ROGERS — The much delayed renovation of Veterans Park is finished, and the park will be ready for high school baseball in February.
“We achieved substantial completion Friday,” said Rick Stocker, director of parks and recreation for Rogers. “Substantial completion means while everything isn’t done we have a punch list with no items of controversy,” Stocker said.
A punch list is a list of items that must be completed or fixed before a project is accepted as finished.
The delay didn’t raise the cost of the renovation because a bonding company is paying for the completion. The project will be completed on budget, but not on schedule.
The park has been in use since May, but some amenities were not available. The park will serve as the home fields for the Rogers Heritage High School War Eagles and Rogers High School Mounties baseball and softball teams.
David Hook, facilities development manager for Rogers, said the punch card list has dropped from more than a dozen pages to a single page.
“There is an issue with locker installation, but we are working with the contractor on that and the remaining items. The park is ready for play now and should be completely finished in a few more weeks,” Hook said.
The $2.1 million renovation project had problems for nearly a year. Construction began on April 3, 2008, with a scheduled completion date of Dec. 29, 2008. The problems began when Bossler Construction Co. did not finish by the scheduled completion date.
Andy Bossler, owner of Bossler Construction, announced in May he was defaulting on the contract and declared bankruptcy.
Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, Bossler’s bonding company, hired Multi-Craft Contractors Inc. in July to complete the project.
When Multi-Craft took over the project, workers discovered conduit that went nowhere as well as plumbing and structural issues. When the city installed the water meter and pressurized the lines, water came shooting out of the ground. A 5-foot section of pipe was not installed, Hook said.
A brick wall that supports a catwalk didn’t contain the necessary rebar. Steel supports were put in place to stabilize the wall and the catwalk.
Butch Baccus of Multi-Craft said he expected a certain amount of nonconforming issues at the park when his company took the job.
Bossler’s subcontractors did work at the park without having building inspectors review it, according to Hook.
Multi-Craft crews spent about 40 percent of their time correcting Bossler’s mistakes, Baccus said.
Calls to Bossler’s phone number on Monday went to a recording indicating all circuits were busy. Previously, a recording was reached indicating the number had been disconnected.