Three Commissioners Continuing 'Business as Usual' Policies of Previous Administration
On Tuesday Sept. 20, the Gwinnett BOC will meet with IMG Consultants for a question and answer session. In April, the BOC engaged IMG to make recommendations on how the county should proceed with the Briscoe expansion/privatization FRP process.
The IMG report issued in early August pointed out the extraordinary cost (hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of dollars) and the high risk/low probability of success the county would accept by expanding Briscoe Field to accommodate passenger airline service. The report stated, based on IMG’s experience, the private operator will expect very significant public (government) investment if passenger aviation is pursued, which will include direct Gwinnett County investment into the airport.
IMG also strongly recommended the County address four steps:
- define a clear goal for Briscoe
- take time to understand the opportunity
- market the opportunity
- develop the RFP carefully
After receiving this report, the three legacy BOC members instructed the county staff to proceed with the RFP, without addressing any of IMG's four recommendations, without a public meeting, without a public vote on how to proceed on IMG's recommendation, and without including the two other commissioners in any discussions regarding on how or when to proceed with Briscoe.
YES GWINNETT we still have three commissioners that want to continue the “BUSINESS AS USUAL” policies of the Bannister era. They want what they want, damn the facts and full speed ahead. When the project later fails they will blame the “staff” and consultants, claiming they were mislead or didn’t have all the information.
The meeting will be held after the 10 a.m. BOC business meeting in a second floor board room, so plan to arrive at 11 a.m., the session should end around 12:30 p.m.
The meeting is open to the public and may be moved to a larger room if attendance demands, so check at the commissioners office to determine the actual meeting location.
Rick Schneider
10:47 am on Thursday, September 15, 2011
Apparently from statements made, the BOC has not read the IMG study. Based on my project management experience, I think we need the following items answered from the BOC per IMG’s report:
#1 what is the BOC’s Clear Goal for Briscoe Field?
#2 Take time to understand the Opportunity?
#3 Market the opportunity!
#4 Develop the RFP Carefully
#5 De-link the Commercial Service & Privatization Debates.
Interesting IMG uses words such as clear, understand, opportunity, carefully, develop, & goal! Do the commissioners really understand what these words mean?
The big question is why isn’t the county willing to spend $224,000 under recommendation #2 for, Market, Technical planning, Environmental, Financial, & Economic impact studies? If these studies are not done the RFP’s are useless because you can’t fully understand the correct way to write the RFP for a maximum return on investment. Also the only way that IMG can make the RFP is if the county has given them a detailed analysis of what the BOC wants to accomplish. I find it hard to believe that no conversations have taken place between the County, BOC & IMG from the time the report was released. From experience unless you give a detailed RFP you are going to compare proposals that are quoting Apples compared to Bananas!
Rick Schneider
10:48 am on Thursday, September 15, 2011
Continued
As I stated from the beginning this whole process has been backwards, and with Howards statement in the GDP “want to find out more about the facts behind it so I can make a good decision. We need to have a credible source of information," Howard said, adding that she wanted the group's take on putting together an advisory board of residents as well as the financial possibilities in the different options. "After they hear what commissioners say on Tuesday, (IMG) will know how to finish up," a request for proposals, she said. "The decision has been made but there is fine-tuning to it."
It only confirms that certain members of BOC are incapable of making a logical and unbiased decision.