After a disastrous experience with a contractor who defrauded the city by abandoning several parks and recreation projects, Fayetteville City Council members quarreled over how to proceed with new contracts for work on two of those projects — the Mazarick Park Tennis Center and Mable C. Smith Community Center — when bids were discussed at Monday’s council meeting.
The heated discussion came after the city filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Apex Contracting Group, which abandoned city projects worth millions of dollars, including the Mazarick Park Tennis Center, Rosehill Road sidewalk project and Mable C. Smith Community Center, and are being accused of defrauding the city multiple times.
In the suit, the city also took legal action against the bond companies, claiming the companies refused to pay the surety bonds on the projects. If a contractor defaults, the city can make a claim on the surety bond to recover financial losses or to ensure the project’s completion, according to the lawsuit.
At the meeting, Council Members Lynne Greene, Deno Hondros and Mario Benavente repeatedly expressed concern about progressing too quickly on new contract approvals after the recent failures. Greene made a successful motion to remove four items relating to capital projects and contracts from the meeting’s consent agenda so the council could discuss them later during the meeting.
The Mazarick Park Tennis Center
A lengthy — and sometimes accusatory — discussion ensued between council members about a bid for construction of a building at the Mazarick Park Tennis Center costing $2.57 million. The new building will include typical gym amenities like showers and changing rooms and is expected to take 9–18 months to complete, according to Parks and Recreation Director Michael Gibson. Gibson said the contract is separate from the unresolved sitework and tennis court components included in the failed contract with the Apex Contracting Group.
Gibson expressed confidence in the contractor the city selected, M&E Contracting.
“We have a local contract[or] that we’ve all worked with,” he said. “They build swimming pools for us, and they do a wonderful job. I’m very comfortable in this process that we’re taking now to get this project done.”
Assistant City Manager Adam Lindsay said the building site “has been independently certified and surveyed.”
But some council members needed more assurance, expressing concerns about approving the new contract while other components of the center were incomplete.
Greene said that, although she is familiar with the contractor who was selected for the bid and considers them an “excellent company to work with,” she had unanswered “questions about if the soil and the site had been certified.”
Hondros and Greene, who both work in real estate, also cautioned about the order of the work being done. The construction of the building will occur prior to the completion of sitework on the entire project, staff said.
“To me, the fact that we’re discussing putting a building on a site that’s not complete is putting the cart before the horse,” Greene said.
Hondros said he also needed more information about the project before voting in favor.
“I know we’re all anxious about getting these projects that have stalled, these CIP [capital improvement plan] projects, on track and completed as soon as possible because they’ve already been delayed, delayed several months,” Hondros said. “But making another hasty decision, I just wouldn’t be able to support that tonight without additional information.”
Colvin argued the failure was a result of a “bad actor” and not indicative of a systemic problem with the bidding process.
“The city has successfully done hundreds of million dollars of capital projects,” Colvin said. “. . . This is how you move it forward. The bad actors exist in any organization or opportunity when people do that.”
Benavente said the council should use the failure as an opportunity for the council to reexamine the city’s bidding process. He accused other council members of trying to pass the item on the consent agenda without a discussion.
“So let’s leave room for these things to get full accounting and full information so the community doesn’t feel like, once again, we’re trying to brush past these things, keep the curtain up so that they can’t see exactly what’s going on,” Benavente said. “Because that’s what happens when you push things through the consent agenda without due process and due diligence. That’s what’s being asked for tonight.
“We keep saying no and just saying, ‘Hey, just push it through, hope for the best.’ That should be a concern to the community that’s already seen us drop the ball several times on these projects already.”
Colvin and Haire, two of the longest-serving council members, rejected Benavente’s accusations as “ridiculous,” as did Haire, who called them “unfair and unjustified.”
Greene made an unsuccessful motion to table discussion on the project to allow council members with questions to receive more information from city staff, which she, Hondros and Benavente voted in favor of. A second motion to approve the contract, made by Haire, passed in a 7-3 vote, with Greene, Hondros and Benavente voting in opposition.
In addition to the tennis center, the council also debated, and ultimately approved, a new contract for the completion of the Mable C. Smith Community Center. The $595,000 contract included completing the unfinished work left behind by the contractor being sued by the city. The council voted 8-2 to approve the contract, with Greene and Hondros casting dissenting votes.
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608. This story was made possible by donations from readers like you to CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.
I thought Muhammad Muhammad was also responsible for walking away from building g a new fire station in Bragg Blvd. If they’re not, then who’s responsible for this fiasco?!?!
Everyone of the city contracts are with Mohammad Mohammad of Mohammad Construction – they changed their name to Apex Contractor Group well after the contracts had been breached –
they should acknowledge these facts concerning the name – there’s been 8-10 articles in the Fayetteville Observer to reference – I don’t know what they are thinking while leading with Apex Contracting Group –
I guess the publication thinks it’s like a celebrity changing his name – ie calling Sean Combs Puff Daddy or P Diddy – his name is Sean Combs and the rest are aliases – same with Mohammad Construction –
The fire station is a separate contract and is an issue of substandard work. The surety is attempting to work with the City towards a resolution.
It’s nice to see that we are using a local contractor. M & E is an excellent general contractor, and the county has other very qualified contractors to do local work. Certain contractors are better on specific type of work than others.
Using local contractors keeps the money more in the Cumberland County area, so I feel local contractors should be given some sort of incentive over out of area contractors during the bidding process.
Mayor Colvin said a “bad actor” was responsible for the fiasco we are now seeing? A bad actor who got 3 projects from the city? Someone is not doing their job. Let’s not forget the new fire station on Bragg Blvd. fiasco as well. The citizens of Fayetteville deserve more than this. Taxpayers hard earned money is being wasted and probably more will be needed to finally complete these projects. Do better Mr. Mayor and Fayetteville, NC city council! Remember next year (and every 2 years) voters get to grade how well you are doing.