City officials largely are following through to keep track of $12.3 million worth of infrastructure being constructed at Rock Chalk Park, but there have been some oversights, a recent audit found.

City officials failed to timely collect a $1,000 application fee from a development group led by Thomas Fritzel and the Kansas University Endowment as part of a property tax abatement request for the sports park in northwest Lawrence.

City officials also were cited for a lack of documentation and review on other portions of the project, according to a new report from City Auditor Michael Eglinski.

The Rock Chalk Park infrastructure became the subject of a city audit because of the unusual way it is being constructed and funded. A company led by Fritzel was given a no-bid contract to construct the infrastructure because KU Endowment leaders made that a condition of their partnership with the city on the project. City commissioners also have agreed to pay for essentially all the costs of the infrastructure, even though much of it serves fields and stadiums owned by Fritzel’s firm and leased to Kansas Athletics.

Among the findings from the audit:

• Eglinski could find no evidence that the city last year ever received the $1,000 application fee that is required as part of a tax abatement request for industrial revenue bonds. City Manager David Corliss said upon further review it appears the city last year did not ask Fritzel and KU Endowment to pay the $1,000 fee, which is required as part of city code to cover the city’s costs in reviewing the application. The city did send a letter in May notifying the parties that the fee would be required before the industrial revenue bonds could be finalized. Corliss late Friday afternoon followed up on the issue, and said Fritzel provided the $1,000 check to the city following their conversation.

Corliss said the failure to collect the fee at the beginning of the process was simply an oversight.

• Eglinski found that some changes to the infrastructure work were being made without the city properly documenting the changes. Corliss said those instances were not common, but he’s confident changes now are being properly documented.

• Eglinski noted that some portions of the development agreement did not contain many specifics about the level of maintenance expected on certain pieces of infrastructure. Such specifics would be useful, Eglinski said, because some pieces of infrastructure will be maintained by KU entities while others will be maintained by the city.

• The audit noted that the city did not give its standard review to an approximately $1.4 million economic development grant awarded to the project. The grant was designed to cover the development fees, such as building permits, utility fees and other such city fees incurred by the project.

The city’s Public Incentives Review Committee did not review the fee rebates, but they were approved by the City Commission. Eglinski said it would have been useful for a full cost-benefit analysis to have been done on the grant so that the city could track the effectiveness of the incentive.

Corliss said the city will provide annual reports to the City Commission tracking the performance of Rock Chalk Park and the city’s adjacent recreation center, such as the number of tournaments and participants hosted by the facility. Corliss said such figures will allow the community to analyze whether the incentives packages have provided an adequate return.

• The city could benefit from reviewing a financial audit of Bliss Sports II, the development group led by Fritzel. As part of the construction contract with Bliss, KU Endowment officials are required to hire an auditor to review Bliss’ infrastructure costs associated with the project. But Eglinski said it was unclear whether the city also would be able to see that audit.

Corliss said the city fully intends to receive a copy of the audit before it pays Bliss for the infrastructure.

“As far as I know, we’ll have full access to it,” Corliss said.

The city is expected to pay Bliss about $12.3 million for the infrastructure work, which includes roads, parking lots, water lines and other such improvements. But under the terms of the development agreement, the city is not required to make a payment to Bliss until all the work is complete. Corliss said the city likely will not make its payment to Bliss until this fall.

Corliss said the city will do a thorough review of the expenses and the amount of materials used in the construction of the infrastructure before issuing the check.

The city has been doing inspections as the construction work has taken place at the site. The audit gave the city good marks in the amount of time inspectors have spent at the site. The city has been holding meetings with the developers every two weeks to go over construction issues, and inspectors have been issuing monthly reports to city commissioners on problems that have been found.

Those reports, the audit said, have led to problems being fixed. The latest report, for example, identifies problems with some concrete cracking on the paved surface near the recreation center. Corliss said city officials will require those concrete panels to be repaired.

“I think we can tell the public that for every dollar we’re putting in out there, that there is a dollar’s worth of work taking place,” Corliss said. “The work is of an appropriate quality, and when we feel like it hasn’t been, we’ve been very public about it, and it has been fixed.”

City commissioners will receive the audit report at their 6:35 p.m. meeting Tuesday at City Hall.