Lebanon city council considers sports complex contract termination

Mar. 20—Lebanon Mayor Rick Bell has proposed the termination of a $14 million contract with Relyant Global after delays in the construction of the Lebanon Sports Complex.

"The frustrating part of this is the fields are done and that's the specialty part," Bell said. "The rest of it is the parking lot, a couple small buildings, a concession stand. It's like the hard part's over and now we're down to the finishing details."

City attorney Andy Wright has been in contact with attorneys representing Relyant Global and subcontractors.

"The (subcontractors) aren't getting paid," Wright said. "(Subcontractors) that have performed work on the fields that are owed a couple million dollars. They're not getting paid. You have (subcontractors) that don't want to perform work because they're scared they're not going to get paid."

The potential termination of the contract was discussed at a Lebanon City Council work session Monday night.

"If they're not paying the (subcontractors), they're not performing under the contract as far as I'm concerned," Wright said.

Lebanon Commissioner of Public Works Jeff Baines and Lebanon Parks Director William Porter meet with contractors at the sports complex site every two weeks.

"We've just seen very little progress," Baines said.

Wright said that when a revised construction schedule was requested, the city was given a June completion date.

Ground was originally broken on the property, located at 1523 Murfreesboro Road, in October of 2022. Phase one of the project included the construction of two turf fields and three grass fields.

The proposed termination of the contract will be presented to the city council, who will then vote.

"Hopefully this action will cure the problem, but if not, this does take two council readings," Baines said.

During the work session, Porter said the city was up to date with its payments to Relyant Global.

"We've paid (the contractor) everything that we owe them," he said.

Porter said that the city had met with Relyant to come up with a plan for the contractor to pay the subcontractors.

"They made one payment," Porter said. "We thought everything was going to work out good, then they didn't make the next two. A lot of people weren't getting paid, and we came to this point where we feel like we've gotta push them."

When the project was first up for bid, Relyant was the only company to bid on it.

"They're a big company and this project is big for us," Bell said. "We've had meetings. (Wright, Porter and Baines) have had meetings with them. I've talked to them."

Baseline Construction and Relyant Global have a mediation scheduled for March 27.

If the contract is terminated, the city would have to put the project up for bid.

"The bid process, it takes two or three months and then we're that much farther behind," Ward 5 City Councilor Tick Bryan said. "Whereas, if we put the pressure on where they decide to do it, it would get done a lot quicker."