Governor calls for ‘whole
new DOT’

(May 11, 2007) Gov. Rell has called for a top-to-bottom reorganization and refocusing of the state Department of Transportation (DOT) in light of irregularities uncovered in the I–84 expansion project in the Waterbury-Cheshire area.

She is forming a working group of business, transportation and organizational experts to work with a consulting firm to implement change at the agency. The group will be charged with examining and redesigning the DOT, its mission, direction, business practices and organizational structure in order to propose recommendations to the governor.

The working group will be chaired by Michael Critelli, executive chairman of Stamford-based Pitney Bowes. Kevin Kelleher, president and CEO of Danbury-based Cendant Mobility Services Corp. and chair of the state’s Transportation Strategy Board, will serve on the working group, as will Linda Yelmini, a labor and government organization expert who is the former commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services. Other individuals with business, transportation and responsible-growth experience will be named to the group as well.

The governor said the aim of the process will be to have a DOT that’s “better structured to manage the expansive and important transportation projects we are initiating all over the state and … better serve the evolving transportation needs of our commuters, our economy and our future.”

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