BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County sewer chief Tom Quinn fought back Monday with copies of resolutions and reports he said gave him the authority to issue controversial fee waivers.
Mr. Quinn submitted the documents to his boss, Cincinnati City Manager John Shirey, and met with him to explain his position. Mr. Shirey's office, which has ordered an audit of the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD), had no immediate reaction.
Mr. Quinn was criticized last week by Hamilton County commissioners for giving breaks to businesses after sewer tap-in fees were increased fivefold in 1996. For example, MSD charged Procter & Gamble Co. just over $13,000 to hook its Olestra plant in Ivorydale to the sewer system, a savings to the company of $138,030.
Altogether, fee waivers topped $800,000.
In a memo to city council Monday, Mr. Shirey said he was never informed about the fee waivers to businesses, and Mr. Quinn admitted as much during a private meeting April 23.
County commissioners, who set policy for the district, said they never approved fee waivers for businesses. Cincinnati runs MSD by contract with the county.
Mr. Quinn's cover letter to Mr. Shirey said commissioners did in fact give him the authority to waive fees for non-residential buildings, and he updated them about the waivers.
Mr. Quinn's supporting documents offer a thin argument, said City Councilman Charles Winburn.
"It's a bunch of gobbledygook," said Mr. Winburn, who called last week for Mr. Quinn to be fired.
The documents show that commissioners approved waiving fees for a limited number of single-family homes in November 1995, when fees were about to increase. Mr. Quinn and commissioners wanted to ease the sticker shock for home builders.
For a single-family home, the price would rise from $480 to $2,500. Fees for larger sewer pipe connections would run as high as $304,170. Later, in July 1996, commissioners removed the "single-family home" wording from their resolution with the intention of extending fee waivers to condominiums. The new resolution read, "for future construction."
Mr. Quinn argued in his letter to Mr. Shirey that that was his basis for broad authority to waive fees.
"Absolutely, no way," County Commissioner John Dowlin said Monday. "We did not knowingly give approval for waiving fees for commercial operations."
A subsequent report, in June 1997, which Mr. Quinn said updated county commissioners about the progress of fee waivers, again mentions condominiums and single-family homes, but not businesses. MSD declined comment Monday.
County commissioners assailed Mr. Quinn last week for the commercial waivers. Afterward, County Administrator David Krings wrote to Mr. Shirey, asking for an explanation of this "failure to follow policy."
Mr. Krings said his office has launched an investigation, which would make three separate investigations now being conducted of MSD: a grand jury probe for possible criminal activity, a city audit and this new action by the county. The county is also participating in the city audit.
City Councilman Todd Portune has also called on County Auditor Dusty Rhodes to examine the activities of Alan Landis, MSD comptroller. Mr. Landis is the only county employee in the 628-member district. Underlying the scrutiny of Mr. Quinn's management is a long-running dispute between the city and the county over control of MSD. Hamilton County would like to control the district again, but the city has refused to break the management contract, which runs for another 20 years.
