Fayetteville VIPs Exchange Strong Allegations

Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody said he agrees with Gary Combs that a new bridge is needed on Dead Horse Mountain Road near Stonebridge Meadows Golf Club. But Coody took exception to Combs’ claims that the mayor had all but offered a bribe for Combs’ silence over another issue.

Combs was irate that his company, Basic Construction of Springdale, was not originally allowed to be in a bid process over repairing a ruptured sewer line underneath Interstate 540 in Fayetteville. Coody and the city council agreed the situation was an emergency and that it did not have to go to a bid. The city asked Fayetteville Tree & Trench to begin work on the line.

Combs disagreed with the emergency tag.

“These guys have known about it for two months,” Combs said. “Unless there’s a flood, fire or earthquake it’s not an emergency.

“The mayor gave me a long rambling reason. But, you’re dealing with an institution in Fayetteville now that’s a buddy system.”

Combs said Coody asked him not to question the emergency ruling at the city council meeting.

“[Coody] told me if I came down there and questioned it I wouldn’t get approval for a new bridge going out to Stonebridge,” Combs said. “He said I had enemies on the council that wouldn’t vote for me. How would he know without having prior discussions with them, which, by the way, is illegal. He said if I made an issue of it I would be turned down. Well, he might as well have a set nuclear bomb under me because I was damn sure showing up then.”

Coody said the bridge issue had been brought up before the council in the past and denied any bribe-like allegations.

Combs was successful in getting the emergency ruling taken away and the project put to bid. His bridge project was voted down unanimously. Coody said he was in favor of repairing the bridge, which the state said is the worst bridge in the city.

“Gary felt this was us doing a good ol’ boy deal,” Coody said. “That’s ludicrous. We don’t do good ol’ boy deals.”