ST. PAUL - Minnesota's transportation emergency management director was fired Friday because she took 10 days to return to the state following the Aug. 1 Minneapolis bridge collapse.
Sonia Morphew Pitt, 43, of Red Wing was in Washington and Cambridge, Mass., in the days following the Interstate 35W collapse. The Minnesota Department of Transportation and other state agencies are investigating her absence.
"This action was taken because an investigation uncovered serious employee misconduct pertaining to out-of-state travel, misuse of state resources and conduct unbecoming to MnDOT," said Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, the state's transportation commissioner. "The investigation was conducted in a deliberate and thorough manner in accordance with state law and agency policy. The discharged employee has been advised of certain rights under state law and employment contracts."
Pitt's dismissal was effective at noon Friday. She had been on paid leave since September.
Published reports indicate Pitt was being investigated because she was out of town, on state money, for reasons other than the training she listed on her reimbursement documents.
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Pitt did not immediately return telephone messages left at her home. And no one answered a door when a reporter knocked, although a woman talking on a telephone did look through a window while the reporter was knocking.
MnDOT's Web site indicates Pitt was hired as director of homeland security planning with the Division of Traffic, Safety and Technology four years ago. She was a communications office employee between 2001 and 2003.
In her most recent MnDOT job, she was responsible for developing plans related to homeland security issues.
Before joining MnDOT, Pitt was marketing manager with two other state departments.
State agencies are investigating Pitt's relationship with a Federal Highway Administration official, Daniel Ferezan.
The Associated Press reports that a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman said Ferezan, a transportation security specialist for the highway administration, has been interviewed by a MnDOT-hired private investigator.
Senate Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark said she welcomes the firing, but said it was too late.
"Pitt's absence from Minnesota during the biggest infrastructure failure in the state's history was inexcusable, but it didn't need three months of investigation by yet another outside consultant to come to that conclusion," Clark said.
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Clark also criticized the timing of the announcement, which came on a Friday afternoon during deer season, when fewer people pay attention to news reports.
"Clearly, it was the intent of Gov. Pawlenty and Lt. Gov. Molnau to minimize political damage," Clark added.
