LITTLE ROCK — More than 100 state employees have surrendered the state vehicles they formerly used, but Gov. Mike Beebe isn’t satisfied, particularly with three state agencies, including the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
On Oct. 5 the governor issued an executive order that restricted state-vehicle commuting and required a more thorough and public listing of state vehicles after a series of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette articles on how many vehicles the state owns, who uses them, whether the users pay income tax for the personal use of the vehicles, and other things.
“He fully understands and respects that the highway department is an independent agency, but the governor does not feel they have fully complied with the spirit of the executive order,” Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said.
DeCample’s statement followed questions asked last week by the Democrat-Gazette about the status of the state-vehicle situation after the governor’s executive order.
Highway officials disputed the idea that they hadn’t properly addressed the issue of agency employees’ vehicle use.
Interactive
“I’m disappointed to hear that anyone would think we haven’t operated in the spirit of the [governor’s] directive,” said Madison Murphy of El Dorado, chairman of the Highway Commission. “We did a pretty thorough scrub, certainly in the spirit of the executive order.”
The department has 2,385 vehicles, the most in state government, including 674 that are taken home for commutes by employees. Of those, 94 are highway police officers.
Agency spokesman Randy Ort said no employee has turned in a state vehicle or voluntarily given it up as a result of the governor’s order.
Overall, state government has 8,579 vehicles, according to the latest count by the Department of Finance and Administration, but that number may not include the latest reports from all agencies. A more detailed accounting is expected early next year, said Jake Bleed, an analyst with the finance department.
On Nov. 4, the finance department informed the governor that 39 employees of agencies under the governor’s authority and from state colleges have voluntarily turned in their state vehicles and the department rejected requests for 11 other employees to commute.
Since then, two more employees have voluntarily turned in their vehicles - Robert Brown, president of Arkansas Tech University, and Dan Bakke, president of Pulaski Technical College - bringing the total to 41. There have been no other commuting requests rejected, Bleed said.
These figures don’t include 63 employees at theGame and Fish Commission who turned in their vehicles last month. Game and Fish, much like Highway and Transportation, doesn’t fall under the governor’s direct authority.
A Democrat-Gazette analysis in August found that overall about 2,000 state employees take vehicles home for commuting purposes. Those include about 800 who are classified as law-enforcement officers.
The relatively small number of vehicles that no longer are being used for commuting doesn’t mean the governor’s handling of the vehicle situation has been ineffective, DeCample said.
DeCample said Beebe has taken the vehicle issue “very seriously.” He said that overall the number of vehicles used for commuting in executive branch agencies has declined by 207 from 292 to 85.
DeCample said that number doesn’t include law-enforcement officers. He said the decline also could be attributed to some employees who still commute but do so under a different classification. He said those would be employees who didn’t need a commuting exemption under the governor’s policy but are allowed to commute because they need a state vehicle as part of their work assignments.
“The governor said all along that what our vehicle fleet needed was strong accountability and better transparency,” DeCample said. “We have accomplished both of these. More information has been gathered on state vehicle use than we have ever found previously. The guidelines [for vehicle use] have changed for the first time in two decades. There is more public access [for information about] state vehicles than ever before.”
He said that “over time” the new policies will likely lead to an overall drop in the number of state vehicles.
Beebe’s questions about agency vehicle use aren’t limited to the highway department. DeCample said he has similar questions for the Department of Correction and the Department of Community Correction, two agencies under the governor’s control.
Spokesman for each agency have said there have been no changes in vehicle use since the governor’s order.
Beebe on Nov. 4 publicly questioned how the Community Correction Department was evaluating the commuting of administrators in state vehicles.
But agency spokesman Rhonda Sharp said last week that no changes have been made since then.
DeCample said the governor recently “was asking where all that stands” with the Correction and Community Correction vehicles.
He said the administrations of those departments didn’t address the governor’s complaints earlier because “there is a lot more than that” going on in state government.
He said that given the governor’s most recent questions about the Department of Community Correction, agency Director Dave Eberhard will re-evaluate employee commuting.
“There is no specific timeline, but an agency director understands that when it’s coming from the governor’s office it’s sooner rather than later,” DeCample said.
He said Benny Magness, chairman of the state Board of Corrections, has promised to more thoroughly evaluate commuting at the Department of Correction.
Regarding the highway department, DeCample said Beebe plans “no further actions ... but reserves the right to take further action in the future.”
Ort, highway spokesman,said the agency believes it has a “pretty comprehensive policy” on vehicles.
“A lot of people are under the premise that there is something wrong [throughout state government with vehicles] and it needs to be changed,” Ort said.
He said he doesn’t put the governor in that category.
“The governor is being the governor and that’s his job,” Ort said. “We’re not under his control, but he is our governor and we want to be in compliance with the spirit and intent of the order.”
Murphy, the Highway Commission chairman appointed by former Gov. Mike Huckabee, pointed out that in the late 1990s he was chairman of a commission - the Murphy Commission - that sought to find waste in government.
Murphy said that Beebe,who was a state senator at that time, was “very helpful” on that.
“I have the highest regard for Mike Beebe,” Murphy said.
But he said his agency has concluded that 135 central office administrators and staff members need to commute in state vehicles because they are “on call 24-7,” including to help with emergency situations on roads.
Ort has previously said that he can’t quantify how often highway administrators have to go to work in the middle of the night or weekends. He’s said such work often is related to bad weather conditions on roads. He’s said that state vehicles are good places to keep department equipment, such as radios.
Murphy acknowledged that other employees from other state agencies who don’t have state vehicles could also be considered as being “on call” all the time.
“I accept that people have differing opinions,” Murphy said. “But we made the best judgment.”
He said if problems arise in the future that the commission would be open to changing its vehicle policy.
Another highway commissioner, Carl Rosenbaum of Little Rock, also appointed by Huckabee, said the highway department is the “best-run” agency in state government.
“[Beebe] can say anything he wants to,” Rosenbaum said. “If he has a problem, he ought to come out and look at the situation. Many times, people outside an organization will make statements that are not true.”
Rosenbaum said he was speaking in general and not implying that Beebe is spreading falsehoods.
“He’s entitled to his own thing, of course,” Rosenbaum said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/26/2010