Parks—February 27th, 2013 Board Meeting

"(ID # 4369) Peruque Valley and Heartland Park Project" was discussed at length last Wednesday evening under "New Business". Several of the bidders were in attendance and spoke during "Open Forum," including one who was contesting the selection process.

At the onset, Mayor Nickolas Guccione recused himself at the advice of the City Attorney and left chambers until the discussion was completed.  The selection committee comprised of city staff had chosen the top three companies, of those they recommended C. Rallo Construction Co. Interesting to note here, the owner of C. Rallo Construction Co. is a member of Mayor Guccione's family. The Wentzvillian is not suggesting improprieties but in government just the appearance of the lack of ethics should be avoided at all costs. In this instance, not only does the mayor have a family relationship to the recommended supplier but the people on the selection committee work directly for him. By appearance alone it would be easy for someone to correctly or incorrectly deduce that this combination meets the criteria for a conspiracy, either intended or unintended. To make things even more sticky, Guccione has a family relationship with the owner of the cleaning service company contracted by the city.

During "Open Forum," representatives of Gundaker Commercial Construction protested the selection process. Apparently they had several blanks on the bid form filled in with "Later" and those blanks excluded them from being an approved bidder. Gundaker stated that other bidders who were approved had left blanks yet were approved. In support of their argument to be an approved bidder they added; "Gundaker was low bidder across the board."

Now for the problem: Parks construction has been pushed and pushed to "Start digging" by the Park Board, Friends of the Parks, and Mayors Lambi and Guccione to the point that cost overruns on the Splash Station are projected to far exceed its budget. The latest estimate for opening day is August 24th 2013 plus two weeks which ends up being one week after its scheduled closing for the season. This information should make it a little easier for Guccione to make his decision whether or not to open in 2013, but you never know.

Because they are going to be so far over budget on Splash Station, the Aldermen have been placed in an unsavory position—robbing Peter to pay Paul. To tell how deep to cut Splash Station amenities and/or from the budget of Heartland and Peruque parks, they need an accurate accounting from staff just how much Splash Station will cost. Questions were asked; "Why Splash Station was chosen first and why its location was chosen. Very good questions if they want to start pointing fingers (which I'm sure will come sooner or later and I'd bet those fingers are attached to the arms of Lambi and Guccione), but it won't help the situation. After a lengthy debate and deciding that the obvious result of cuts to Heartland and Peruque would change their design criteria it was decided to rebid.

The only thing left is for staff to provide the numbers asked for, evaluate the depth of the cuts to each of the parks, and send it back out for bid. I would be surprised if there are any blanks left on the forms this time around.