Metro Jacksonville

The best way to end a law suit against your business is to take control of the business that is suing you. Sounds about right. Something fishy is going down with our biggest economic engine and the recent changes are starting to smell.

This from the Jacksonville Business Journal.

QuoteA Jacksonville Port Authority lawsuit contends an engineering firm previously headed at the local level by state Rep. Lake Ray is partly to blame for pavement problems at the $230 million TraPac terminal.

Pavement at the 140-acre terminal, which opened in 2009 west of the Dames Point bridge, has experienced deterioration and heaving “throughout the terminal,” according to a pending lawsuit filed in November in federal court.

The lawsuit does not specify a cost for fixing the problem.

City Council members supporting Ray’s bid to become JaxPort’s next CEO have cited his experience as an engineer in the maritime industry as one of his qualifications.

The JaxPort lawsuit contends Halcrow Inc., which Ray worked for from 2003 to 2010 while overseeing the firm’s Jacksonville office, failed to “appropriately and professionally manage” the construction of the TraPac terminal.

But Ray and Halcrow said the problems stem from a decision by JaxPort to change the type of construction materials used in the pavement. Halcrow didn’t approve that switch, Ray and the company say.

W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co. used EZBase Plus, a product made by mixing limestone with fuel ash from JEA power generators. That mixture formed a thick layer that holds up the asphalt surface of the pavement. JaxPort approved using EZBase to shave $971,050 off the construction cost, according to documents filed in court.

Ray said Halcrow advised JaxPort’s senior management “not to go with EZBase.”

“It was a decision that [JaxPort] senior management had with the contractor, and it was the recommendation of the contractor to senior management,” he said.

JaxPort also is suing W.G. Yates and Thompson Engineering.

Thompson Engineering developed and tested EZBase Plus, according to the lawsuit. JaxPort hired Thompson Engineering in 2007 to be a consultant on the project for the construction of the paved area.

Halcrow argues that when JaxPort modified Halcrow’s design for the pavement and went with the EZBase Plus, JaxPort “knowingly assumed the risks.”

Halcrow denies ever telling JaxPort that ash byproduct from coal-fired power plants could be suitable for the pavement’s sub-grade. Halcrow’s legal response has not provided any copies of correspondence between the company and JaxPort about EZBase Plus.

Ray said his personal involvement with the project ended when he finalized the original design of the terminal. He said he did not communicate with JaxPort about changes in the design of the asphalt pavement.

W.G. Yates & Sons and Thompson Engineering have both denied responsibility for the pavement problems. After JaxPort complained about problems with the pavement, Yates said JaxPort could pay an estimated $420,000 to install a drainage system recommended by Thompson Engineering, according to JaxPort’s lawsuit.

City Council President Bill Bishop said the lawsuit doesn’t give him any reservations about his support for Ray as JaxPort’s next CEO.

“Absolutely not,” said Bishop, who joined 10 other council members in signing a letter last month backing Ray for the job.
Bishop said if Halcrow can document that it didn’t recommend or endorse using the EZBase Plus, “it should be pretty easy to resolve that one. If that’s the case, I don’t have any second thoughts at all.”


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-03-12/story/jaxport-suing-firm-was-led-ceo-hopeful#ixzz2Okfc3yT7

there have been many problems with the EZ Base asphalt....and people are not using it nearly as much as JEA had predicted