BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- The offer to settle the lawsuit between Corporex Cos. and Kenton Fiscal Court for $425,000 remains stalled on how the agreement will be worded -- but apparently not on the amount of the settlement.
No more settlement talks are planned in the Kenton County bidding controversy, although several county officials didn't rule them out.
The county is suing Corporex and its chairman, Bill Butler, to recoup an $850,000 settlement paid to the two losing bidders -- Wessels Construction and Development Corp. and Carroll Properties -- over the 1996 competition for courthouse and parking garage construction contracts.
The county accuses Mr. Butler of manipulating the process to win the roughly $36 million projects.
Corporex and Mr. Butler deny any wrongdoing and place blame on the county for failing to follow its own rules. In particular, company attorneys have previously detailed why they believe Deputy Judge-executive George Neack targeted them. Mr. Neack has denied the allegations.
Several sources and documents in the case confirm the $425,000 offer, which is the amount the county has stated as the least it could settle for.
Attempts to reach Corporex attorney William T. Robinson III were unsuccessful.
A 30-minute closed session of Fiscal Court Friday morning failed to produce an agreement.
"There are no more plans at this point to sit and talk about this, not that we won't," County Commissioner Bernie Moorman said. County Attorney Garry Edmondson and Commissioner Steve Arlinghaus both made similar comments that the next date to discuss the case hasn't been set.
"I don't know," Mr. Edmondson said. "Didn't talk about it. Didn't think about it."
The court could discuss the case again at its regular meeting on Tuesday. Any other session to talk about the case would require 24 hours' notice.
County officials declined to provide any further details of their discussions behind closed doors, saying that airing them publicly is not advisable now.
"There really is nothing to say today," Judge-executive Rodney "Biz" Cain said.
The wording of the settlement that is holding up the deal carries added significance in view of a criminal investigation of the bidding process.
A grand jury requested by the Kentucky attorney general's office is to meet later this month to examine whether laws were broken in the bidding process. Subpoenas issued to county officials have said that former judge-executive Clyde Middleton is the subject of the investigation.
Corporex and Mr. Butler said there was nothing improper about his meeting the night the bids were opened at the home of Mr. Middleton, where the developer was able to see competitors' bids and later copy them. Corporex and Mr. Butler said the bids were public records available to anyone.
Mr. Middleton resigned at the time of the settlement. In his Feb. 11 resignation speech, he said, "I inadvertently and unintentionally did not comply with the Kenton County procurement code."
County officials contend that by having competitors' proposals, Mr. Butler was able to have an unfair advantage in revising his offering. Corporex has taken the position that even if the bids weren't public records, the county is responsible for making sure procedures are followed.
Some county officials said they are unwilling to agree to a settlement that would limit what they could tell the grand jury or say Mr. Butler did nothing wrong.
