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Email5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Investigates: Blueprint of a Bust
It's a multi-million dollar state construction project that's sitting half-finished, wasting your tax money by the day.
Critics say a $7.6 million MNDOT truck station in Chaska is an embarrassment - a mess of unheeded warnings and a pile of unpaid bills, which has now led to a pair of lawsuits.
A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation, led by reporter Mark Albert, reviewed project plans, inspection reports, internal emails, and other documents that detail how the project became a Blueprint of a Bust.
"Somebody has to be ashamed."
-Chaska Mayor Mark Windschitl
Watch our story above.
UPDATE: Fri, Nov. 11, 2011: More than a dozen sub-contractors are owed more than half a million dollars on the project.
UPDATE: Thurs, Nov. 17, 2011: A new contractor starts work at the Chaska site, just a week after our investigation aired.
WEB EXTRAS:
-Watch an extended interview with Chaska's Mayor, Mark Windschitl, talking about his "embarrassment" of the project.
-Read MNDOT's termination notice for cause, given to Ebert Construction, that ordered the general contractor off the site in September 2011.
-Read Ebert's lawsuit against MNDOT, alleging the state's decisions "will increase... taxpayers' expense."
-Read MNDOT's response to Ebert's motion for a preliminary injunction, a motion the company ultimately lost.
-Read the original contract for the MNDOT truck station in Chaska, MN.
-View the architectural plans, sketch ,and site plan for the MNDOT truck station in Chaska, which is to be shared with Carver county.
