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Outside Auditor Probing Airport Billing Situation

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By LAURA KINSLER

lkinsler@tampatrib.com

Published: January 17, 2009

ZEPHYRHILLS - The Zephyrhills Airport Authority is hiring an outside auditor to determine whether a Tampa engineering firm filed fraudulent bills for a $2.8 million hangar project in east Pasco County.

The contractor who built 60 new hangars said LPA Group charged the city for hours it never worked and for meetings it didn't attend. In addition, a design flaw by LPA required a $100,000 change order and delayed completion of the project for four months, he said.

David Carr, owner of Carr Contracting, says the construction delays that cost him $170,000. This week Carr filed a notice of intent to sue the city for damages.

"I lost a lot of money on this job through no fault of my own," Carr said. "I'm still reeling from it."

The airport authority hired the Tampa firm to act as construction manager. The contract called for 260 hours of on-site inspections, charged at a rate of $100 per hour. The firm's inspector actually billed the city for 381.5 hours before he was terminated in August.

Carr said the inspector was rarely at the job site. He filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Transportation, which paid for 80 percent of the project.

DOT investigated but found no evidence grant monies were misused. Even so, DOT referred Carr's complaints to the Florida Board of Professional Engineers, which is reviewing the records. If the board finds misconduct by LPA Group or its engineers, it could be fined or have its license suspended or revoked.

City Manager Steve Spina said the authority wanted an accountant to compare the two sets of log books.

"There have been all kinds of little internal disputes between LPA and the contractor," he said. "I know Carr has made allegations to the city and the state that they billed for work that they didn't do."

Carr said his documents prove LPA overbilled the city.

"I have quality control logs. I stand behind my log books based on the amount of time the engineers actually spent on the job," he said.

The Tribune reviewed the documents and found discrepancies.

Bill Schipper, LPA's inspector and construction manager, submitted timesheets to the company and/or mileage reports for at least 20 site visits where there is no documentation to substantiate that he was on the job.

Mohsen Mohammadi, who heads LPA's Tampa division, said Schipper was a temporary employee hired specifically for the Zephyrhills project. He was terminated in August as the project neared completion, Mohammadi said.

Schipper declined requests for an interview. The company never questioned his timesheets, Mohammadi said. Nor has Mohammadi reviewed Carr's logbooks.

"We trust our employees and we wouldn't question their integrity - certainly not because a contractor made an allegation," Mohammadi said.

The city has paid LPA Group $175,000 since 2006 for work related to the airport expansion.

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