Cost overruns force halt to work on Sander’s Park; Tourism Commission to debate project’s future

Work on Sander’s Park, in downtown Corbin, is at a standstill while local officials discuss funding issues.

Unexpected cost overruns have brought a halt to work on a downtown Corbin park dedicated to Kentucky Fried Chicken Founder Harland Sanders, and the city’s Tourism and Convention Commission will decide next Tuesday during a special meeting whether to take control of the project and provide the funds necessary for completion.

Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission Chair Sudhir Patel said Friends of Colonel Sanders – a non-profit group that has been overseeing construction of Sanders Park and fundraising to pay for the signature bronze statue of Sanders that will be its centerpiece – notified him that more money was needed to pay for completion of the project.

Tourism members voted last year to provide Friends of Colonel Sanders $80,000 to finish up principle construction. The amount was supposed to cover all expenses except for purchase of the statue, which is expected to cost around $46,000. Friends of Colonels Sanders has vowed to raise the money needed for the statue.

When recently presented with bills for the project from EG&K Construction, Friends of the Colonel Chairperson Suzie Razmus said it was more than she had anticipated.

"There’s things you go through when you get into a construction project … things come up," Razmus said. "I think everybody understands that we want this to be done correctly. We want a park that 100 years from now will look the same and stand the test of time."

"We were told more had to be done, but we just weren’t really clear on the cost."

Razmus said some of the extra work included:

¥ Shoring up of the concrete pad on which the park sits;

¥ Installation of a low concrete barrier to prevent drainage issues and damage to a nearby building;

¥ Increasing the height of brick enclosed planting areas, and water-sealing and reinforcing the inside so that tree roots wouldn’t break through and cause water leaks.

And there is more to be done. Plans call for the inclusion of decorative metal railing, landscaping and more accent lighting.

Kenneth Pennington, an owner of EG&K Construction, is a member of the Friends of Colonel Sanders Board. He has been overseeing the project.

Friends of the Colonel selected EG&K to do the work on Sanders Park, passing on the bidding process, which is customary on projects of this size.

Razmus said Pennington cares deeply about the park and has provided quality work so far. She added that providing specifications and opening it up to public bid would have likely still resulted in cost overruns since many of the problems were unforeseen.

Officials say invoices for additional work at the park total around $27,000. Razmus said Friend of the Colonel has raised "over $20,000" so far and, after paying the current bills, will have only around $2,000 left in the bank.

The Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission bought the site for the park, located at the corner of Main and Monroe Streets, in 2010 while Razmus was its chairperson.

Patel, who is the longest serving current member of the Tourism Commission, was on the board at the time and was the only member who openly opposed purchase of the property.

"My proposal was for them to start raising the money first, then you can put the money into as escrow account to buy the land later on because the land was not going to go anywhere," he said. "That was my idea from day one. I still feel that way, but now it is a Tourism project. We have paid the money. It is done so we have to go with that."

Patel said he isn’t sure how other members of the Commission will feel about the idea at next Tuesday’s meeting. He said his personal feelings are that taking over decision-making control of the project and providing more funding to finish it is preferable to letting it sit idle.

"I cannot speak for everyone. Nothing has been decided yet. I can tell you that it will be considered very carefully with all of the commissioners and we will decide what to do from there."

Patel said he did not think that state laws requiring public projects costing over $20,000 to be bid have been violated since the Tourism Commission provided the $80,000 as a "donation" to Friends of the Colonel.

Razmus said she welcomes a more active, hands-on role from the Tourism Commission.

"We’ve all worked very hard on this project," she said. "At the end of the day, I think we will all have a park we can be proud of. We knew it would not be easy, and it certainly hasn’t been, but we know it’s going to be beautiful."

"I’m excited to work with Tourism. I was always hopeful they would capture the vision of the park and realize this is a worthwhile endeavor. I think they are getting excited about it too."