Structure of Steamship Authority in question
Committee to hold hearing tomorrow
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
Tensions may run high tomorrow when the state Joint Committee on Transportation holds a public hearing on a bill proposing to change the make-up of the Steamship Authority board, reduce the weight of votes by representatives of the islands and bring the SSA under the Executive Office of Transportation. None of these changes are welcomed by SSA management or board members.

"It's not something I take lightly," said SSA general manager Wayne Lamson, who is cutting his vacation short to attend the session. "If nobody speaks up against it they'll use that later on to say 'We didn't hear anyone was opposed to it.' It adds another member and dilutes the island votes without helping to reduce the deficit, and it could produce deadlocked votes. It's totally unnecessary to improve the Authority's operation. What qualifications are they going to bring to the table that we don't already have? Anytime there is legislation that changes the make-up and weight of the board it is something island residents need to be concerned about."

House Bill 3681 was filed by Representatives Joseph Wagner of Chicopee, Matthew Patrick of Falmouth and Cleon Turner of Dennis. It proposes to add the secretary of transportation or his designee to the five-member board of governors and to the port council, change the 35 percent voting weight for the island representatives to 30 percent each and give 10 percent to the state member, and include the SSA with agencies within the Executive Office of Transportation such as the Port Authority, the Turnpike Authority and the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The representatives who petitioned the bill did not return calls.

Cape and Islands Representative Eric Turkington will likely be at tomorrow's hearing. Turkington, however, does not believe the bill, which has been refiled since it died in the last legislative session, has a strong chance of passage and said it must wind its way through several committees before reaching the House floor for a vote.

"This was filed in the last session and there was a hearing held, then it went to a study and nothing happened," he said. "This authority doesn't receive any public subsidy so why have any state control? This is a [SSA] union issue."

Turkington is referring to the fact that the contract for the SSA's unlicensed workers expired four years ago and the contract for its licensed employees expired three years ago. To date, negotiations between those workers and management are stalemated, though Lamson said roughly 95 percent of the contract issues have been resolved. Lamson said the SSA has agreed to the union's request for a fact-finding process that will begin next month in which fact-finders named by a Boston mediation board gather information from both sides to try to resolve disputes over matters such as pay rates. The information is then put into a written report listing each side's reasoning on positions.

Bill Campbell, the representative for the Boston arm of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association that bargains for the SSA's employees, made it clear last week that the union is behind passage of the bill and has discussed it with the representatives who refiled it.

"We've been in contact with all the supporters of the bill. We brought our case to these individuals and they thought it warranted this action," said Campbell. "There is no transportation oversight on these boards of governors - there are no transportation professionals on the board. Maybe [the bill] would guide them to make more prudent decisions, such as going after federal grant money, which they refuse to do. When we tried to help them three years ago their response was 'You mind your own business and we'll take care of our business.'

"This will not be dropped," Campbell continued, speaking of the push to pass the bill. "The state is interested in this because of the safety and security of the riding public, and the bond rating of the state is directly related to the Steamship's bonds, so there is an effect on the state if the Steamship Authority is mismanaged.

"I don't know how a transportation professional would scare a cafe owner and a realtor," Campbell added, referring to Nantucket's board member Flint Ranney, owner of Denby Real Estate, and the Vineyard board member Marc Hanover who owns a restaurant. "If I need a house on Nantucket I'll go see Flint Ranney and if I need two eggs over easy I'll go see Hanover. If I need a boat built I'd like the counsel of a transportation professional."

Ranney disputes Campbell's statement about seeking grant money, saying the SSA pursues federal funds when they are available. He noted that the SSA did obtain $2 million in federal funds for the now defunct Flying Cloud. Further, it recently received $1.5 million in state funds for the construction of a new maintenance facility in Fairhaven and on May 11 was given a $300,000 state grant for terminal security equipment.

Ranney additionally disputes any suggestion that there may be a problem involving the SSA's bond status. "We are allowed by the state to have $75 million in bonds. Currently, we are using about $65 million and at the rate they are being paid off we'll be down to $55 million in the next two years," he explained. "There are no major projects coming up except the Oak Bluffs terminal, in stages, at a total cost of $10 million, so we're in fine shape."

Overall, Ranney agrees with Lamson that the bill proposal is a bad idea.

"The secretary of transportation is in charge of the Turnpike Authority which is in charge of the Big Dig," he said. "If we were under that same grouping we would be subject to state rules and regulations that have no application for Nantucket or

Martha's Vineyard." I