 |
  |
|
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||
FED
UP WITH HAMM The turning point might have been when the managers of Lane Transit District cut 14 percent of its service hours, forcing bus drivers to move more passengers in less time. Or when LTD unveiled its $7 million Springfield station, only to reveal that it didn't contain a break room for drivers. Or when the district stopped hosting its annual employee banquet, a tradition for 25 years; or during the build-up to the first worker strike in LTD's 35-year history, which threw the county into a transit crisis for a week last March.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when LTD's drivers got fed up with their general manager, Ken Hamm, but now a vast majority of them want him fired. They say that under his leadership, LTD's service has gotten worse and relations between drivers and managers have soured. "Employee morale at LTD is at an all-time low," said Dave Barton, an LTD driver who has been spearheading the push to fire Hamm. "We are just outraged and we want him gone." LTD managers and board members acknowledge that the district is facing tough times, though they don't place all blame on Hamm. Ridership is at an all-time high, and so is the volume of complaints. Some of the bus routes that have been scaled back are now regularly overcrowded and behind schedule; drivers barely have time to use the bathroom. LTD's services (and drivers' bladders) are being squeezed partly in order to fund the first phase of EmX, a $23 million bus rapid transit project for which public enthusiasm is mixed. Facing anger from most of LTD's drivers and negative feedback from some in the community, board members are now turning to their evaluation of Hamm. The pivotal question: If he goes, will things get better? Dan Dreier has been an LTD driver for 21 years, and to say that he cares about the district is an understatement. An eloquent writer, his observations on bus driving and life have appeared in The Register-Guard and in "The Safety Review," a monthly LTD newsletter that he wrote and edited. He was the keyboard player and leader for Running Hot, a band comprised entirely of LTD employees. In his view, his fellow bus drivers and passengers are some of the finest people on the planet. Now, there is no newsletter and no band. The district cut the funding for the newsletter in 2003, and the band quit in protest in March 2004 after the district made its first contract proposal, which would have made 20 drivers work part-time with no health care, no retirement, no seniority or right to promotion. Union employees were so upset that they voted to cancel the district's annual picnic and rodeo. After the strike ended last March, many of LTD's drivers remained miffed. In their eyes, the district was wasting its money on capital projects (like EmX and a failed $1.8 million experiment with hybrid electric buses) while cutting service and making their jobs harder. The drivers say they are willing to make sacrifices if they are in the best interests of the community, but they wonder why, even after LTD's finances improved, the service cuts remain.
"We're not blaming Hamm for the economic downturn," Dreier said. "We're blaming Hamm for the service downturn that continues to this day after the economy has improved." Dreier was one of 164 LTD drivers and mechanics, representing 93 percent of the district's non-probationary operators, who signed a petition calling for Hamm's termination. It states that Hamm has squandered LTD employees' trust and respect and that they no longer have confidence in his leadership. The Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents LTD drivers and mechanics, did not endorse the petition; officer Carol Allred has been meeting regularly with management and says she wants to give Hamm time to implement changes. Regardless, driver Dave Barton delivered the petition to board chair Gerry Gaydos in July. "What we don't have, and what we need, is effective and inspired leadership," Dreier said. "Getting a new general manager is like getting a new coach for a struggling team." Dreier feels that the problems at LTD go beyond Hamm, but because Hamm is the board's only employee, board members could show LTD employees and riders that change is coming by changing its leadership. Dreier has a motto for it: "Healing can't happen with Hamm at the helm." Dreier and Barton describe Hamm as a "golf course executive" who can be charming to other businessmen, but who is condescending to drivers and talks too much without listening. That leaves drivers feeling disenfranchised. "The enormous potential of employees is being squandered," Dreier said. "It has to do with how we're being disrespected as human beings. We have a huge emotional investment in what we do, and we're not getting the support we need." Melinda Raven, a driver and instructor, says that her primary concern is for her passengers. "I love LTD, and I want to do a quality job," she said. "But the way the system is now, I cannot provide quality service to my riders." For that, she blames Hamm. "He's general manager," she said. "The bus stops there. I mean, the buck!"
