Lawsuit seeking authority to give salary boosts set for Feb. 10 hearing in Jefferson City

The director of Missouri’s transportation department is facing calls for his ouster from Republican lawmakers who contend he’s broken trust with the public with a plan to give worker pay raises just months after a new state gas tax took effect.

In December, the Highways and Transportation Commission sued Acting Commissioner of Administration Ken Zellers because he refused to issue paychecks with raises that lawmakers did not include in this year’s appropriations.

In a letter to the commission dated Jan. 18, Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin of Shelbina, Appropriations Committee Chairman Dan Hegeman of Cosby, and four other Republican senators demanded that MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna either resign or be fired.

“Regardless of the legality of this move, it is a gross violation of the public’s trust and a setback that the department and the state’s road system cannot afford,” the letter states.

In an interview Tuesday, O’Laughlin said the money earmarked for the raises and benefits — $60 million — could be better spent on crumbling roads in her north Missouri district.

“I think that is the crux of the matter,” she said. “He is not in touch with what is happening, especially in rural Missouri.”

The raises would cost far more than a general pay raise plan from Gov. Mike Parson that is currently pending before the House Budget Committee.

During a Monday hearing of the Joint Committee on...

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