Sky May Be Falling on O.C. Airport Chief

John Wayne Airport Manager George A. Rebella returned from lunch one day recently and asked his secretary to schedule a 6 a.m. racquetball game with his brother at a posh Irvine sports club.

Surrounded in his office by Argentine soccer photos, autographed baseballs and a menagerie of scale-model jetliners, Rebella looked unflappable--nothing like an executive whose primary project, a new, $62-million passenger terminal, is months late and millions of dollars over budget, who has been applying for jobs elsewhere and who recently was the only county administrator to be denied a pay raise.

Rebella, 45, takes exception to any suggestion that he’s on the run or being set up to take the fall for what critics contend is poor management of the $310-million airport improvement effort, the largest public works project in county history.

“That may prove ultimately to be the case, that they might make me the fall guy,” said the Argentina-born, former county probation officer. “But I don’t think there’s any kind of effort to do that, just like I don’t think there’s any kind of an effort--if I decide to stay on--to get me out of here. . . . I don’t feel like I’m under any kind of pressure.”

But that’s not the way Supervisor Thomas F. Riley sees it. Referring to the county’s denial of Rebella’s pay raise, Riley said: “To the extent that the same evaluation comes out again a year from now, I would find it difficult to say that I wanted him around.”

And that’s from Rebella’s strongest ally on the Board of Supervisors.

At a minimum, Rebella would be transferred out of his airport job if his performance remains the same and he sticks around much past the opening of the new passenger terminal on Sept. 16, said board members and their aides. Such actions are extremely rare in county government.

But how the beleaguered Rebella, the airport project and county supervisors got to this point is as much a tale of turf battles between county agencies and the board’s own hiring philosophy as it is about Rebella’s management style.

“He’s a close friend personally but tough to work for,” said an airport official who requested anonymity. “He does not easily tolerate views that are different from his, especially when he has only one course of action in mind. And he often countermands decisions made in his absence or changes his mind about something later.”

The same official added: “Some on the staff don’t respect him, but I don’t know of anyone who plans to quit tomorrow because of that. I think we have the same morale and dissension problems that any organization goes through when it’s growing as much as we are.”

Rebella, who lives in Orange and earns $86,736 a year, administers an agency with a budget of $54.5 million and a staff of 71 people, soon to grow to 91--far greater responsibility than he had as Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder’s chief of staff five years ago.

Before joining Wieder’s staff, Rebella worked in the county administrative office, analyzing budgets and handling money requests from the county’s community services districts. He also supervised audits of a now-defunct federal employment training program. His was at first highly secretive about the airport, confiding rarely in anyone but Supervisor Riley, who considers the airport expansion his pet project.

Trouble began early in the program, when the low bid on the expansion came in nearly $20 million more than what was budgeted. The architect was also fined $775,000 for late drawings and design errors, some of which are still being discovered.

Rebella, insiders say, would tell Riley what was going on, but also painted a picture that had him in charge when really he was delegating much of his authority to underlings, only to second-guess them later.

Among gripes heard from county officials:

* On several occasions, Rebella failed to show up at important meetings with them or with air carriers. Rebella said he cannot recall any such incidents.

* Early in the airport expansion program, he successfully fought creation of an oversight task force consisting of representatives from the county administrative office, General Services Administration and Environmental Management Agency. Rebella said it was not needed because HPV, an on-site consultant, and the county Airport Commission could jointly serve the same purpose.

* Former EMA Director Ernie Schneider eventually forced Rebella to accept EMA inspectors, who found mistakes not discovered by HPV, something Rebella also said he cannot recall.

* Rebella repeatedly failed to deliver requested information or take specific actions requested by Schneider, county officials said. Rebella said he knows of no such incidents.

While Rebella was under fire within the county bureaucracy, county supervisors promoted Schneider to the post of chief administrative officer, the county’s equivalent of a city manager.

The last straw for Schneider came earlier this year. After months of telling supervisors that the new passenger terminal would open as scheduled on April 1, Rebella finally admitted that it was five months behind schedule.

Schneider successfully maneuvered to have the supervisors agree to send his second in command--former airport manager Murry Cable--to the airport to make sure there would be no more delays.

At the same time, the board voted to fire prime contractor Taylor Woodrow California Construction Ltd. from a $25-million garage and elevated roadway job.

Rebella agreed that such action was necessary. And although Taylor Woodrow officials have sued the county over it, they hold Rebella in high esteem personally.

“George has dealt with Taylor Woodrow Construction in a very businesslike manner and we have appreciated that,” said William Ostfeld, the firm’s senior vice president.

Private pilots, once angry about Rebella’s selection as airport manager because of his lack of previous airport experience, now accept him.

Airline executives also have had mixed feelings about Rebella, but at least one praised him.

“I think George has done a wonderful job,” said American Airlines’ Bruce Wetzel, formerly an executive with AirCal. “I’ve disagreed with him a number of times. . . . He has not given us everything we wanted. He may not tell us what we want to hear. . . . But George and I get along.”

Wetzel suggested that Rebella’s critics are too harsh, explaining that in his view it’s a miracle any time a major airport project is completed in the same year that it’s scheduled to be completed.

During a stroll through the new, cavernous passenger terminal, Rebella, his gray hair tucked under an orange hard hat, said critics will undoubtedly find fault with some aspects of the project. “Those are the kind of people who never build anything. . . . Sure, there are always mistakes made, but they’ve been correctable.”

Stung by negative newspaper stories, Rebella said no one could have prevented some of the problems he has encountered. He said he is proud of the new terminal. “It’s something that, you know, 20 years from now I can bring my kids and say, ‘Hey, I built this thing,’ ” he said. “Doing that will last longer than any newspaper article. . . .”

Later, however, he said, “I never want to go through something like this again.”