Something about the skate park keeps gnawing at me. I mean besides the fact that a bunch of this was SUPPOSED to be financed by “fundraisers” and “volunteers” which never materialized.
I haven’t figured it all out yet, but let’s take a look at a quick timeline as reported by The Dispatch:
July 10, 2020: Lisa Parker (Wings of Eagles Outreach President) said if the city adds the [skate] park to its budget, the park could be funded jointly by Wings of Eagles and the city, and maintained by the parks department.
October 16, 2020: DeGraffenried said Wings of Eagles members have initiated fundraisers for the skate park.
December 4, 2020: The city has issued requests for qualifications for the design, engineering and construction of a skate park and pavilion to be built in Campbell Park.
December 25, 2020: The city received six proposals from contractors for the construction of a skate park…..at Campbell Park. Staff ranked Austin-based SPA Skateparks and Lampasas based Lamco Construction as the best qualified to complete the projects. Council members voted unanimously to allow city staff to negotiate the scope and cost of project with the highest-ranked firms.
January 8, 2021: According to city manager’s report (page 95), “skate park contractor has been contacted for a kick-off meeting…after determining the contractor’s design criteria, staff will have geotechnical surveys done…”
January 19, 2021: During his city manager’s report, Finley deGraffenried said city staff were scheduled to meet last week with the highest-rated contractors for the Campbell Park pavilion and skate park projects.
January 22, 2021: In his manager’s report (page 125), Finley tells us that he has “met with BOTH the skate park contractor and pavilion contractor to timing, scope and tentative project schedules. Additionally, staff has communicated with Langerman Foster regarding geotechnical investigation…”
February 16, 2021: DeGraffenried said preparations for skate park and pavilion construction in Campbell Park are underway.
Okay – if construction preparation is underway, who was chosen as contractor? SPA Skateparks or Lamco? WE ARE NEVER TOLD BY FINLEY! This is the first suspicious item. Lamco is a local outfit that builds houses. As far as I’m aware, they have never done a skatepark. How were they ever included as “best-qualified” to build this thing?
March 9, 2021: Langerman Foster to charge the City $6,400 (pages 103 and 104) to drill two 20-foot bore holes (one for skate park and one for pavilion) for their “geo-tech” report.
April 2, 2021: “We should be open to amenities that support young families and youth activities, like the skate park, for which the council recently approved funding” – Councilwoman TJ Monroe statement while running for Mayor.
So according to the City manager and Mayor Monroe, by April 2021 they had already “approved funding” for the skate park and “preparations for construction were underway”. If that is true, how in the hell did the price “estimate” jump up again in August of 2021? Sounds like everything was already settled, doesn’t it??? That’s our second suspicious item. Also, we STILL haven’t been told who the contractor is.
May 24, 2021: After a bunch of council meetings where the skate park is completely forgotten, Finley reports (page 157) that “Contractors were notified to incorporate the findings and recommendations of the geo-tech into their foundation design and costs. Staff has also included stakeholder representatives in the notification and communicated the need to have a combined stakeholder/contractor meeting within the next 2 weeks.“
June 8, 2021: Finley informs council (page 42): “Design build contractor selected, geo-tech completed – contractor preparing base bid for review by staff”
Hmmm – so I guess all that stuff about “preparations for construction are underway” four months ago was complete nonsense.
July 30, 2021: Included in the base budget, according to staff reports, are the purchase of two police patrol vehicles; pool liner and….upgrades at Campbell Park and the new skate park.
AGAIN – statements made in The Dispatch that money has been set aside for skate park. The same statement appeared on August 6, 2021.
August 17, 2021: Dispatch article tells us “In August of last year, the estimate to fund approximately five projects [Hostess House, pavilion, and SKATE PARK included] totaled around $940,000. Last Monday during a workshop session, City Manager Finley deGraffenried indicated the updated estimate increased to $1.9 million.“ Nothing mentioned about skate park in manager’s report for two months now. This is when the following appeared in the minutes:
Ruh roh. Massive increases in the cost of everything (especially Hostess House). How is this possible since Finley told us just six months ago that “preparations for construction were underway”? How these estimates were arrived at is anybody’s guess – since the “skatepark contractor” hasn’t submitted anything yet, according to my reading of the minutes.
September 17, 2021: We get a reprint of the July 30th article – Included in the base budget, according to staff reports, are the purchase of two police patrol vehicles; pool liner and….upgrades at Campbell Park and the new skate park. We also get the headline “Design documents for skate park, pavilion set for unveiling Sept. 27” – which seems odd…seeing as how “preparation for construction” was “underway” seven months ago!!
