Documents Reveal Growing Cost of Drawdy Park Project

WINNSBORO – As Fairfield County prepares to dig more deeply into the circumstances leading to the Jan. 12 collapse of 50 feet of retaining wall around the Drawdy Park football field, and as the County looks to review additional projects supervised by S2 Engineering, the total costs for the project remain shrouded in mystery. Former County Administrator Phil Hinely green-lighted the project in May of 2013 with a cost limit of $280,000, but documents recently obtained by The Voice indicate the project began much earlier than that and has since soared to more than $380,000.

Last month, The Voice submitted a FOIA request to the County for an itemized breakdown of all costs and expenses associated with the Drawdy Park project. Last week, the County answered that request, but instead of providing an itemized breakdown, only supplied The Voice with a copy of the County’s final authorization form and a “technical memorandum” from S2 to the County. Bids and invoices for the chain link fencing around the field were also included, but an itemized breakdown of S2’s work was not.

“Staff provided to me, as far as I am aware, all the documentation we had,” interim County Administrator Milton Pope said. “There’s nothing that I am aware of that lists the itemized costs of the project.”

The “Authorization to process on building maintenance projects assigned to S2,” signed for final approval on May 21, 2013 by Hinely, show that the Drawdy Park project was not to exceed $280,000. But the “technical memorandum” from Sam Savage of S2 Engineering & Consulting to Davis Anderson, Deputy County Administrator, dated May 15, 2013, gives a rough outline of “work to be performed and work that is near completion,” with an estimated cost of $321,200.

While the memorandum provides a laundry list of various aspects to the project – from engineering design and site clearing to the installation of an irrigation system and the construction of the retaining wall – it does not include any line-item costs or expenses associated with each aspect. A handful of invoices and other documentation obtained by The Voice through anonymous sources, meanwhile, indicate that the County has shelled out at least $339,750 to S2 for the project since March of 2012.

On March 8, 2012, the County paid S2 $39,750 for “architectural and engineering design layout and drawings.” Less than a month later, on April 3, 2012, the County forked over another $11,275, since S2 discovered that the “total area for the Drawdy Park Survey and Engineering study is more than twice the size that was originally given,” according to the invoice.

But the County, Pope confirmed this week, has no drawings by S2 in its possession. Drawings inspected last month by The Voice were revealed to be merely a set of “as-built” drawings pertaining strictly to the ill-fated retaining wall – drawings dated after construction of the wall had been completed.

Pope said after Council’s Jan. 27 meeting that he had sent a certified letter to S2 requesting any additional drawings, soil analysis and “any other documentation that they have.” Pope said that he was also looking for an explanation from S2 for why the section of wall collapsed. This week, Pope said the County still had no drawings from S2 other than the as-builts, and the explanation by S2 for why the wall failed was “not satisfactory,” Pope said.

Council voted during their Jan. 27 meeting to hire another engineering firm to review the Drawdy Park project as well as other S2 projects performed for the County. Pope said this week that two such firms had already inspected the wall and a third was expected to have done so by the time The Voice hit newsstands.

Documents reveal that, in addition to the County’s 2012 payments to S2 for the project, the County paid the firm $75,000 on June 5, 2013 for “site clearing and design,” as well as for “site preparation for over 800 tons of soil, 650 tons of 57 stone, felt paper addition and over 600 tons of topsoil.” On June 28, 2013, S2 was paid $92,475 for “sprinkler installation, concrete pads, sod purchase and installation.” Documents also show a payment of $61,250 on Sept. 3, 2013, but include no supporting information to indicate what this payment was for. The documents also list a balance of $51,275 due to S2 “upon completion,” but again offer no supporting data.

Council added another $41,925 to the project last fall, albeit not to S2. The payment went to Henley’s Construction Company in Cheraw for the installation of a pair of chain-link fences – one around the field and another around the outside of the retaining wall. That expenditure came before full Council for a vote and received four bids before procurement. The addition of the fencing around the park brings the total known cost of the project to $381,675.