From 1991-2000, Hamm was the first general manager for Link Transit in Wenatchee, Wash., and he launched the agency with $17 million in construction projects. In 1999, when Washington voters repealed the excise tax that provided half of Link's funding, Hamm slashed services and laid off more than half of the district's drivers. According to articles in The Wenatchee World, Hamm was accused of overspending and mismanagement at Link. Meanwhile, things were looking good for LTD. When former General Manager Phyllis Loobey announced her retirement after 26 years at LTD, the economy was strong and negotiators had just settled the most generous contract in the district's history. According to LTD spokesman Andy Vobora, employee morale was high. In early 2000, the board chose Hamm as LTD's new general manager. According to Gaydos, board members were impressed by his charisma, his experience in the transit industry and his lucrative connections with big funding sources like the Federal Transit Administration and the American Public Transportation Association. About six months into Hamm's tenure, the local economy took a nosedive. Rather than scale back plans for capital projects like EmX, district managers tightened the operations budget, which covers salaries and bus maintenance. They lost 26 drivers to attrition, cut employee perks and scaled back bus routes. By the time contract negotiations started in 2004, many of LTD's union employees had become deeply unsatisfied with the agency. The district and the union had labor disputes in past years, but it had never before come to a strike. This time, workers felt insulted by the district's proposals to cut workers' health care, pensions and other benefits while beefing up the capital budget. Even after negotiators reached a contract agreement that satisfied both parties, the drivers' feelings of offense lingered. "The strike was provoked by LTD management," Dreier said. "People are satisfied with the contract; they are not satisfied with our leadership."
The LTD board began its evaluation of Hamm this fall, and the process will likely continue through early January. Gaydos, as board chair, had met several times with drivers who were unhappy with Hamm, and he used a series of surveys to gauge whether others in the community had similar feelings. What he got was a mixed review, with some of the feedback echoing drivers' concerns. In early July, Moore Information conducted a survey of 225 payroll taxpayers, community leaders and elected officials, asking them to rate LTD's service and management. While LTD's service received good scores, a majority of respondents rated LTD's management below average. The lowest scores were in the categories "keeping costs down" and "efficient use of taxpayer dollars." A questionnaire completed in October by 17 "key community leaders" and LTD board members examined Hamm's performance in greater detail. About half of respondents gave Hamm excellent reviews, describing him as a committed leader with an ambitious vision for LTD's future. The other half criticized his leadership, expressing concerns that he has poor communication skills, doesn't relate well to employees and is responsible for an imbalance between capital and operational spending. More bad reviews came from employees. In an Oct. 13 memo to LTD's board and human resources committee, Portland consultant Dennis Westlind reported on meetings with 17 non-management LTD employees from administrative, operations and maintenance departments. He found that many employees had "a lack of trust and respect for upper management" and perceived the loss of a "family" atmosphere at LTD. They worried about the "growth of capital projects at the expense of employee benefits and community service." Several employees feared that Hamm might retaliate against them if they voiced their concerns.
"I do not understand what generated this feeling among employees," Hamm responded by e-mail. "At no time during my tenure here has anyone under my direct management been retaliated against." But in 2003, the district paid a $150,000 settlement to former LTD Human Resources Director Dave Dickman after the Bureau of Labor Industries found substantial evidence that Hamm had retaliated against Dickman for filing an earlier complaint against him. "Obviously, we have concerns," Gaydos said. "If 164 employees say they have lost confidence in [Hamm], that has to be a concern. If the findings that Dennis Westlind has produced are an accurate assessment of how the organization feels, we have concerns. We are deeply troubled by the issues that have been raised."
