BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Former sewer director Tom Quinn, through his lawyer, scolded the city audit manager Wednesday for releasing reports about Mr. Quinn's management of the sewer agency without his input.
"It is regrettable, and highly unfair, that the city has determined to issue reports on (the Metropolitan Sewer District's) performance without ever having sought final input and clarification on these matters from representatives of (the district), including Mr. Quinn," wrote Marc Mezibov, Mr. Quinn's lawyer.
Mr. Quinn resigned in April amid charges of mismanagement and faces a grand jury investigation. Wednesday's letter is his first public statement since resigning.
On Tuesday, the office of City Audit Manager Greg Hanfbauer released results of investigations into specific problems at the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) under Mr. Quinn's management.
"The report wasn't that critical of Tom (Quinn) -- it didn't indicate misconduct," Mr. Hanfbauer said Wednesday.
The reports were done for City Manager John Shirey and appropriately given to him first, Mr. Hanfbauer said. What's more, he said, MSD officials' viewpoints were included during the fact-finding. One report said that Mr. Quinn overestimated the worth of excess capacity built into a sewer for Aston Oaks by developer John Niehaus. It said Mr. Quinn's math would always result in paying a developer too much for excess sewer capacity.
"Mr. Hanfbauer included assumptions of fact in his report which are untrue as well as legal conclusions which are unsupported by the law," Mr. Mezibov wrote.
A second report said Mr. Quinn put the city-county agency, MSD, at financial risk by accepting responsibility for a sewer on Anderson Ferry Road from the county engineer's office without inspection. Mr. Hanfbauer estimated it will cost $407,000 to build a new sanitary sewer and $201,200 to repair the storm sewer.
"The report overlooks the fact that Mr. Quinn's actions were predicated on the need to solve a significant public health and environmental problem," Mr. Mezibov wrote.
