To the editor:

There are at least three lessons learned from the Rock Chalk Park project.

First, some members of the city commission will pay $27,000 plus expenses of taxpayer money, with an outside consulting firm, to seek vindication for making a poor decision. Not only does this expense negatively compound the initial “no bid” decision, it is double compounded by the fact the audit result is questionable.

Second, there is no single person at city hall accountable for this project. This is exemplified by the fact documents were stored in multiple places and no single person oversaw all the project information and management issues. With one person overseeing the project, and thus familiar with the contracts, they would have known section 11.02 of the development agreement required access to all financial records and books so that as payments were made, issues leading to the controversy over the final payment and thus the audit would have been avoided.

Third, there is no information telling the taxpayers what the net annual ongoing tax liability will be for the Lawrence Sports Pavilion. There is information being presented by some that tout both attendance and revenue of the Lawrence Sports Pavilion. This says there is some income but it does not tell us if it is a financially self-supporting project. There are significant ongoing costs to equip, staff, maintain, utilities and walking trail replacement, etc that have not been communicated to the taxpayer.

This project raises questions regarding decision-making and management within the commission and city hall.