Mayor, council voice concerns over funds
Although the Jay Town Council took no action at Monday night’s meeting, Mayor Shon Owens expressed concern that the town of Jay is struggling to have enough money to complete the park renovation after David Tillar with Dewberry Engineering presented a color-coded schematic that offered the council park drawings showing a base bid with several bid options, implying that even with $8.4 million, there may or may not be enough money to cover everything in the drawings, depending on how much the construction bids will be.
When Bray-Hendricks Park was demolished close to two years ago, the town assumed $6 million would be enough to rebuild. Bids came in much higher, which prompted discussion of dividing the plan into three phases, to be carried on a pay-as-you-go basis so the town would not go into debt. More funds from legislative appropriations and a Community Development Block Grant grant the town received since made building the park in one phase a reality so Dewberry has started the engineering plans when the were awarded the job.
Tillar said his team has taken the three phases of building, put them together and now offers some bid options, or alternatives. He explained that the base bids are based on what the Disaster Relief Funding (DRF) will cover, with bids for other amenities that are not covered by the DRF, which concerned Mayor Owens.
Tillar explained amenities like sidewalks and basketball canopies made up option 1 and option 2, as well as the amphitheater, that were not covered by Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) monies or DRF. He said Dewberry is coordinating with STOA Architects on the amphitheater, the restrooms, the DRF facility and the maintenance building, but not the generator, conduits and runs in utilities because he cannot hire them yet. Tillar explained several more possible options that could be moved or changed.
He noted that the entrance which is covered in the base bid, is covered by a Florida Recreational Development Assistance Program (FRDAP) grant, but things like fences, bleachers, dugouts were not.
“Are we still thinking this is a $9 million-dollar project?” asked Owens.
Tillar said he had no idea. Jay Operations Manager Eric Seib said he had worked with the DRF and grant requirements and took the other requirements from the original bid, added 30 percent and came out with the $8.4 million estimate. Owens asked how much the town had and Seib said about $8.4 or $8.5 million. Owens said when he saw the options offered, he felt as though that implied the town does not have enough money. He said he is resolute about not cutting amenities.
“I don’t want us to come up short here again,” said Owens. “We’ve already been through this. I don’t want to assume that I’ve got an $8.4 million-dollar park and now we’ve got a $10 million-dollar park. That’s where I’m worried. We have to answer this to the community. We already feel like we’ve made mistakes and I sure don’t want to make more mistakes. This is where we’re getting side-tracked. I thought we could afford it at $8.4 million.”
Tillar said he couldn’t predict what the bids would be.
Owens cited he thought engineering bids had already been submitted two years ago. Seib said those numbers are what Seib came up with the $8.4 million after adding the 30 percent.
“What we don’t want to do is get caught with our pant down again,” said Councilwoman Jane Hayes. “We do not want to go through this again.”
Owens and Hayes explained they did not want to have to break the park into phases again. Tillar said his team has been working hard to carve up the plan based on Seib’s funding information as probable cost of what they can afford. Tillar said the schematic he brought show colors to indicate what is included in base bids as funded, with alternatives in other colors.
Hayes said not having signed contracts can be a cause of frustration and Owens agreed. Tillar said he is trying to meet a March 15 deadline but there are obstacles. All agreed the process comes with frustration. When asked if council members wanted to go through the schematics, Owens declined.
“If it’s not complete, I don’t care to,” said Owens. “I don’t want to waste everybody’s time.”
