"Dispute breaks out over contracting at D/FW"

Friday, October 4, 2002

Dispute breaks out over contracting at airport 
D/FW board member denies she has former DISD official in mind 
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS
The Dallas (TX) Morning News 


A debate over minority contracting at Dallas/Fort Worth International
Airport on Thursday led Dallas Mayor Laura Miller to suggest that a
fellow airport board member was promoting a particular contractor:
former Dallas schools chief financial officer Matthew Harden Jr. 

Board member Pamela Dunlop Gates, a lawyer from Dallas, proposed at the
board meeting that the airport set a goal of adding a black-owned firm
to one of its construction management programs by January. 

Although Ms. Gates did not name any potential contractor, Ms. Miller
said a Dallas City Council member told her that Ms. Gates already had
someone in mind: Mr. Harden, who resigned as financial chief of the
Dallas Independent School District in 1998 amid a federal investigation
of the district's finances and a flurry of lawsuits. 

Ms. Miller said he left the school district under "unsavory
circumstances." Mr. Harden was never charged. His resignation was part
of a deal to settle a suit he filed against the district. 

Ms. Gates denied any intent to steer D/FW work to any firm. She said she
was seeking policy changes, not pushing a company. She withdrew her
proposal for adding a black-owned firm by January. 

After the meeting, Ms. Gates said she didn't know Mr. Harden and hadn't
discussed D/FW work with him or any associate of his. 

"I was stunned" by Ms. Miller's comment, Ms. Gates said. "This has
nothing to do with any individual." 

Mr. Harden is now chief executive officer of MATCOR Unlimited Inc., a
Dallas-based project and construction management firm. He did not return
a telephone call requesting comment. 

The dispute came as D/FW Airport's appointed, unpaid board debated
efforts to make sure a share of construction work goes to minority- or
women-owned firms, especially local ones. D/FW is in a five-year,
$2.6-billion capital development program. 

The board backed off of a committee vote on Tuesday that would have
postponed for a month a package of contract extensions, pending a closer
look at minority and local participation. Board members approved all the
extensions with minor changes. 

Board member Santiago Salinas, a lawyer from Fort Worth, led the earlier
effort to put off the contract approvals, saying the board didn't have
enough information to judge whether enough work was going to local
companies. 

Mr. Salinas said Thursday that additional information made him able to
support the contract extensions. But he complained that D/FW Airport
contractors are meeting minority- and women-owned participation
guidelines by adding out-of-town partners instead of locals. 

"It's almost like a slap in the face to North Texas, as if we haven't
developed our own firms," Mr. Salinas said. 

Ms. Miller said several other Dallas council members also raised that
concern, prompting her to discuss it with fellow board member and Fort
Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr and D/FW chief executive officer Jeff Fegan.
One big contractor, Centex Construction Co., later added another local
minority firm to a D/FW partnership that has a $3.6 million contract.
The addition boosted the partnership's minority share to 75 percent. 

Ms. Miller called that a "stellar" achievement by the contractor.


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