Gov. Tim Pawlenty has re-appointed Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau as transportation commissioner for the term Jan. 2, 2007 – Jan. 3, 2011.

Molnau has served as the transportation commissioner since 2003.

“I have been privileged these past four years to work with the most professional group of people ever,” said Molnau. “I want all of you in the department to know what a positive difference you have made and will continue to make in the lives of Minnesota’s citizens.”

Molnau said that she often receives thank you notes from citizens across the state.

“Minnesotans recognize the good work we do here at Mn/DOT and I look forward to the next four years of providing them even more with your help,” said Molnau.

State of the State Address

The governor delivered his State of the State Address Jan. 17, outlining the administration’s top priorities for the 2007 legislative session: better government, better energy, better education and better health care. For more information, see the governor’s Web site, http://www.governor.state.mn.us/.

Legislative assistant appointed

Linda Taylor, research and training engineer in the Office of Maintenance, has accepted the session mobility assignment with the Office of Government Affairs. Her appointment began Jan. 11.

During her temporary assignment, Taylor will assist Government Affairs staff to analyze legislation, research issues, write weekly legislative updates and provide information to the Legislature.

Taylor has held a number of engineering and management positions in Mn/DOT since 1982, including serving as traffic engineer and operation engineer in the Metro District, and managing the Traffic Management System Construction Unit.

Governor to announce budget proposal Jan. 22  

The governor will introduce his FY 2008-09 budget proposal Jan. 22.

“When my budget is released next week,” Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Jan. 17 during his State of the State address, “you will see a key theme: Minnesota should stop paying for good intentions and start paying for better performance.

“I’ll be more likely to reach for the signing pen, rather than the veto stamp, if the bill on my desk clearly defines expected results. It should also have clear measurements for those results and link spending to performance, rather than just wishful thinking.”

For background information about the state budget, see the Department of Finance Web site, http://www.budget.state.mn.us/budget/index.shtml. The governor’s budget request also will be posted on this site once the proposal is announced.

Links to legislative information

• Mn/DOT’s Office of Government Affairs, http://www.dot.state.mn.us/govrel/
• Mn/DOT legislative information, http://ihub.dot.state.mn.us/information/legislative2007/index.html  
• Minnesota State Legislature, http://www.leg.state.mn.us/

A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ranks the Twin Cities metro area among the best in the nation for its emergency agencies’ ability to communicate during a disaster.

Other metropolitan areas that scored among the top six include Chicago, Los Angeles, Sioux Falls, S.D. and Washington, D.C.

Homeland Security officials based their rankings on operating procedures in place, how well local governments have coordinated for disaster preparation and the use of communications systems.

The Twin Cities area’s ranking was bolstered by the state’s digital radio system which uses the 800 megahertz bandwidth for inter-agency communication. Mn/DOT’s Office of Electronic Communications and the departments of Public Safety, Natural Resources and Administration led the system’s development.

Tim Lee, assistant director of Electronic Communications, said the ranking reflects the commitment by city, county and state agencies, the Metro Emergency Services Board and the Department of Homeland Security to plan, train and equip emergency service providers.

“The cooperative effort by so many agencies to share a common radio system and standardized interoperational procedures is the foundation of our system and the basis for our high ranking,” Lee said.

Known as ARMER (for Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response), the system ensures the ability of various agencies—including police, firefighters,  transit workers, hospitals, the State Patrol and Mn/DOT—to communicate with each other reliably during an emergency situation.

ARMER is a digital, trunked radio system that allows multiple agencies to share a common radio system while allowing the different agencies to operate independently for normal day-to-day communications.

During an emergency, the different agencies can switch to shared channels and operate together, greatly improving interoperability, a crucial factor during an emergency situation.   

The ARMER system became operational in the Twin Cities metro area in 2002.

Since then, the system has been expanded to include regional coverage in the St. Cloud and Rochester areas. Future plans call for extending the service to the Duluth, Brainerd, Mankato, Marshall, Detroit Lakes, Virginia and Thief River Falls areas.

By Craig Wilkins

The new year brings renewed energy and improved service delivery by the Three Rivers Transit System based in Plainview.

Part of the new energy comes from the system’s new bus garage and offices in Plainview.

The larger part, however, stems from combining the operations of five small transit services into a larger one serving communities in Goodhue and Wabasha counties.

Impetus for the consolidation stems from the need to improve service and the successful use of a performance-based contract with transit service operators.

