LEE COUNTY, Fla. — A recent of the Lee County Port Authority [LCPA] may raise concerns about how things are being managed at the airport.
Lee County Clerk and Comptroller Kevin Karnes said “the audit findings are generally positive,” but he believes the “Port Authority intentionally impeded the auditor’s ability to gather sufficient evidence to express an opinion on certain issues.”
Karnes said “requests for construction safety records pertaining to the Terminal Expansion Project were denied.”
He also said auditors “did not experience these same challenges” when auditing the Port Authority in Nov. 2017.
“This refusal to provide records relating to the Terminal Expansion Project is a marked change in the relationship between the Port Authority and the County Auditor,” Karnes said in a letter to Port Authority Commissioners.
In response, the Port Authority’s Internal Auditor Cesar Mayorga said LCPA denies the claim it was uncooperative with the audit.
“LCPA provided ample audit evidence material and worked with the auditors throughout the audit,” Mayorga said. “LCPA also disagrees with the statement, ‘Multiple audits have been hindered by delays or refusals to provide records.’ LCPA has been forthright and transparent in providing the auditors with timely responses to their requests for information and correspondence related to audits.”
The audit reviewed operations between October 2023 and 2024.
It found the contractor’s safety plan was completed nearly three and a half years after construction began on the terminal expansion project, which allegedly broke some FAA rules.
“The Construction Manager/General Contractor was not timely in completing the required Safety Plan Compliance Document,” the audit cites. “The Safety Plan Compliance Document for the Terminal Expansion project appears to be completed on April 1, 2025, or approximately three years and six months after construction activities began in October 2021 as confirmed by payment application. According to a Federal Aviation Administration letter dated December 18, 2019 and Advisory Circular 150/5370-2G section 1.3.2, a Safety Plan Compliance Document must be prepared and approved by the airport operator “prior to issuance of a notice-to-proceed.”
Inspectors also pointed out gaps and delays in tracking safety work orders.
“We reviewed work orders created as a result of the daily self-inspections for the period October 2023 to October 2024,” the audit cites. “There was a total of 368 unduplicated work orders during this time period.”
The county responded to recommendations from auditors “to consolidate work order management into a single system to eliminate redundancy and improve data integrity,” stating it was already in the process of doing so.
The audit also looked into how the airport handled major weather events, like hurricanes.
It found RSW suspended all commercial flight operations due to Hurricane Milton, but cites there was no inspection report available.
Auditors claim this breaks protocol.
“In accordance with and , Operations personnel must conduct an inspection of the airport following a meteorological event that may affect safe air carrier operations, prepare and maintain a record of each inspection for at least 12 consecutive calendar months,” the audit findings state. “We requested inspections conducted after meteorological conditions that may affect safe air carrier operations for the period under review. We were provided with six inspection reports identifying six different dates during this period for which a special inspection was conducted as a result of a weather-related event. For comparison, we reviewed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration storm events database search results for Lee County, Florida for events reported between 12/01/23 and 10/31/24 (336 days). One day with a hurricane event, October 9, 2024, was identified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that was not documented by RSW. On this date, Southwest Florida International Airport suspended all commercial flight operations due to Hurricane Milton but there was no corresponding inspection report available for this date from the inspections conducted by the airport.”
In response, the county said it was satisfied with guidelines it has in place “for inspecting the airfield following meteorological events.”
“Those inspections are accurately documented on the Airfield Self-inspection Forms and effectively coordinated and communicated through the FAA Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) system, as outlined in various Federal Regulatory guidance,” the county said in response. “The auditor’s reference to NOAA’s historical reporting does not reflect the actual conditions presented at RSW on those specific days and, as such, cannot be correlated to our inspection records”
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