State Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, is voicing displeasure after the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission (MHTC) unanimously chose Ed Hassinger to be the new director for the Missouri Department of Transportation.
“We have bureaucrats running departments,” O’Laughlin told Missourinet. “Yes, they are familiar with me, the inner workings of the department, but the thing that they are not familiar with is how do we measure the outcomes of that department? What’s the money that we’re investing because, after all, that is taxpayer money.”
Pending an official vote in January, Missouri’s next Senate President Pro Tem said that she is looking for a new direction “not more of the same.” Hassinger said that he’s going to take MoDOT to the next level. But O’Laughlin countered that the department is ignoring the needs of Missouri residents.
“They have a lot closer ties to the federal government in some of the, you know, rules and regulations that they issue than they do with what it is the taxpaying citizens are looking for. When they start to ignore that, which I believe has been going on for quite some time, then that creates problems out here in our communities,” she said.
O’Laughlin questioned MHTC’s leadership for appointing Hassinger as its new director.
“The money that we’re taking from taxpayers and then investing in this department, what are the outcomes that we’re getting? Are those outcomes things that the citizens want? What’s the cost of that investment? How do we determine if we are reaching goals that we’ve set? I think that comes from good leadership,” she said.
Hassinger has been at MoDOT for the past 40 years. He told Missourinet that his priorities are further investment in department employees and worker and driver safety, as well as improving roadside aesthetics.
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