An outside forensic review of the money Princeton spent rebuilding the Steven and Judy Deffibaugh Community Center found paperwork behind every payment it sampled and no sign that city project managers had financial ties to the contractors. It also concluded the city passed over two pieces of professional advice during the 2019 renovation, and both had to be carried out later.
Weaver, the accounting firm hired by the Princeton Community Development Corporation, issued its final report to the CDC on March 27 and presented its findings to that board in February. The report, a slide deck and a short memo are now in the packet for the City Council's Monday, Oct. 26 meeting, where the audit is listed for a public close-out.
The CDC spent about $50,000 on the work, the memo says, matching the cap its board set.
What the auditors checked
The CDC bought the former Methodist church at 416 N. Fourth St. in 2015 with $138,000 in sales tax money. A 2019 tax note set aside $1,245,000 for the renovation, which wrapped up in fall 2022, according to the report.
Weaver traced $1,329,009 in payments to contractors and vendors from 2016 to 2023 and pulled 58 transactions worth $1,066,294 for a closer look. All had sufficient backup, the firm wrote. People interviewed had raised concerns that project managers held stakes in companies hired for the work; a search of public records found no evidence of that.
Three firms were paid more than $50,000, the level at which city policy requires formal bids. Mike Rogers Construction, paid $609,768, won its contract as the lowest of three bidders. Kimley-Horn's engineering work counts as professional services, which state law bars cities from bidding out on price.
DFW Framing & Construction received $201,708 across 12 separate scopes of work, each under $50,000, so none needed formal bidding under the policy, the report says.
Advice the city did not take
The city served as its own general contractor in 2019, Weaver found. It did not build the foundation repairs its architect, PGAL, had drawn and instead leveled the existing foundation pieces. The report says the firm understands that choice let the foundation keep deteriorating until the center closed in July 2024.
