A proposed resolution that would have accepted the low bid to resurface the gym floor at Chester Hynes Community Center was pulled by its sponsors from the Pine Bluff City Council agenda Monday at Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr.’s request.
Redus has given several reasons for the request, some of which Parks and Recreation Department Director Angela Parker said are factually inaccurate. Redus also cited a desire to re-bid the project with hopes the city will receive a lower bid — a move Parker and some of the aldermen said is unfair to the existing low bidder and could open up the city to lawsuits.
Redus and public works coordinator Larry Matthews also said that the re-bidding could be opened up to include different types of flooring possibilities. Parker and former Parks and Recreation Commission Teki Jimenez said that Parker and Community Center Director Laura Hildreth have carefully researched the type of flooring they selected and think it is the best fit for the project.
“I’m totally against going for a cheaper, less expensive type of flooring,” Parker said.
“We don’t want the cheapest floor,” Jimenez said. “We want the best floor.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The Pine Bluff Parks and Recreation Department solicited bids for the gym floor as part of an ongoing project to improve the Chester Hynes and Merrill community centers. Sports Court of Arkansas was the low bidder at $41,520.
Parker and Alderman Steven Mays, who personally went to look at the floor recently and was one of the sponsors of the proposed resolution, both described it as having degraded to the point that it was “dangerous.” Parker was not present at Monday’s council meeting but said in an interview Tuesday that she has had the city’s project manager look at the floor and was advised it cannot be repaired and needs to be replaced.
Parker said Hildreth has started many new programs for the children and would like to be able to host tournaments.
“We want something that the kids can be proud of and that Laura can be proud of when she invites people from different towns here for events,” Parker said. “We want a decent floor that has the same quality that everybody else has put in now.”
Parker said she has toured community centers in Heber Springs, Jonesboro, Paragould, Byrant and Jacksonville that have the same type of flooring that Parker and Hildreth would like to have installed at Chester Hynes.
“It comes in sections,” Parker said. “It’s almost like a puzzle. So say if for instance, you had a problem with one piece of our floor, they can come in and pop out that one section of floor and replace it. They will also paint it with whatever you want on there.”
Alderman Irene Holcomb first started raising concerns about both community centers in 2011, calling their conditions “dangerous, hazardous [and] unhealthy.” Since then, many improvements have been made to Chester Hynes and improvements are planned for Merrill.
The projects are being funded by funds from the five-eighths-cent sales tax increase approved by voters in February 2011. One of the projects promised during the campaign to be funded out of the increase was a brand new multipurpose community center. The center will take several years to build because city officials must solicit donations and grants before they will be able to fund it at the scale they would like.
In the meantime, Parker said she would like to use the $400,000 annual operating cost for the center that was often cited during the campaign to make improvements at the existing community centers. Parker said she has gotten advice from the city attorney’s office and finance department that this is an acceptable use of the funds, and the council has already allocated $59,872 in the funds for the work at Chester Hynes and Merrill.
“These kids here now won’t be using these centers in five to seven years when the multipurpose center is built,” Parker said. “We need a decent floor for the kids who are here today.”
Parker advertised for bids as required by law and took the lowest bid to the Pine Bluff City Council Public Works Committee, which recommended the proposal to the full council with a do-pass. Members Mays and Alderman Charles Boyd signed on as sponsors.
But the item did not appear on the agenda at the May 21 City Council meeting. Questioned by the alderman as to why that was the case, Redus said only one bid had been received for the project and it needed to be re-bid. Parker said the project actually received two bids, which does not require that it be re-bid.
The item did appear on the agenda for Monday’s meeting. Redus attended the Ordinances and Resolutions Committee meeting, during which he told members Bill Brumett and Wayne Easterly that the item should be tabled. During that meeting, Redus said that the Parks Commission members did not know anything about the project.
Parker and Jimenez said that was inaccurate. The Commercial was present at the last Parks and Recreation Commission meeting when the gym floor bid was discussed with the whole commission.
He also said that the city was being “back-doored” and that they shouldn’t be “getting in bed with a vendor” or “show favoritism to one vendor.” Redus asked for two weeks for the city to do its due diligence and get the best price for the residents of Pine Bluff. Brumett and Easterly told Redus to take it up with the item’s sponsors.
Before the council meeting began, Redus discussed the item with Mays, Boyd, Brumett and Alderman Geroge Stepps, making comments that included, “a department head can’t just do that,” and others before being asked by The Commercial to discontinue their discussion of city business outside of a meeting they had not made open to the public, which is a violation of state Freedom of Information law. Mays, Stepps and Redus complied. Brumett and Boyd continued their discussion.
By the time the meeting started, Mays and Boyd had agreed to table the item.
Matthews addressed the council to outline the reasons for the requested delay. He said that during the work so far on Chester Hynes, other repairs have been identified, including a leaking roof. Matthews said that he wanted two weeks to re-bid the project and to come up with a more complete list of all the things that needed to be repaired and their cost estimates.
Brumett asked if that would be unfair to the lowest bidder selected in the first round because his low bid had been made public and now could be easily undercut by other bidders. Redus said the bid had not been made public, despite the fact that it had been made public in the legislation, in newspaper articles and on the bidding records, which, once closed, become public information.
Easterly agreed with Brumett and said that is how people end up with shoddy work from a bidder who has cited a cost that is actually too low to get the job done correctly.
Redus said that he knows who the qualified bidders are.
“In two weeks, we’ll have this complete and hopefully, we’ll save the taxpayers some money,” Redus said.
Easterly said the unfair treatment of the bidder could lead to the city being sued.
“This is pretty slippery ground we’re on,” Easterly said.
Redus also said that at least three bids were “required,” which Parker disagreed with.
Parker was not at the council meeting, but Jimenez was at the request of Redus. She came prepared with information on why the specific flooring was the best for the project. When she asked to address the council, Redus said no.
Responding Tuesday to the statements made about the leak, Parker said it is small and can be fixed well before the flooring work actually begins. As for the comment that more items have been discovered that need to be repaired at Chester Hynes, Parker agreed, but added that fixing the gym floor remains one of the department’s top priorities for Chester Hynes.
Holcomb, the project’s most vocal proponent, has not been present for the discussions about the gym floor because of health reasons.
The Parks Commission is one of the city’s independent commissions. Redus does not have direct supervisory authority over Parker, but can influence her budget in situations like this one and appoints the members of the commission. Redus’ wife Trudy Redus was hired by the commission to work at the department in September 2010, despite objections from Parker that the hiring presented a conflict of interest that could potentially affect her ability to supervise Trudy Redus without the potential for retaliation from Carl Redus.
On April 28, Trudy Redus had an accident in a Parks Department vehicle and did not take a drug test after being instructed to do so by Parker, who recommended she be fired for that and other details surrounding the incident. The commission’s Personnel Committee instead opted to suspend Trudy Redus for two weeks without pay. Trudy Redus appealed and the commission upheld the decision.