Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011
BARROW JOURNAL
PAGE 15A
Airport Authority looks
at noise complaint issues
By Lorin Sinn-Clark
lorin@barmwjournal.com
Citing noise complaints and safety concerns, Barrow County
Airport Authority member Quinn Born proposed Tuesday
night changing the suggested flight patterns at the airport to
avoid flying over Winder.
“Everybody would be better off — people in Winder, pilots
and aircraft — if all the traffic didn't fly right over Winder,”
Born said. “I’ve gotten complaints about the noise and if you
have an engine failure over Winder, you’re in big trouble.”
Of most concern is the traffic on Runway 31 which, due to
local wind patterns, is the most often used runway at the air
port. J.R. Ensley who lives on Camden Dr, off Dunahoo Rd.
about a mile from the end of Runway 31 asked the authority
to “do something about the noise.'
“It’s gotten so bad that the other evening me and my neigh
bor couldn't even talk. We were sitting outside on my porch
and there was a constant stream of planes,” Ensley said. “Can
you at least do something about all those training planes that
use this airport?”
At issue is the number of pilots in training who use the
Barrow airport to practice “Touch and Goes” - a term for
barely landing, then taking off again. This is a skill new pilots
must become proficient at, but larger airports in the area like
Peachtree-Dekalb and the Lawrenceville Airport limit “Touch
and Goes” to two per pilot per trip. This drives students seek
ing practice to smaller, general aviation airports like Barrow's,
where there is no control tower.
While authority members agreed that any requests or guide
lines they issued would be voluntary for pilots and virtually
unenforceable. Born, made the case that all of the other gen
eral aviation airports in the area have some kind of voluntary
flight pattern guidelines or recommended departure routes in
place to address the issues of safety and noise.
“If they can do it, why can’t we?” he asked. “We can’t
enforce it, but we can endorse it.”
After discussing the matter at length, the authority voted 4:3
to take no action. Concerns about liability, FAA regulations
and unenforceability were the reasons given.
ROMANAIR
LEASE
Rob Mancini and his son, Drew, owners and operators
of Romanair, the airport fixed base operator for the past 25
years, requested that the authority consider negotiating a new
lease with a 30-year term for Romanair. They then presented
the authority with copies of a proposed lease they drafted.
Currently, Romanair is half-way through the five year lease
that was the authority’s only offer after Romanair’s previous
30-year lease expired.
“We need a long term lease,” Rob Mancini said. “It is in the
best interest of the airport and Romanair.”
Drew Mancini added, “We’re not comfortable waiting until
our current lease expires for these negotiations to take place.
Time is of the essence. We want to renegotiate now.”
Rob Mancini said Romanair is “solidly looking at taking the
business into the future with the second generation (Drew), but
with the current two and a half year lease, we can’t borrow
money or even make a business plan.”
The authority agreed to study the proposal and get back with
Romanair.
In other business the authority:
•Agreed to have W.K. Dickson, the airport's FAA consulting
firm, obtain quotes on “hydroseeding” a 15-acre area of badly
eroded land that has created an erosion problem at the end of
Runway 31.
W.K. Dickson consultant Phil Eberle said planting grass will
control the run-off which has caused problems in the past.
Lawsuit continued from 1A
His response states that Billing’s juvenile son consented
to the home search and the Winder Police Department had a
valid arrest warrant that it was trying to execute. Moreover,
[the child] was only questioned for five minutes. Plaintiffs did
not present any evidence that he was falsely imprisoned, or
that the City of Winder had a policy or custom, which autho
rized Fourth Amendment violations.”
The court additionally granted nearly $18,000 in attorney
fees and less than $2,000 in court costs to the defendants.
In reference to a barrage of blog comments on the
Barrow Journal website relating to stories written about the
case, Dorsey, who was a Winder PD captain at the time of the
2009 incident, said, “Whatever the case, I think our communi
ty needs to know because this was a hot topic for a while. We
couldn’t give our side because the lawsuit had already been
filed and of course, the government stance is always going to
be can't comment on pending litigation.”
