Airport Authority Increases Control : Burbank: An agreement creates a panel to decide personnel issues involving Lockheed officials who operate the facility.

The Burbank Airport Authority unanimously approved a contract agreement Monday with the airport’s management company that will increase the authority’s control--including forbidding airport managers from talking to their own corporate superiors about mutual land deals.

The contract agreement addresses for the first time numerous issues left undefined by the current 15-year-old contract between the three cities that own the airport--Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena--and the management company that operates it, Lockheed Air Terminal Inc.

One of the changes is the formation of a six-person panel, made up of three authority members and three Lockheed officials, to decide personnel matters involving senior Lockheed officers at the airport. Currently, the authority has no say in such matters.

The contract agreement, which takes effect July 1, also limits administrative costs charged by Lockheed and establishes guidelines to avoid conflict of interest problems between Lockheed Air Terminal and its parent company, Lockheed Corp., which still owns about 200 acres of airport property--almost half the airport.

The three cities purchased the airport from Lockheed Corp. in 1978 and hired the subsidiary company, Lockheed Air Terminal, to operate it. The three cities govern the airport through the Burbank Airport Authority, made up of three representatives from each city.

Airport Commissioner Brian B. Bowman, who helped negotiate the contract, said the agreement will clarify many issues that must be addressed now that the authority is in the process of purchasing about 100 acres from Lockheed Corp. for a new, larger terminal to be built by 1998.

Because Lockheed Air Terminal employees advise the authority on how much property is needed for the new terminal and other projects, Bowman said, “there is an absolute potential for conflict of interest with the role of Lockheed employees.”

The new contract helps resolve conflict-of-interest issues by giving the authority more control over the hiring, firing and salaries of senior Lockheed employees at the airport, including the airport director, Bowman said. It also prohibits Lockheed employees from disclosing confidential information to outside groups, including Lockheed Corp., he said.

The agreement adopted Monday is, technically, an amendment to the current contract. But airport officials said it is so wide in scope that it is, in essence, a rewriting of the contract.

“We are basically starting with a clean sheet of paper,” Bowman said.

Both sides called the contract agreement fair.

“It’s a fine step forward and very fair from the standpoint of both parties,” Commissioner David Robinson said.

Lockheed Air Terminal President Viggo M. Butler said the contract will only improve the relationship between the authority and his management firm. “We have contracts throughout the country,” Butler said. “This one is by far the smoothest relationship we have.”

To control spending, the contract allows the authority to review overtime hours worked, and establishes a percentage limit on fees that Lockheed can charge the authority for off-site administrative costs, such as employee training and overhead. The current contract has no limit.

The airport and the company have been operating under a “rolling contract” with no deadline, Bowman said. The new contract expires in five years and defines conditions by which either side can cancel it, he said.

The new contract also redefines the airport’s liability agreement, providing that the authority will shield Lockheed Air Terminal from lawsuits against the airport involving complaints about excessive noise or air pollution.

The city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District recently sued the airport, contending that its plan to build a new, larger terminal failed to address issues of noise and air pollution.

But Dios Marrero, the airport’s controller, said the new contract’s indemnity clause was not drafted specifically to address these lawsuits. The new clause only protects Lockheed if a lawsuit seeks monetary damages, he said. The city and school district are not seeking damages, Marrero said.