Tampa City attorneys will report on controversial Hanna Avenue project to a fractured City Council this week

On March 31, Tampa city attorneys are set to answer questions about the controversial $108 million “City Center at Hanna Avenue” project to a city council fractured by controversy.

The presentation comes after the city attorneys were asked to appear before council to address community concerns, including about the legality of the project.  City councilmen asked for a discussion about options to reverse the project in February, but attorneys refused to, sending a memo instead.

Several influential community members were upset by the fact that the attorneys refused to show, and spoke out about the situation at a March 3 council meeting.

Since last December, union representatives, along with construction and engineering experts have raised serious questions about the legality of the project.

They have claimed that the process behind the 11-acre project in East Seminole Heights—which will house hundreds of city employees—is riddled with problems that haven’t been answered by the city. Councilmen, who initially approved the project last November after being persuaded Mayor Jane Castor’s administration, have also echoed the community’s concerns. And legal experts have claimed that the project may have violated state law because there was no bid public bidding process for the project. 

Meanwhile, union representatives claimed the city was dodging a union apprenticeship program, and members of the Black community said that there wasn’t enough inclusion of people of color in the project’s process.

City council’s agenda for this week says the report from the attorneys will be based  on the review of documents submitted by Natalie Neff and Joe Robinson (both engineering and construction experts). And to answer questions and comments based on the document submissions by Randall King, President of Florida Gulf Coast Building and Construction Trades, and James Ransom, Tampa Organization of Black Affairs.

Councilmen have plenty of questions about the project as well.

But a lot has changed since early March, and the city attorney’s report about Hanna Avenue will be presented to a fractured city council.

Earlier this month, city councilman John Dingfelder was forced to resign following a developer’s lawsuit over public records violations, in which the city attorney refused to defend Dingfelder. And this week, Mayor Jane Castor’s administration released findings of an investigation that says Councilchair Orlando Gudes created a hostile workplace through misogynist behavior. Since then, the mayor has said she would fire him if she could, and multiple councilman have asked him to resign.

Gudes and Dingfelder were critical of the Hanna Avenue project, along with councilman Bill Carlson.

When the city attorneys refused to discuss the project with council in early March, Gudes sent a memo on to the attorneys, writing, “I believe all discussion, except involving litigation, must be discussed in the sunshine for the benefit of the public.”

Now, the attorneys are scheduled to discuss the project, but they have told council that any discussion of reversing the project could land the city in difficult legal territory.

In the memo where city attorneys informed council they would not be speaking earlier this month, they also told council members that they should not speak about rescinding their vote to approve the project, which was handed to DPR Construction last year in a no bid contract, citing legal concerns.

At the time, the memo said that the statement should serve in place of the administration’s legal team making an appearance at council to discuss the issue.

“The Consultant’s Competitive Negotiation Act was followed and there is no legal basis to terminate or rescind the award of the contract for the Hanna Avenue project,” city attorneys wrote in the memo. “In addition, the city’s new apprenticeship ordinance does apply to this contract, and DPR will comply with that ordinance in connection with the construction of the project.”

This article appears in Mar 24-30, 2022.