Jonetta Rose Barras and Bill Myers, The Examiner
2007-05-15 07:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

A top city official has recommended a politically connected construction firm — already being audited amid allegations of cost overrun and shoddy work — for a share in the $2.3 billion school modernization project, sources told The Examiner.

Neil Albert, the deputy mayor for planning and economic development, has privately said that The Jair Lynch Companies would be a good fit for the school construction project, sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they fear retribution.

D.C.’s Office of the Inspector General is auditing Lynch after complaints about its work under $30 million-plus in contracts with the Department of Parks and Recreation, Inspector General spokesman Austin Anderson said.

Mayor Adrian Fenty is a congressional vote away from winning authority over of the city’s stricken schools. His plan of action also will give him control of the massive school consolidation and rehabilitation plan.

Sources said that Albert, who founded a nonprofit education consulting company before he became deputy mayor, told Victor Reinoso that Lynch would be his top choice for the job.

If Fenty is given formal control of the schools, Reinoso will be in charge of the school modernization project. He will be given a special assistant for the project, whom Fenty will announce later this week, sources said.

As the mayor’s top aide for development, though, Albert will have sway in the modernization project.

Albert refused comment and referred calls to Reinoso.

“I think using outside firms is an effective way to accelerate implementation of school modernization,” Reinoso said.

The Jair Lynch Companies was founded in the 1998 by two-time Olympian Jair Lynch, a Stanford- and Harvard-trained civil engineer. His was one of two companies retained by Parks and Recreation in 2001 to manage design and construction of several recreation centers.

Albert is a former executive in the department of parks and recreation. He later supervised that department as the deputy mayor for children, youth, families and the elderly.

There were complaints that Lynch overran its budget and that the work was shoddy, Anderson said. The filtration system at Takoma Park Aquatic Center malfunctioned, sources at the parks department said. Sewer lines backed up, spilling waste into the pool at the Georgetown recreation center, the sources said.

The Office of the Inspector General will release its audit report next month, Anderson said.

Lynch defended his company’s work. He said the cost overruns were caused by “unforeseen conditions” — for instance, the discovery of an uncharted underground stream at Lamond, or a World War II-era 6-foot concrete slab found under the courts at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center.

Lynch said the Office of the Inspector General went over the contracts and related documents with his company several months ago, but no questions were raised about the quality of his company’s work or the cost overruns.

As to the quality of the work, Lynch said that most of the problems were caused either by the city not maintaining the equipment properly or because of mistakes by subcontractors — all of which were quickly fixed.

“We’re from the city and we want the city to do well. We’re not going to turn our back,” he said. “I stand behind the work our team put together.”

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