A subcommittee of the Helena Regional Airport Authority board of directors has been asked to prepare a full report on the process that led to the signing of an agreement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana to lease nine acres of airport property to the insurer for a new office building.

The authority's executive committee also will report on whether the airport board has the authority to lease property, and whether officials properly followed leasing guidelines when working the deal with Blue Cross.

"I think some of the issues brought forward need to be reviewed carefully," said airport board member Bob Fusie, who requested the report at a board meeting Tuesday.

The action comes on the heels of a letter to both the airport authority and Blue Cross signed by two of five Helena city commissioners asking both parties to step back from the lease agreement so several issues surrounding the plan can be studied further.

In the letter, commissioners Alan Peura and Paul Cartwright formalized several concerns that have been raised in the weeks following the late-June signing of the agreement between the airport and Blue Cross, including whether the airport board was within its legal right to lease property and whether laws regarding leases and open meetings were followed during the lease process.

"We believe that to continue forward without addressing these issues or allowing for an open process with clear accountability would be harmful to the public interest and open

government in the Helena community," the commissioners wrote.

Blue Cross has long claimed the need for a new building for its 550 local workers, citing inefficiencies in working out of two buildings downtown as well as ongoing problems finding enough parking.

The lease agreement calls for payments of around $240,000 a month to begin Jan. 1 if the lease is signed, with construction likely to begin next spring.

Dick Anderson of Dick Anderson Construction, the contractor hired by Blue Cross, attended the meeting and addressed several concerns surrounding the site-selection process.

Anderson said it would cost at least $10 million more to build downtown than at the airport, between extra costs for the building and a multi-story parking structure versus a surface lot.

Anderson also refuted assertions by Peura and Cartwright in their letter that Blue Cross wasn't as thorough as it claimed in vetting other potential sites around town. The consultant hired to find a site spent hundreds of hours whittling an initial list of a dozen sites down to four finalists before selecting the airport, Anderson said.

"The airport site came out on top after a lot of interviews with employees," Anderson said. "We actually did a matrix of where all the people live that work for Blue Cross Blue Shield. The majority of them live closest to the sites right along the interstate corridor. The employees we interviewed, the vast majority would prefer this site."

The three Airport Authority executive committee members pledged to meet in the coming weeks in hopes of having their report prepared well in advance of the pending start of the Blue Cross lease.

Click here to view a copy of the Blue Cross Blue Shield letter to the Helena city commission.

Reporter John Harrington: 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com.