Newport council to consider Civic Center audit
Newport Beach could end up spending more than $600,000 on an audit of the city’s much-criticized Civic Center project.
The City Council approved the audit in June with the goal of securing an independent contractor to scour through change orders and review construction practices to find out how the price tag on the new City Hall grew from an estimated $107.6 million to about $140 million.
At the time, the council set aside $100,000 to fund the audit, but city staff realized that it may not be a feasible price estimate and has asked the City Council to allocate $612,920 to cover the cost, according to the staff report. The council will consider the request Tuesday.
When the building project began in 2008, its price tag was estimated at $107.6 million. City officials initially planned to redevelop the old City Hall site at the entrance to the Balboa Peninsula. The project eventually moved to the more upscale area of Newport Center, where the new Civic Center opened in May 2013.
Costs swelled as the scope of the project expanded, eventually including a 17,000-square-foot expansion of the Central Library, a 14-acre park and a 450-space parking structure.
The audit will review the construction contracts and subcontractor bids, determine whether delays increased costs and consider whether the final cost of the Civic Center was affected by using C.W. Driver, a Pasadena-based company, as both the lead contractor and project manager.
Mayor Pro Tem Diane Dixon and council members Scott Peotter, Kevin Muldoon and Marshall “Duffy” Duffield were among the project’s harshest critics before they were elected last year.
When they took their seats in January, city staff provided a look into the construction project and posted change orders and other documents on the city website.
Still, Dixon and Muldoon called for a deeper look into the project by an outside firm. Muldoon said it is common for large projects to undergo audits after they have been finished.
“It’s very standard,” Muldoon said. “Considering the magnitude of the change orders and the controversy behind the project it seems like the appropriate thing to do.”
The request for an audit followed a city inquiry into whether former Assistant City Manager Steve Badum failed to report gifts from companies doing business with the city, including C.W. Driver.
However, the Orange County district attorney’s office announced in August that it had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Badum.
Councilman Keith Curry called the audit a “political boondoggle” and a waste of city money.
“I would encourage my colleagues of the council to actually read the report prepared by city staff in January and save the taxpayers from this needless expense,” he said.
Tuesday’s council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at 100 Civic Center Drive.
