Alex Sink: Don’t dismiss money-saving ideas

BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

Harlow Hyde of Deland is just another ordinary citizen with a few ideas about how government should save money -- except that his suggestions have gotten attention.
State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink on Wednesday scolded the head of the Florida Department of Transportation for brushing off Hyde's ideas as having ``no merit'' -- including one suggesting the agency stop awarding automatic pay increases to contractors.
Then she asked Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos to take another look and report back.

12-PAGE LETTER
Hyde, 61, is a retired contract writer for the DOT, and Sink and Kopelousos are among about half a dozen state officials whom Hyde had sent a dense, 12-page letter outlining his suggestions for saving money.
He wrote it on his last day on the job in February and blasted the agency for wasting ``several hundred millions of dollars a year on these consultants.''
``I just was at the point where I said I can't continue to write these contracts with all these escalations,'' Hyde told the Herald/Times.
``When we're in the middle of the greatest recession since the 1930s and these gold-plated prima donnas need automatic price increases, it's wrong.''
He also suggested that consultants bid on a price before they are selected, that DOT reduce unnecessary contract increases and extensions and that the agency hire consultants only when they are less costly than using state employees.
Sink's office summarized Hyde's suggestions and forwarded them to Kopelousos in March as part of her agency's ``Get Lean'' program that collects anonymous tips for saving money in state government.

`NO MERIT'
Kopelousos' staff dismissed Hyde's suggestions on June 12 in a prepared form that allowed room for a limited answer.
Staffer Brian Blanchard wrote: ``Suggestion has no merit.''
By July 28, state Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Palm Beach County Democrat, had called attention to the escalation clauses awarding automatic salary increases for DOT contracts.
Kopelousos wrote him saying she had ``instituted a statewide policy'' halting the practice -- a move that has saved at least $10 million.
It was exactly what Hyde had called for. And Sink was not pleased.
``When a citizen takes the time to suggest efficiencies that can save taxpayers money or help eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, it is incumbent upon all of us to give these ideas the acknowledgement and consideration they deserve,'' Sink wrote in her letter to Kopelousos on Wednesday.
She asked Kopelousos to respond to Hyde's six other suggestions. ``I look forward to hearing back from you in the next 30 days,'' Sink wrote.

OPEN TO INPUT
Kopelousos told the Herald/Times that she will have a formal response to Sink on Thursday and regretted the dismissive tone of DOT's response because she considers herself very open to input.
``Anybody that wants a meeting gets a meeting,'' she said. ``I will stay here at 7 o'clock at night.''
She didn't recall receiving Hyde's letter, but noted that she started to halt the practice of awarding automatic pay increases to contractors in January, when state legislators allowed agencies to renegotiate their contracts.
For his part, Hyde is looking forward to his other ideas getting renewed attention.
``They don't care about price at the Department of Transportation,'' he said. ``They're just loaded with money.''