Tupelo Daily Journal. January 19, 2022.
Editorial: Brad White deserves quick, easy confirmation as MDOT director
The Mississippi Department of Transportation has been at the center of ongoing controversy for several years. While we believe most — if not all — was politically motivated and undeserved, it does not change the fact that the agency’s leader this time last year had lost the trust of certain state and legislative leaders.
This time last year, Melinda McGrath, who served MDOT for more than three decades, was up for confirmation for another four-year term as executive director. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann double-referred her confirmation, a legislative maneuver generally used to ensure that a bill or nomination dies.
By early March, McGrath resigned. MDOT Southern District Commissioner Tom King at the time praised McGrath and lashed out to Mississippi Today about what he called “anti-transportation” legislation.
Fast forward to present day, and things seem to have changed drastically for the better. The main reason: acting MDOT Executive Director Brad White.
MDOT commissioners chose White in June, and his political pedigree was obviously a big reason for their choice. White was then chief of staff for Gov. Tate Reeves. He had served in the same position for Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith and the late-Thad Cochran. He served as chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party from 2008-2011. And White also worked for MDOT under former Central District Commissioner Dick Hall from 1999-2005.
White’s political acumen has served him well over the last six-plus months. He has been able to leverage relationships with the commission and other state leaders. Most recently, he’s been on a tour of the state talking with lawmakers and local leaders about the federal transportation bill that was passed.
His state tour has been an important, and in some cases, difficult undertaking. There was a lot of misunderstanding as to how the federal money is able to be used. He had the unenviable task of explaining to some lawmakers that pet projects they wanted for their districts wouldn’t qualify under the federal guidelines placed on the funds.
Through it all, White has done a tremendous job. And it seems his good work is paying off. Hosemann referred his confirmation to the Senate Transportation Committee, which is where it belongs.
Likewise, legislative watchers expect lawmakers to pass an MDOT budget with the funding that — along with the federal money — will help to significantly shrink the infrastructure maintenance deficit facing the state.
While nothing is a given, White’s confirmation should face no opposition. He has a proven track record of working for the good of Mississippi, and his work leading MDOT in this short amount of time has healed a lot of wounds. He deserves a quick and unanimous confirmation.
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Columbus Dispatch. January xx, 2022.
Editorial: Matching ARPA funds from state could be extremely impactful if used properly by local governments
From the start, Mississippi Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has been clear on what the priorities should be for the combined $2 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds provided to the state and local governments: Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Infrastructure.
Although Congress passed the $1.9-trillion package in March 2021, cities and counties have been waiting on the Legislature to determine how the state will use its $1.8 billion portion of the funding. Local governments in the state received $268 million, but many of those hoped the money they received directly could be combined with state ARPA funds to dramatically increase the scope of local projects.
When Congress passed ARPA, the Mississippi Legislature was nearing the end of its 2021 session and there were no real discussions in either chamber about how those state ARPA funds would be spent. Almost immediately after the session ended, Hosemann began visiting Mississippi cities to talk about those funds. During his visit to Columbus in April, Hosemann said, “What is most important for each of us is that we don’t make (those decisions) for a year, but for a generation.”
This week, the Senate revealed its plans for how the state funds will be allocated. Not surprisingly, those plans align closely with Hosemann’s views.
The Senate plan provides money for a range of state agencies and programs, but the largest single appropriation — $750 million — is devoted to matching funds for water and sewer infrastructure.
The House will unveil its own plans for state ARPA funds later in the session, so the final plan may ultimately deviate from what the Senate released this week.
Previously, some cities and counties had hoped to receive state matching funds for projects other than water/sewer. Starkville, for example, initially hoped the state would supplement its ARPA funding for improvements to city parks. If the Senate’s “water/sewer only” plan prevails, that obviously won’t happen.
The Starkville Board of Aldermen, anticipating that those state matching funds might not apply to its parks plan, have pulled back on their earlier decision to allocate most of its $6.2 million to parks and will now explore other options that could attract matching state funds.
Cities and counties that have already committed funds for non-water/sewer infrastructure may have to alter those plans as well.
Waiting to see what the state decides is a wise decision.
Although the Senate’s plan would only allow matching funds for a narrow scope of projects, we understand the logic.
Matching state funds will amplify the local funds earmarked for infrastructure, and could provide amounts of money that will allow local leaders to finally tackle aging — and expensive — infrastructure projects.
Hosemann’s insistence that we take the long view of how those funds should be spent is wise and forward-looking since we are not likely to see this kind of funding again.
We have one shot to get it right. Any plan to address only immediate needs, with no thought of the future is, quite literally, short-sighted.
That includes bonuses and incentives for public employees.
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