More questions have emerged about the Rock Chalk Park sports complex, following a Journal-World review of financial documents related to the project.

The Journal-World reviewed a set of documents and canceled checks delivered to the city by the Kansas University Endowment Association earlier this month. Some of the documents appear to contradict statements made by KU Endowment officials, who largely have been responsible for ensuring that expenses and receipts reconcile on nearly $12 million worth of infrastructure that a Thomas Fritzel-led firm built at Rock Chalk Park. The city of Lawrence is paying for nearly all of the $12 million worth of work, which was awarded to Fritzel’s firm without going through the city’s standard bid process.

Mayor Mike Amyx said he is hopeful a recent audit ordered by the city will provide answers to such questions.

“I want to make sure the public sees that there was a thorough audit done, and that the monies we owe are only on that portion of the development that we agreed to pay,” Amyx said. “My goal is to assure the public that what they are paying for is what they agreed to pay for and nothing more.”

In addition to the nearly $12 million in infrastructure work at Rock Chalk, a Fritzel firm built about $40 million worth of stadium and athletic field improvements at the site. The city is not responsible for paying for any of that work.

The city has hired an independent auditing firm to review accounting records of the project. The firm, Tennessee-based McDonald & Associates, is expected to provide a report to the City Commission by Feb. 26, although the commission has said it would extend the deadline if auditors need additional time to answer all the questions.

Fritzel did not respond to a request for an interview for this article.

Here’s a look at questions created by the most recent documents on the project:

Missing checks

An official with DFC Company of Lawrence signed a pair of documents in September attesting that the company had received $1,403,716.33 from Bliss Sports II, the Fritzel firm hired to serve as the general contractor for the infrastructure construction. But when KU Endowment turned over documents to the city, it could not produce canceled checks showing that DFC Company had received those payments.

In a follow-up letter to city officials, Monte Soukup, a senior vice president for KU Endowment, acknowledged that checks had not been written to DFC Company of Lawrence for those amounts. He said that was because DFC Company and Bliss Sports II, although separate companies, are both Fritzel-related entities. In a written response to the Journal-World, Soukup said it is “common for related companies not to issue checks to each other but rather to make inter-company transfers by logging receivables and payables on their books.”

The documents signed by the official with DFC Company, however, do not make any mention of the payment simply being a receivable that was added to the company’s books. The two documents simply state “the undersigned subcontractor/vendor/consultant acknowledges that it has received a total of $959,015.20 from Bliss Sports II, LLC . . .” A second document makes the same statement about the remaining $444,701.13.

Attempts to reach Soukup for a follow-up question about the matter were unsuccessful.

The issue of how much Bliss Sports II has paid its subcontractors is important in the city being able to accurately calculate how much it is obligated to reimburse Bliss Sports II. The city is obligated to reimburse Bliss Sports II the amount it paid to its subcontractors, but it also is obligated to reimburse Bliss Sports II for any interest costs the company incurred as part of its construction loan for the infrastructure work. It isn’t clear whether the $1.4 million to DFC Company was included in the infrastructure loan amount and whether the city is being asked to pay interest costs on those payments that have not yet been made.

Construction staking

Part of the $1.4 million worth of work that DFC Company of Lawrence did on the project was for construction staking at the site. DFC provided a document to the city that lists three employees who conducted the staking work. One of the employees was paid $60 an hour for his work, while the other two were paid $40 an hour for construction staking, which often involves driving stakes into the ground to mark the location of roads, buildings and other structures.

Soukup, in a written response to the Journal-World, said it is his understanding the individuals were employees of either DFC or a related company and were not subcontractors. That indicates that the employees did the work themselves rather than hiring other individuals to help them complete the work, but it is unclear if that indeed is the case. If so, the limited number of employees caused the staking project to require the workers to be on the job many hours per week. For example, the documents provided to the city show Uriel Bocanegra worked 863 hours between Aug. 7 and October 30, 2013. That’s an average of a little more than 70 hours per week. Another employee worked 804 hours in that time period.

The city was not provided copies of canceled checks paid to the workers. Protocol has been for the city to receive canceled checks issued to subcontractors, but not to employees of individual companies.

