"Cleveland Hopkins Airport projects carried through without approval"

Friday, March 9, 2007

Airport projects carried through without approval 
Council gives slap on wrist
By Susan Vinella
The Cleveland (CA) Plain Dealer


Cleveland Hopkins International Airport violated city law by proceeding with
more than $500,000 in projects without getting City Council approval. 

Airport Director Ricky Smith, whom Mayor Frank Jackson appointed to the
position last June, blamed deadline pressure and staff turnover for
officials agreeing to $456,0000 in consulting and redesign fees for a
de-icing project before getting OK from council. 

"The airport felt pressured to move a project along . . . and [thought]
we'll get smacked on the wrist later," Smith told members of council's
Aviation and Transportation Committee this week. 
 
Smith also said airport officials authorized Standard Parking, which
operates the airport's parking lots and garages, to convert an employee lot
into a $7-a-day visitor lot without council's approval; he blamed a
miscommunication between a staff member and airport attorney and an
ambitious project schedule. 

Standard will receive $61,000 in rent credits for its work. 

Council's Aviation and Transportation Committee belatedly approved the
expenditures this week, but not before gently scolding the director and
warning him not to let it happen again. 

Later, committee Chairman Kevin Kelley took a sterner stand, though he said
he is convinced the work was necessary and done properly. 

"What happened was completely unacceptable," Kelley said in an interview
Thursday. "There's no way to get around the fact that the way business was
conducted was not appropriate." 

Kelley said in addition to the unauthorized work, he was troubled that Smith
initially said at a meeting late last year that cost overruns for the
de-icing project happened before he arrived. 

Memos, e-mails and letters Smith presented to council last month show that
approval for additional money and design changes was apparently granted in
August and September. It's unclear who approved them. 

"We're uneasy about the whole situation," Kelley said. 

Smith apologized for the lapses and said he has appointed a special
committee, headed by his new chief of staff, Percy Dangerfield, to review
all projects to make sure they have received council approval. 

He also said the committee will recommend improvements to how the airport
oversees projects. 

The airport's $4 million de-icing system, which went into operation for the
first time this year, will undergo further redesign later this year. 

Smith said underground pipes that carry the strongest type of glycol, a
chemical that is sprayed onto airplanes to remove ice and snow in the most
severe conditions, contain too many sharp bends for the glycol to properly
flow through. 

The improper flow causes air bubbles in the chemical, he said, which makes
it less effective. 

The contractor working with the consultant, RW Armstrong of Cleveland, will
have to dig up the pipes and replace them - at no cost to the city, Smith
said. 

In the meantime, the airport has been using a temporary above-ground pipe
system for the glycol.

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