Unfinished Reelfoot center could be torn down
TIPTONVILLE, Tenn. — Photos from February 2016 show a typically convivial groundbreaking ceremony, with smiling dignitaries ready to scoop the initial shovelfuls of dirt for a nearly $2 million Reelfoot Lake State Park interpretive visitors center designed to showcase Tennessee’s largest natural lake.
But 18 months and up to $700,000 of taxpayer funds later, it’s doubtful the visitors center will ever host any visitors.
The partially completed structure stands vacant and sheathed in weather-resistant house wrap. Construction haulted months ago.
In the wake of an audit that identified possible bidding improprieties in the project, the visitors center now is likely to be torn down, state officials said.
“We believe that the most prudent path forward might be to disassemble the building and sell the material as scrap,” said Paul Degges, chief engineer and deputy commissioner with the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
RESULT OF AUDIT FINDINGS
The scuttling of the project represents the most visible fallout from problems that led to the disbanding of a nonprofit group known as Mississippi River Corridor-Tennessee. But it also deals a blow to one of Tennessee’s poorest counties, Lake County, which stood to benefit from tourist traffic headed to the center.
The non-profit group was organized in 2002 to “identify, conserve and enhance” the natural, cultural and recreational resources of the area along the Mississippi and improve the quality of life and prosperity of the more than 1 million people living in the five Tennessee counties along the river, according to the group’s mission statement.
Tax filings by the group showed about $433,000 in total revenues for 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available. In addition to grants, Mississippi River Corridor-Tennessee gets money from private foundations and donors and from hosting fundraising events.
The projects and initiatives completed by the group include construction of the Dyersburg River Center and boat dock along the Forked Deer River, the installation of markers along a Civil War trail through the corridor, production of a documentary film and a new lobby exhibit at Fort Pillow State Historic Park, and the development of numerous plans and maps highlighting attractions in the area.
DESIGNED TO SHOWCASE REELFOOT
The center at Reelfoot was the group’s most ambitious and costly to date. It was designed to serve as an “authentic, interactive showcase for what makes this part of Tennessee so unique,” according to the group.
Located 110 miles north of Memphis, Reelfoot spreads across 15,000 acres and has long been a favorite fishing and hunting destination in the region. It was formed when the violent New Madrid earthquakes of late 1811 and early 1812 clogged drainage and compressed sediments in a swampy area through which the Mississippi had formerly flowed.
A new facility was needed, officials say, because the existing museum and visitors center at the state park hadn’t been significantly upgraded in more than a half century.
“The project was intended to enhance the visitor experience at Reelfoot Lake State Park while boosting tourism and economic development in the region,” Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokesman Eric Ward said in an email.
The economic development component of the project was anything but trivial. Lake County has the third-lowest per capita income of all Tennessee counties — $24,256 in 2015, according to a recent report to the governor by the Boyd Center for Business & Economic Research at the University of Tennessee.
PROBLEMS WITH BIDDING
In 2013, TDOT entered into a contract with the nonprofit group to build the interpretive center using a $1.51 million grant issued through the National Scenic Byways Program, an initiative of the Federal Highway Administration, and state funds covering 20 percent of the project’s cost.
But after work had begun an internal audit by TDOT and a report by the state Comptroller of the Treasury found possible improprieties in the bidding procedures used to design and build the facility. The audits were prompted by a complaint.
The comptroller’s report found that TDOT, as manager of the federal grant, failed to adequately monitor and review the nonprofit group’s awarding of contracts for the project.
It said the group failed to obtain competitive bids as required when seeking the service of a project designer, instead awarding the $148,000-plus contract to an architecture firm that had a conflict of interest because one of its partners served as a member of the group’s advisory council.
The group also failed to publicly advertise the request for bids for the construction contract in the project. Instead it contacted three potential contractors and requested they submit bids, according to the audit.
The comptroller’s report questioned $466,262 in costs paid out for the project.
TDOT Commissioner John C. Schroer gave notice that the department would be terminating the grant contract with the nonprofit group effective last Dec. 2.
The project has been undergoing further review by the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General.
‘A LACK OF COMPETENCE’
In response to TDOT’s cancellation of the contract, the nonprofit’s board of directors voted to dissolve earlier this year, saying the group had run out of money.
But Diana Threadgill, the group’s president and executive director, insists the problems identified in the audits resulted from inadvertent errors, not fraud. The small group was unfamiliar with all the detailed grant requirements, she said in May.
Threadgill added that the advisory council on which the partner in the architecture firm served was a volunteer position, which, under the group’s bylaws, meant the firm wasn’t prohibited from receiving contracts.
Threadgill also said she erred because she didn’t know she was supposed to advertise the construction bids in a Dyersburg newspaper.
Degges, the TDOT official, acknowledges the errors may have been inadvertent.
“There might have been a lack of competence in understanding the rules of the grant …,” Degges said. “At a minimum, that might have happened.”
FEW OPTIONS FOR PROJECT
But the billing and procurement procedures used in the project “did not appear to pass muster,” Degges said. That probably means no more grant funds can be spent on current contracts to build the center, leaving the state with few options.
“I don’t know if there’s enough money to start [over] from scratch,” he said.
Degges said between $600,000 and $700,000 has been spent so far on the visitors center.
After construction was halted, TDEC worked to have the exposed structure sealed in weatherproofing to prevent damage from the elements.
The Office of Inspector General review will ascertain whether criminal or civil violations were involved in the awarding of contracts for the center. It also will determine if the project has been rendered ineligible for federal funds. If so, TDOT will have to repay the money, Degges said.
TDOT has reserved the right to seek repayment of the funds from Mississippi River Corridor-Tennessee.
“We might have to sue somebody to get the money back, but it’s a nonprofit group with no money, so it’s a difficult situation,” Degges said.
Disassembling the structure probably makes the most sense, he said, because selling the pressure-treated lumber and other material could allow the state to recoup some of the costs.
“We are trying to find a way to make the taxpayer whole again,” Degges said.