Bridgeport, WV Council approves first reading of ordinance for rec center Monday

WesBanco, the institution behind the project’s $40 million financing agreement, requested the amendment be made prior to the city awarding the project’s construction contract, according to Bridgeport Mayor Andy Lang.

“It’s a little bit of clarification that we needed done for the financing with WesBanco, that they wanted done,” he said. “We were down to where we were ready to award the contract; the lawyers were reviewing everything; and the bank came back and said, ‘There’s one little thing that’s in your documents that we have to clarify.’”

Lang emphasized that the finances for the rec center project are secure and there are no plans to eliminate the city’s 1% sales tax; the amendment is just a legal formality requested by the bank.

“This has all been fashioned around the 1% sales tax, and this has been fashioned around what the bank wants,” he said. “In no way, shape or form will this project ever become a burden to the general fund of the city of Bridgeport.”

Council hopes to vote on awarding the construction contract during its Aug. 26 meeting, so the special meeting was called in order to allow for the two required readings of the ordinance, Lang said. The second reading of the ordinance, as well as a public hearing on it, will precede council’s vote on the contract at the Aug. 26 meeting.

Bids for construction of the complex were opened May 10, with A.M. Higley Co. of Cleveland being the apparent low bidder.

A.M. Higley’s bid was $37 million for 485 total calendar days of work.

The rec complex is a 155,000-square-foot multi-use facility planned for a site near the city’s current recreation complex on about 60 acres of a 125-acre property in the Charles Pointe development.

Council member John Wilson said the finished facility will be an asset not just for the residents of Bridgeport, but for all of the region’s residents.

“Yes, this is being built in Bridgeport,” Wilson said. “But a facility like this is going to reach out to all of North Central West Virginia.”