Fort Smith attorney Joey McCutchen hand delivered a letter to Fort Smith City Adminstrator Carl Geffken on Thursday which references the “fraud and deceit that has occurred on the part of Senator Jake Files and Gimes Dozer as well as others” during the construction of the now suspended River Valley Sports Complex at Chaffee Crossing.
In the letter, McCutchen solicits Geffken to “file criminal complaints with the Prosecuting Attorney’s office against all criminally responsible persons including Senator Jake Files and Grimes Dozer”.
The Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney generally desires a complaint to be filed by someone authorized to act on behalf of the victim. The victim in this case is the City of Fort Smith” the text of the letter continued.
The letter and the complete text of the FOIA reply can be accessed HERE.
Also, a 29-second video showing the condition of the halter project can be viewed HERE.
McCutchen has called into question the use of $29,000 General Improvement Funds (GIF) and $469,842 that was paid to Grimes Dozer.
McCutchen points out that the audit contends that Grimes Dozer billed the city of Fort Smith for “per hour” bulldozer work on days Fort Smith received between a half-inch up to almost four inches of rain and when the winds were up to 56 mph.
Subsequent posts to Facebook by McCutchen touched on a small portion of the audit report on the project.
“Based on information from an outside engineer and other construction builders, a number of materials used on the project were not materials consistent with the business plan and did not comply with all related construction codes.
Additionally, some of the RVSC structures’ appear to have been built in a sub-standard manner and will likely cost the City additional monies to replace or bring those structures up to construction code.
For example, some water PVC pipes were trenched, however, when using this type of pipe, concrete blocking is required when there are angle changes and it does not appear this was done.
There appears to be no evidence of any sanitary sewer work or completion of backfill work. In addition, some of the bricks and masonry work done on the concession stands appear to be sub-standard work.
Some bricks are crumbling, cracks exist in the slab and due to the trusses being extended beyond the original design, the external pillars are bowing.”
McCutchen also addressed some of the particulars in another post.
• Grimes Dozer invoiced RVSC for a total of $335,212 in 2015 and for a total of $93,845 in 2016.The invoiced services were for spreading and leveling dirt on field, pack and roll dirt on field, dig mud and drainage, push dirt, dig and move dirt, etc .
• Grimes Dozer invoiced by the hour and by equipment. It is Internal Audit’s understanding that most large construction projects are bid by the cubic yard, by project, or acreage.
• Further review of invoices submitted by Grimes indicates that Grimes charged for services before they were actually performed. Furthermore, additional research identified a number of days that were billed for services when the City of Fort Smith received between a half-inch up to almost four inches of rain. On some of those rain days, the winds were up to 56 mph.
• After reviewing the RVSC bank account information it appears that no other funds were deposited into the RVSC account outside of the City’s payments for specific milestones or refunds for returns on items purchased. A majority of those deposited funds, $469,842, were paid to Grimes Dozer.
The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment entered into an agreement to donate all of the shale to be used in the project, but an invoice was submitted for $7,000 for shale purchased from a third party.
A subcontractor named DiAnna Gonzalez was paid for concession and masonry work that was performed in a “substandard manner and also received $26,945 for a water line installation.
That work was never completed. To date, Gonzalez has not returned any of the monies in question to the city of Fort Smith.
In all, the audit report contains more than thirty bullet points addressing “significant issues”.
McCuthen had released a press release on October 18 calling for the resignation of Files and seeking “accountability for all involved”.
“Last week after learning of an Audit Advisory Committee Meeting for which I did not receive notice, I made a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request for the draft audit report of the River Valley Sports Complex. Today I received the draft audit report which is attached to this press release.
Based upon this report that shows clear fraud and corruption, as well as waste of taxpayer dollars, I am calling for the resignation of State Senator Jake Files.
Also, it is apparent that the City Board of Directors entered into a significant contract without even requiring a performance bond, insurance, or a marketing plan for the operation of the business.
It is apparent that Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman was advised by the City Finance Department of concerns regarding the use of about $29,000 of General Improvement Funds for a water line project, yet a decision was made to proceed forward.
Senator Files also admits to falsifying bids, as noted in the draft audit report, for the water line project.
Senator Files further admits to purchasing government salvage concrete storm drainage pipes for use in the project. The pipes are reported as having significant damage caused by prior usage. The pipes were in an unacceptable condition.
There must be accountability for all parties involved. Senator Files must resign immediately.
