As a 30-year state public-service worker, I was outraged to learn the Department of Transportation is offering bonuses to private contractors repairing the problem-plagued project along Interstate 84 in Waterbury (Dec. 20 article, "I-84 repairs going smoothly").

As a state taxpayer, I believe we should expect the deficient drains on Connecticut's "Little Dig" to be replaced on budget and on time without having to resort to what amounts to bribery.

Our members in CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 have called for Gov. M. Jodi Rell to appoint front-line workers in the agency to play an active role in reforming the agency since she announced her Commission to Reorganize the DOT in May. The first recommendation in our "5-Point 'Safety, Security and Savings Plan," presented last summer, was to reform the way transportation projects are contracted.

The good news is the governor signed clean-contracting legislation in October, though its implementation is delayed until 2009. Paying bonuses to private contractors shows DOT management has no intention of performing the cost-benefit analyses or applying the tougher contractor review standards the law will require any sooner.

If we are going to remake the DOT into an efficient, quality-first provider of public services, what we really need is for the clean-contracting bill to be implemented now. We can't afford to wait another year while DOT management wastes more of our tax dollars bribing private contractors into delivering quality services for taxpayers.

Michael J. O'Brien
Higganum

The writer is a supervising sanitary engineer for the state Department of Environmental Protection and president of CSEA/SEIU Local 2001's Executive Council.