Friday, March 10, 2000
Closed-door meetings used to discuss stadium problems
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County commissioners received at least three briefings last year on problems related to the construction of Paul Brown Stadium in private, closed-door meetings.
The commissioners never spoke of those problems in public, however, until about a month ago when they were forced to appropriate an additional $14.3 million to keep con struction going.
Critics say the private meetings are at the very least improper, and possibly a violation of the Ohio Open Meetings law.
But more important, they say, the briefings represent a pattern of cutting the public out of one of the largest public works projects ever undertaken in Cincinnati.
“There is an attitude in government that the public and taxpayers are an annoyance to be run around or ignored,” said Cincinnati attorney Robert Manley, who is known for taking on governments over eminent domain issues.
“The less you tell them, the less of an annoyance they'll be,” he said.
Commissioner Tom Neyer said Wednesday that the briefings never happened. On Thursday, he said he was confused by
the question and confirmed that the meetings did, in fact, take place.
He said they were proper.
“We did have two general briefings where trends, costs and (construction) schedules were discussed,” Mr. Neyer said. “There are aspects of those discussions that could have been used by people in an adversarial position against the county's interest as we were acquiring property.”
The open meetings law states that the public's business must be done in public. It allows for closed-door “executive sessions” in cases of personnel matters, property acquisition and litigation.
County Administrator Dave Krings said the county will not have any more closed-door briefings.
“We have said we will have regular public meetings on these subjects,” Mr. Krings said. “We've already determined we intend to do that from here on out.”
A Nov. 22, 1999, memo from stadium project director W. Shelby Reaves to a county public works employee outlines key problems that had to be overcome for the stadium to open on time.
The memo was obtained last week by the Enquirer through an Open Records request.
“We have discussed those issues on (3) occasions with County Commissioners,” the memo states.
Mr. Reaves refused to be interviewed for this article.
Among the issues outlined in the memo:
• Resolve code/building permit issues.
• Be prepared to expand the budget to pay for overtime and other costs associated with building the stadium more quickly.
• Provide more personnel to process change orders — changes to contracts that increase the scope and cost of work — from trade contractors.
It was revealed for the first time Feb. 14 that the stadium's budget will have to be increased by an estimated $45 million, mainly because of change orders.
Commissioners acted two days later to spend an additional $14.3 million — a stop-gap measure that will keep money flowing to contractors for another few weeks.
More money will likely need to be approved soon.
None of the problems related to stadium construction was ever discussed in a public setting before Feb. 14.
Commissioner John Dowlin said county staff started to have concerns that the stadium was not on schedule or on budget around August.
About that time, he said, members of the project team — architect NBBJ, construction manager Turner Barton Malow D.A.G and project manager Getz Ventures — started pointing fingers at one another.
That's when the “briefings” were scheduled, he said.
“We went in there thinking this was legitimate executive session for property acquisition,” Mr. Dowlin said. “On reflection, it seems it really was more just a briefing on the (construction) schedule. So it probably wasn't an appropriate thing to do.”
Commission President Bob Bedinghaus, who has been the leader of the commission on stadium issues, did not return numerous phone calls Thursday.
This type of behind-the-scenes action has become all too common on the county commission, said Cincinnati attorney Tim Mara.
Mr. Mara has sued the county over another decision related to riverfront development that he belives was made in a private executive session — the decision to give the city $2 million to build the foundation for a covering over three blocks of Fort Washington Way.
It was also revealed last week by the Enquirer that commissioners decided without any public debate to spend $700,000 to make the field acceptable for international soccer. That alteration was recorded as a “change order” after construction started.
The county typically discusses public works projects at an open staff meeting every Monday. Problems with the stadium have never been discussed at those meetings, and Mr. Mara wants to know why.
“It is clearly not appropriate for commissioners to shield themselves from embarrassment by going into executive session,” Mr. Mara said. “That's just a lame excuse to try and keep their mistakes and problems private.”
Attorney Mr. Manley said the reason those topics should be discussed openly is so the public can learn of the problems and weigh in on them before decisions are made.
It is, after all, the public who is paying for the project, he said.
“We would never be in this mess if the full details of the unconscionable lease with the Bengals had been published before it was signed,” said Mr. Manley of an agreement that includes millions in fines to the Bengals if the August deadline is missed, along with guaranteed ticket sales.
“Folks would have terrorized the county into behaving in a more rational manner,” he said. “Public disclosure is the only way to keep officials behaving in the interest of the public.”
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