FORT SMITH -- City directors voted Tuesday to terminate the contract of a state senator and a former Sebastian County Quorum Court member for failure to meet deadlines to develop a tournament-quality sports complex on city-owned property.
The two men -- state Sen. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith, and former Justice of the Peace Lee Webb, who also serves on the Sebastian County Election Commission -- have been working for nearly three years to try to build an eight-field softball/baseball complex on 69 acres at Chaffee Crossing.
City directors said during Tuesday's meeting that they had been patient with the men but that it was time to cut ties with them and seek assistance from the community to complete the project.
The city's contract was with River Valley Sports Complex, which was described as a nonprofit incorporated by Webb. He and Files had hoped the complex would be an economic boon to the area by drawing out-of-town teams that would patronize Fort Smith restaurants, shops and hotels.
But after the two missed a Jan. 31 deadline to respond to the city directors' request for a report detailing what remained to be done on the project and a completion date, city directors decided to pull the plug.
City Administrator Carl Geffken told city directors that the next steps were to secure the site and assess what construction has been accomplished, what needs to be done to complete the complex, and a possible cost. After that, city directors could decide what to do with the complex.
Geffken said estimates had put the total project cost at $4 million to $6 million. Parks Director Doug Reinert said Tuesday that he didn't know the value of the land with the improvements or how much it would cost to complete the complex.
The resolution also required that Webb and Files repay $26,945.91 from a $46,500 General Improvement Fund grant the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District awarded to the city in late December.
The applicant for the grant was the Fort Smith Parks and Recreation Department, to which the sports complex would become a part.
Files and Webb were building the complex that is to include eight ball fields, two concession buildings, irrigation for the fields, and parking.
According to the March 2014 agreement with River Valley Sports Complex, Fort Smith would give up to $1.6 million to help with construction costs while Webb and Files would obtain contributions of materials and labor to complete the project. For example, the Arkansas National Guard did the dirt work for the project for free as a training exercise. Webb has said that windows and four air-conditioning units were donated for the concession buildings.
The $1.6 million from the city would serve as the purchase price for the finished complex, which then would be leased to the nonprofit to operate.
Webb told city directors last month that progress most recently stalled for four months when a fence builder pulled out of the project. The fences had to be finished before irrigation could be installed and sod could be laid, he said.
The project had experienced several delays, with four deadlines coming and going since city directors approved the contract in March 2014.
State Desk on 02/10/2017