Thursday, March 15, 2007
Task Force Rates PAT Board Governance
The Governor’s Transportation Commission formally released its audit of the Port Authority. Included among its findings are a ranking of effectiveness in its governance, which refers to the nine member board of directors.
The Allegheny Institute noted recently in a Policy Brief that PAT’s board is not well-aligned with its funding formula in comparison with ten other agencies across the nation. The County Executive appoints all nine board members but the County funds less than half of PAT’s operating budget. We argued that maybe a change—possibly redesigning the board to add state appointees or creating another overseeing authority that would be regional in scope—would be appropriate.
The Commission made this observation about PAT’s board: “the ability of a single elected official to direct all board appointments…raises a question of balance between the centralization of policy and decision making direction by a single appointing official, and the benefits of a robust diversity of views and opinions”.
The Commission ranked as “satisfactory” the board’s ability to work with each other and with staff, but gave “unsatisfactory” rankings to meeting strategic goals and meeting community public transit needs. So it is collegial, but is it effective?
Perhaps governance will be one of the issues examined by the General Assembly.
The Allegheny Institute noted recently in a Policy Brief that PAT’s board is not well-aligned with its funding formula in comparison with ten other agencies across the nation. The County Executive appoints all nine board members but the County funds less than half of PAT’s operating budget. We argued that maybe a change—possibly redesigning the board to add state appointees or creating another overseeing authority that would be regional in scope—would be appropriate.
The Commission made this observation about PAT’s board: “the ability of a single elected official to direct all board appointments…raises a question of balance between the centralization of policy and decision making direction by a single appointing official, and the benefits of a robust diversity of views and opinions”.
The Commission ranked as “satisfactory” the board’s ability to work with each other and with staff, but gave “unsatisfactory” rankings to meeting strategic goals and meeting community public transit needs. So it is collegial, but is it effective?
Perhaps governance will be one of the issues examined by the General Assembly.
