Remaining DRPA Board Members Rolling With The Changes
CAMDEN, NJ (CBS) - Major changes made on the Pennsylvania side of the table at the board of the Delaware River Port Authority are being welcomed by at least one person who sits on the New Jersey side.
DRPA board vice chair Jeffrey Nash has been in politics long enough to know that faces change, and so do agendas. But Nash says he's exicited about working with the six new Pennsylvania appointees, including new board chair Governor Tom Corbett, who appointed himself.
"It doesn't really change matters," says Nash. "I work directly with Governor Christie's office on all of the issues, including the reforms and the new initiatives, and the governors, in essence, work together anyway."
And Nash says many of the reforms sought for more than a year by Pennsylvania and New Jersey are already in place -- 32 in all, dealing for the most part with how the board operates.
"With Governor Corbett coming on board, we expect that the reforms will advance to make sure it becomes the regular course of business at the Port Authority," Nash says.
How long Corbett will attend meetings before handing things off to a backup (as his predecessor, Ed Rendell, did) remains to be seen.
The changes are likely to refuel debate on two fronts: moving reforms to center the agency's work strictly on bridge and high-speed line operations; and the future of executive director John Matheussen, who's working on an open-ended extension of a contract which expired last summer.
Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio 1060.