September 30, 2021: Nothing gets unveiled – instead we get this (pages 29-48):
Holy shit. So basically NOTHING has been done yet! There was no “design unveiled on September 27th”, just SPA laying out “the design and build process”! Oh, and you owe us $18,000 upon “acceptance of the renderings, base plan, drawings and PRELIMINARY COST ESTIMATES” – then you owe us another $12,000 if you decide to use those documents.
So we are now at the end of September and apparently there is not even a preliminary cost estimate yet! SPA wants to City to cough up $18,000 just for a preliminary cost estimate and renderings? What the hell have these guys been doing since May when the geo-tech reports were sent to them?
Gee – sounds like things got very bunged up along the way. As usual. But WHO bunged them up? Finley told us he sent the geo-tech report to contractors back in MAY – FOUR MONTHS AGO!! Did Finley just get too busy with all his other ridiculous projects like the Hostess House and New Hope Baptist Church? Did SPA Skatepark just drag their feet all this time??
Clearly, the design documents were NOT unveiled on September 27th – why not? Lots of unanswered questions.
Also, how did TJ Monroe and council “approve funding” in April of 2021 if they didn’t know what the number was? Who supplied them with the original, bullshit low-ball number they okayed? Was Monroe just spouting bullshit to make herself look good right before the mayoral election? “Hey! We’re giving you a skate park!” Yet more unanswered questions.
Mind boggling incompetence.
Keep in mind, as former council wizard “Greasy” Chris Harrison recently informed us, diesel prices just kept going up and up all this time. So why did Finley fart around for 4 months getting nothing accomplished?? ESPECIALLY after “DeGraffenried said preparations for skate park and pavilion construction in Campbell Park are underway” in February of 2021 – a YEAR EARLIER!
THEN there is a HUGE gap of FIVE MONTHS in mentioning the skate park. The next mention in The Dispatch was February 1, 2022: “In reference to the skate park, deGraffenried met with contractors Friday to review and possibly revise the project’s timeline.”
January 10, 2022: We get another update (page 110) that tells us “New Line Skateparks has submitted a project timeline for staff review. As the contract indicates, the timeline allows for public input, conceptual design phase, design development, and construction documents. Bidding is tentatively targeted for September, 2022 with construction 1Q 2023.“
New Line Skateparks? I thought we were dealing with SPA Skateparks? This whole thing is a giant clusterfuck, if you ask me.
February 4, 2022: At the Jan 24th meeting, Councilman Randy “Speedbump” Clark asked about the skate park status. DeGraffenried responded to Clark’s inquiry by stating, “As we’ve discussed, and the contract says, we will go through a public engagement process on that preliminary design and we hope to …I believe the target for the complete design is September [2022], with bidding [during the] first part of [2023].”
Whoa! NOW he’s saying that they won’t even have a design until four months from now!! What happened to “preparations for skate park construction are underway” back in February of 2021?? What happened to “design documents set for unveiling on September 17th, 2021? What happened to “geo-tech reports were sent to contractors to incorporate into their foundation design and cost” back in MAY OF LAST YEAR??
Then comes THIS nugget in the council packet from April 11th, 2022 (page 65):
“Staff participated in an update call on the Skate Park on March 31st. Consultants presented the Workshop Summary and responses to on-line and in-person surveys. Based on the geo-tech report and technical guidance, the consultants estimated the increased costs of construction to be on the order of $170,000”
WTF? Consultants? In-person surveys? What consultants? They are just NOW doing geo-tech reports a YEAR after “approving funding” and “preparing for construction”? None of this makes ANY SENSE at all.
We finally got a look at some plans from SPA – and some hard numbers. WE also find out that they are leaving a LOT of the work to “others”. Would have been nice to know that a year ago when council “approved funding”, no?
“Others” is gonna cost a pile of money. I wonder if “Greasy” Chris Harrison, the dirt mover, is going to be paid a huge pile of money to do the “other” work at the newly inflated price? I’ll bet you $100 that he is.
Pardon me, but after reading through 10 years of city Council packets and minutes, I can tell you with absolute certainty, Finley deGraffenreid doesn’t take a shit or put his pants on in the morning without a geo-tech report. Every single hare-brained scheme council comes up with (business park, pavilion, civic center, Hostess House) ALWAYS STARTS with a nice big bill for a geo-tech report. It is ALWAYS the first thing he does.
I’m seriously starting to wonder if Finley has a massive kick-back scheme going on all these construction projects. It’s about the only thing that makes sense to me. Maybe he’s not happy with his $200,000 per year in salary and benefits. Maybe feathering his nest is a better idea? I really can’t explain this any other way. Same goes for Azbell A/V system, the $185,000 bathroom and all the other massive cost overruns.
More to come…..