‘We have to swallow that pill’: Resurfacing work on Paul Dennis parking lot to cost Park District extra $397,765

QUINCY — Rome Frericks got a phone call he wasn’t prepared for early Monday morning.

“It was the famous 6:30 in the morning phone call from the contractor,” Frericks said.

Representatives from Diamond Construction informed Frericks, executive director of the Quincy Park District, and Matt Higley, director of parks, that when they started milling the parking lot of the 22-acre Paul Dennis Soccer Complex, 4201 State, they discovered the sub-base was not what it should have been.

“When they started milling an inch and half (off the top of the asphalt parking lot) like they should, they were hitting clay right away,” Frericks said. “So they backed off to half an inch, and they were still barely hitting any rocks. We performed six different test sites with their backhoe and came to the conclusion that the whole parking lot had less than two inches of sub-base. Normal parking lots are required to have eight to 10 inches.”

Frericks said the problem was created in 1990 when the parking lot was installed. The seven-field complex was dedicated on Sept. 22, 1990.

The Quincy Park Board voted in March to spend $295,000 for milling and resurfacing work on the Paul Dennis parking lot and $19,495 to replace a culvert leading into the parking lot.

The Park District had a two-day window to determine how — and at what cost — the problem would be fixed.

The answer was revealed during Wednesday’s Park Board meeting.

The remaining milling and what rock is there will be tilled and left on the surface to get the additional rock to compact. An additional four to six inches of gravel will be installed before two new layers of asphalt are laid to complete the project. The total cost of the extra work is $397,765.

The Park Board voted to not to spend $208,800 slated to be used for a resurfacing project for Moorman Road to two new T-ball fields and move that money to the Paul Dennis project. The remaining $188,965 will come from the Park District’s corporate reserves.

“It was literally an emergency. It was all hands on deck, a red alert situation,” Park Board President Mark Philpot said about Frericks’ call on Monday. “It’s the second week in July. In a minute, it’ll be too late to do anything there, to break any ground. We won’t be able to set anything in stone, nothing. So, yeah, we had to strike while the iron was hot. 

“Luckily, Brian (Earnest, director of business services) and the guys were able to locate funding and make this miracle happen in 48 hours with almost no choice. My biggest thing was not to impact the taxpayers.”

However, it does affect the people trying to park at the two T-ball fields in the Wavering/Moorman complex next year. A dirt lot on the west side of Moorman Road was going to be converted into additional parking.

“That (parking lot) is another priority because it helps support another big venture, Qtown Tournaments,” Philpot said. “I don’t want the perception to be that we’re answering this crisis and then not responding to future projects. (The Paul Dennis project change) was something that was dropped in our laps. The next goal is to locate funding elsewhere where we can still make (the parking for the T-ball fields) doable.”

Commissioner John Frankenhoff said it was “unfortunate” the Park District has to spend that much money on an unplanned expense, but he believed it was important to get the work done.

“It’s necessary for this facility to be functional and top-notch to match the rest of (other parks) we’ve already owned for years and years,” he said. “We have to swallow that pill and just say, ‘Let’s make this facility as best as it possibly can be,’ as much as it hurts to absorb this unexpected increase in a matter of two days. 

“The best analogy I could come up with is if you take your car in for a repair, and (mechanics) take a look at it and tell you, ‘We can fix you up for $250.’ Then six hours later, they call you and say, ‘We found something else, and there’s another $200 expense. You don’t like it. It’s maddening. It hits your pocketbook. It may affect next month’s budget. But to keep your vehicle top-notch, you accept it, just pay it and kind of bite the bullet. That’s our position right now. We need to go forward with this. This facility will be very busy, very active for many years to come. In the long term, this unexpected expense will be a blip on the radar.”

Frericks said he doesn’t expect other underground work is necessary on the property.

“Water lines are good. Sewer lines are good,” he said. “Next year, we’re going to bring some ideas to the board on building a playground out there right next to the concession stand/shelter. That way, the people on the southeastern part of town will have a close playground to go to. We also would like to budget about $40,000 to do some tuckpointing on the restroom and do some painting and do some small improvements to the shelter house.”

Frericks said parking lot work will start Thursday and take about 2½ weeks. He expects the facility to be ready in time for the Park District to offer recreational soccer and flag football leagues there in the fall.