Dorsey said he doesn’t begrudge the family for filing the
lawsuit against the police department or the city.
“When she filed this suit, she did what she thought was best
for her family,” said Dorsey.
“Given the same circumstances, I don't know what I would
do in the same situation. I'm glad it turned out in the police
department's favor and at no time did I ever think that we did
anything wrong. I won't say that we didn't make some mis
takes because I think we did make some mistakes, but not a
million dollar lawsuit mistake.”
Road Paved continued from 1A
FERGUSON AT SUNSET
The new asphalt on Ferguson Road lies atop the edge of Sunset Drive.
Photo by Susan Norman
And copies of the purchase
orders for the asphalt have
raised questions about how the
county roads supervisor, Nat
Dukes, and a county purchas
ing agent, Danny White, have
handled the asphalt purchas
es - using multiple purchase
orders for under the $10,000
spending threshold to make a
single purchase from the same
company on the same day.
And those questions now
have led to a bigger issue that
is likely to get much more
scrutiny over the coming
weeks: What are the spending
limits of the county chairman,
his department managers, and
other county employees?
PURCHASE
ORDER ISSUE
The county purchasing agent
issued three purchase orders
on Sept. 21 for the purchase of
$25,998 worth of asphalt from
Baldwin Paving Company
Inc. for the repaving of Jordan
Cofer Road in Statham.
Two of the purchase orders
were for individual dol
lar amounts of $9,999 — an
apparent strategy to avoid
having to get BOC approval
on purchases of $10,000 or
more.
In addition, the asphalt was
not used for the intended proj
ect, due to an unexpected delay
caused by equipment prob
lems, according to Dukes.
About half of it instead was
purchased for the construc
tion of Ferguson Road, whose
name does not show up on any
purchase orders.
Two of the three Jordan
Cofer Road purchase orders
— one for $9,999 and a sec
ond for $6,000 — were uti
lized to buy about 240 tons of
asphalt for Ferguson Road.
The Finance Department
then cut two checks to Baldwin
Paving based on those pur
chase orders. One was for
$10,494.27, and the other was
for $3,474.15.
Both checks were cut on
Sept. 29, which was one day
before the end of the fiscal
year.
Thosepurchases were among
about $620,000 in asphalt pur
chases from Baldwin Paving,
which is located in Auburn.
County engineering man
ager Darrell Greeson obtained
BOC approval for the majority
of the year’s asphalt purchases,
but Dukes obtained purchase
orders for about $113,700
in asphalt purchases without
board approval.
His purchases were made
under a “blanket” purchase
order with Baldwin Paving that
was open throughout FY2011.
According to the county’s pur
chasing ordinance, a blanket
purchase order may be left
open for a complete fiscal
year and is intended to cover
“recurring requirements for
low dollar needs...”
County operations develop
ment manager Bob Hohe, who
is the former purchasing direc
tor and now supervises both
current purchasing agents,
said Tuesday afternoon in an
email that in-house paving
projects performed by county
road crews “as a rule” have
not gone before the BOC for
approval.
He said he doesn’t recall
Dukes ever having presented
requests for approval of any
paving projects, but he said
those projects were done “at
the request of the Chairman,
Commissioners and the needs
Roads and Bridges recognized
from day to day.”
Hohe, who is a stickler
for holding everyone to the
county’s 2003 Purchasing
Ordinance, also said Tuesday
that the county’s ordinance
actually does not require BOC
approval of purchases over
$10,000. He did not explain
where the $10,000 spending
limit is documented.
That came as a surprise to
Greeson, who said Tuesday
that it has been drilled into his
head for years that he must
get BOC approval for all pur
chases of $10,000 or more.
“This is all new to me,” he
said, noting that he brings all
such purchases to the board.
“This is not what they have
been preaching to me since
I’ve worked for the county.
Ten-thousand dollars is
$10,000. It’s tax dollars and it
don’t matter whether it’s from
SPLOST funds or the General
Fund.”
