Mullan to step down later this year over salary

By Frank Phillips and Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick’s embattled transportation secretary, Jeffrey B. Mullan, will step down in the fall under a plan he worked out with the administration in May, according to two people close to Patrick.

Jeffrey B. Mullan

Those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mullan’s departure was decided before the most recent controversy over the handling of a 110-pound light fixture that fell in a Big Dig tunnel in February.

They said Mullan had asked Patrick for a salary increase in May because he was facing a financial strain from his children’s school tuition. He argued that his duties had greatly expanded since the 2009 state law merged all of the state’s roads, rails, and bridges under his authority.

When the governor rejected his request, Mullan told Patrick that he needed to return to the private sector and earn a higher salary, the people said. Mullan took a salary cut when he moved from his $160,000-a-year job as director of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to become Patrick’s $150,000-a-year secretary of transportation in 2009.

Mullan could not immediately be reached for comment today.

Patrick’s communication director, Brendan Ryan, acknowledged that Mullan has informed the governor about his return to the private sector, but disputed that an exact date had been set.

The Globe reported Sunday that the falling fixture represented a bigger threat to public safety than Mullan had acknowledged. The report created an uproar that has engulfed Mullan and his agency. Yesterday, he suspended the Big Dig’s top engineer who said he had been trained not to leave a detailed and immediate paper trail documenting safety concerns out of fear of litigation.

Both people said that Patrick, while upset over the way the light fixture problem was handled, remained confident in Mullan’s leadership of the agency.

‘’This came up in the spring,’’ said one of the people, who had knowledge of the discussions. ‘’This had nothing to do with the recent events.’’

They said Patrick and his top aides feel Mullan has done an excellent job in overseeing the merger, which entailed a complicated meshing of entrenched bureaucracies, warring unions, and fiefdoms.

‘’He has taken some dysfunctional agencies and has gotten them going in the right direction,’’ the person said.