You paid for it: The Local I -Team uncovers the $700,000 mistake on Reelfoot Lake.
Federal and state taxpayer money was supposed to be used to build a brand new $2 million visitor center at Reelfoot Lake, about 100 miles north of Memphis. But just last week, crews tore down the partially built center.
The reason? The building did not meet earthquake requirements, and a state audit uncovered big problems with the project.
Looking at the land at Reelfoot State Park, you would never know that just last week a partially-built visitor center stood there. It’s gone now. All that remains is fresh straw on the ground. It was torn down last Thursday. It took bulldozers one day to flatten it.
“It’s just a sad sight, it really is, to see over there one day it’s there, the next day it’s gone,” said Judy Capps.
Capps works nearby. She not only watched it go up, but she also watched it come down.
After $700,000 of taxpayer money was spent, the building was demolished, in part, because it wasn’t in compliance with state earthquake codes.
“I think it’s just a large waste of money for the taxpayers,” said Capps.
In addition to seismic issues, a State of Tennessee audit found problems with how the project was bid. The Tennessee Department of Transportation gave the money to a non-profit agency called “The Mississippi River Corridor – Tennessee” to handle construction.
A state audit found the non-profit group failed to obtain competitive bids. There was a conflict of interest when a contract was awarded to an architecture firm whose partner served on the board’s advisory council.
“Whoever ran this non-profit group and the group’s board, they need to be held accountable, because essentially they did something extremely illegal by basically doing a no-bid contract with our money to someone who is actually on their board,” said Mark Cunningham.
Cunningham is with the government watchdog group, The Beacon Center. “It’s a clear abuse of taxpayer money, and there’s a lot of failures in a lot of different ways.”
The non- profit agency has since folded.
Reelfoot Lake is home to nesting bald eagles in the winter and known for its beauty and wildlife.
The owner of a lakeside resort hoped the new visitor’s center would increase tourism in the area.
“We thought god, we really are going to have something to be proud of at Reelfoot and bring people in and do a lot of things,” said Mike Hayes. Hayes owns the Bluebank resort.
A TDOT spokesperson says there are plans to build another center with the money that’s left, as early as next year. And that could cost you even more money.
“People don’t trust the government because of stories like this,” said Cunningham.
The Local I-Team reached out to several members of the now-defunct non-profit group that was in charge of the project. They either wouldn’t comment or didn’t return our phone calls.
