FORT SMITH -- Two subcontractors who are owed money for work on the stalled River Valley Sports Complex are unable to find anyone to pay them.
Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken sent letters dated March 3 to Brian Buzbee of B&A Electric of Fort Smith and Gary Grimes, owner of Grimes Dozer Service of Greenwood, acknowledging the city had learned that former developers of the complex had referred the subcontractors to the city regarding payment of outstanding invoices.
But Geffken said in his letter that payment to the subcontractors was the responsibility of the former developers who hired them, Republican state Sen. Jake Files of Fort Smith and Sebastian County Election Commissioner Lee Webb, and was not the responsibility of the city.
According to Arkansas secretary of state records, Webb is the registered agent of the nonprofit River Valley Sports Complex and officers were listed as Webb, Files and Steve Castillo.
The referrals were made after city directors voted last month to terminate the city's agreement with Webb and Files to develop an eight-field, tournament-quality softball/baseball complex on 63 acres the city owns at Chaffee Crossing.
The hope was the complex would draw teams from around the country and boost tourism.
"The fact that the city terminated its agreement with the River Valley Sports Complex does not extend to the city's assumption of liabilities incurred by the River Valley Sports Complex," Geffken wrote in the letters to Buzbee and Grimes.
Buzbee told city directors at a meeting Tuesday night that B&A Electric is owed $151,880. Grimes, the son of former Sebastian County Sheriff Gary Grimes, is owed about $12,900 for doing much of the dirt work on the site.
Grimes Dozer and B&A Electric have contacted lawyers about the unpaid invoices, but no litigation has been initiated.
Geffken also sent a letter March 3 to Files and Webb reminding them that the city had an agreement with them as the sports complex's developers and not with the people they hired to do the construction work.
"The city has and will continue to inform all such vendors or subcontractors that any outstanding liabilities or amounts due remain the responsibility of the River Valley Sports Complex entity and/or whichever one of you may have enlisted their services on that entity's behalf," Geffken wrote.
Files and Webb did not respond to phone messages and emails Friday seeking comment.
City directors voted Feb. 7 to terminate the agreement with the sports complex that was signed in March 2014. In it, the city agreed to pay $1.6 million to Files and Webb toward the cost of developing the fields. Webb and Files told city directors that the two would supplement the city's money with donations of labor and material to finish the project.
Fort Smith paid $1.08 million of the $1.6 million to Webb and Files before terminating the agreement.
Constant work delays reset the completion dates at least four times over the three years after the agreement was signed. In late December, city directors demanded from Webb and Files a report by Jan. 31 on the work that had been completed, the work that had yet to be completed and a firm completion date.
Webb and Files never submitted the report, and city directors pulled the plug on the project.
Buzbee sent city directors a summary of his involvement with the project in advance of Tuesday's meeting. He said his company was hired to supply, erect and wire the lights and light poles for the fields. The company also was hired to do the electrical wiring for concession buildings.
The cost came to more than $401,000, for which B&A has been paid $280,000, he wrote.
Buzbee wrote that he couldn't complete the electrical wiring of the concession buildings or the lights because Webb never arranged for the necessary trench work to be done for the wiring.
He wrote that when he heard the city had terminated its contract with Files and Webb, he assumed the city would take over the project and use the remaining $400,000 earmarked for the project to pay off outstanding expenses.
"I received official notice from Mr. Geffken today that stated that the city had no intentions of paying for the portion of the lights and electrical service that is still owed," Buzbee wrote.
In addition to terminating the agreement with Files and Webb, city directors called for the return of $26,945 in grant money from the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District that was awarded to Dianna Gonzalez of Pocola, Okla., to extend utilities to the sports complex site.
The $26,945 was part of a $46,500 General Improvement Fund grant that was awarded for the sports complex project. Files, chairman of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee, has said it was his idea to pursue the grant for the sports complex.
Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman said the $26,945 was to be used to buy materials to start on the utilities extension work. Eventually, he said, the entire $46,500 was to be used for the job. The city has yet to see the return of the grant money.
City officials have not addressed whether to continue with the unfinished sports complex. City finances are tight, and Geffken has said a quality sports complex could cost up to $6 million.
Officials are waiting for a report on the status of the project. Dingman said city internal auditor Tracey Shockley was working to try to identify all the costs, invoices and payments involved in the sports complex.
State Desk on 03/11/2017