SandBoxBlogs: Eagle Valley Enterprise "Where did the money come from?"

Still yet another monster-size real estate development that has questionable activity behind it.

When, are elected officials and investigative reporters going to educate themselves on these large-scale projects and stop trying to either pin  or look for the major financial, business and personal losses to the folks by obsessively focusing on only the latest red-flag details?

Stop and think about what it would take just to paint 500,000 sq. ft. of wide-ranging types of buildings.  What it would take to dig the holes, pour the concrete, how many door knobs it will take, how many times architects, designers, engineers and every professional involved have to be consulted over details.  What it takes, through something called 'procurement', to get these monster size projects to the end bidding and approvals process.  

Tomorrow, on Friday, April 27, 2012; District Judge Fred Gannett rules on the 'Four Seasons/Layton Construction' lawsuit.  At stake are tens of millions of dollars.  Already lost are years of full financial solvency for 95% of those involved.  On both sides.  The devil is in the details and the details, as all large-scale qualified construction industry folk know; are decided long, long, long before the General Contractor becomes involved.   

It is that remaining 5% of financially solvent individuals involved, after all the builders, trades, professionals, etc. etc. etc. are all stripped away; that should be the focus of "Where the money came from", "Where did the money go?" and "Why do we have project build issues?".

A regional avatar in commentary gave out a very good anonymous tip the other day, on a very valuable and future developing chunk of real estate called Spring Valley, just outside of Glenwood Springs. 

He pointed out two bidding procurement engines that pump out the vast majority, at one time or another, of all major projects such as Eagle River Station and future developments like Spring Valley.  Eagle River Station is the topic of this story today, over on the Eagle Valley Enterprise.

Bid Clerk and Dodge Reports.

There are many others, but those two are easy to navigate and among the largest for our area. 

What is not readily understood, is that these projects take years, literally years, before they hit public awareness where reporters can find them.  Unless, of course, said reporters educate themselves on where the true beginnings of these projects are.

They also are required, dependent on what type of project they are, to publicly post the pertinents of who is involved.  It is required by law.  That does not mean that the big power players are not going to toss up some obscure LLC, but they do have to give the LLC right from the onset of diligence and due process. 

On projects the size of Four Seasons, Eagle River Station, Base Village and original Cordillera; the pertinents, including players, will alter and change for sometimes up to years before they even get to the bid process looking for a General Contractor. 

The development doesn't even see the desktop of a councilman, commissioner or Trustee until long after the GC is signed and on deck. Most of the time not until long after the building and planning departments and boards the elected officials sit in oversight on; have already signed off. 

Procurement processes are where all the data lies, that our commissioners, councils and trustees should be intimately familar with if they truly have the public best interests at heart. All of it detailed data that they never even see.  Yet, when the devil shows up in those details down the road, the first place he sets up camp is on the desktop of commissioners, councilman and trustees. 

It will not be until  the oversight at the end, educates themselves as to the dynamic that plays out in large-scale and custom construction from the beginning, that the shuck and jive of the shell games that are these major projects; are brought under fair and just controls on behalf of the workers who actually do the work and the end consumer.

Wonder what would happen if officials and authorities just started trusting that nagging sense impression that something..is wrong somewhere and it's best to look deeper?

Pam Boyd:
"A month after the former Eagle Town Board voted 6-1 to approve the plan for Eagle River Station and set a May 22 citizen referendum regarding the proposed development, the issue is still generating heated discussion for the newly elected board.

Eagle River Station is a commercial/residential project proposed by Trinity RED Development on the eastern end of town, south of Interstate 70 and north of U.S. Highway 6. The 88-acre property would include 582,000 square feet of commercial space and 250 rental units in the first phase. The second phase calls for up to 150,000 square feet of commercial space and another 300 rental units. This is the second incarnation of ERS. In January 2010, voters rejected the initial ERS plan and Trinity RED Development retooled its proposal and resubmitted the plan to the town last year.

During public comment at Tuesday's town board meeting, a cadre of citizens spoke in favor of the ERS proposal and took newly elected trustee Brandi Resa to task for her role in defeating the previous ERS proposal.

Resident Mitch Hayne questioned the whether it is appropriate for Resa to write a Valley Voices column, presenting “her version of a meeting without the approval of the whole board.” He reintroduced a question that was poised two weeks ago — Where did the money come from for the anti-ERS campaign in 2010?

“It is critical for the community to know where that money came from,” said Hayne. He said because of her involvement in the anti-ERS effort, Resa should know who donated the campaign money and said the town deserved an answer to the question.

Mayor Yuri Kostick noted there was a financial report submitted to the town regarding the anti-ERS campaign and that the report did not list Resa as chairman.

“The question is not whether she was the chairperson. It was does she know where the money came from?” said town board member Scott Turnipseed. “If the money was from out-of-town, people have the right to know where it came from.....”  (Read more?  Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."