Tollway chief gives new team an incomplete, as hardest job still ahead

Asked to grade the revamped Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board's performance in the last year, Chairwoman Paula Wolff hesitates, then says, "incomplete."

"The hardest part is yet to come," she said. "We have to figure out what we're going to do in the future."

One year ago, Gov. Pat Quinn picked Wolff, Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner and former state Sen. Bill Morris as part of a reform team to clean up the tarnished image of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.

The transition came as the authority faced the scrutiny of senators for turmoil involving oases management, public wrath for mistakes with issuing violation notices, fallout from connections to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's corruption arrest and accusations of conflict of interest over hirings and contracts.

Twelve months later, Wolff, who is not paid for the chairmanship, has no regrets. "I thought it would be challenging and it is," she said. "It's particularly exciting now we're trying to figure out what's going to happen over the next five or 10 years."

From her corner office on the 18th floor of the iconic Inland Steel Building in Chicago, Wolff, 65, assessed what it's like to lead a $678 million agency with 286 miles of road and 1,567 employees - with breaks to dispense homegrown tomatoes to a co-worker and monitor her phone in case one of her children called.

The former Governors State University president is a senior executive with Metropolis 2020, an urban planning civic organization. A former top staffer for Republican Gov. Jim Thompson, she lives in the academic enclave of Hyde Park, home to the University of Chicago, and is married with five grown children.

Wolff contrasts with the male, politically connected suits who held sway at the tollway during the Blagojevich era and under former Govs. George Ryan and Jim Edgar.

Since taking over, a number of top staffers have exited and new ones including Executive Director Kristi Lafleur are in place.

Previous tollway board meetings were generally quick affairs with limited discussion and nonexistent disagreements.

With Wolff as chairman, meetings have stretched into the four-hour mark, with lively debates often sparked by fellow newbie, Morris.

Asked if she had fumigated the tollway, Wolff said the word "assumes bad stuff was going on," and clarified that the vast majority of people working at the tollway are "ethical, decent and hardworking."

"There are always people who will take advantage of a situation and those people need to go." About half a dozen employees have resigned in relation to improprieties, she said. "Some people have chosen to leave when asked about certain things."

Steps to bring sunshine into the agency include web-casting meetings, putting more information such as contracts online and hiring former FBI agent James Wagner and Chicago Crime Commission chief as inspector general.

"We want people to feel when they drop their money in the coin box or the transponder records a fee that their money is being used for what we say it's being used for - and that's to maintain the system and make sure it's safe."

"If they think bad things are going on, it gives them less confidence as consumers. They're either angry all the time when they ride or they take another way to work because they think the tollway is full of corruption."

Oases soap operaWolff established two committees led by newcomers Weisner and Morris to examine oases and I-PASS problems, respectively. Hundreds of drivers faced expensive fines two years ago because of a snafu mailing violation notices in time.That backlog is caught up, Wolff said, but the agency is still refining technical issues involving reading license plates and is grappling with how to ensure a smooth renewal process when 1.2 million transponder batteries expire in 2013."It's a hard balance to strike between wanting to make sure we don't mistreat people and they don't feel like they're being persecuted and making sure we're tough enough on people who don't pay their tolls," she said.A 25-year lease deal with oases' operator Wilton Partners signed in 2002 imploded when the company was sued for foreclosure by its lender in 2009. Wilton got in over its head rebuilding the rest stops and didn't make rent payments in time. Its executives also were accused of giving favorable deals to restaurant tenants connected to Blagojevich.Now Wilton's lease with the tollway goes to a public auction Aug. 25. Although the tollway is not financially liable for Wilton, the situation is far from ideal, Wolff said."Our goal is to provide the very best service for customers. If we have no control over who does the management, we can't guarantee that."The lesson of Wilton and public-private partnerships is that "you need to be very cautious and very meticulous about how you design your partnership. I think we learned a lot the hard way."The next big thingThe tollway is trying to decide what next mega project it will undertake. Options include rebuilding the Jane Addams Tollway, extending Route 53 into Lake County, constructing an interchange at I-57 and the Tri-State and completing the eastern half of the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway into the airport along with a western bypass.Desirable projects will be mindful of the environmental impact of any road construction and not contribute to sprawl, accommodate transit, relieve congestion, spur economic development and benefit the region as a whole, Wolff said."We've got the capacity to determine the economic future of the region if we do this right."Although the stipulations about transit, congestion relief and job creation might seem to indicate the Elgin-O'Hare project has an edge, Wolff said the board won't make its mind up for several months and until a transition team of community, business, and transportation leaders assembled by Lafleur make recommendations."There's a lot of demand," she said.Asked if a toll increase for passenger vehicles is possible to pay for some of the high-priced projects, Wolff said "the board hasn't even addressed that."But congestion pricing - the idea of creating select lanes costing more for use during rush hour or if there is only one driver - is an intriguing concept, Wolff said.The trick is turning the abstract idea into something practical drivers will adopt, Wolff acknowledged. "What are people willing to pay more for? There's got to be a tipping point."David Morrison, assistant director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said the watchdog group used to get calls and complaints about tollway problems but the phone hasn't been ringing lately."To the extent that's a good sign, that is a good sign," he said, adding the agency appears to have reached a plateau.Terry Pastika, executive director of the Citizen Advocacy Center, a good government group, said it appeared the tollway was reviewing all its policies. The question now is what the agency does to move forward on policies and projects, she said.Sen. Susan Garrett, a tollway critic who helped convene hearings on the agency last fall, gave the agency an A-plus. "I think they've done an outstanding job reaching out to legislators and being forthright," the Lake Forest Democrat said.Back in summer 2009, Wolff recalls saying she wasn't sure if the chairmanship "was my cup of tea." She ultimately decided the time was right. "I think Illinois and the tollway are at a point in history, where people don't have a lot of confidence in what the state and the agency were doing. My interest in public service compelled me to think about what contribution I could make now." <div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Stories</h2><ul class="links"><li><a href="/story/?id=401059">Aurora mayor scrutinizing Tollway's struggling oases <span class="date">[8/16/10]</span></a></li><li><a href="/story/?id=401060">Morris says cutting perks part of tollway reforms <span class="date">[8/16/10]</span></a></li></ul></div></div></div>