Former airport CEO had conflict of interest, report shows

Jacqueline Yaft, who recently resigned her job as CEO of the Austin Aviation Department, had a conflict of interest beginning in June 2019 when she went to work for the city, according to an investigative report from the Office of the City Auditor. Although she was required to inform the city of the conflict by filing a form within weeks of joining city staff, Yaft did not do so until she was under investigation in September 2022.

Auditors said they began to investigate Yaft after receiving a complaint that she was “interfering in the management” of an aviation contract involving her previous employer. Brian Molloy, chief of investigations for the auditor’s office, said his group did not find any specific problem with the contractor as a result of Yaft’s involvement. However, they did discover the violation of the city’s conflict of interest rules.

As the airport’s chief executive, Yaft was in charge of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the airport, including budget and financial matters, development and construction of the airport.

Interim City Manager Jesús Garza announced Yaft’s resignation in early March, along with other major personnel changes.

The crux of the investigative report is the conclusion that Yaft failed to disclose her conflict of interest upon joining city staff and that she routinely flouted her obligation to step away from dealing with her former employer, which had a $10 million contract with the airport. She had meetings with representatives of the contractor outside the presence of other airport staff and she authorized payment of invoices, contrary to the city’s rules regarding conflict of interest, the report says.

In his response to the auditor, Yaft’s attorney, Andrew Cates, wrote, “Unfortunately, the City Auditor’s report is based on incomplete information, selective assertions, and inaccuracies. The City Auditor’s report narrows the focus of Ms. Yaft’s service to the City down to two findings based on conflicting directives from her supervisors through scant factual information.

“Instead, the City should be thanking Ms. Yaft who served the City extraordinarily well in launching the modernization of the Airport, in operating AUS throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with a 30% vacancy rate, and in increasing the Airport’s air service advancing the airport to a large hub serving close to 22 million passengers.”

According to The Austin Bulldog, which obtained a copy of her personnel file, Yaft worked for Paslay Management Group (PMG) immediately prior to her employment by AUS.

The audit report states Yaft worked for her former employer from October 2018 through May 2019, earning a salary of about $200,000 a year. “Because Yaft made more than $5,000 in the previous calendar year working for this consulting firm, she had a substantial interest in the firm as defined by City Code when she began working for the City.” That company began working for the city the same month that Yaft joined the city. Although she had nothing to do with hiring her former employer, under city regulations there was a conflict of interest between Yaft and the contractor once she started working for the city. As a result, under city regulations she should not have met with the contractor or approved their invoices.

“However, between January 2020 and March 2020 while she still had a conflict of interest under City Code, Yaft signed and approved payments for three invoices from her former employer. These invoices totaled about $380,000. Yaft also appears to have requested staff to pay the contractor for an additional invoice in March 2020 but did not sign paperwork for that payment,” which was for about $170,000, auditors wrote.

On Thursday, Yaft provided the following statement through her attorney: “My factual response to the Austin City Auditor investigative report speaks for itself. For nearly 4 years, I led a remarkable team that launched the modernization of AUS, positioned the airport to recover quickly from the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased service, advancing AUS to a large hub serving close to 22 million passengers. I am proud of all I accomplished and look forward to continuing my journey in the aviation industry.”

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