The contract used by Three Rivers paid its bus system operators rates based on the number of passengers carried each month.

With consolidation, however, Three Rivers now conducts all aspects of transit service.

“This is a system in transition,” said Tom Gottfried, Office of Transit planning director. “They have managed the transition well and made the most effective use to date of a performance-based system.  

“Three Rivers is a good, small system; we expect that it will continue to perform well,” he said.

Jean Meyer, Rochester/District 6 transit manager, said the revamped system has worked well, increasing the number of riders by 10 percent during the past two years.

Increased ridership allowed Three Rivers to improve its service level and to purchase a new garage to house its fleet of 10 buses and its operations office in Plainview.

Although Three Rivers acquired the building late last year, plans are already under way to rehab the facility to improve its functionality.

Amy Kuchura, the system’s director, said using performance-based contracts with the operators of the system’s buses greatly increased revenue and public support, allowing Three Rivers to centralize its operations and expand its service delivery area.

The system currently serves resident in cities such as Cannon Falls, Lake City, Plainview, Wabasha and Red Wing.

The service includes daily, scheduled buses routes in Red Wing and dial-a-ride service throughout both counties.

Meyer said the system’s growth will allow extending service to the Zumbrota area this year and bodes well for future initiatives.

Kuchura said Three Rivers is considering a new service—the River Cities Connection project, a bus route that would connect cities along the Mississippi River such as Red Wing, Lake City, Frontenac, Wabasha and Kellogg.

“A route like this one would enhance area residents’ access to health care services, educational and cultural resources and provide an avenue for people to participate more fully in community life,” she said.

“Our increase in the number of people served and population growth in the region tells us the market—and the need—for public transit services will continue to grow,” Kuchura said.

By Craig Wilkins

Mn/DOT issued a commissioner’s order Jan. 8 that prohibits people from operating all-terrain vehicles on any part of the right of way of all controlled-access freeways.

“We’ve issued this order to ensure the safety of ATV operators as well as motorists who could become distracted by ATVs while they are driving,” said Lt. Gov./Commissioner Carol Molnau.

Controlled-access freeways include interstate highways and other roadways where traffic is managed by ramps and loops instead of signalized intersections.

The order clarifies legislation passed by the 2006 Legislature that created two classes of ATVs, but applied use restrictions within highway rights of way only to machines in the Class 1 category.

Class 1 ATVs are those that weigh less than 900 pounds; Class 2 includes machines that weigh more than 900 pounds.

Mn/DOT limits access to ATVs and snowmobiles to prevent interference with highway traffic and to reduce potential damage to highway shoulders, ditches and embankments.

The department also will update its rules regarding access by bicyclists, pedestrians and others on the state’s controlled access highways.

State law authorizes the commissioner of transportation to prohibit any class or kind of traffic from using controlled-access highways when the practice is found to be “incompatible with the normal and safe flow of traffic.”

The commissioner issued the order after consulting with officials from the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Natural Resources.

Mice problems? Light bulb burned out? Work space need adjusting? Who you gonna call?

For employees in the Central Office building with facility-related problems, help is just an e-mail note away. Just send a message on GroupWise to “Service” to alert the facilities section and they will investigate and resolve the problem.

You’ll find this tip and other useful information easy to find now on the Employee Services Web page on Mn/DOT’s intranet site, according to Sue Heurung, Business Services Section manager and project steward.

The newly designed site (http://ihub.employee) corrals information and Web links from several Mn/DOT offices and the Department of Employee Relations into one spot, making it easier to locate such topics as employee benefits, seniority rosters, job postings, computer support, mail services, etc.

“Where once most work areas had an office manager to answer common questions like who to call when your light bulb burns out, for the most part there isn’t that contact person any more,” Heurung said. “We wanted to provide a resource for employees, especially new ones, to find important forms, policies and other information.

“Plus, because most of the information already existed on the Web under different offices’ sites, the Office of Information Technology was able to organize the Employee Services Web site to be essentially a one-stop shop with links to a lot of existing information.”

To make locating information easier, the site contains an A to Z list of all employee services covered as well as contact names by topic.

“The site is evolving,” Heurung said, encouraging employees to send an e-mail to EmployeeServices@dot.state.mn.us if they can’t find the information they’re looking for.

“We want to make the site as useful as possible to employees.”

Heurung said that future versions of the Employee Services Web page also will include links to district-focused information.