Charges of conflict of interest resulted in the May resignation of Douglas Kuepers, a veteran member of the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport Commission.
Brainerd City Attorney Tom Fitzpatrick concluded a conflict existed because of the commission’s hiring Kuepers’ firm as a subcontractor on the terminal remodeling project. Patrick Krueger, an attorney hired by the airport commission, conducted an independent review of the conflict of interest charge and reported that Kuepers Inc.’s contract would be exempt from the state statute that defines and prohibits conflict of interest if the commission were to vote unanimously to authorize the contract and if the Kuepers firms provides an affidavit of interest or disclosure and files it with the commission’s clerk. Kuepers provided the affidavit and the commission accepted it and unanimously authorized the contract at the same meeting where Kuepers tendered his resignation. Krueger also found that a 2000 contract with Kuepers Inc. to remodel the General Aviation building was a conflict of interest. The statute of limitations had since expired on the 2000 conflict, Krueger reported.
Kuepers Inc. was the only local company in a three-way tie for low bidder to provide professional services to the airport for the terminal project.
Kuepers said he was resigning in order to ensure the integrity of future decisions regarding the airport. The commission accepted his resignation with regret.
In an interview with the Dispatch earlier in May Kuepers likened the controversy to a circus and said he had been dragged through the mud by critics. Kuepers is a pilot and said his involvement on the commission was because he felt it was important to the community and not because he wanted to make money.
