If the 35W Bridge had not collapsed, it’s possible Sonia Morphew Pitt would still have her job as Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and no one would have heard of her or her reprimanded supervisors, Rick Arnebeck, Steve Lund, and Bob Winter.

As it is, Morphew Pitt was audited by the state for travel and other state-paid expenses for the time period 1 July 2005 through 11 September 2007. In addition, Morphew Pitt, Arnebeck, Lund, and Winter were all part of an investigation, instigated by Mn/DOT and conducted by Minneapolis-based Ratwik, Roszak and Maloney, into issues regarding oversight and supervision of Mn/DOT employees.

She was fired on November 9, 2007. According to a press release issued by Lt. Governor, and then Mn/DOT Commissioner, Carol Molnau, Morphew Pitt was fired for “serious employee misconduct pertaining to out of state travel, misuse of state resources and conduct unbecoming to Mn/DOT.”

So how did she get to be the focus of so much attention? While she was out of town on business at the time the bridge collapsed, she made the mistake of not returning to Minnesota for another 10 days. And it took several days for anyone to notice she wasn’t around. Her immediate supervisor’s supervisor, Bob Winter, was not aware that she was out of town for several days. Commissioner Molnau said she did not notice Morphew Pitt’s absence for five or six days and was disappointed that Morphew Pitt did not return to the state as others had done.

According to a report in the Star Tribune, Morphew Pitt was at Harvard University in Massachusetts for a three-day emergency preparedness course when the 35W Bridge collapsed. Another conference participant claims Morphew Pitt “was torn between staying on the East Coast and returning to Minnesota.” Her immediate supervisor, Steve Lund, did not order her to return. So instead of flying back to Minnesota another course participant (a city of Minneapolis employee) was ordered to do, Morphew Pitt completed the conference and then flew to Washington D.C. for a “non-work related trip.”

In the days following the collapse, Morphew Pitt claims she was in “‘near constant telephone and email communication with her staff’ during the crisis.” Phone records indicate she spent more time on the phone with Daniel Ferezan, a friend who works for the Federal Highway Administration in Washington D.C., than she did with Mn/DOT and her staff. The investigative report and audits also revealed Morphew Pitt used her Mn/DOT cell phone for excessive personal calls—65 percent of her calls were personal. Looking at her out-of-state calls, 90 percent were personal and the majority were to Ferezan.

According to the Mn/DOT investigative report, only 12 of 32 emails Morphew Pitt sent in the days following the collapse related to the collapse. The text of one email—from Ferezan—asked about a clam bake, but the subject line referenced the inspection of deck truss bridges. 

Other issues in the report include unauthorized trips and airline upgrades, hotel costs and other expenses.  

The report issued by the Office of the Legislative Auditor states:

“Sonia Morphew Pitt, the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s former director of the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, caused the state to incur over $11,500 of unauthorized, unreasonable, or inappropriate expenses and charged the state for over $14,500 of work time that should have been recorded as personal leave. The Minnesota Department of Transportation did not adequately supervise Ms. Pitt and did not have adequate internal controls over her state-paid expenses.”

It was also recommended that “The Office of the Attorney General should seek recovery from Sonia Morphew Pitt for the inappropriate costs. The Department of Transportation should repay inappropriate costs to the federal government to the extent they were initially funded through federal grant programs.”

Her three supervisors, two current and one former, were also reprimanded.