Vineyard, Nantucket, SSA Managers Turn Out to Oppose State House
Bill

By MIKE SECCOMBE

BOSTON - Opponents of a union-backed move to water down the
independence of the Steamship Authority and decrease control by the two
Islands turned out in force on Boston on Thursday to fight it before the
state Joint Committee on Transportation.

Cape and Islands Rep. Eric T. Turkington, Sen. Robert O'Leary,
boat line governors, senior managers, county officials and several
Island selectmen all made oral and/or written submissions in opposition
to a sleeper bill before the committee.

"All the communities served by the SSA usually agree on
nothing. All of them agree on this, said Mr. Turkington, summing up the
unanimity of purpose before the committee, whose chairman is one of
three sponsors of the bill.

House bill number 3681, titled An Act Relative to the Coordination
of Intermodal Assets in the Commonwealth, would end 47 years of entirely
independent operation by the SSA, the only ferry service in the country
that operates in the black without state or federal subsidy.

The bill would place the boat line under the state Executive Office
of Transportation and add a sixth member to its governing board and to
the port council. The result would be a reduction in the weighted voting
power of the Vineyard and Nantucket on the board, from 70 per cent to
60.

The bill was filed by the chairman of the transportation committee,
Rep. Joseph F. Wagner, Rep. Matthew C. Patrick and Rep. Cleon H. Turner.

Mr. Patrick, who is from Falmouth, said the SSA is the only state
transportation agency not under the aegis of the Executive Office of
Transportation. He said the bill would not remove the independence of
the SSA, but would simply add to the board someone with transportation
experience. He questioned why the boat line had found it necessary to
increase fares seven times since 1999.

Apart from Mr. Patrick's brief statement, and a mild defense
of it by Mr. Wagner the chairman, the only support for the bill came
from Bill Campbell, the Boston area representative for the Maritime
Engineers Beneficial Association, the union that represents the bulk of
SSA employees.

Opponents of the bill see it as a bargaining tool of the union.

Mr. Turkington linked the proposed changes to stalled contract
negotiations between SSA management and union employees. While the union
had some right to be upset over the delays in reaching a new agreement,
he told the committee, the focus should be on process of collective
bargaining, rather than on distractions like the bill.

He also said there is no empirical evidence to suggest the operation
of the boat line would be improved by the imposition of a government
appointee. The people responsible for the Big Dig fiasco, Mr. Turkington
noted, were government appointees.

His views were echoed by Senator O'Leary, who also made veiled
criticism of the boat line management for its delays in reaching a new
collective agreement with its unionized employees.

"There is a labor issue here," he said, and it needs to
be resolved. It's gone on too long."

But it does make sense to reorganize the institution of the SSA
itself, he said.

Representative Wagner disputed the suggestion that the proposed
legislation was related to the industrial negotiations.

The Executive Office of Transportation has influence on and
oversight of all modes of transportation within the state except the
SSA, he said. Mr. Wagner also focused on the numerous fare increases and
said it was fair to look at the accountability and efficiency of SSA
operations.

Mr. Campbell also denied the bill was directly linked to the ongoing
contract negotiations. He said the board needs professional advice.

He cited several examples of alleged poor management, including the
decision to spend $1.5 million repowering the fast ferry Flying Cloud,
preparatory to its sale. The authority had anticipated getting $5
million for the boat, but there had been no takers.

Mr. Campbell's litany of complaints included a claim that the
board had not been sufficiently active in seeking federal grant money
and that it had just brought on line its largest-ever vessel, at a time
of falling demand. Ridership declined from three million to 2.7 million
since 2001, he said.

Mr. Campbell also claimed the cost of the new ferry Island Home, was
almost $10 million more than the authority's original $22 million
estimate, and that the new ferry burned three times the fuel of the boat
she replaced, the Islander.

The new boat will be "an anchor around the authority's
neck for decades," he said.

The only heat of the hearing followed his claims, as SSA general
manager Wayne Lamson vigorously denied the claims about cost estimates
for the Island Home, its fuel use and the grant money.

Otherwise, the hearing was largely a procession of Island
representatives forcefully and occasionally colorfully expressing their
opposition to the proposed changes to the operations of the Steamship
Authority.

Tom Pachico, chairman of the Tisbury selectmen, characterized the
prospect of state involvement in the operations of the boat line as
"the camel putting its nose in the tent."

Oak Bluffs selectman Roger Wey conveyed the "dismay" of
his own board at the unnecessary change, given that the boat line has
operated for 47 years without state involvement.

"One could question the motives of the sponsors," Mr.
Wey said.

Vineyard SSA governor Marc Hanover said he spoke on behalf of 20,000
year-round and 100,000 seasonal residents of the Island when he opposed
the bill. Mr. Hanover told the committee he was intimately aware of how
Island people felt about the ferry service.

"If the toilet paper is missing in the bathroom I get a
call," he said.

Written submissions also came from the town of Barnstable, Dukes
county, and Nantucket town and county - all against the bill.