Skip to Content

Contractor terminates agreement to build new Jennings city hall/community center

By Deion Broxton

Click here for updates on this story

    JENNINGS, Missouri (KMOV) — The contractor tasked with building a new city hall and community event center for the City of Jennings has terminated the agreement.

On Thursday, lawyers on behalf of Hankins Construction sent a letter to the City of Jennings outlining damages owed to Hankins Construction and termination of the contract due a stop work order.

Hankins Construction is seeking more than $1.7 million in damages from the City and Jennings for a stop work order that resulted in an increased cost of construction. The letter points to Jennings Mayor Gary Johnson issuing a stop work order in April and never lifting it.

At an emergency city council meeting on Sept. 7, council members voted to lift the stop work order after Hankins Construction sent the city a letter on Aug. 30 threatening to terminate the contract.

Councilmember Nadia Quinn told First Alert 4 Mayor Johnson didn’t contact Hankins Construction about resuming the project. In emails obtained by First Alert 4, Mayor Johnson has been in contact with Hankins Construction since the stop work order was issued. In an email dated Sept. 7, an official with Hankins Construction told Mayor Johnson the company has tried to get the stop work order lifted for four months. On the same day, Johnson told officials with Hankins Construction the stop work order would be lifted.

In an email dated Sept. 12, an official with Hankins Construction told Councilmember Quinn that Mayor Johnson didn’t send any correspondence regarding the lifting of the stop work order.

“Instead of acknowledging the termination, however, you sent our client a letter more than a month later that simply ignores the termination and purports to authorize Hankins to proceed with the Project,” Hankins Construction most recent letter said to Mayor Johnson.

“It was voted on by the residents and we’re not getting anything out of it,” Jennings resident Teresa Lowman told First Alert 4. “This is going to cost taxpayers a lot of money.”

In 2021, Jennings residents voted for the $12 million city hall and community center. The following year, city council signed off on it with an expected completion date in 2023.

Mayor Johnson voted in favor of the project when he was a member of the Jennings City Council.

Although Hankins Construction is requesting $1.7 million dollars, according to the letter to the city, the company is also willing to settle for $950,000.

The city has until the end of the month to respond. Neither Mayor Johnson or the lawyers for Hankins Construction responded to First Alert 4′s request for comment as of Friday night.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Article Topic Follows: CNN - Regional

Jump to comments ↓

CNN Newsource

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

KTVZ NewsChannel 21 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.

Skip to content