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Work on the Interurban 305 railcar is not on schedule and is still being delayed by the Edwards Railcar Company located in Montgomery, Alabama.Efforts to reach the company have been at a stand still due to a disconnected phone, leaving concerned citizens and city officials ready to go and retrieve the car and return it to Corsicana. The project, according to the contract between the City of Corsicana and Steven Torrico (owner of Edwards Railcar), began in October of 2004, and payment installments were scheduled to be sent out during several different phases of completion with the final two payments to be made when the car was finished and delivered to Corsicana, where it is supposed to be used as a tourist attraction next to the Visitors Center.
Downtown business owner, Rick Hocker, and former mayoral candidate, Aaron Meyers, spoke during the public forum session of Tuesday evenings City Council meeting voicing their concerns about the interurban car.“I was very excited to read that the Interurban car was coming back to Corsicana,” said Meyers. “If there’s anything I can do as far as going to get it, doing some painting …”Meyers was referring to an article in the daily newspaper that ran last week about work “being on track” on the railcar; However, Ron Maxfield, a citizen volunteer acting as an agent on the project, recently e-mailed Hocker. Hocker read the e-mails before the City Council:
“I talked to Torrico today. He has done nothing to 305 since January and is still working on 316. The City and Bay Creek are pressuring him to finish the 316 and get to work on 305 again. He was willing to admit that for the last few years he has been underbidding everything he has worked on and his bad judgment has caught up with him. The reason he has put me off on the steel frame is because he owes the manufacturer money and is scared to talk to him. It appears the specs belong to that guy so the option of Oil City building it doesn't look possible. I told him to get to work on the wheels and I would talk to you guys about the frame. He says it takes two weeks to build it. Can we get some pledges to buy it once Torrico completes the wheels? Once the wheels are complete, he can immediately put the frame on it then attach the hardware underneath. Essentially the car is built as two units, the body and the wheel/ undercarriage. When complete, the body is lowered on the wheel / undercarriage. He claims the cost is $6,200. It will be a while, obviously, before the wheels are ready so we have time to raise the money. Ron (March 18, 2008).” Another e-mail from Maxfield stated he would contact Bay Creek concerning an under frame for the railcar. “I got an email from Torrico today saying that purchasing the frame from Bay Creek is fine with him with the understanding that this depends on Bay Creek indefinitely putting off work on the 407 (which I know they have no intention of pursuing further with Torrico). I will contact Bay Creek tomorrow and see what they paid for it. Ron (March 30, 2008).” Hocker reiterated to the council how important the railcar is for tourism for Corsicana, and that it would be a shame for the car to end up lost.“We’re going to have to be diligent and careful,” said Hocker. “This man (Torrico) is not to be trusted as of late. If you dial his phone number this evening, you’ll find it has been temporarily disconnected. I just ask that you look at it, and look at it hard.”Mayor C.L. “Buster” Brown thanked Hocker for his interest in helping try to come to some resolution on this.“I don’t know if you can carry that thing in a pickup or not,” Brown said, jokingly.“I’ll go get it!” Hocker said.Going back to a Times story from last year on the railcar, and according to City Manager Connie Standridge, the City paid Edwards Railcar a total of $153,426 to restore the car.Reportedly, the City has spent over $171,000 to date on the project.A copy of the contract between the City and Torrico was recently obtained by the Times.According to the contract, the money was supposed to be paid out in intervals over the course of one year, in which the car would be completed and delivered back to Corsicana. The contract was signed and dated by Public Works Director Ron Lynch on October 3, 2003, along with a deposit sent to Edwards Railcar for the amount of $9,713.Phase One of the contract states that Edwards Railcar would receive a payment of $67,000 on or before October 17, 2003, for removing and shipping the Interurban car to Florida where the company was then located.In addition to the shipping of the car, a certain amount of work was supposed to be completed.Phase Two revealed another payment was to be sent on or before January 2, 2004, in the amount of $19,178, with the start of construction of motorman partition, continuing window and door construction and installation. Additionally, interior hardware and seat were to be supplied and installed. Phase Three required another payment of $19,178 on or before July 2, 2004, and Phase Four required the same amount of money as well, each requiring another part of the project to be completed.Payments of $9,589.50 were to be made after the car was finished and final inspection of the completed project at the Edwards Railcar facility, with the last payment to be made when the car was actually delivered back to Corsicana.According to photos sent by Maxfield, it appeared that the initial start up work was proceeding along beautifully, but those photos were not revealed to the media until over a year after the car should have been delivered back to Corsicana.At that time, Maxfield said work was going slow due to weather related issues.At some point between late 2004, and the summer of 2007, it was learned by the Times that Edwards Railcar had moved from their Florida location to Alabama.The original contract was revised on December 28, 2003, with a few details added to the different phases of the project. However, money amounts to be paid stayed the same.Under the Restoration Agreement part of the contract, the contractor (Edwards Railcar) agreed to fully restore the 1912, Southern Traction Co. Interurban car numbered 305. The agreement also states that each phase would be completed before the start of the next phase, and the City would authorize work to commence on each phase with the deposit of funds for the cost of each phase outlined in Schedule A.The contractor agreed to notify the City upon completion of each phase and the City would have 21 calendar days to inspect the work and note any exceptions.The agreement further states that the restoration of the car is to be done in a workmanlike and timely manner, and follow the timetable for each phase as closely as possible. In the event the timetable couldn’t be met, the contractor agreed to pay the City liquidated damages in the amount of $75 per calendar day. Technically, since the original delivery date was scheduled for October 1, 2004, Edwards Railcar is indebted to the City for the amount of $96,000.According to Standridge, then City Manager Truitt Gilbreath, gave the go ahead in January of 2004 for the project, but it wasn’t until October of that same year, that the official contract was signed and dated by Torrico and Lynch. At this point, Standridge was serving as Interim City Manager.Standridge was asked late Wednesday afternoon concerning payments that have already been made to the company as well as the outside agent involved in the project, and why the final two payments had been made when the railcar has not been completed or delivered as stated in the contract.“Payments were sent,” said Standridge, “to my knowledge, directly to Edwards Railcar, and of course we were working with a citizen volunteer, Ron Maxfield, and his role was to verify whether or not the work was being done and to advise us on the restoration of the car because that is his area of expertise … he is not a City employee.”Standridge was asked if the City relied entirely on the advise of Maxfield as far as communication with the company. “Ron Lynch had spoken to them (referring to Edwards Railcar, and possibly Maxfield) on different occasions, but I’m not certain of the conversations,” Standridge said.She was also asked about the final two payments.“The final payments were made on the railcar, evidently, our director of public works was led to believe the car was finished,” said Standridge.Although Lynch’s signature was on the contract, the question arose whether or not he should have been the one to officially do so.“It’s something that I should have signed,” said Standridge.In one further note, the contract doesn’t say anywhere that an outside agent would be used by the City to overlook the project. The only time the word “agent” is mentioned can be found on page two of the agreement section, item number eight, stating: “The Contractor agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the City, and its agents and employees, from and against all claims, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees in the case a third party (including Contractor’s employees, agents, and subcontractors) filed action against the City, arising out of Contractor’s restoration of the car and/or other obligations of the Contractor contained herein.” |
