Notwithstanding a variety of pesky "loose ends," such as the lack of signed agreements with the building contractor and materials suppliers (concrete, steel and lumber,) the city's bonding package is ready to hit the market. Moreover, a "ceremonial" ground-breaking has even been tentatively planned for Monday, December 12th, at 11:00-12:00, (according to an unimpeachable source of mine close to city hall.)
Although the Tribune article suggests that Ogden city expected to have "$16.2 million in hand" by Tuesday afternoon, such a scenario is unlikely, inasmuch as all legal prerequisites for the project are not yet fulfilled. What's more likely is that such funds are being held by the lender in escrow, to be released only upon finalization of all prerequisite underlying contracts.
In this connection, optimistic statements continue to flow from the city administration's incessantly optimistic Dave Harmer:
"Harmer said the construction agreement with R&O Construction is expected to be signed this week, and the costs will be nailed down within the next two weeks. Concrete, steel and lumber prices have been rising, but Harmer said the final costs should be in line with projections. 'We estimate we'll be OK,' he said."These are not minor details, gentle readers. If city officials are pleased with the legal posture of this project a short 31 days from the January 1, 2006 "drop-dead date," they certainly shouldn't be. With major players like the general contractor and materials suppliers remaining "out of contract," this project could have a thrilling finale, as the unsigned project players jockey for position days prior to the project deadline. Don't think for as minute that the unsigned players are unaware of the short timeline here, and that they won't play the running clock to the hilt.
Attentive readers will note that our rec center poll still remains in the sidebar, by the way, with 90% of participants betting the project won't happen. Be sure to vote in the poll, if you haven't done so already.
If any of our gentle readers have additional comments, please don't hesitate to chime right on in.
Update 12/2/05 1:52 p.m. MT: The Standard-Examiner was Johnny-on-the-spot with its rec center ground-breaking announcement this morning, confirming our report yesterday that a public ceremony has been set for 11:00 a.m. on December 19. Most of the details in John Wright's article were "old news" to our gentle readers. We've already had a pretty good discussion of this topic. Here's a quote from John's article:
Also on Tuesday, the city signed a construction agreement with Ogden-based R&O Construction, the general contractor for the rec center, Harmer said.One important additional detail does emerge from today's article, however: R&O Construction apparently inked some kind of pact on Tuesday. Although the construction contractor and "the braintrust on nine" have no idea at all how much the necessary construction materials will ultimately cost, the city has finally put at least one of the major players under some vague contractual obligation. This is all government propaganda, BTW.
Under the agreement, there is a 15-day period during which the two parties will
finalize construction costs, he said.
The nature of that legal obligation is unclear. The parties to the agreement have not yet "nailed down" materials costs, as John Wright's article aptly points out. Materials costs are essential element in any enforceable construction contract -- and that essential part has been curiously "left out." Until firm terms are worked with suppliers out for price and delivery, the R&O-Ogden City contract is a sham and is probably unenforceable. Today's Std-Ex article is yet another example of the '
suits from Sandusky" scamming their readership, and sucking up to what's left of the Godfrey Government.
A second detail also comes to the fore. If it turns out that the project, as planned and sold to the City Council, can't come in "on budget, the Roman Style "emperor on nine" announces he'll feel free to carve out whatever part of the project he chooses to eliminate -- just so that the project will come in within the council-authorized budget.
Query: The council authorized bonding for a specific project, which would include a flo-rider pool, a wind-tunnel, and a state-of-art climbing wall..
If materials costs come out overly-exorbitant, which one of these would the Mayor whittle away?
And here's an even more fundamental question: Does the "little guy on nine" have even the bare legal authority to modify the rec center plan, now that the council has approved a very specific one?
My answer to my own question is NO. Mayor Godfrey has been authorized to implement a specific plan -- the one that was presented to the council. He hasn't been authorized to implement a whittled-down one. Anything he does contrary to his authorization is ILLEGAL.
If our imperial mayor wishes to hack parts off the rec center project in order to make budget, he'd durned well go back to the city council for further approval.
The little guy is still hawking that Imperial Plato emperor neoCON thingy, where he says he won't "stick his finger in the wind," and he imagines himself a "Philospher King.'
Too funny!
And one other thing! Gentle Reader Dorothy Littrell, CPA, has crunched the numbers and graciously offers a sobering professional analysis of how much the rec center scheme will cost the taxpayers in interest, on a monthly and yearly basis.
Comments?
