The Hutchinson City Council will have to take another look at the proposed events center that the city wants to build in Rivers Banks Orchard Park north of town.
The city was to take action on bids for the building during Tuesday’s agenda session, but bids came in nearly twice the projected cost which was approximately $850,ooo. The Council is expected to reject the bids.
The action by the council also comes as questions were raised by several council members over whether the public building would cause too much competition with other privately and company owned facilities. One city council member who is employed by such a company expressed such concern during a recent meeting, but did not request any action be taken. City Manager John Deardoff says things are further complicated by the fact that the Council has already approved bonds for the project, along with engineering and design costs.
If the Council rejects the bids many other decisions will have to be made. That would include scaling down the project, putting it up for bid and deferring the project to a later date.
(Read more: Hutch Post)