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Pawlenty names heads for pollution control, administration
December 16, 2002

Gov.-elect Tim Pawlenty announces additional appointments to his cabinet. (MPR Photo/Laura McCallum)

St. Paul, Minn. — (AP) - Gov.-elect Tim Pawlenty picked a 3M executive to run the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and he named the man who brought vehicle tab renewals to the Web to head his Department of Administration.

Sheryl Corrigan, manager of environmental health and safety for 3M, said she will work to improve the state's climate for businesses and farmers while also improving the water and air quality.

Corrigan, 39, will take a pay cut and must retire from her seat on the Bayport City Council. She worked for the agency 15 years ago as a pollution control analyst.

	Sheryl Corrigan

"She is somebody that we want to be an environmental watchdog but who knows how to strike the right balance between being an environmental watchdog and making sure we continue to grow and prosper as an economy and as a job-providing state to our Minnesota citizens," Pawlenty said.

Corrigan said her initial attention will go to air and water quality issues and feedlot agriculture.

Brian Lamb, Pawlenty's pick for the Department of Administration, is best known for modernizing the state's Driver and Vehicle Services program, which he oversaw under Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver, who is leading Pawlenty's transition.

"He is a creative thinker. He is an innovator. He is an entrepreneur," Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty said he'll also ask Lamb to take a hard look at how the state handles consulting contracts.

An Associated Press review found that the Department of Administration, under Gov. Jesse Ventura, has approved 94 percent of all new consultant contracts, despite a moratorium imposed on them by Legislature nine months ago.

"We will be asking Brian early on to critically review and probably take a much tougher stance and approach toward those issues," Pawlenty said.

The Department of Administration is a low-profile agency, but one that has wide influence because it handles state contracts and purchasing.

Lamb's past reforms include making it possible to renew vehicle tabs on the Internet. Pawlenty also praised Lamb for reducing the time it takes to get vehicles registered and to take road tests for licenses, and for eliminating levels of bureaucracy.

He said he'll give Lamb the power to look for business-style efficiencies across state government.

The MPCA has a two-year budget of $217 million and about 750 employees. Administration has a budget of $490 million and employs about 950.

Both positions pay $108,000 per year.

Scott Elkins, state director for the Sierra Club, said he looks forward to working with Corrigan and views her past work for the MPCA as "definitely a good thing."

He said, though, that Corrigan will inherit an agency that environmentalists have concerns with. He called the agency underfunded and understaffed and said it has had morale problems dating from before the Ventura administration.

"We are also troubled by the development of culture of customer service, and put those words in quotes," he said. "They view the polluters of the state as their customers. We believe the customers of the MPCA are the public."

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