Drpa

The Delaware River Port Authority will replace its top lawyer next month with a former aide to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Richard Brown, 68, of Philadelphia, will retire as general counsel, and Danielle McNichol, who joined the DRPA on Wednesday as deputy general counsel, is to take his place. McNichol, 43, of Glen Mills, is former counsel to the chairman of the PUC and was an associate vice president of human resources for the Temple University Health System and counsel to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

Two area congressmen have introduced legislation to compel the Delaware River Port Authority to install an independent inspector general. U.S. Reps. Robert Brady (D., Pa.) and Robert Andrews (D., N.J.) said Tuesday an inspector general would improve accountability and credibility at the troubled DRPA. "The public needs to know that the dollars they are spending are being spent on the right things," Andrews said at a news conference at the Camden headquarters of the DRPA. An inspector general would conduct an annual audit of the DRPA, issue semiannual financial reports, and provide annual reports to the governors and U.S. representatives from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

James R. Kelly, president of the Delaware River Port Authority for the last eight years, will retire effective Jan. 29 - the first of many resignations likely to hit the authority in coming months. Kelly, 65, who sent letters Wednesday notifying the Rev. Nicholas S. Rashford, DRPA chairman, and vice chairman William Dickey of his decision, said yesterday that he "was tired" and wanted a change after 28 years with the authority. The vacancy in the top administrative staff job at the DRPA is expected to create some controversy as officials of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the two states representated on the authority, try to select a replacement for Kelly.

The board of the DRPA on Wednesday toughened conflict-of-interest and other rules before going into closed session to decide the fate of Corporate Secretary John Lawless. After meeting for almost three hours, board members voted to merge the position of corporate secretary with the position of general counsel, which is held by Richard Brown. The move leaves Lawless without a DRPA job; he said after the meeting he expects to sue the agency. Lawless, a former Pennsylvania state legislator, was escorted from the building in April for still-undisclosed reasons.

New rules proposed Wednesday by the Delaware River Port Authority chairman would make sweeping changes in the way the bi-state agency operates, responding to demands from New Jersey and Pennsylvania governors to make the DRPA more open and responsive. Even as chairman John Estey moved to quiet criticism of the politically connected port authority, fellow board member John "Doc" Dougherty called for dismissing DRPA chief executive John Matheussen and replacing Estey and vice chairman John Nash as the leaders of the board.

After shelling out less than expected for a big purchase, most people would be relieved to put away their checkbook. Unless, of course, you're a member of the free-spending Delaware River Port Authority board and writing fat checks with public dollars. The bistate agency agreed this summer to spend up to $6 million to demolish Riverfront State Prison in North Camden to make way for waterfront development. Never mind that the price of the job may be much less than what the DRPA earmarked.

The Delaware River Port Authority set course yesterday toward a merger of public and private docks on both sides of the river. The authority's board of commissioners agreed to spend $300,000 to establish a division that will draft a plan allowing for consolidation of public and private marine terminals, with an eye on buying out the private facilities. The proposal was approved unanimously by the DRPA board's operations and maintenance committee yesterday, with no dissent from other authority commissioners attending the meeting.

Legal work being done by Francis A. Scanlan, the maritime lawyer Gov. Casey appointed three months ago to head the Delaware River Port Authority, has led Casey to seek Scanlan's resignation. "He has been asked by the governor's chief counsel to resign," Casey press spokesman Ron Jury said yesterday, "It's expected that Mr. Scanlan will resign. " Scanlan met earlier this week with the governor's counsel, Morey Myers, who asked him to resign because Casey feared Scanlan's continuing law practice might create conflicts of interest between the authority and his clients' interests.

The Delaware River Port Authority has paid $200,000 to its former representative in Bogota to resolve his claim that his firing last summer violated Colombian law. The $200,000 cash payment to Guillermo Petersson Rivadeneira was negotiated late last month by DRPA attorney John Yeomans in Bogota. Petersson also will receive a $58,000 distribution from the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, representing Petersson's contributions to the fund, and $800 a month in normal pension benefits.

The Delaware River Port Authority yesterday replaced the centralized management of its four bridges with a new system intended to improve maintenance and traffic flow and make employees more content. Each of the bi-state authority's Delaware River toll bridges - the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Betsy Ross and Commodore Barry - will have its own manager, with full authority and responsibility for day-to-day bridge operations. "The change is from a highly centralized, autocratic structure," the DRPA's executive director, Paul Drayton Jr., wrote to the board, "to a decentralized management where customer, employee and bridge needs and problems are anticipated and . . . solutions are implemented locally at each facility.

