FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series on the current status of the city’s skate plaza.

Last August, a state agency sent a letter to Mayor Tim Kant “disallowing” grant funds previously awarded for the city’s new skateboard plaza based on what the letter called “deficiencies in the procurement process for this project.”

The first deficiency noted that “Thompson Engineering was selected because of the firm’s past help with other projects,” according to the Aug. 10, 2009, letter from the director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

“It appears that no other firms were solicited or considered,” ADECA Director Doni Ingram wrote. “Federal regulations require that maximum free and open competition must be allowed by grant recipients. Both the Code of Alabama and the ADECA Programs Administrative Manual stipulate that the procurement of professional services, such as engineering, must be obtained after soliciting an adequate number of requests for proposals.”

The ADECA letter referred to federal regulations because the grant funds originated with the National Park Service, a federal agency; however, the funds were administered in Alabama by the state agency through grant awards made to cities like Fairhope.

“Thompson Engineering was selected by the Fairhope Recreation Board to serve as the engineer of record for the Skate Park Project because of the company’s past help (free many times) with other projects,” Eddie Boyette, recently retired director of the city’s parks and recreation department, wrote in a July 6, 2009, memo to the city treasurer in response to inquiries made about the project by ADECA. “Thompson has always been extremely helpful and professional on the recreation board’s projects in the past. They have always been very generous and giving with their fees.”

The president of Thompson Engineering is John Baker, who has been a member of the city’s recreation board since March 2002, and whose term will end July 2014, according to city records.

Unless Baker participated in the recreation board’s vote to award his company that contract, it is unlikely that he violated any state ethics laws, according to a discussion this week with the director of the Alabama Ethics Commission, regarding how the ethics laws work regarding a situation similar to the one involving Baker. That agency will not comment directly on factual situations involving possible cases that might come before it, officials and staff at that agency have said in the past.

A public records search of recreation board minutes did not immediately disclose the recreation board’s vote on the award of the contract to Thompson Engineering.

And Baker did not return a phone call for comment for this story by press time.

In March 2008, an e-mail to Boyette from the city’s purchasing manager responsible for handling bid and request for proposal procedures stated, “Received a copy of your fax memo to the Mayor regarding your conversation with Kirby Latham at Thompson Engineering. Sounds like Thompson Engineering is now on board for the project. From your fax, it appears the designated Engineer of Record is John Baker, or Kirby Latham. Which is correct?”

Councilwoman Debbie Quinn said this week that she does not believe the City Council ever approved the contract between the city and Thompson Engineering for engineering services for the project.

The August 2009 letter also stated the city’s bid documents failed to state “a clear and accurate description” of construction services, which may have been the reason for the “abnormally wide range of bid prices for such a project.”

Those bid specifications were prepared by Watermark Design, which is located at the same address as Thompson Engineering’s corporate headquarters in Mobile, according to city records.

The construction contract was awarded to East Coast Consulting Inc., which has been paid at least $47,405 in city taxpayer funds, according to city records, which were among the expenses disallowed for reimbursement by ADECA.

Other funds disallowed for reimbursement were Thompson Engineering’s bill to the city for $3,730.

Another deficiency noted in the ADECA letter was a change order issued to East Coast Consulting for additional work above the original contract price in the amount of $8,660. Regarding that matter, the letter stated that the agency’s manual “stipulates that a change order cannot alter the specification or scope of a contract by more than 10 percent. Further this change order was not signed by the City’s Chief Elected Official.”

The skateboard plaza construction project, undertaken after years of lobbying by local skateboard enthusiasts, is now largely completed. However, there is still work to be done on it, Quinn said during Financial Advisory Committee meetings during the past few months.

At those meetings, Quinn briefed the City Council-appointed committee, which includes all council members, on the status of the project, as well as problems with the grant that had been awarded by ADECA but then subsequently disallowed by that state agency.

Quinn explained during a meeting last fall, that while the Aug. 10 letter had disallowed more than $71,472 in engineering and construction contract costs, the agency amended the project agreement on Oct. 10, extending the project through June 1 this year in order to perform that kind of additional work on it.

“ADECA thinks it’s a worthwhile project and wants to see it done right,” Quinn said this week.

Quinn’s attempt to have additional work done at the park in order to make it a more genuine and challenging skateboard park like those found in other cities, as was originally intended, she said, was rebuffed unanimously by all Financial Advisory Committee members present during a meeting earlier this year.

However, Quinn said Thursday that she met with Kant earlier this week in order to keep the project alive and utilize the grant funds, which would require a matching amount by the city, before the grant period expires in less than three months.