Commissioner Steve Worley
also is seeking some answers.
“Since I’ve been in office,
I’ve been told that the chair
man’s spending limit is
$10,000, and anything over
that had to be approved by the
board of commissioners,” he
said. “I haven’t ever been told
what the limit is on department
heads or other employees.
“Now there is a possibility
that there’s no such thing in
our purchasing policies and
procedures, so I requested Bob
Hohe to send me a copy of
the Barrow County purchasing
policy and the approval limits
for employees, so I have docu
mentation and will know.”
Worley said it would be dif
ficult to bid for the individual
purchases of asphalt, because
the prices change with the
price of oil.
But he said the BOC should
at least be approving an annual
list of priority paving projects,
and the list should include
the projected budgets for each
project.
He said he also is plan
ning to research the apparent
practice of issuing multiple
purchase orders for amounts
just under the $10,000 spend
ing threshold to the same com
pany for the same item on the
same date.
“I think if our auditors were
to pull that file and see two
separate RO.s for the same
things on the same day, they
would throw up a red flag. I
would like them to comment
to say if we need to do it dif
ferent or if it’s fine to do it the
way it’s been done.”
Worley added: “I’m more
concerned about our purchas
ing policy now than I am about
that road over there.”
DUKES: ‘NO
POLITICAL
FAVORITISM’
Yearwood did not respond
to the newspaper’s request for
comment.
However, Dukes said that
while he and the chairman dis
cussed the planned Ferguson
Road project before it was
done, Yearwood did not tell
him to do it.
“We all discussed that in a
meeting about what we were
going to do next,” Dukes said.
“We all were talking about the
roads that need to be paved.
I had a little money in my
(FY2011) budget, and we had
a few roads that need to be
done.
“He asked about the project
list. What have you got com
ing up? What can you do?
What are your priorities? I
said I got Ferguson Road and
Jordan Cofer Road.”
Greeson said Ferguson
Road’s paving was on the
FY2011 priority list for dirt
roads that need improvement,
“but to my knowledge was not
planned this year or next.”
He said it was his under
standing that the county was to
first finish the ongoing inter
section improvement at Hoyt
King and Highway 81, since
the Georgia Department of
Transportation is involved in
that project, “and then work
on some minor/small projects
such as dirt roads if money
was available.”
The priority list for FY2011
showed that Ferguson Road
was the fifth dirt road in line
for paving, but it also was the
shortest road on the list and
therefore the least expensive
to improve.
Dukes said paving equip
ment needed for the larger
Jordan Cofer repaving broke
down just before that proj
ect was to be undertaken, so
he went ahead and paved the
shorter Ferguson Road.
“It was just one of those
roads I know I can pave and
get it off our back and (then)
get Jordon Cofer. I’m going
to pave it after we get through
with the project at Hoyt King
FAVORITISM?
The newly paved Ferguson
Road intersects with
Sunset Drive around the
corner from the home of
Barrow County commis
sion chairman Danny
Yearwood.
Photo by Susan Norman
and 81.”
Dukes insisted that the pav
ing of Ferguson had nothing
to do with Yearwood’s home
being on an adjoining road.
“It had nothing to do because
he lives over there,” he said.
“There ain’t no special privi
leges, I'll tell you that. There
are not no favoritisms, not
from me. I don't know nobody
over there besides him. It don't
matter to me. I do my job and
that's it.”
HOHE: DIFFERENT
SYSTEM POSSIBLE
Hohe said he can’t see
Dukes going before the board
throughout the year to get
authorization to purchase
asphalt, but he could envision
the development of a detailed
priority list being developed
during the annual budget pro
cess “where actual road work
within each Distrit is identified
and the priority established.”
He said the project costs
could be estimated by Greeson
and the figures included in the
budget.
“This would give the Board
members the opportunity to
agree among themselves what
roads are a priority and to
formally approve the work,”
Hohe said.
He said there is even a possi
bility that a “hungry” contrac
tor could do the paving and
patching work for less money
than the roads department.