One of the employees listed on the documents provided to the city is Angie McClure. It lists that she did 148 hours of staking work at $40 an hour. Multiple sources have told the Journal-World she is an office employee for Fritzel-related entities who has done accounting-related work for his firms. McClure did not return a phone call seeking clarification about her role on the project.

Signature questions

A key part of KU Endowment’s process for ensuring that infrastructure expenditures have been accurately reported is to require subcontractors on the project to attest to how much they have been paid by Bliss Sports II. A Sept. 18 document states that four companies — Gould Evans, Hoss & Brown, Landplan Engineering, and Paul Werner Architects — received $470,955 for their work on the infrastructure project. But a representative from only one of the four companies — Paul Werner — signed the document. The document includes a key phrase that says everyone who signs the document certifies that none of the $470,955 was for work related to the stadium facilities. The city is not responsible for paying for any of the stadium improvement costs, and city officials said they want to be sure they are not being billed for any of that work since in many cases the same subcontractors did work for both the infrastructure and stadium projects.

Soukup, in a written response to the Journal-World, expressed confidence that the referenced work was only for the infrastructure improvements. It was not clear in his response why the other companies did not sign the document. At one point, Soukup referred to the companies that did not sign the document as “sub consultants” and Paul Werner as the “lead consultant.” Subcontractors of a subcontractor would not be required to sign the document, but other documents call into question whether the four companies indeed were working for Werner or rather were working for Fritzel.

Documents show that the three companies billed their services to Fritzel-related entities, not Paul Werner, and that they all were paid by Fritzel-related entities. Attempts to reach Soukup for a follow-up question about whether there were any contracts that showed who the entities were working for were not successful.

Some of the payments in question date back to October 2012. The city didn’t have an agreement with Fritzel to begin work at the Rock Chalk Park site until July 2013.

Bliss Sports vs. Bliss Sports II

On multiple occasions, subcontractors for Bliss Sports II signed documents saying they had received payments from Bliss Sports II for various items of work. But in several instances, the canceled checks attached to those documents showed the payments actually came from other Fritzel entities, most often Bliss Sports or DFC Company of Lawrence. Bliss Sports is a separate entity that was contracted to build the privately funded stadium improvements.

As previously reported, the Journal-World found at least $875,000 worth of payments from accounts other than Bliss Sports II. The city’s agreement with Fritzel states that the city is responsible for reimbursing the costs of Bliss Sports II. It makes no mention of reimbursing the costs of other entities, such as Bliss Sports or DFC Company.

Soukup wrote to the Journal-World that the majority of the checks that came from entities other than Bliss Sports II were written prior to the city signing the development agreement with Bliss Sports II in July 2013. Soukup noted until that development agreement was signed there was no guarantee that the city was going to participate in the project.

But a Bliss Sports II checking account did exist prior to the development agreement being signed, other documents provided to the city show. Soukup also acknowledged that on four occasions after the development agreement was signed, entities other than Bliss Sports II issued checks for infrastructure work. Soukup offered no explanation for why that was the case.

Missing invoice

Soukup has acknowledged that there is an invoice from Alpha Omega Geotech for work it did related to inspection services at the site. Alpha Omega provided services to both the city-funded infrastructure project and the privately funded stadium facilities. Alpha Omega provided one invoice for both projects. After the fact, Alpha Omega was asked to separate out its charges based on the work it did for the infrastructure project and the stadium project. It provided a letter saying its work on the infrastructure project totaled $84,000.

But the city was never provided a copy of the original invoice, which could help city accountants determine whether the billings were accurately allocated to the appropriate projects. Soukup wrote that KU Endowment — which has managed the project through its entity called RCP, LLC — felt there was not a need to see the actual invoice.

“RCP felt that written statements on company letterhead from these professionals was sufficient documentation (to imply something else is accusing these professionals of submitting false information without any reason to believe so,)” Soukup wrote.

The city also does not have any canceled checks showing payment to Alpha Omega.

In general, Soukup wrote that he was pleased with how the Rock Chalk Park project had proceeded.

“The great thing about this project is that the city, the university, a private developer were able to work together successfully to create what is arguably the premier youth sports venue in the region which will have a positive economic impact on the community for years to come,” Soukup wrote. “Ultimately, the city audit will help determine if the city received a good value for its investment.”