FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Volkert, Inc. will forfeit $9,000 of its fee as the engineering firm hired by the city to manage the bid process and inspection of repairs of bleachers at the Fairhope Municipal Stadium, following the cancellation of the contract with the original bidder and a stop-work order last week. The job was rebid and a new company was awarded the contract at Monday’s City Council meeting.

“Volkert engineers are going to donate $9,000 of their fees since they sort of fouled it up,” Council President Lonnie Mixon said at the council meeting.

City staff confirmed this week that Volkert “did agree to take $9,000 off the original amount.”

Following a new procedure for awarding some professional service contracts, the city selected Volkert on June 30, from among several firms who applied, to manage the bid process and oversee the stadium repair project.

The city’s contract with Volkert was for a lump sum payment of $14,000 and an estimated $29,000 hourly total for construction observation, according to city staff. The city did not respond to several requests for what that hourly rate was, or how many hours were estimated for construction observation and inspections.

At the June meeting, the city declared the need for the repairs an emergency because of safety concerns before the stadium could be used at the first high school football game in early September. That emergency declaration eliminated the need for advertising the bids through the normal competitive bidding process, according to city staff.

Volkert did develop specifications for the project and managed the modified bid process, resulting in the award of the contract on July 12 to Ducky Johnson House Movers Inc. of Grand Ridge, Fla., according to city staff.

That company began work on the project last Monday, and by Tuesday had moved and reset 12 bleachers, before they were notified by the city to stop work on the project, Donald Wayne Barbee, the company's project manager, said Thursday.

It was explained to the company that work was shut down July 20 and its contract would be cancelled because they did not have proper licensing, Barbee said.

Volkert rebid the project and recommended the city hire East Coast Contracting Inc., which the council approved Monday.

“After further review of the contractors (Ducky Johnson House Movers, Inc.) state licensing documentation it has been discovered that the contractor does not have all of the correct licensing to perform this project as the general contractor,” Matt Bell, Volkert vice president, stated in a July 20 letter to the city. “Therefore we are recommending that the contract for the Fairhope Stadium upgrades with (that company) be terminated.”

The contract awarded to East Coast Contracting was for its low bid price of $137,400. The company’s initial bid in the first round of the process was for $347,000. The company’s second bid came in $178 short of the next lowest bid by Pope Contracting Inc. That company’s first bid was for $175,578. The original contract went to Ducky Johnson for its intial bid of $94,950, according to city records.

East Coast will use a similar hydraulic jack process to that described by Ducky Johnson in its initial bid, which involves house moving technology instead of the use of cranes, as was described by East Coast in its first bid, according to city staff.

Barbee said Thursday that a city employee waived the licensing requirements for the stadium repair project during a meeting at the stadium when prospective bidders met with city staff and Volkert.

“We’re not requiring a general contractor license,” Barbee said the city employee stated at that pre-bid meeting. “That’s the reason I turned in a bid. Here’s the bottom line: if they would have said you've got to be a general contractor to bid on the job I would never have turned the bid in.”

The city employee “did not waive the contractor license requirement,” City Administrator Gregg Mims stated in an e-mail Friday morning. “He does not have the legal ability to do so and therefore it was not waived.” Mims said by phone after that e-mail was sent that the employee “did not make the statement.”

Barbee stood by his story Friday, and also said one senior city employee was present when the alleged waiver was made, as well as several companies interested in submitting bids, in addition to a Volkert representative.

“What would you expect them to say," Barbee said Friday.

Bell did not respond to an e-mail and phone call seeking comment for this story.