The Delaware River Port Authority dipped into its general fund to help pay off nearly $100 million of its debt last month. That dropped the agency's outstanding debt to $1.2 billion, but that figure will grow later this year, as the DRPA expects to borrow up to $400 million for long-term upgrades to its bridges and railroad, agency finance officials said Wednesday. The DRPA operates four toll bridges over the Delaware River and the PATCO commuter rail line. The agency's debt has been a concern for years.

A New Jersey state legislator said Thursday that she planned to propose a state law to prevent insurance brokers from splitting commissions from public agencies without performing services for those agencies. Sen. Jennifer Beck (R., Monmouth) said the proposed legislation was prompted by recent revelations of commission-splitting arrangements at the Delaware River Port Authority. State Comptroller Mathew Boxer last month issued a report critical of mismanagement and political cronyism at the DRPA that also detailed an insurance payback deal allegedly orchestrated by George E. Norcross III, the South Jersey insurance executive and Democratic Party power broker who is chairman of the board of Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

The board of the Delaware River Port Authority on Wednesday approved the appointment of a new chief lawyer for the agency. The board also heard a plea from the DRPA police force for a new labor contract but took no action to resume stalled negotiations. Danielle McNichol, former counsel to the chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, was named general counsel, replacing Richard Brown, who has been at the DRPA for 22 years. McNichol, 43, of Glen Mills, is well-connected in Pennsylvania Republican circles, as the wife of lobbyist John McNichol Jr. and daughter-in-law of longtime Delaware County GOP power broker John McNichol, who died in January.

Police officers for the Delaware River Port Authority have filed suit against the DRPA, asking a federal court to order binding arbitration to settle their long-running contract dispute. The 131 patrol officers, sergeants, and corporals have been working under terms of a contract that expired Dec. 31, 2009. Their duties include patrolling the PATCO commuter rail line and the DRPA's four toll bridges - the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Betsy Ross, and Commodore Barry. The police lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Camden, said that the DRPA had refused to bargain in good faith and that it had offered a contract that included no wage increases and eliminated existing benefits such as certain paid holidays, uniform allowances, and injured-on-duty pay. The police said DRPA representatives told them Gov. Christie would veto any pay increase for the police.

The Delaware River Port Authority will replace its top lawyer next month with a former aide to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Richard Brown, 68, of Philadelphia, will retire as general counsel, and Danielle McNichol, who joined the DRPA on Wednesday as deputy general counsel, is to take his place. McNichol, 43, of Glen Mills, is former counsel to the chairman of the PUC and was an associate vice president of human resources for the Temple University Health System and counsel to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

New Jersey's scathing audit of the Delaware River Port Authority unearthed a way of doing business retro enough for a Mad Men episode stripped of its wit, style, and cigarettes. There's precious little glamour in the audit's depressing depiction of pals and pols burning through millions in public money behind closed doors. Tacky patronage perks such as $2,000 in tickets to a "Gypsy Melodies Gala" (imagine the outfits) look like a steal compared to other "wasteful and inappropriate spending" that state Comptroller A. Matthew Boxer outlined Thursday.

T HE DELAWARE River Port Authority has wasted millions of dollars of toll payers' money through mismanagement and political cronyism, the New Jersey state comptroller said in a damning report Thursday. Comptroller Matthew Boxer chastised the DRPA for practices such as its much-criticized "economic development" spending and its now-halted free E-ZPass benefits for DRPA executives and their families and friends. Boxer also exposed an insurance payback deal allegedly orchestrated by George E. Norcross III, the South Jersey insurance executive and Democratic Party power broker who is chairman of the board of Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

The Delaware River Port Authority has wasted millions of dollars of toll payers' money through mismanagement and political cronyism, the New Jersey state comptroller said in a damning report issued Thursday. Comptroller Matthew Boxer chastised the DRPA for practices such as its much-criticized "economic development" spending and its now-halted free E-ZPass benefits for DRPA executives and their families and friends. Boxer also exposed an insurance payback deal allegedly orchestrated by George E. Norcross III, the South Jersey insurance executive and Democratic Party power broker who is chairman of the board of Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

To cross the Delaware River, fewer commuters are driving and more are taking the train. PATCO rail ridership reached an 11-year high last year, while vehicle traffic fell to an 11-year low on the four toll bridges operated by the Delaware River Port Authority. Higher bridge tolls, rising gasoline prices, and a depressed economy all helped account for the shift, transportation experts said. The increase in mass transit use also has been felt by SEPTA, where ridership is at its highest since 1989.