Less than two years ago, the Mobile City Council learned of sticker shock regarding a parking garage that will serve visitors at a new $300 million Civic Center Arena.
Originally estimated at $30 million, the council’s consultants on the project revealed that the 1,025-space parking garage would cost $39 million in October 2023.
Now with the project almost finished, it’s going to cost a little bit more. The council learned Tuesday that $486,000 more is needed to install 130 surveillance cameras throughout the structure that is nearing completion.
“It’s unfortunate it wasn’t part of the original bid package,” said Councilman Ben Reynolds, who said he wasn’t pleased with the council having to spend the money on additional needs for the garage but understood the necessity of adding cameras.
“These cameras aren’t cheap, but I understand with the string of violent crimes at city-owned facilities that there is a need to have the cameras installed,” Reynolds said, referring to shootings that have occurred in public parks in recent months including a fatal shooting that occurred last week at Sage Park.
Some council members are raising concerns about how the city handles additional cost requests to the council ahead of the beginning of a multi-year construction project on the future Civic Center Arena. The beginning of structural work is anticipated to kick off next week, and the overall multi-faceted sports and entertainment arena is expected to be completed by early 2027.
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Councilman William Carroll said he was concerned the $486,000 request was not a separate item on the council’s agenda. The request was included in an overall $1.2 million budget transfer from the city’s capital improvement reserves to support four projects that include surveillance cameras.
Carroll said for the general public, who only see the basic agenda, they would be unaware of what the transfer was going toward. He said it gave an appearance that the cameras would be approved through a “rubber stamp” and did not warrant their own individual agenda item.
“That concerned me a little bit,” Carroll said. “The administration says that is not the case. I know we need those cameras out there for the safety of the citizens. It’s the process of how we got it done (that is concerning).”
City Attorney Ricardo Woods told council members on Tuesday that they are legally required to put the transfer before them for consideration, and “talk about it in a transparent fashion.”
The council is not required to vote on a change order within the overall construction contract if the total amount requested does not exceed 10% of the project’s total price. The $486,000 represents around 1% of the parking garage’s total $39 million price tag.
“This was not an increase in the total price of the contract,” said Dale Liesch, a spokesperson for Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s office. “We did not do a change order on that. The council got to see (the transfer request) and we want to be as forthcoming as we can on this stuff.”
The other projects receiving funding within the reallocation request include $500,000 for a new fire station on Azalea Road, $100,000 for a recycling center building, and $90,000 for painting at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center.
The cameras are expected to be installed next month ahead of the completion of the parking garage project.
Reynolds said the fire station project, within his council district, is important to him. He said he is hopeful on the Civic Center project that there is more transparency on cost overruns.
The city is being advised by Volkert Inc. on the Civic Center project. Part of their work includes providing updated cost projections. The company advised the council on the estimated cost for the arena in the lead up to their approval in February of a construction contract with Birmingham-based B.L. Harbert International.
The contract lined up with the estimated costs the city had prepared for the project that, when completed, will result in a new arena for Mardi Gras balls, minor league hockey, concerts and other forms of sports and entertainment.
The Civic Center construction is on a tight timeframe, and city officials say that structural work is expected to commence next week. The arena is expected to be open in time for the city’s Carnival festivities in 2027, which would mean the timeline would result in a January opening.