Delays in opening the Oklahoma Aquarium

Wednesday, March 5th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The Oklahoma Aquarium missed another deadline for opening this past Saturday. It's a public facility, financed largely through public debt. So we thought the public might like to know why.

But as News on 6 business reporter Steve Berg tells us, getting the answers hasn't been easy.

The deadlines so far: When they broke ground in May of 2000, according to newspaper reports, Jenks hoped to finish the aquarium in the spring of 2002. Former Director Doug Kemper was later quoted as saying the aquarium would be done in the summer of 2002. They said weather slowed down construction. Then they missed a Labor Day deadline. They blamed the manufacturer of the shark tank. They said it would open in December or January. Then they said March 1st, last Saturday, which was first billed as a general opening, then a members-only opening. In any event, they missed that one too.

When we talked with him last month, Jenks City Manager Randy Ewing says the biggest problem right now is the water quality. â€œThe opening date really depends on the animals, because whether it's the sharks or any of the other exhibit base of the aquarium, the chemistry's got to be right." This week, we asked Ewing to arrange an interview to give more details on the water quality problem.

We called Ewing and some of the aquarium's donors to try to get more details on the aquarium's budget, which has been expanded by about $5-million. And we tried calling numerous Oklahoma foundation members to see if they have concerns about the aquarium's management based on the missed deadlines.

One of those is QuikTrip founder Chester Cadieux, who says the aquarium staff has been working hard and was too optimistic is setting deadlines. "And this thing is so complicated because there's equipment comin' from all over the country but stuff from overseas, stuff you can't believe where the piece have to come from. Sure we're surprised sometimes that things don't come in the way we thought they would, but it's gonna be soon and it's gonna be great."

Ultimately, the biggest impact of these delays for Jenks residents is lost revenue and how that affects the city's ability to pay off the aquarium's debt. The city says it can cope with that so far.

On a side note, the aquarium management says reporter Steve Berg has tampered with their revenue stream by talking to donors. They say if he pursues those questions he will be banned from the facility.