For your Madison County folks, please read and consider sharing (much of this information comes from the excellent reporting of Michael Simmons at the Madison County Journal). Madison County is the process of studying its own bridge to nowhere at your expense: In 2002, an engineering firm billed Madison County $150,000.00 to do an airport study. It determined there was really only one viable site option and to comply with FAA guidelines Bruce Campbell Field in the City of Madison would have to be closed. The Madison County Economic Development Association has decided to pay our County Engineer $1.2 million to conduct another airport study. This was a no-bid contract, meaning no competition occurred for the job. To my knowledge our County Engineer has no specialized training or experience with aviation engineering or FAA regulations prior to this project. Additionally, nothing has really changed from the time of the 2002 study. The project is code-named Project Phoenix and most of the wheeling and dealing has been done behind the scenes in executive sessions. MCEDA has ties to the Board of Supervisors. It is my understanding that each Supervisor appoints a Board Member to MCEDA. An employee of our County Engineer serves on the Board of MCEDA. While minutes from the meeting approving the deal originally showed him voting, those minutes have since been amended to show that he recused himself from the vote. Additionally, the Board of Supervisors provides funding to MCEDA, including a substantial portion of the funding for this newest airport study. Through four months the County Engineers firm has spent $276,000.00, in large part, studying the previous study that only cost $150,000.00 to undertake in its entirety. The time entries for these four months read Specifically work related to the project...involved detailed review and analysis of aviation demand and forecast, evaluation of airport minimum requirements and classification analysis, as well as an in depth analysis of the May 2002 reporting to the (Board of Supervisors). Additional invoices have been submitted for $84,000, $60,000, $36,000 and $60,000 were for analysis of eight sites, specifically relating to proximity of utilities, access, transportation requirements, land cost, site development costs and tower relocation costs. To date, approximately $600,000.00 has been spent. Wouldnt you be interested in seeing the actual work product that your money is helping to buy? I would. The guy who chaired one of the first airport studies in Madison County, Bobby Isonhood, has said It just doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out whats going on with this particular engineer and the county, he added. Sadly enough, its all been exposed. The general public just wants it swept under the doormat. $1.2 million for a study - thats crazy, thats absolutely crazy. The ex-mayor of New Orleans (Ray Nagin) would fit right up here with the board of supervisors. It is time to put some pressure on these guys who are allowing this project to move forward. You can contact your Supervisor using the information below. District 1 - John Bell Crosby, 601-874-5618 or [email protected] District 2 - Ronny Lott, 601-624-9221 or ronny.lott@madison-co District 3 - Gerald Steen, 601-624-9093 or gerald.steen@madison-co District 4 - Karl Banks, 601-832-2962 or [email protected] District 5 - Paul Griffin, 601-937-2842 paul.griffin@madison-co If youd like to talk to the State Ethics Commission about this issue, you can contact the Commission at 601-359-1285 or by email at [email protected]. If youd like to talk to the State Auditors Office about this issue and potentially prompt an investigation, you can contact Auditor Stacey E. Pickering at 601-576-2641 or [email protected]. The Deputy Director for Investigations at the Auditors office is Karei McDonald ([email protected] or 601-576-2727).
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 17:29:16 +0000
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