Miron Construction drops lawsuit over Green Bay Leicht Park bid

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By Jesse Lin

USA Today Network

A weekslong legal spat that snagged plans to revitalize Leicht Memorial Park will end with Miron Construction’s decision to drop its legal dispute with the city of Green Bay and construction company 8Pine.

In a letter submitted Jan. 20 to the Brown County Courthouse, Miron Construction alerted Brown County Judge John Zakowski of its intention to drop its lawsuit against the city that alleged favoritism and flouting Wisconsin law.

Sara Montonati, a communications manager at Miron Construction, said in a statement that the decision to withdraw was made after the city “finally responded to Miron’s concerns about the bidding process” in a Jan. 12 brief. Miron Construction cited irregularities by the city that centered around a missing addendum acknowledgment from 8Pine that, according to Miron, could have cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars, allegations the city denied and called a “hyper-technical disagreement.”

The concerns, Montonati said, were “based on lack of transparency” in the bidding process and discrepancies that the company had alleged amounted to favoritism and breaking Wisconsin law.

“If the city had responded to Miron’s multiple inquiries, this matter could have been resolved without court intervention,” Montonati said in the statement, calling its lawsuit a reflection of “Miron’s commitment to transparent practices and trust in public projects, not only for themselves, but for the entire construction industry.”

Mayor Eric Genrich responded in a Jan. 20 statement, “The City of Green Bay acted within its statutory authority and well-established discretion in evaluating bids for the Leicht Memorial Park Pavilion project. Miron’s action today in withdrawing the meritless claim indicates as much, and we welcome it.”

Genrich urged the bid to be awarded as soon as possible, likely in a special meeting at 5 p.m. Jan. 22.

Miron’s statement and letter of intent to withdraw the lawsuit came three days before the dispute was scheduled for a hearing before Zakowski. The lawsuit was filed following a Dec. 9 Redevelopment Authority meeting where Miron’s executive chairman, David Voss, raised concerns about the bidding process.

Miron’s 18-page complaint alleged that 8Pine, a competitor in the bid to build a pavilion at Leicht Park, could not be considered the “lowest, responsible bidder.”

The Parks Department had recommended awarding 8Pine the contract based on a $4.9 million bid. Miron Construction’s bid of $5.1 million was presented as the second highest bid.

The complaint said Voss had previously approached the city’s project manager to express concerns. The project manager “did not disagree” that 8Pine had submitted a required addendum after the bid had closed, the complaint said. The complaint also took issue with the city’s closure of the bid at 2:20 p.m. Dec. 4, or 20 minutes after the scheduled 2 p.m. bid closing, and requested that Zakowski bar the city from entering into any contract for the project except with Miron.

Zakowski issued a temporary restraining order to keep the city from awarding the contract to any company other than Miron.

The city agreed many of the events laid out happened as Miron alleged, but argued it was within its rights under state law to waive technical irregularities and it had complied with Wisconsin law. The city and 8Pine further argued that Miron’s lawsuit could jeopardize the project entirely, pointing to time-sensitive funding for the larger revitalization project. The city disagreed with Miron’s claim that the lawsuit was pursued for the public’s sake, framing Miron’s lawsuit as the action done by a disappointed bidder. The city said that, in any case, it was not the role of the court to decide the outcome of a city’s bidding process.