BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Tom Quinn
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Cincinnati's internal auditor, who has been investigating the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) since spring, has exonerated former director Tom Quinn on one count.
Mr. Quinn did the right thing by paying Larry Smith Contractors $400,000 to finish the Taylor Creek trunk sewer, avoiding the risks of litigation and completing the project on time at a reasonable cost, the auditor's report said.
Mr. Quinn's staff had recommended kicking the company off the project for long delays, and two top administrators refused to sign the agreement Mr. Quinn negotiated with the contractor.
Trouble within the top ranks at the sewer department led to Mr. Quinn's resignation in April. At issue were his spending decisions.
City officials have almost completed their investigation, said auditor Greg Hanfbauer, and results are being reviewed by the city solicitor. Two reports Mr. Hanfbauer issued in May were critical of Mr. Quinn.
The county prosecutor is still pursuing a criminal probe for presentation to the grand jury.
The report on the $4.7 million Taylor Creek project is dated July 17 but was made public Friday.
It says that Larry Smith Contractors tried to address concerns about material specifications from the start, but the sewer district's construction management staff was not prepared to discuss them. "Deferral of the material specifications issues contributed to later disputes between MSD and the contractor," Mr. Hanfbauer wrote.
The contractor claimed the concrete pipe MSD recommended was too heavy.
Also, the land the sewer district had assembled was insufficient and gave the contractor no routes to travel in and out, the Hanfbauer report said.
"By the time these issues were resolved, staff were convinced that (the contractor) was purposely stalling," Mr. Hanfbauer wrote.
A change by the Ohio Department of Transportation caused further delay, the report said.
Larry Smith Contractors, based in Whitewater Township, declined to comment Friday.
The two MSD employees who refused to sign the negotiated agreement, Joseph Niehaus and Thomas Schwiers, were among those subpoenaed in March by the grand jury.
The Taylor Creek dispute was one of about seven parts of the investigation into MSD, Mr. Hanfbauer said Friday. The last unfinished piece, he said, is a recommendation about the future direction of the department.
