(The Washington Post published the following story by Michael D. Shear on its website on August 9.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The top official at Virginia Railway Express has been placed on administrative leave while outside auditors investigate allegations of mismanagement at the agency, which operates Northern Virginia’s publicly financed commuter train system.
Pete Sklannik Jr., the chief operating officer of the 36-person organization, still is receiving his $126,000-a-year salary while he awaits the outcome of the investigation, which VRE’s lawyer said involves “operations and procedures internal to VRE across a broad spectrum of things.”
Lawyer Steve MacIsaac refused to detail the specific allegations or who brought them forth, other than to say the allegations do not involve “some awful, seedy or scandalous behavior at all. It goes to internal management, how it functions.”
MacIsaac said the VRE executive committee, which comprises elected officials from the counties and cities that the railroad serves, has hired a management consulting firm to investigate the allegations and report back to the committee. MacIsaac said board members believe that an honest investigation would be impossible with Sklannik present in the Alexandria offices.
“You would have an outside person coming in, looking at records, talking to employees,” MacIsaac said. “And the head guy is over in the next room. It makes it awkward.”
Sklannik, reached at his parents’ home in New Jersey, said he did not want to comment until after the VRE board receives the results of the investigation.
“I’m following the direction of the board to allow a thorough investigation to take place,” he said. “I believe that’s the right thing to do.”
The committee’s action was first reported yesterday in the Potomac News.
Fairfax County Supervisor Elaine N. McConnell (R-Springfield), a member of the VRE executive committee, said she and other VRE board members were called by MacIsaac this week and told about the mismanagement allegations. She would not provide specifics about the allegations, citing privacy rules and a concern for Sklannik’s reputation.
McConnell said she and Fairfax Supervisor Sharon S. Bulova (D-Braddock), chairman of the VRE board, called Sklannik to McConnell’s Springfield office Wednesday to instruct him to take an indefinite leave of absence. Sklannik was told not to go back to his office, several sources said.
“I thought he was very talented. I never had a problem in the world with Pete, that’s for sure,” McConnell said. “I hope everything will turn out to be all right when the investigation is looked into.”
VRE is operated as a joint venture of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission, both of which are public agencies that make decisions about how to spend federal, state and local transportation funds.
NVTC, which represents the close-in Northern Virginia suburbs, allocates about $100 million each year among its jurisdictions for transit projects. PRTC represents Prince William and Stafford counties, Fredericksburg, Manassas and Manassas Park. It operates bus service in those areas.
Together, both own VRE, which offers commuter rail service on lines from Fredericksburg and Manassas to Alexandria, Crystal City and the District.
The train service struggled for years with few riders and a large debt. But in recent years, ridership has increased steadily: About 14,000 people ride the trains each day, and that number is increasing by about 15 percent a year, making it one of the fastest-growing commuter rail lines in the country.