Judge: Lakeview Commons’ future in SLT council’s hands
By Jeremy Evans
South Lake Tahoe discovered last month that it was operating under an invalid contract with construction company Reeve Knight, the contractor selected to complete the Lakeview Commons project.
On Monday, El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Steve Bailey ruled the city needs to start the bid process all over again, a decision that will derail any improvements to the El Dorado Beach area until at least next spring.
“We expected the judge to send it back to the city,” said City Attorney Patrick Enright. “Now we need to decide what we will do next.”
The city will meet on Tuesday in a closed session to evaluate its next move, although the city is likely facing two options. It can either appeal the judge’s decision within 30 days or it will turn the bid process back over to the City Council, which would restart the process of accepting bids for the project.
The future of Lakeview Commons is uncertain. Photo/Kathryn Reed
If the closed session results in a decision that the project’s fate be handled by the City Council, it will discuss the matter at its next meeting on Oct. 19.
“We might wait until the full 30 days are up before we do anything or we could turn it over to the City Council to decide,” Enright said. “We will go over our litigation options tomorrow in the closed session.”
Bailey could have ruled that the city had to award the bid to Clark & Sullivan, the Sparks-based firm that brought the case to court. While Reeve Knight was awarded the bid on Aug. 3 on a 4-1 vote by the City Council, Clark & Sullivan challenged the awarding of the $4.5 million bid after excavating had begun. Bailey issued an injunction on Aug. 30 that halted construction, and then ruled in mid-September that the contract was void and invalid.
Since construction will remain at a standstill until spring at the earliest, Bailey signed an executive order to ensure proper winterizing of the property, per requirements by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the Lahontan Water Board.
Calls from Lake Tahoe News to both Clark & Sullivan and Reeve Knight went unreturned as of Monday evening.
This contract was not to dig a big hole was it?
Way to go SLT City-screwed up another project!
How about if the other contractor is assigned to fill in The Hole instead?
Everybody wins.
Invalid contract? Can we find out more of who is at fault and why this happened in the first place?
Why a closed session? Why the need to be so secretive about a construction project?
As fundamental contract law is about ‘mutual consideration’, obviously part of what’s in question, all of the above comments are appropriate – including paying someone else to ‘button it up’ for the winter.
In some cases, a closed session is not about being secretive, it’s about saving face while folks fume at each other . . .
To eliminate any further appearance of malfeasance, anyone currently on the council who had anything to do with the “Hole” earlier, should recuse themselves from participating again in this one . . .
Due to glaringly obvious comments made in open session (i.e., televised and on record) that may be subject to other legal issues – the earlier contract is now moot anyway:
Scrap it and start over ! – on a fair and equitable level.
Forget all the legal stuff,borrow 3 shovels from the cities tool shed, hand one each to lovell,Greg,Cole.
About time they pay the city back for all the foul ups.
If there is a saving grace here, it is that we have a wonderfully competent city council and city attorney to solve this minor multimillion dollar problem.
Maybe another layer of bureaucracy for contract checking is just the thing to solve this problem. Just kidding.
Please take down the ugly organge fences, we have enough fences up here in town and they can’t hide mistakes!
minor multimillion dollar problem ???
WTF!!!!!
“ARE YOU KIDDING?”
There were so many good people sharing wonderful ideas for a common area. But it seemed this project was doomed from the start. The tanking economy made funding an enormous challenge. “They” went ahead with a portion of the project. Was the city too eager maybe to get something done?? I am not surprised by the outcome but I am disappointed.
What was the date the council approved the contract and what was the date of the groundbreaking?
So let me get this straight. Clark Sullivan and the contractors union get the judge to shut the job down and then don’t get the project……what a joke!!!
Hahahahahaha nice job. How much did that cost ya guys?
Everyone seems to be blaming the council, as the buck stops there, BUT how about the city staff who negotiates contracts? Maybe we need to look there and make some changes. The council does depend on the staff to review and negotiate contracts before they even get to the council for final approval. C’mon, staff, get it together! Isn’t that what we have a city attorney for?
Make sure a Surety Bond posted by the low bid contractor.
Make sure it is not Lloyd’s of Tijuana