A state investigation has concluded that Smith Reynolds Airport failed to live up to an agreement with the state to make sure that minority subcontractors were promptly paid for their work on a $6.5 million runway-improvement project.
The report on the investigation, dated Oct. 27, was released this week by the inspector general's office of the N.C. Department of Transportation, which administers the federal grant that is paying for the airport work.
The grant required that Mainline Contracting Inc., the prime contractor, hire a certain number of minority-run businesses for the project. Many of those businesses have claimed that Mainline never fully paid them for work done. Mainline abandoned the project and went into Chapter 7 bankruptcy this fall.
Tom McKim, the chairman of the Airport Commission of Forsyth County, said that the commission did nothing wrong.
"Obviously we disagree with (the report), and we believe that our contract with Mainline satisfied our obligation under the grant," McKim said. "The efforts we made to monitor what Mainline did with respect to payments were also adequate."
The state's report says that investigators are still waiting for some information they requested from Smith Reynolds. McKim said that the airport commission submitted documents on Oct. 26, but that the DOT may not have received them in time to affect the report.
State investigators say that they are also waiting for the results of an investigation that Smith Reynolds Airport officials said they were conducting.
McKim said that the airport commission's ability to investigate is hampered by the Mainline bankruptcy proceedings. McKim said that the commission received information earlier from Mainline that, if true, suggested that Mainline had a legitimate reason for not fully paying the subcontractors.
McKim said that the commission listened to the subcontractor complaints during one of its meetings. He said that the commission has not held any more meetings with the minority subcontractors to examine any documents they may have to back their case.
McKim said that getting the project finished is the commission's main concern, and that there's nothing it can do for the subcontractors.
"It is not our dispute," McKim said. "That is a dispute between Mainline and the subcontractors."
After the complaints arose, the airport commission did put in place a two-party check system to make sure that subcontractors were paid, McKim said. "From that point on, the subcontractors got paid," he said.
The report on the state investigation said that Mainline still owes two minority subcontractors -- RAL Grading and Demolition of Raleigh, and Stewart Hauling and Backhoe of Belews Creek -- about $200,000 each.
The report recommends that the DOT change many procedures to make sure that contractors and agencies receiving grants improve monitoring of subcontractor payments.
Carole Oduyoye, whose small trucking company worked under Stewart, said that the report seems to confirm her feeling that Mainline was not alone in being at fault.
"It works its way up the ladder now," she said. "Mainline, the airport, and above them are the DOT. As we turn over all the rocks, we will see who else dropped the ball."
wyoung@wsjournal.com
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