3-2 Vote Gives Keys Ten Year Lease

George Wenschhof

"Ugly, and painful to watch" was the description given to me by one who watched The City of Frederick, Maryland mayor and board meeting last night.

In an embarrassing display, which made the "Bad News Bears" baseball team from movie lore look good,The City of Frederick Aldermen voted 3-2 to approve a ten year stadium lease with the Frederick Keys.

The vote, mirroring the feelings of the aldermen prior to Mayor Randy McClement issuing a Request For Proposals (RFP) back in February of this year.

A motion made by Alderman Karen Young to start the process over due to the flawed RFP process which was seconded by Aldermen Shelley Aloi, failed by a 2-3 vote.

Along the way, Aldermen Aloi brought up email communication she had as a result of the recent public information requests made by the two local newspapers.

Aloi indicated she had several emails which showed The Frederick Keys had communicated with one of the Aldermen during the RFP process. This appeared to be a clear violation of the prohibition on communication with city elected officials or staff placed on respondents to the RFP. At the very least, Aldermen Aloi felt the alderman in question should recluse themselves from the vote.

This led to a discussion as to what was the time frame when the respondents to the RFP were not allowed to communicate.

When asked if this negated the RFP award process, city attorney Sandra Nichols appeared confused and asked for a ten minute recess to discuss, which was granted by the mayor.

Thirty minutes later, the mayor and board returned and Sandra Nichols stated the mayor had decided to move on with the vote.

Apparently, the mayor indicated he believed the prohibition on communication extended from the time the RFP was issued and the date a contract was signed.

An interesting reasoning by the mayor, when the city sent a letter to Frederick Atlantic LLC, informing them they had not been awarded the bid after the review committee made their decision months ago.

In addition, evidently based on information released by the freedom of information requests, the mayor said both respondents to the RFP had numerous communications with the city.

One would think, whether one or both violated the prohibition on communicating, the action would have negated the process. With the mayor's reasoning, two wrongs do make a right.

And move on they did; to a discussion of The Keys lease.

Various items in the lease were discussed with maintenance requirements to the city of the stadium scoreboard being among items which prohibited Aldermen Aloi from voting for the lease.

Prior to the vote, the three aldermen who voted for the lease; Carol Krimm, Michael O'Connor and Kelly Russell all defended their vote. Krimm and O'Connor defending the city staff who rated the proposal with Krimm pointing out she went and questioned each staff member of the RFP review committee, saying other Aldermen could have done the same.

Krimm also pointed out the mayor unilaterally decided to issue a RFP for use of the stadium. As if, that made a difference on how the award process unfolded.

An indignant Alderman O'Connor even stating the stadium lease was not the most important decision for The City of Frederick. Hardly, an excuse for an inept approval process.

The important part Krimm missed is discussion with review committee members should have been part of the public process and done in the open for all city voters to see and hear. Something, I called for repeatedly during the sloppy award process.

Young and Aloi repeated their assumption the city did not break even with the lease and the award process had been flawed.

After Alderman comments concluded, Mayor McClement called for the vote, with the resulting 3-2 vote, hardly a surprise.

Congratulations go to the Keys along with best wishes as they hold a two game to one lead over the Kinston Indians in the league championship series. One more win would earn The Keys the Carolina League Championship.

Let's hope how this stadium lease extension played out is not an indication of what the future bodes with the current mayor and board. City residents deserve better.

Stay tuned...

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