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Road agency puts off picking a director

The Expressway Authority also delays action on its east-west road in New Tampa.

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published November 21, 2006

The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority did not choose an interim executive director at its meeting Monday, putting the decision off for a month.

With that, the authority also postponed its biggest current project: New Tampa's east-west road, which is to be the first road in Florida built as a public-private partnership.

The board voted not to interview the two bidders on the project - Spain's OHL and a multinational consortium called Plenury Roads Tampa - until after board members pick an interim director.

The authority has been searching for new leadership since Ralph Mervine stepped down from the executive post two weeks ago following the revelation that he owns a gay porn film company.

The east-west road, intended to relieve congestion on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and give New Tampa drivers a direct link to Interstate 275, has been long-delayed. Shortly before he resigned, Mervine assured New Tampa residents the road would be built.

Last week, the Expressway Authority board met to appoint an interim successor, but board chairman J. Thomas Gibbs offered up only one candidate: former state Sen. Jim Sebesta.

Indecisive on Sebesta, the board appointed an interim interim director: Jim Drapp, a vice president with HNTB, the authority's engineering consultant.

Annoyed, Sebesta withdrew his candidacy and the board was back to square one.

On Monday, authority lawyer Rhea Law told the board that she had received 14 suggestions for interim director and had spoken to seven who were willing to take the post.

"We've had quite a robust response," she said.

Law advised the board to let her investigate all the options and send each board member a dossier on each candidate. The board could form a short list at its first December meeting, and interview candidates later that month.

The board agreed.

Later in the meeting, board member James T. Hargrett Jr. suggested that the board put off interviewing bidders on the east-west road project until 30 days after the interim director is in place.

The project would have great ramifications for the state, he said. It would be the first time in Florida that a private company teams with a public agency to build a road and collect tolls.

Such a project requires "strong leadership," Hargrett said.

The board agreed.

However, the board may have sped up at least one project: the search for a permanent executive director.

Law had previously advised the board to request bids from search companies or "headhunters." That would take three or four months, she estimated, and then a national search for a new director would take at least the same amount of time.

But on Monday, Law suggested that the board look into using the county's headhunting company, the Mercer Group.

"That could expedite the whole process," she said.

The board agreed to investigate the possibility.

S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 813 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 21, 2006, 05:52:06]