Work resumes on Lebanon Sports Complex

Abbey Nutter, The Lebanon Democrat, Tenn.
·2 min read

Apr. 13—Work has resumed on the Lebanon Sports Complex after the Lebanon City Council began considering the termination of the city's $14 million contract with contractor Relyant Global.

While the council amended the ordinance previously approved on first reading to no longer mean the immediate termination of the contract, the amended ordinance would authorize the mayor to work with city staff to terminate the contract, if necessary, between now and May 31.

"I would say I believe that we've had good progress from the last few weeks," Lebanon Public Works Commissioner Jeff Baines said.

Baines said that the subcontractors have also been paid.

Relyant Global Chief Legal Officer Jared Garceau gave background information to the city council prior to the vote.

"Several design issues have caused delays, and it's important to recognize that Relyant is the contractor, not the designer" Garceau said. "So Relyant has no authority over or impact on the design approval process or modifications to the design."

Garceau said several design changes were received months after beginning work on construction in October 2022.

"The changes delayed the schedule by 102 days and increased Relyant's costs by over $1.5 million, $1.3 million of which has not been accounted for through a contract modification," Garceau said.

The change of the project site from public to private was also tied to delays. According to Garceau, the change relocated the project's water grid, changed the sanitary pipe requirements and caused new conferences, inspections and approvals by the utilities department to be required.

"The original utilities plan was approved in January 2023, but then denied eight months later by the utilities department because of the design changes," Garceau said. "At that time, Relyant informed the designer that the change would delay the completion of construction by roughly 90 days."

Design changes were also made to the conception and maintenance buildings, Garceau said. Those changes caused a delay in the scheduled spring opening of the sports complex.

"Relyant has submitted detailed information to the city's designer requesting an appropriate contract modification to account for the increased cost and time caused by the design changes," Garceau said. "Relyant has also requested a meeting with city officials to discuss the same, and we renew that request tonight."

Currently, the project is on track to be completed in June, and Garceau said that significant progress has been made at the site over the past several weeks.

"We provided the city with an updated schedule on March 14, and we have received no objection to the updated schedule since we provided it," Garceau said.

Garceau said that Relyant has sent five communications to the city over the last month without reply.