COLUMBIA--The board that oversees the state Department of Transportation is considering hiring its own consultants to study the agency's management, though state lawmakers already have asked for a similar study.

Transportation commissioners said Thursday they were planning a study when legislators requested the Legislative Audit Council review. "I thought they should have given us the courtesy to allow us to give the report first," Commissioner Marion Carnell of Ware Shoals said.

Commissioners said their review may look at different topics. The board plans to prepare a list of topics for study to help decide whether to hire a private consultant.

"Why can't we have a say-so?" Commissioner Bobby Jones of Camden asked. "Why should we yield to them?"

Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said he requested the Legislative Audit Council review after his father, transportation commissioner Bob Harrell, requested it.

Legislators want the council to examine the agency's spending for the past three fiscal years, the amounts spent on primary and secondary roads and the agency's methods for measuring the results of its expenditures.

Commissioner Harrell said a second study "would open up some pretty good criticism about wasting money."

The call for review comes after board Chairman Tee Hooper of Greenville criticized the agency's management in February. Hooper accused Elizabeth Mabry, executive director of the department, of running an agency with financial problems and asked her to step down.

The other commissioners cast a 6-0 vote in support of Mabry and voted to seek an independent review of the agency.