A line of inspirational quotes adorn the dry-erase board in Ken Hamm's office. "Successful leaders can't be consumed with getting the credit." "Leadership inevitably involves sacrifice." Hamm, 57, says that he is aware of the criticisms against him, and he doesn't take them personally. "I haven't been offended by anything," he said. "I've looked at it as constructive criticism and tried to work with the board and the leadership team and the other employees to see how we can improve ourselves." He said that he aims to balance operating and capital expenses while seeking long-range solutions for increasing traffic congestion. While acknowledging that the capital projects may hurt employee morale, he said that the district's primary responsibility is to the local business owners who provide most of LTD's revenue through the payroll tax. "The business community says, 'We want you to behave more like a business, and we want you to invest as much as possible in services that benefit our businesses,'" he said. But Hamm can't make LTD's financial decisions on his own. Other senior managers help him draft the budget, and the board approves it. Gaydos said that board members have encouraged LTD's big-ticket capital projects, and they are as culpable as Hamm for any problems that have arisen from the budget. "I think that Ken Hamm is certainly responsible for part of it, but we're certainly responsible, and all senior management is responsible," Gaydos said. "To focus just on Ken Hamm is not fair." Now, district managers are striking a conciliatory note with employees and riders. They are planning service "fixes" for the most problematic bus routes, though Hamm says he can't promise that the district will restore lost service hours. Managers are meeting regularly with union representatives, board members and drivers. The board just approved a five-year human resources plan to create a more "welcoming" workplace environment. Hamm, for his part, scheduled six "listening sessions" with employees. The poster announcing the sessions featured Hamm grinning, eyes wide, with enormous ears. "Employees are invited to drop in and 'bend the GM's ear,'" it read. Hamm said that the poster was intended to add some levity to the discussions. "If I can't laugh at myself, who can?"
Gaydos says that the board may interpret the negative feedback about Hamm in one of several ways. They may decide that the complaints are due to external factors beyond Hamm's control, like the district's economic challenges and residual ill will from the strike. They may determine that Hamm is partly responsible for the district's troubles but allow him a chance to make changes. Or they may conclude that LTD has lost so much trust and accountability under Hamm that leadership simply must change. "There's a variety of approaches, and that's not an exhaustive list," Gaydos said. "I have faith that [Hamm] has the capacity to lead LTD, but there has to be significant changes. Collectively, the board will have to look at the information and come to a conclusion."
BOARD APPOINTMENTS The LTD Board of Directors is governor-appointed rather than elected, leading some community members to question its accountability to the public. Most transit boards nationwide are appointed, but in Oregon, all transit districts except Portland's Tri-Met and LTD have elected boards. "It's a self-serving system," said LTD driver Melinda Raven. "The current board members make suggestions as to who they would like to fill those positions, and the governor appoints them. In other words, the board picks the board. They're not going to pick anyone who disagrees with them." LTD Board Chair Gerry Gaydos feels that the district has been well-served by having an appointed board, and he doesn't see a need to change it. "I know there are some folks who feel that taxation without representation is occurring, but I think there is representation," he said, noting that elected representatives in the Legislature have to power to change the system. Last legislative session, Sen. Bill Morrisette (D-Springfield) tried to do just that. He introduced a bill (SB 558) to make the LTD board an elected body, and five state lawmakers representing Lane County co-sponsored it. LTD paid for two employees — lobbyist Douglas Barber and spokesman Andy Vobora — to testify against the bill while it was in the Transportation Committee. The bill never reached the Senate floor for a vote. Three of the seven LTD board positions will become open at the end of the year. Lane County residents who live in north, central and west Eugene, Coburg or Junction City can apply by filling out the executive appointments interest form, available online at www.governor.state.or.us/Gov/pdf/forms/Interestformdown.pdf — Kera Abraham
LTD's IRAQ A chief complaint from the unionized employees is that Hamm focuses on capital projects at the expense of LTD's day-to-day operations. Their primary example is EmX, a project to install bus rapid transit corridors throughout the metropolitan area. EmX was initiated by LTD's former general manager, Phyllis Loobey, and Hamm inherited the project when he was hired in 2000. The vision: Articulated hybrid-electric buses zip down bus-only "corridors" from downtown Eugene to downtown Springfield via Franklin Boulevard. Over the next 20-25 years, the district will add more corridors; one will run down Pioneer Parkway to Gateway Mall and the planned Riverbend Hospital. The Franklin line, which will be ready for public use in December 2006, will cost about $23 million, including four buses at $1 million each. During Hamm's tenure, the budget for EmX has ballooned from $1.2 million in 2001 to $20 million in 2005. Most of the funding is from federal sources, but LTD provides a minimum 20 percent local match. While shuffling money toward EmX, the district has scaled back busy service routes such as 11 (Bertelson) and 30 (Thurston). "EmX is LTD's Iraq," Dreier said. "It's a mess that we can't get out of now." — Kera Abraham |
|
|||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
