Last night, Mayor Ashton Hayward failed to get the five votes necessary to add to the council agenda his request to award a construction contract for a new Bayview Community Center and Boathouse and increase its budget from $8.25 million to $9.6 million.
The mayor can either call a special meeting to vote on the item or wait until the Pensacola City Council’s June meeting to bring it before the council. Or Mayor Hayward can do as mayoral candidate Drew Buchanan suggested –halt the project, host a town hall meeting to garner more public input and find ways to get the project in line with the its budget.
Meanwhile, what does the city do about the groundbreaking for the Bayview Center that was held on Monday?
Groundbreaking is a traditional ceremony to celebrate the first day of construction for a building or other project. The shovels and hard hats signify the work is about to begin.
Mayor Hayward–flanked by Council President Gerald Wingate, chamber officials and others dressed in hard hats and using gold shovels–held the ceremony without a signed contract for the construction or final budget approval. The first day of construction is weeks, maybe even months, away.
What does the city do to celebrate the actual first day of construction?