We last left off around April 11th of this year in Part I. What happened after that?
April 29, 2022: DeGraffenried also provided council members with an update on the skate park, which is another item to be discussed during the May 19 workshop. “We did do some initial investigation regarding estimates for excavation and pad for that skate park,” he said. Estimates are $70,000 to $75,000, deGraffenried said, adding “that’s still a very significant cost, however it’s about 20-30% less than the skate park contractor estimated.”
He is just NOW doing “initial estimates”? Again, I ask what happened to “preparations for skate park and pavilion construction in Campbell Park are underway,” from 14 months ago??
May 24, 2022: City Manager Finley deGraffenried presented a capital improvement project budget that showed significant spikes in costs, including a $170,000 increase to the Campbell Park skate facility.
“The skate park started at $200,000, went to $300,000 and is now sitting at $370,000,” Councilwoman Catherine Kuehne said. “How did it jump like
that?”
Yes indeed, Pork Chop! How did that happen? Hey, maybe Wings of Eagles can hand over some of that “fundraising” money to defray costs! Just kidding.
What happened is that Finley got his mitts on it. He has a very long history of overpromising and under-delivering. Of course, this tendency was papered over and covered up by an idiot mayor for four years. A mayor who had her nose up his ass and considered him a “dear friend” instead of an accountable employee.
The bottom line is that the skate park project is AT LEAST 8 months behind schedule. Finley told us back in December of 2020 that he had narrowed down the contractors to SPA Skateparks and Lamco. Period.
THEN, after a huge delay of 5 months, broken promises on designs being unveiled in September of 2021, and preparations being “underway” in February of 2021, the ENTIRE “TIMELINE HAD TO BE REVISED” – and then New Line Skateparks appears out of nowhere to “partner” with SPA for the “design phase”.
This huge delay and changing/addition of yet ANOTHER contractor appears to have raised the cost significantly. But do you see anyone asking Finley questions about how this all happened? Nope. Finley is never to blame. It’s just “to be expected”, according to Chris Eicher.