State highway commissioners have a few finalists for the new director of transportation down to just two or three and should announce a new director next month. A panel was put together to help the commission find a new director, but it’s unclear how much input the panel had. A group of state lawmakers, private citizens, and transportation department workers was put together when highway commissioners decided they needed some outside influence on the process of selecting a new transportation director.Senator Jon Dolan of Lake St. Louis was part of that committee and acknowledges they had only slight input. Members of the group did not get to interview and pare down the number of applicants to the few finalists. Dolan bristles at suggestions that the group was nothing more than window dressing for a process still fully controlled by the highway commission. He points out the state constitution limits outside influence on the Transportation Commission. And Dolan feels comfortable with whom will be chosen in the end.
