Agency and its director under fire

By: Mike Deeson

Tampa, Florida - They regulate taxi cabs, limousines and wreckers and investigators for the Hillsborough Public Transportation commission carry guns to carry out their duties. HPTC Executive Director, Greg Cox says they have full arrest authority and they drive police cars.

But now Cox is under fire.

Ndidi Osuji says Cox is black-balling him and violating agency rules. Although Osuji has several citations from the HPTC ranging form relatively minor to serious he meets all rules to be allowed to drive. Osuji says Cox is abusing his power.

Cox says absolutely not. He says the agency takes great pains never to do that to anybody.

And while Cox says it would be wrong to black-ball anybody, the owner of one limousine company, who was too intimidated to appear on camera, says Cox told him on the phone, as he was about to hire Osuji, that the limousine company could lose its permits and certificates and ability to operate in Hillsborough County if the man was hired.

Hillsborough Commissioner Kevin White is the chairman of the PTC and he says that would be inappropriate and he is concerned about the allegations.

White says if the allegations are accurate the board has some serious corrective measures to make.

There are other concerns about Cox as well. He makes between $102,000 -$105,000 he couldn't remember which... that's 20 percent of the staff salary. This year he gave himself a 3.5 % raise instead of the 2.5% he was supposed to get. And he is paying back the county because he was overpaid several thousand dollars but says he didn't realize it until the clerk told him

And then there is the bankroll the regulating agency has built up with a more than $800,000 contingency fund to buy a building 4 times the size of its current rented space.

However White says the building they're in is perfectly fine.

But White says things don't seem to be fine at the PTC where employees have complained about Cox and questions are being raised about how he runs the agency.