FORT SMITH -- City Administrator Carl Geffken said Tuesday he will recommend city directors terminate a contract with two men, one of them state Sen. Jake Files, for failing to meet deadlines in the development of a softball sports complex at Chaffee Crossing.
At the end of the directors' study session, Geffken announced that Tuesday was the deadline for Files, R-Fort Smith, and Lee Webb to submit a report on the project, for which the city pledged $1.6 million, and for a date when the two men would finish development of the ball fields, which were dubbed the River Valley Sports Complex.
Chaffee Crossing is a portion of the old Fort Chaffee Army post that was turned over to the civilian sector for redevelopment.
The city has paid out $1.08 million for the project, Geffken said.
In addition to terminating the contract, Geffken asked that directors request the return of a $26,000 government grant the city gave the men for work on the complex.
"In a heartbeat," City Director George Catsavis said when Geffken said he was going to ask directors to terminate the contract at next Tuesday's voting meeting.
Geffken said after the directors terminate the contract, they will have to assess how much work remains to be done and at what cost. The complex was estimated to cost between $4.8 million and $6 million, Geffken said, but the city doesn't have the money to finish the project.
Files issued a prepared statement Tuesday for him and Webb:
"We understand the city's concern over the time delays, and we would like to be able to continue what we think will be a great economic development tool for our region in the sports complex," Files said in the statement. "Having said that, we will honor whatever the directors decide to do in terms of moving forward. We wish things would have progressed faster, but it just took longer than we anticipated for the development to occur with the donated labor and in-kind contributions."
Webb went before city directors at their Jan. 10 meeting. Directors wanted Webb and Files to report by Tuesday on a completion date and provide a list of remaining work to be completed as well as bank statements and canceled checks to confirm the city's money was being spent on the project.
Geffken said after Tuesday's meeting he learned the information requested might be turned in late Tuesday. But he said with the amount of time that has passed and the number of delays in the project, it was best to terminate the contract.
City directors voted in March 2014 to enter into a contract with Webb and Files to accept their proposal to develop eight tournament-quality fields on city property to draw ball teams and their lodging and restaurant dollars to the Fort Smith area.
The fields were supposed to have been completed by March 2015, but deadlines came and went and city directors extended the deadlines to March 2016, then to July 2016 and again to Dec. 15, 2016.
In addition to the $1.6 million, Files and Webb said they could rely on donated materials and labor to make up for the lack of funding. For example, dirt work on the site was performed for free by the Arkansas National Guard as a training exercise.
Windows and four 5-ton air-conditioning units for the two concession buildings also had been donated, Webb told directors. Work to extend water to the site was in progress when Webb reported to directors Jan. 10.
Webb told directors at that meeting a contractor erecting fences around the fields had abandoned the project because of an illness in the family and all work halted for four months. Chain-link fences had been built around one circle encompassing four fields. The second circle had no fencing.
Irrigation could not be installed and sod could not be laid until the fences were up, Webb said. He told directors in December he and Files had secured another contractor to finish the fence but it appeared Tuesday that no work on the fence or any other part of the project had been done for months.
State Desk on 02/01/2017