SAN BENITO — It’s coming down to the wire.
Construction on the San Benito Cultural Heritage Center is supposed to be complete in a matter of weeks.
But this past week, the $1.7 million project, partly funded through a federal grant, was only 47 percent complete.
Now, fingers are being pointed.
City commissioners last week agreed to send Weslaco-based Jones Construction a letter focusing on “the perils of non-compliance” while “reminding them of their contractual obligation to complete construction of the building within the agreed upon timeline,” city spokeswoman Martha McClain stated Friday.
“We are not yet certain what course the city will take if the deadline is not met,” she stated. “The city commission will make that determination, if need be.”
McClain said she was trying to determine whether the U.S. Economic Development Administration, which gave the city a $1 million grant to help fund the project, requires the city to meet a deadline.
While the city has set a Sept. 15 deadline, the EDA grant specifies a “grant end-date” of Sept. 27.
“We are studying possible avenues of action should the contractor not meet the substantial completion deadline,” City Manager Manuel De La Rosa stated.
Contractor Michael Jones said factors beyond his control have slowed construction.
“There have been a number of delays, most have been material-related, some subcontractor related,” Jones said Friday in an interview. “We’re doing everything we can. It’s a construction project.”
Last Tuesday, commissioners approved a $153,729 payment, the contractor’s fifth.
“We’re always approving money,” Mayor Ben Gomez said in a meeting. “I don’t see any movement at the museum.”
Before commissioners, architect Meg Jorn said Jones Construction was behind some of the delay.
“Some things had to be undone because they were not done properly. Some of those things are the reason for the delay,” Jones said. “We are doing everything within our power to keep the contractor on schedule. It’s a little too close for my comfort level.”
– San Benito History Museum
– Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame and Museum
– Freddy Fender Museum
“Every time they build something, it’s never right on time. The contractor should have to pay a penalty if it’s in the contract. I have built some houses. Sometimes they bring the wrong materials. It’s very frustrating. We have been waiting a long time. A few more weeks doesn’t seem that long. Once it’s complete, there’s going to be dancing in the streets.”
Queta Ramos, 85
“It was kind of like, ‘We are going to build this,’ and then ‘Oh, really.’ That’s pretty much San Benito’s history. They have been trying to do something and they are doing it, but they’re waiting until now.”
Filiberto Conde, 70
The delay follows a series of problems the city has overcome in its long struggle to build the museum.
In 2013, the project was moved to a nine-acre site along the resaca, where the city used a $1.2 million federal grant to help buy the land at 500 Business 77.
But officials scrapped those plans after realizing original grant specifications required the museum be built at a Heywood Street site.
Since January, construction has been underway at the two-acre site at San Benito Plaza, near the Community Building and the old public library that used to house the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center.
For years, city leaders have planned the museum to showcase San Benito’s history while drawing tourists here.
To fund the project, the city is using a $1 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and about $700,000 set aside from its general fund.
The building, featuring a guitar-shaped entrance, will house the Freddy Fender Museum, the Texas Conjunto Hall of Fame and Museum and the San Benito History Museum.
Since 2008, the three museums have shared a 1,000-square-foot area in the city’s Community Center.
