Saturday, March 18, 2000
County defends ballpark firm
Overbilling was alleged in lawsuit
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The company Hamilton County would like to hire as a watchdog for taxpayer interests during construction of the Reds ballpark was sued two years ago in a billing dispute over work the state says never happened.
The nearly $2.4 million in disputed bills was a result of Gilbane Building Co.'s work on a Youngstown water treatment plant, which was halted midstream.
Gilbane officials say the preconstruction work they billed for was completed, and should be paid for. And, they add, the company has successfully completed hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts after the lawsuit was filed.
Either way, Hamilton County officials still want Gilbane to work as the project manager — or as a liaison between the county's Public Works Department and the architect and construction manager for the stadium project.
Gilbane was picked over four other companies by a selection committee, which forwarded that recommendation to county commissioners Wednesday.
Commissioners delayed voting on that recommendation for unrelated reasons.
Public Works Director Gary VanHart said the selection committee was aware of the lawsuit, and still thinks Gilbane is the right choice.
“It appears to be a contract language dispute,” he said. “In the meantime, a number of other state contracts have been awarded to Gilbane.
“It doesn't appear that the lawsuit has had any impact on their ability to perform.”
Gilbane was helping to build a water treatment plant for the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District when the second phase of the two-phase project was halted.
Ohio Auditor Jim Petro performed an audit of the payments and found a profit margin of approximately 80 percent.
“The findings for recovery against (Gilbane) include, but are not limited to, (Gilbane) being paid public money to manage construction at the Sanitary District that did not occur, and for services that were not documented,” the Ohio attorney general's complaint states.
The reason the profit margin was so great, a Gilbane attorney wrote in response to the lawsuit, is that the scale of the project's second phase was reduced from $69 million to $12 million.
“The amounts paid by MVSD to (Gilbane) are less than the amount due under the contract,” Gilbane's response says.
The case is now pending in U.S. District Court, and neither side appears to be giving an inch.
Attorney general's spokesman Chris Davey said the pretrial process of taking deposition and examining documents has made the state more confident in its position.
“We are just as convinced as ever that our case is a strong one,” Mr. Davey said.
Wes Cotter, a spokesman for Gilbane, said he is disappointed that two years of negotiations have produced little result. But the company believes it is right and will not back down, he said.
“Gilbane has consistently maintained that there is no cause for findings against us,” Mr. Cotter said. “The audit report and the attorney general's complaint demonstrate a lack of familiarity with construction management services in general, and with the circumstances of Gilbane's contract in particular.”
Gilbane is a Rhode Island-based company that was founded in 1873. It has been involved with such projects as Gund Arena and Jacobs Field in Cleveland and Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University.
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