Airport Taxi Vote Stuns Two Officials

Two John Wayne Airport commissioners, part of a unanimous vote to extend the airport’s taxicab contract earlier this month only to see their decision reversed by the Board of Supervisors, said they were stunned to learn a lower-qualified bidder was getting the work.

“I was absolutely shocked when I heard what happened,” said Airport Commissioner L. David Markley.

Six days after the airport commissioners selected A Taxi Cab as the top-ranked firm among competitors seeking a three-year contract, county supervisors overruled them, selecting the next-ranked firm because A Taxi Cab had failed to provide a DMV certificate of insurance.

Markley, who was on the commission’s scoring committee, said committee members had spent months listening to testimony from cab companies during a long and contentious bidding process.

Before approving A Taxi Cab as the most-qualified bidder, commissioners said they were told by airport director Alan Murphy that the company met all insurance requirements.

Markley recalled he stopped the commission meeting and asked Murphy, “Do we have an issue with the insurance?”

According to commissioners, Murphy told them, “there was no issue with the insurance” and A Taxi’s bid.

Six days later the county’s risk manager reversed herself and notified Murphy that a problem existed with an apparent lack of a certificate. Murphy then recommended American Taxi and supervisors approved the company on a 3-2 vote.

“It was really 11th-hour stuff,” recalled Commissioner David Prebish. “I was not exactly sure of the problem but Murphy, who had based [his first] opinion after talking to the county’s risk management people, said A Taxi didn’t have a problem.

“Then that changed right before the board’s meeting,” he said. “The whole subject has been confusing and really contentious.”

Though commissioners are seeking an investigation, not all commissioners were confused.

Chairman Robert Cashman attributed some of the problems to a “flawed” bidding process.

For instance, Cashman and Commissioner Gary Proctor contend that the bidding system failed to credit cab companies with long-standing histories in the county. Nevertheless, committee members ranked A Taxi far above American Taxi, which proposed to use natural gas-powered cars at the airport.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts denied a temporary restraining order brought by A Taxi Cab against the county but set an April 20 hearing date to hear the company’s arguments for a preliminary injunction.

In its lawsuit, A Taxi sought to be reinstated at John Wayne, accusing the county of racially discriminating against the firm’s owner, Hossein Nabati, an Iranian.

In court, Robert Palmer, an attorney representing A Taxi, said the firm didn’t provide the county a certificate because none was ever requested and “it’s not legally mandated.”

He said the company is insured for more than $2 million.

During the hearing, Letts said he was not inclined to rule in favor of the cab company because there “was no persuasive evidentiary reason” given the court.

On the subject of alleged racial bias, the judge was more equally blunt: “I haven’t seen too much to support” that contention.

The judge said it seems the company has a valid damage claim against the county for its handling of the bidding process. But not enough evidence was presented to reach a threshold for a restraining order, he ruled.