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The article “Ironton Ferry not part of bridge closure detour”, published online on March 8, 2017, is loaded with quotes from John Drury, director of the county transportation authority, that serve only to illustrate the ineptitude of County transportation leadership.
Whenever you want to be completely frustrated by self-aggrandizing county bureaucrats, one need look no further than the county transportation wunderkinds, John Drury, and his wife, Jill Drury, manager of county transit. Time and again they show exactly how not to behave when providing service to county residents.
The article was written by Steve Foley and starts off by stating that John Drury attended a public meeting held by MDOT in which discussion took place regarding work on the bridge and possible detour routes. It also states that the possibility of an earlier opening of the Ironton Ferry was “mentioned”.
As it turns out, the ferry is not included in the detour routing; so why not, you may ask. The article quotes John Drury as saying “We were contacted by MDOT about a year ago and they talked about doing this,”. “Their (MDOT) original date was in early April and at the time, we said if the ice is out and we’re able to run we could do it, and that was it.”
And that was it. But wait; maybe that wasn't it. Maybe MDOT was at fault. Let's take a look at another John Drury quote:
“We had kind of assumed last year that we would be doing it, but it’s up to the board and if the ferry is able to run then they’ll make the decision to run it,” Drury said. “It’s also up to MDOT if they want us to be part of their detour or not, that’s where we’re at.”
So, John Drury assumed that the ferry would be part of the plan, but then shifts responsibility to MDOT. Does he now want county residents to "assume" that he's doing a good job?
Now that a plan has been decided upon and just weeks away from implementation, John Drury, our very own bureaucrat wunderkind is now ready to go to bat for MDOT. He is quoted as saying: “But if it’s ice-free and it appears it will be that way, I suppose we could talk about it.”
What a great idea, John. Yes, by all means, let’s talk about it, because you know, better late than never.
And for the clincher, Drury said: “We’ll discuss it at our board meeting and see where we want to go. If the board chooses to start service early, we can look at it as long as we’re able, but there’s some prep time in getting the boat ready to go.”
Notice how John keeps putting the onus of no proactive measures taken on the transit authority board? Who do you think chairs that board? And doesn't it seem rather late to be entering discussions on a subject John Drury was well aware of a year ago; one that MDOT is ready to implement, while the prep work on the ferry is still to be done?
Why didn’t he remain in contact with MDOT concerning this issue? How is the county transportation authority able to formulate contingency plans without follow up communications with MDOT?
Could there exist other reasons for not utilizing the ferry?
Did John Drury request additional funding from MDOT for the use of ferry services for a week?
Was he too busy consulting and lobbying to keep up with his responsibilities to the county transportation authority?
Perhaps John Drury was misquoted, as his wife, Jill, claims happened to her in a PNR article last month.
Whatever the reason for this latest fumble by our very own dynamic duo, wouldn't it be nice to keep the needs of county residents at the forefront of your concerns? John? We're listening.
Wunderkind indeed.