Orange Cove spent lavishly on a BMX park that is hardly used

And questions about some of the costs are starting to surface.

Published online on Tuesday, May. 26, 2009

ORANGE COVE -- The longtime mayor of this impoverished farming town, legendary in California for his political clout, scored another coup in 2004 by winning a $500,000 government grant for a state-of-the-art BMX bike park.

But a Fresno Bee investigation has found that the project could end up as a big loss for residents.

Records and interviews show the city spent lavishly on a park that today, 21/2 years after it opened, is hardly used. The park has, however, caught the attention of state auditors, who wonder why the city can't account for some of the costs.

If Orange Cove can't satisfy all of the auditor's questions, the California State Parks Department might not release the $490,000 grant. That would force the city to dig into its meager budget of $1.7 million or tap reserves to cover the costs -- a heavy blow in a town where more than one in three workers is unemployed.

Records and interviews show that city officials broke their own rules in handling the project. They awarded no-bid contracts without City Council approval, kept incomplete records, failed to have all parties sign contracts and paid an electrical-supply company nearly $139,000 -- even though it didn't have a contract with the city.

The city put the son of Mayor Victor Lopez in charge of overseeing the park's construction, even though he had no engineering experience. He also got paid for construction security work that he says he never did. In addition, he was paid to provide security for the city's adjacent skate park for 31/2 years, even though his contract was supposed to last only six months.

The Bee interviewed more than a dozen current and former officials from Orange Cove and other government agencies for this story and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents.

Mayor Lopez, 66, denies any wrongdoing and insists there are explanations for any irregularities in the city's financial records. "I've been here for 30 years and can hold my head high," Lopez said. "We've done nothing wrong."

Most council members either did not return calls or declined to discuss the city's finances in much detail.

When work began on the bike park in the summer of 2006, Lopez was facing one of his most competitive re-election challenges. Odilon Ortiz, the city's former finance manager, contends that the mayor so desperately wanted the park built before Election Day that he classified the project as an emergency and told city officials to ignore normal contract bidding rules.

Ortiz was finance manager from November 2005 until he was fired in June 2007 after the city manager at the time accused him of having a "bad attitude." He has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit; city officials won't comment on Ortiz because of the suit.

In the end, the park cost about $800,000 to build -- including the city's share of about $300,000. One contractor who worked on the project and who has helped build other BMX parks said most comparable projects cost about $100,000.

"I couldn't believe they were spending that kind of money on that thing," said Bill Wilson, who manages Tulare-based Valley Pump & Dairy Systems, which helped build the park's drainage system and retaining walls. "It was a little overkill, but that's what they wanted. If we suggested something, they suggested something a little nicer."

Mayor Lopez said the project was worth the taxpayer money because it is a "first-class" facility that helps boost the community's image.

But despite the big investment, few residents benefit. The park's hours are limited and city officials acknowledge that hardly anyone uses it.