QUESTIONS FOR CRRA CHAIRMAN NOMINEE


March 8, 2005		2005-R-0292
QUESTIONS FOR CRRA CHAIRMAN NOMINEE

By: Paul Frisman, Associate Analyst Kristin Sullivan, Research Analyst

• The authority’s 11-member board of directors is appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. The governor appoints three members and the Senate president pro tempore, the House speaker, the Senate minority leader and House minority leader appoint two each.

• Three members must represent towns with a population of fewer than 50,000 and two must represent towns with a population greater than 50,000.

• Five members represent the public. Three of these must have extensive, high-level experience in finance, business or industry; one must have high-level, extensive experience in an environmental field; and one must have high-level, extensive experience in an energy field. The law does not establish qualifications for the remaining member, who is appointed by the governor.

• Members serve four-year terms and must be confirmed by both houses. The governor designates one member to serve as chairman, with the advice and consent of both houses. The chairman serves at the governor’s pleasure.

• CRRA plans, designs, builds, and operates solid waste disposal, volume reduction, recycling, intermediate processing, and resources recovery facilities. The chairman appoints the president of the authority, who supervises the authority’s administrative affairs and technical activities. The authority is a quasi-public agency.

1. CRRA’s reputation has suffered in recent years because of criticism of the CRRA-Enron deal. Last month, the governor criticized the level of compensation at CRRA and other quasi-public agencies. What have you done, and what will you do to restore public confidence in CRRA?

2. The governor has asked you to review and adjust your compensation policies in light of the recent audit by the Office of Policy and Management. How would you characterize your compensation policies? What are you doing to restructure them?

3. What is CRRA’s current financial condition and what is CRRA’s new board doing to recover from the failed Enron deal?

4. The legislature will likely consider a bill that would require quasi-public agencies to obtain written approval from the state comptroller before investing or disbursing most funds in excess of $ 25,000. It would also enable the state comptroller to void any transaction that does not go through the proper approval process. How would this bill impact CRRA’s investment procedures?

5. The Government Administration and Elections Committee is considering a bill that would prohibit CRRA’s board of directors from voting on matters by phone. What percent of your meetings occur by phone? Under what circumstances does the board hold a meeting by phone and does it adhere to notice and agenda requirements? How can the public access these meetings?

6. Please describe CRRA’s policy on awarding new contracts and re-bidding expired contracts. Under what circumstances would you renew a contract outside of a competitive bid process?

7. CRRA and the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) have had a contentious history concerning CRRA’s contract with MDC to operate the Mid-Connecticut project. Last year you notified Mid-Connecticut member towns that attempts to resolve differences between the agencies had been unsuccessful. Please bring us up to date.

8. CRRA has said it favors a statewide electronics recycling plant. How would this be financed? Do you favor a one-time advance recycling fee paid at the point of retail purchase, such as has been adopted in California?

9. CRRA has announced plans to close the Hartford landfill, but your agency and the city disagree about who should bear the costs of closure and monitoring. Who should pay and why?

10. CRRA’s main responsibilities include assistance and coordination of certain recycling efforts. Connecticut continues to fall short of its statewide 40% recycling goal. How can CRRA increase the rate of recycling?

11. Legislation was introduced last year that would have allowed CRRA to spend proportionally more money on outside consultants as its full-time staff decreased, and less money on consultants if its full time staff grew. What are your current staffing needs?

12. What are your current tipping fees? Do you anticipate increasing or decreasing them? On what would that depend?

13. Many inner-city residents believe they have historically been overburdened by the siting of landfills and incinerators in their neighborhoods. What is CRRA doing to alleviate this?

14. Under current law, unclaimed bottle deposits return to distributors. There have been many attempts to direct that money to the state instead. Where does CRRA believe that money should go and how should it be distributed?

15. Do you favor expansion of the bottle bill to include bottled water and noncarbonated juice and sports drinks? Is curbside recycling reducing the amount of redeemed soft drink and beer bottles and cans? Should the state consider increasing the five cent deposit?

16. What’s the best and safest way to dispose of ash generated by CRRA facilities?

17. What is CRRA’s position on a proposal to reduce the fee for dioxin testing at resource recovery plants from $ 1. 50 per ton to 50 cents per ton?

19. You were appointed to the board to represent municipalities with a population of less than 50,000. How does that perspective influence your work with CRRA?