Gary/Chicago International Airport (KGYY), Indiana

Gary airport bills to land at redevelopment commission

GARY | The Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority by a 4-0 vote on Monday punted more than $800,000 in consultant fees over to the Gary Redevelopment Commission for possible payment.

The bills for consultants were run up during the airport's successful conclusion of a 40-year deal for airport development with Aviation Facilities Company Inc., but that company was unwilling to pay them.

"It would be a logical next step for the airport and the city to share in some of the costs, since both are benefiting from the public-private partnership contract we've entered into," airport attorney Lee Lane told the authority before its vote.

The adviser standing to win the largest fee of up to $500,000 is JClark Aviation, which is headed by former Indianapolis Airport CEO John Clark. A.C. Advisory Inc., of Chicago, is due to get $250,000 for its services and Hawthorne Strategy Group, of Chicago, could get $67,500.

At its Feb. 27 meeting, the airport authority deferred action on a resolution to make the payments. Two weeks later, Airport Authority Chairman James Cooper said the authority had found its hands tied when it came to paying the advisers, because the contracts for all three called for the winning bidder to pay their fees.

On Monday, Cooper confirmed that the law firm of Faegere Baker Daniels will be be paid by the airport for its services as an adviser on the public-private partnership. That bill was estimated at nearly $1 million just before the deal was concluded.

Officials at the Gary Redevelopment Commission could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. One possible source of money to pay the bills mentioned at Monday's airport authority meeting was the Lakefront Allocation Area, which is a tax increment financing district managed by the redevelopment commission.

Source:  http://www.nwitimes.com