tLast Updated: 5:03 p.m.
Palm Coast and the last of the contractors it sued over the shoddily built splash pad at Holland Park have reached a settlement agreement that pays the city $1.175 million. The deal ends nearly four years of expensive litigation over one of the city’s most vexing projects.
Added to previous settlements with three other companies, the total amount the city is recovering is $2.375 million in damages. There are no separate reimbursements for legal fees. The city has paid $626,492 in legal fees on the case to date, with a few more billable hours yet to pay. So when all costs are tabulated, the city will not come close to breaking even.
The city attorney in a memo to the council says the settlement terms “fair, reasonable, and are in the best interest of the City.”
The original splash pad, completed in May 2021, cost $5 million. It was not open long before defects forced it to close. The city sued several contractors in November 2022. Saboungi Construction successfully rebuilt the splash pad, which reopened in July 2024 and has operated well since.
The rebuilding cost $3 million–$625,000 more than the amount the city is recovering, not including legal fees. Added to the $626,492 in legal fees paid so far, that pushes the net loss to $1.25 million.
The legal fees will be paid out of the settlement money: “a portion of the settlement payment is allocated for the payment of the City’s attorneys’ fees and costs related to the Lawsuit,” the settlement agreement states. “The settling parties agree to bear their own attorneys’ fees and costs arising out of the dispute.”
The City Council will vote on the settlement at its meeting Tuesday. The settlement is not effective without that ratification.
No fewer than 13 contractors were named in the city’s suit, though some of them were involved in cross-claims that did not necessarily involve the city. The city settled with four of them (BBI Construction Management, Westfield Insurance Company, No Fault, and Vortex Aquatic Corporation) previously, with the council approving each settlement. Those settlements were not disclosed until now, and are reported here for the first time.
On Feb. 3, the parties informed the court that a settlement was pending with Aquatic Consulting Engineers, or ACE, and S&ME Inc., pending council approval. The council met behind closed doors on Jan. 27, as allowed by law when discussing strategy on pending litigation, or settlement terms. The council gave direction at that meeting to move ahead with the settlement, suggesting it will approve the terms in open session Tuesday, since it is well aware of them.
ACE assisted with the creation of certain drawings for the splash pad. S&ME was the the lead designer of the splash pad, and was in charge of administrative oversight.
Both S&ME and ACE still deny and dispute the city’s claims, according to the settlement agreement, but “wish to reach an amicable resolution.” S&ME is paying $1.1 million to the city, ACE is paying $75,000, by way of GrayRobinson, the Orlando law firm that represents the city in the matter. The balance of the settlement funds was paid by other contractors in previous settlements, as follows:
- BBI Construction, $690,000.
- No Fault LLC, $385,000.
- Vortex Aquatic, $125,000.
“This was an issue our Council inherited, but we were determined to see it through,” Mayor Mike Norris was quoted as saying in a release the city issued this afternoon. “We worked hard to resolve the litigation, recover as much taxpayer money as possible, and make sure the splash pad was rebuilt the right way. Today, our families have an exceptional amenity they can enjoy, and we made sure our community wasn’t left footing the whole bill.”
The splash pad is closed for the winter. It reopens March 1. It is a free amenity.
too late says
My kid really loved that splash pad, got to use it 3 times before it closed. Now she is a teenager in high school and too old for it! What a disappointment!
Tina olive says
Never too old….
too late says
Tell that to my 14 year old Highschool Freshman, who wouldn’t be caught dead in a bathing suit at Holland park now, LOL!! Was very different when she was 9! sigh…
FedUp says
Thank God I don’t live in that mismanaged cesspool of a city.
FlaglerLive says
It is objectively incorrect to attribute the splash pad resolution to mismanagement when the contractors’ various settlements, while stopping short of admissions of wrongdoing, implicitly concede that they were not confident of prevailing at trial. It is also difficult to argue that a city with a $25 million reserve is mismanaged, especially when those reserves are built for circumstances that enable the city to bridge relatively manageable gaps—-and other companies’ negligence—while still providing a signature amenity nobody is complaining about today. Daily joys of squealy tots don’t make the news, whether in a crabby hard-assed publication like FlaglerLive or a much more happy faced but overly stressed and drowning one like the Observer.
Mischa Gee says
If the companies that built a very poorly constructed splash pad settled because they were not confident that they would have prevailed in court, then the City of PC should have held out for a better settlement.
At the very least our leadership should have made a better effort to collect the cost of the rebuild plus an estimate of legal fees. Since so many companies were involved, they should have all paid more than they did. Since the total cost was a combination of $5 million plus $3 million more for the rebuild, the settlement should have been more in line with $3.5-4 million.
Splash pads are cute, but without a city pool, very limited in who can use them. We wasted a lot of money on a vanity project, we needed to build to prove we’re a “cool” city because we have a trendy splash pad, where no one learns to swim!
