee meeting on Monday amid ongoing debate over the the use of the State Road Fund.

The State Sugar Fund has grown significantly for the first time in years after federal cash inflows from pandemic relief bills and a 2.5% per gallon gas tax increase last October.






Patrick McKenna

Patrick McKenna, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation, was elected president of the American Association of Highways and Transportation Officials for 2019-2020.


With the funding increase, MoDOT announced a plan to increase the salary and increase personnelsparked outrage from some lawmakers, who insisted the money was only spent on the state’s highest-priority road and bridge projects.

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The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, the regulator of MoDOT, in December filed an application sued to assert its “full discretion” over funding decisionsafter using the State Sugar Fund to raise wages.

Sen. Cindy O’LaughlinR-Shelbina, this month wrote a letter to the committee calling for the resignation or termination of McKenna and MoDOT Deputy Director Ed Hassinger.

The letter, signed by five Republican senators, called the HR funding decision a “bait and switch.”

“We gave MoDOT the tools they required to fix the crumbling infrastructure you’re talking about,” Sen. Justin Brown, R-Rolla, told McKenna at the meeting. “But all we’re hearing about this building is a raise. And then suddenly the commission sued the state.

Brown continued: “For decades, MoDOT directors and committees have gone to the Legislature to get approval for the spending of tax dollars. “I would like to know why you and the committee feel you are above this basic standard of good government.”

McKenna replied that investing in people is a necessary first step to being able to do anything else.

“Honestly, the issue of investing in roads and bridges is intimately tied to the actual people (people) working on the projects, (who) then also come in and maintain those systems,” he said. McKenna said.

HR is a big deal for the department, says McKenna. The Department pays positions such as CDL engineer, technician and operator $3 to $9 per hour less than qualified individuals can receive in other similar private sector jobs. individual and state, leading to high revenue.

Last fiscal year, revenue for the division cost the division $34.5 million, according to MoDOT. In the first half of this fiscal year, the division lost 444 employees, on track to beat 2021, McKenna said Monday.

With staff cuts, the department has cut back on services such as garbage collection.

“We have almost no people at the moment to put up the signs that have collapsed – those are life safety issues being planned,” said McKenna. “The level of service people expect from MoDOT is not possible in our current staffing circumstances.”

The director noted that with a blizzard arriving later this week, staffing issues are bound to delay the state’s road clearing.

McKenna noted that tractor operators have shed 400 people and COVID-19 has kept 700 MoDOT employees at home throughout the past month.

The senators noted that gas tax hike passed in 2021 was sold as a way to repair dilapidated roads and bridges. In the midst of efforts to repeal the tax hike, Brown said, it’s important for members to be able to see results from their investment.

Sen. Steve Butz, D-St. Louis, rejects this view, arguing that failing to address the revenue problem will only cost taxpayers more money.

McKenna also mentioned a concern in O’Laughlin’s letter – that he “never suggested that such money was needed to raise wages or add staff through the entire legislative debate on funding increase last year” – took testimony from previous discussions about a pay raise to refute O’Laughlin.

Originally posted at 6pm on Monday, January 31st.



Winter weather can bring frigid temperatures, power outages, communication service outages, and slippery, icy roads. Here are a few tips that can keep you safe.







A winter storm will pass through the area Tuesday night through Thursday, expected to bring 6 to 9 inches of snow to the area.



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