Adkisson becomes Chair, declares war on toll roads

After four years of relentless battles between taxpayers and an unresponsive MPO Board stacked with TxDOT votes (and close to 50% un-elected appointees), the grassroots can declare MAJOR VICTORY as toll opponent Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson became the MPO Chair by unanimous vote.

Adkisson gave an inspiring speech about turning the MPO in a new direction, one responsive to the PEOPLE. He declared war on bureaucratic, unintelligible gobbledy-gook that the MPO has been accustomed to doing to keep the public in the dark, pledged support for 21st century mass transit, and for restoring our highways (fix it first) before the rush to pave over Texas.

But it wasn't without more relentless power plays, including a tie vote, pulling down agenda items containing toll roads, and points of order to overrule the Chair elsewhere in the meeting. The meeting agenda was prepared by staff and parts of it were not approved by Adkisson in advance. The agenda was rife with errors that didn't comply with the Open Meetings Act and multiple requirements in the MPO's own bylaws. Adkisson challenged the items as he sought to clean-up the MPO's act.

Good Guy State Rep. David Leibowitz stepped up to the plate to aid in defeating a proposed coup to effectively neuter the Chair's power to set the agenda by a pro-toll faction on the Board led by Commissioner Kevin Wolff.

Wolff in sheep's clothing

Wolff led the Nominating Committee, whose charge by the Board was to recommend candidates for Chair and Vice Chair, and the Committee acted outside the scope of its authority to recommend a change to the bylaws that would give the Executive Committee (formed under pro-toll Sheila McNeil in 2008) the authority to approve agendas, not the Chair. Changes to the bylaws did not appear on the agenda, and therefore were not an actionable item without violating the Open Meetings Act, so it ultimately torpedoed Wolff's coup d'etat.

A Bylaws Committee was formed to study the issues further and make recommendations to the Board, so as usual, the power grab will come up again. But the grassroots will be ready!

The pro-tollers attempted to change the rules in the middle of the game, and because they failed to FOLLOW THE RULES, it was defeated. The timing is obviously spurious given the fact that the Chair of the MPO has set the agenda throughout its nearly 40-year history. Only now, when a toll opponent assumes leadership of the MPO, does Wolff et al, feign concern over the Chair having "too much power."

I pinned Wolff down when he left mid-meeting and asked about the suspicious timing. He said he has problems with the Mayor and County Judge having sole authority to set the agenda at the City and County as well. My advice? Start there first. After he successfully strips the agenda-setting power from his pro-toll Dad, County Judge Nelson Wolff, and Mayor Julian Castro (which is never gonna happen), then Wolff may have a shred of credibility with this challenge to the MPO Chair. But until then, no deal.

Even today, Wolff's staff is telling angry constituents that he oppose tolls on existing roads. Well, Wolff must be a wolf in sheep's clothing, judging by his attack on his own colleague who he claims to agree with.

MPO SMACKDOWN PART II

The media left after the Chair battle, thinking it was the end of the fireworks, only to have a flame ignite later in the meeting over the REAL crux of the issue before the MPO...the attempt to keep improvements to 281 & 1604 marked as toll roads in the MPO short-range plan. The MPO bylaws require the changes to the short-range be explicitly listed on the agenda in two meetings, and it failed to do so.

So Adkisson went to the mat and tried to pull down the agenda item, refusing to advance ANY plan that contained toll projects and that violated the MPO bylaws, but pro-toll, State Senator Jeff Wentworth, joined by Councilman John Clamp, led the charge to overrule the Chair (can't imagine why Wolff sees any need to worry about the Chair having too much power after today when they overruled the Chair on several votes - tollers continue to wield plenty of power, thanks to the un-elected staffers and TxDOT's two reliable votes).

So Wentworth conveniently invoked Robert Rules in order to approve a plan that had violated the MPO's rules (its own bylaws!). See how the other side only follows the rules when it advances their agenda?

Ultimately, the short range plan was approved, keeping 281 & 1604 toll projects for now, but Adkisson has called a work session within the next 30 days to dig into the various projects and pots of money, and vowed to find a way to get these projects paid for without tolling them.

Kudos to Chairman Adkisson! We FINALLY have a tireless advocate leading the MPO. The next major update of the short-range plan will happen in 3 months. The grassroots will remain vigilant to see to it that the 281 & 1604 toll projects get NIXED, and that 281 & 1604 get FIXED, and stay FREEways!

So for now, today's battle ended in a draw.

RECORD VOTES
(19 Board members, 17 present, 2 absent - Commissioner Chico Rodriguez, Mayor Chris Riley)
Who voted to give TxDOT more say over the MPO's agenda?

Sen. Jeff Wentworth
Com. Kevin Wolff
Councilman John Clamp
Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos (who later corrected the record to say she was in favor of Adkisson)
Two TxDOT employees
Three City appointees (capital improvement director, public works, and the City's Via appointee, OUTRAGEOUS given the fact Via has NO greater advocate than Adkisson) These are ALL pro-toll Mayor Hardberger holdovers...contact Mayor Castro (or call at 210-207-7060) & tell him these guys HAVE TO GO!

Who voted to overrule Adkisson to approve the short-term plan that violated the MPO bylaws and kept 281 & 1604 toll roads?

(Out of 15 present, Wolff, Leibowitz, absent for this vote - Rodriguez, Riley absent from meeting)

Sen. Jeff Wentworth
Councilman John Clamp
Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos
Two County appointees (including one Via appointee) WHAT GIVES?
Two TxDOT employees
Three City appointees (capital improvement director, public works, and the City's Via appointee, OUTRAGEOUS given the fact Via has NO greater advocate than Adkisson) These are ALL pro-toll Mayor Hardberger holdovers...contact Mayor Castro (or call at 210-207-7060) & tell him these guys HAVE TO GO!