Sometime during or before 2020, the taxiway lighting failed at the Torrance Airport.
During 2022, a Request for Proposal (RFP) to repair the airfield lighting was let by the City. Only one bidder, Belco Electric, responded, but no contract was awarded at that time. The City hoped to attract at least one other bidder.
On 4/11/2023, in response to another RFP, a contract was awarded to Belco Electric for $427,888 with a contingency of $21,394. A pre-construction meeting was held 4/11/2023 and, as reported to the Airport Commission during its meeting on 5/11/2023, work was expected to start in May 2023 and was anticipated to be completed by July 2023--an elapsed time of 3 months.
However, during the first four months of 2024, the runways were closed during night-time hours because no repairs had been made.
By 3/18/2024, complaints were lodged by several business (including Robinson Helicopter) that the nighttime runway closures were interrupting their businesses. The Airport Manager responded that "the inclement weather experienced during January through February has severely impacted our timeline." He predicted that the work would be completed in less than 6 weeks. At that point, the work that was supposed to take 3 months had been delayed 9 months.
On 4/2/2024, I wrote a letter to the Mayor and City Council asking
On 4/9/2024, Belco was awarded a contract extension until the end of 2024. City staff noted that "the City is satisfied with the level of service provided by the contractor." The lights were still inoperative.
On 4/11/2024, having received no response to my letter of 4/2/2024, I again wrote the Mayor and asked to meet with him about the issue. That night the Airport Commission met and I spoke about the lack of progress on the repairs during the discussion of the staff report on airfield lighting repairs under Item 7A (Accept and File Monthly Update of Aeronautical Operational Information Under the Purview of the General Services Department). That ignited a discussion about the issue and the Commission asked the Commission Chair to request a meeting with the Mayor and City Manager to find out answers to the three questions and report back to the Commission .
On 4/20/2024, having not received any response from the Mayor, City Staff or City Manager, I e-mailed Mayor Chen, City Council and the City Manager Chaparyan to express my disappointment over the lack of response to my requests for the cause of the repair delays. I mentioned that I had shared my concerns with the Airport Commission and again asked for the City's side of the story.
City Attorney Patrick Sullivan e-mailed me a response on 4/24/2024: "Since you are an officer of the Torrance Airport Association that is in active litigation with the City of Torrance, I have advised my clients not to meet with you." The Association had filed a lawsuit claiming that the landing fees recently imposed by the City were discriminatory and unjustified. Although I had been President of the Association in years past, I was no longer an officer or even on the Board of Directors. (See previous Airport Reports on the Federal Lawsuits against the City of Torrance.)
On 4/30/2024, I shared with the Airport Commission my views on the situation and actions (both visible and not visible) that I believed had been taken.
On 5/7/2024, the City Council voted on a recommendation by the City Manager to charge the Airport Commission with the a violation of the Brown Act for seeking answers to the repair delays at their meeting on 4/11/2024. The justifications he presented in the staff report are questionable.
On 5/28/2024, Airport Manager Gerry Pinella called a Special Meeting of the Airport Commission for the following day in order for the Commission to "Cure and Correct the Action Taken in Violation of the Brown Act at the Airport Commission's April 11, 2024 Meeting."
At the Special Meeting, Airport Commissioner Rick Marshall expressed some serious doubts about the claims of a Brown Act violation and refused to vote for the Cure and Correction action. However, the motion passed and the Airport Commission was shuttered for 3 months, during which the City Council passed a number of airport restrictions that should have been reviewed and discussed by the Airport Commission.
As of this writing, the airport taxi lights are still inoperative and a new contract for over $5 million has just been approved. We MUST pay close attention to the proper execution of this one!
The questions about the Belco contract have NEVER been answered and I still wonder where that nearly half million dollars went.
