Thursday, February 17, 2000
Commissioners learning costly lessons
They all agree strong oversight has been lacking
BY DAN KLEPAL and LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
County commissioners say they have learned a $14.3 million lesson — that lax oversight has allowed cost overruns to swell the cost of building Paul Brown Stadium.
Bob Bedinghaus, president of the commission, said it took courage for taxpayers to start the project and it will take courage for them to see it through.
“One thing we pride ourselves on at the county is the fact that we operate a lean operation and not layer after layer of bureaucracy,” Mr. Bedinghaus said. “On a project of this magnitude, with the obvious complications that have arisen, an extra layer or two of oversight would have paid great dividends.
“We were depending on the professionals we had employed, and it appears that was not sufficient.”
Commissioner John Dowlin said he walked away with the same lesson from this week's bad news. He agreed that the county's project manager — Getz Ventures — let taxpayers down.
Mr. Dowlin, who is a retired Procter & Gamble executive, said his business experience has been that project managers were to look out for the interests of their boss — in this case, Hamilton County.
The same mistake won't happen on the Reds ballpark, Mr. Dowlin said, referring to the fact that the county will retain a construction auditor to look out for the taxpayers' interest.
“The project manager did not protect the county's interests,” Mr. Dowlin said. “My experience in business is that is what the project manager is supposed to do.”
Commissioner Tom Neyer said it will be important to find out who made mistakes and hold them accountable. Even more important, he said, is to keep a cool head now so the project is finished on time.
“We must verify that our project team, which seems functional, is indeed functional,” Mr. Neyer said. “The second lesson is, there's no such thing as overcommunication.
“In pursuit of both of those lessons, we've already agreed there will be an auditor function associated with the baseball project.”
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