Judge: S. Tahoe’s Lakeview Commons contract not valid
By Kathryn Reed
Lakeview Commons was dealt another blow Friday when a judge ruled the current contract is invalid.
What this means to the multi-million dollar overhaul of El Dorado Beach and the walkway in the center of South Lake Tahoe remains to be seen. But it’s doubtful any work will resume until spring 2011 at the earliest.
Lakeview Commons' contract deemed invalid. Photo/Kathryn Reed
“The bottom line is we lost this (building season) to get after this project,” City Manager Tony O’Rourke told Lake Tahoe News on Sept. 19.
In what has been a muddled contractual process since June between South Lake Tahoe and potential contractors is taking a court to unravel. On Sept. 17 El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Steve Bailey ruled the contract with Reeve Knight and the city is void and invalid.
Bailey scheduled a hearing for Oct. 1 at which time he is likely to rule on whether Clark & Sullivan, the Sparks firm that brought the case to court, should be awarded the bid or if the city should start the bid process all over.
“We are arguing only the City Council can award a bid and the court cannot order the city to award a contract to anyone,” City Attorney Patrick Enright said.
Clark & Sullivan challenged the awarding of the $4.5 million bid after trees had been felled and excavating had begun. Bailey issued an injunction Aug. 30, which brought work to a halt. Reeve Knight’s subcontractors shored up loose dirt that week, essentially winterizing the project.
The bid was awarded Aug. 3 on a 4-1 vote by the City Council. Councilman Jerry Birdwell voted no because he did not believe all the bid documents were done properly.
This item was originally on the consent agenda, but was pulled by one of the council members. The consent agenda is for items not requiring debate. Clearly, that wasn’t the case for this subject.
Mayor Kathay Lovell has been a cheerleader for the project from the get-go. Now that it is mired in a court battle she is not returning calls.
Former City Manager Dave Jinkens was also a big proponent of the project. That is one reason why the contract was on the agenda at the last meeting he presided over, and why the groundbreaking on the project was the following day. His last day on the job was Aug. 6.
Enright believes if the judge throws the matter back into the council’s hands, the current council should decide if Clark & Sullivan is immediately awarded the bid or if the process starts over. If it starts over, it’s likely the council seated after the Nov. 2 election would vote on the next contractor. (Three new councilmembers will be elected.)
But it’s also possible no matter what Bailey decides next month that Reeve Knight will appeal the decision, thus dragging out the dilemma even longer.
Reeve Knight has not been paid a dime for the work that has been done. With the contract being deemed illegal by the judge, Enright said California law states the company does not have to get paid. But he also said the contractor could make an “equitable argument that they should get paid.”
Enright said the California Tahoe Conservancy grant that is funding the project is the likely source of payment for this and not city coffers even though the work was done without a valid contract in place.
It remains to be seen if any of the contractors will go after the city for legal expenses.
WOW! Thanks for this article, Kae.
Can the Jinkens/Lovell administration do more damage to our town? Thank goodness one is gone and soon the other one will be! Maybe now the two of them understand the meaning of the phrase, ‘bush league’?
Will the local excavator that did the work that was started get paid? Or will this joke of a city screw him to. Rebid the “whole thing” pun intended. So some local contractors can get a fair chance at some work. These city people are bumbling fools and the grand jury needs another phone call.
Well, of course Reeve Knight will want to be paid, they have done work!
Is there any more land we can tie up in construction? Have we got anymore prime spots we can start and not finish? This is a major issue and should be resolved as fast as possible. We all need to know exactly how this was allowed to occur so that it will not happen again.
I’m hoping in these poor economical times that more than 2 contractors bid on this project, and they could go back quickly and reconsider all the bids fairly! Maybe they shouldn’t see the names of the contractors, just the bids themselves, or something to help them keep this process fair!
The City leadership is a disaster. Most everything they do they screw up. At the expense of local business and residents. Dissolve the City now.
What was it that caused the judge to rule the contract invalid?
There’s a shocker, another city debacle where now there are ruins which may stay in place for years.
Are we getting a special rate on chain link fencing and “Sidealk Closed Use Other Side” signs?
Writing up and awarding this contract should have been a fairly routine manner. This screwup screams incompetence.
I sincerely hope South Lake Tahoe residents will choose highly professional candidates in the upcoming election.
Completely and totally breaks my heart to see another unfinished project in Lake Tahoe. Our decisions are ruining this town for decades to come. I’m at a loss.
The receipt and awarding of bids for capital improvement projects is a straight forward process with safeguards to insure fairness and reasonable pricing, the City has been accepting bids and issueing contracts since its beginning in 1967. You would think they would be able to get it right after 43 years? Could it be that Mayor Lovell, ex-City Mgr Jenkins, and City Attorney Enright got in a hurry to build their legacies and bypassed the normal checks and balances? The City seems to have a history of faux pas when it comes to legal matters which ends up costing city and county residents millions in delays and legal expenses. On top of which the past City Attorneys have proven inadequate to the task of representing the City in these disputes, requiring the expertise of outside legal aid at exorbitant cost to residents.
When are the business owners and working people of this community going to wake up and remove the self-serving “Good Ole Boys and Girls” and get this community back on track to provide the long missing basics (Road repair, Police, Fire, and snow removal}?
Their “legacy” now has more than one fenced-in pile of dirt. It makes me wonder if there is some kind of kickback scheme going on (or multiples of them) where attorneys’ fees go into someone’s pocket after the lawsuits get filed. This local epidemic of what looks like gophers gone crazy, after while, they all start to look similar and it does seem like a scheme to me.
I would vote for an internal investigation to see if any crimes by the city have been committed or this is just plain stupidity on their part. Maybe it is best to disolve and let the county take over our town.
I agree with the previous poster. Let’s get some local contractors to bid. It seems that they are the only ones who understand the priority of finishing around here and the work timelines. Not to mention the jobs created locally. City Council should seek out local bids, check out how great the high school is coming along………YEP, local contractor! I realize that the current councilmen and women are only human but really, enough is enough. How many multi-million dollar bids/projects have to get screwed up before they are held accountable??
Hey Guys and Gals!!! Where does Hal Cole fit in this mess.
He and retred Tom Davis will be a pair to draw too next year. OMG
I think that it goes without saying that it’s important the City learns from this and moves forward to correct the issue as soon as possible.
Kae, do you have any word on grant funding from the California Tahoe Conservancy, and whether or not the City is at risk of losing it due to delays?
I had great hope for this project but am left feeling hopeless once again. A great big ugly patch of land with a big fence all around. One step forward and three steps back. Dang.
Mayor Kathay Lovell has been a cheerleader for the project from the get-go. Now that it is mired in a court battle she is not returning calls.
“She not smart enought to know what a phone is yet”
She still working on what a broom is for,so she can sweep dirt from all the big holes in town under her bed.
A cheerleader of fast talking bs that never works out.
Another example of our inept City Council. We need another hole in the ground like we need, well, another hole in the ground.
Please, please, residents of the City of South Lake Tahoe, vote carefully for your new council members. Even though I cannot vote for council members (I live in the county) I know that what happens in the city affects us in the county. Choose carefully.
What caused the judge to decide that the contract in place was invalid?
In this era of greed and corruption with virtually no oversight, this is just scratching the surface; other townships, municipalities and other governmnet bodies should be investigated by their citizenry.Reply