This city has continued to show it has no real vision of what the future of overbuilding is doing and how to assess future needs. Based on this and other wastes of money, no one in charge seems to learn anything from what they’ve seen go wrong in other established cities. We’re going in the wrong direction regarding what we should prioritize. Sorry, but the writing is on the wall with this place.
Land of no turn signals says says
Doesn’t the city have a lawyer on the pay roll for 6 figures plus?
FlaglerLive says
No. The city contracts with a law firm for legal services and representation in several city boards; the annual legal budget is in the $600,000 to $700,000 range, less than the county’s in house legal shop.
celia says
In 2019 Councilman Jack Howell opposed the splash pad construction as prone to defect and often break downs and repairs and very costly to maintain. Also because will attract multitude of users from outside Palm Coast when just Palmcoasters alone will be paying for it and maintenance. Councilman Howell had the experience of the troubles on the one in Jacksonville years before were he served in some boards. Jack was right on point but Melissa got her way! For well over 600,00o in legal fees and the certainty of wrong doing the case should have gone to trial to recover from all losses. Once the kids got a taste of it needed to be repaired (as I lobby for it in the meeting) and reopen even costing us 3 millions to pay the new good contractor Seboungi…Is this a learning experience for our elected? Doubt it as legal teams always win not us the taxpayers.
Skibum says
“Also because will attract multitude of users from outside Palm Coast when just Palmcoasters alone will be paying for it and maintenance.”
God forbid that children who live outside of Palm Coast proper would have the audacity to come and play in “our” children’s splash pad! Don’t they know that the water belongs to Palm Coasters?! Why don’t we extend this philosophy to our drinking fountains and public toilets also? These outside grifters are using for free what WE have to pay for in our taxes. Unthinkable!
LOL
Dennis C Rathsam says
Only in the bizzaro world of sweet Millisa…..Wasnt her money was it? P/C needed that splash pad like it need more traffic. A million dollars….Took me 60 yrs to break that mark, here its chump change…. And the people of P/C are the CHUMPS! Are you all happy with this? Im not…My dear mother used to say, You cant fight cityhall….But you can shit on its steps, that was over 70 yrs ago. Back in the land of ice & snow, it seems a fit saying where ever you go.TRAFFIC GETTING WORSE!!!!! VOTE THEM OUT!
This passed inspection ? says
If the work by these contractors was so shoddy and substandard how in the world did the city’s finest inspectors pass ALL inspections ??
Imagine how well our homes are built if the same inspector is giving approval??
Let the fox watch the hen house
Skibum says
From the very beginning I was a proponent of the city putting in the splash pad for kids because I have lived in a couple of cities on the west coast where wonderful splash pads had not only been successfully installed but had lasted for years without problems. They are very popular, obviously, but like all things that have to be properly engineered and constructed, if you choose the wrong contractor or product you are just going to watch taxpayer dollars go down the drain. That is exactly what happened here in Palm Coast.
I’m glad the city has recouped a large portion of our money through litigation, and I hope they learned a valuable lesson. I don’t remember if the company the city chose to proceed with the splash pad was the lowest bidder, but that is a huge red flag, particularly when designing and building something unique without a model nearby to compare it to or experienced staff that are knowledgeable enough to be able to halt construction if they see a problem developing.
I hope the fix that was done to get the splash pad back open again for the kids is the last we will hear about any problems with the splash pad.
JimboXYZ says
The history on this, 2 weeks after the ribbon cutting for a grand opening it was shut down for maintenance. As I recall it was completely non-operational +/-2 months later. not even making it operational for it’s 1st summer. And then $ 3+ million contract to fix it on top of the $ 5+ million it cost to build it. Is that a slam dunk for being reimbursed for the entire project for any legal team ? So the litigation & extra expenses for repairs are just a contractor’s playbook. Build crap delay to be sued & then settle for the Splash Pad Project from Hell. Everyone won but the victims of leadership’s stupidity. Too funny 2021, that’s when Holland resigned & we got phase 2, Alfinville, FL for the remaining 3.5 years of that 2020-2024 4 year term. And it was more of the same, didn’t disappoint for grossly under & completely unfunded projects. “Build Back Better” of Biden-Harris era. We’ll be paying for that for the rest of out lives. Price of growth & progress ? The Vision of 2050, good intentions of the incompetently stupid. At least the $ 250K thrown into the skateboard park was an affordable project. One that the skaters didn’t even how up for & they wanted more money for that. It’s just all too common an occurrence both from every City(ies), County-wide.
Mike says
First, with that attitude we r glad you don’t live here. Secondly, for those of you who think there is a land of perfect may I suggest you wake up and enter reality. I never like these snafus but in business, public or private it remains the cost of doing business.
hjc says
Like to have the amount spent and lost on lawyers fees.
Hmmm says
Im still shocked how much a simple splash pad cost. Should’ve been a whole water park there for that price.
Shark says
When you have most of the county’s leadership graduating from trump university nagna cum laude what more would you expect !!!