Keys Steal Home

George Wenschhof

The owners of The Frederick Keys out lasted and out maneuvered The City of Frederick as they secured a favorable long term extension for the use of Harry Grove Stadium as their home field ball park.

Watching the video broadcast of the mayor and board workshop held last week, it became apparent, the mayor and a majority of the aldermen were content to move forward to ratify a less than satisfactory lease.

The perfunctory vote will take place during the September 15 mayor and board meeting.

Unless, legal action is pursued, questions raised by the competing team for the use of the stadium will never be answered.

Frederick Atlantic LLC Managing Member John Lavoie’s email which contained his concerns over the award process and subsequent lease negotiations with The Keys was read into the minutes as Lavoie requested, but his questions were never answered.

In addition, during the workshop held last week, Alderman Shelley Aloi methodically compared the proposed lease by The Keys to their existing lease, pointing out the new proposed lease was not an improvement.

The financial analysis from Alderman Karen Young which showed the city stood to lose money over the term of the lease also had little sway on the mayor and remaining aldermen.

All of which signals the deal is done and The Keys are staying put.

Congratulations are in order for The Keys negotiating team who secured their support among the aldermen prior to when the Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued by the mayor.

Being a lifelong Baltimore Oriole fan, I am pleased to see their single-a affiliated team remain in The City of Frederick. Albeit, with terms less than desirable for The City of Frederick and the stadium lease agreement stubbornly reached after much wrangling by The Keys.

As one who was raised in The City of Frederick, it was embarrassing to watch the sloppy manner in which the RFP process transpired; much of which resulted due to lack of communication.

McClement earned my kudos for issuing a RFP after lease extension negotiations broke down with The Keys earlier this year.

However, a thumbs down now goes to Republican Mayor Randy McClement and city administrator Josh Russin for their repeated stumbles throughout the RFP process.

All of which has shed light on an even bigger problem at city hall.

Since becoming mayor, McClement; a self proclaimed student of the city’s charter, has often pointed out to questioning aldermen, the mayor is the elected administrator and the board of aldermen is the elected legislative body.

It was the same three aldermen who questioned the mayor’s unilateral issuance of the RFP for the use of the stadium, who will most likely vote to ratify the lease with the Keys on September 15.

While, the mayor is technically correct as to the roles of the elected city officials, it was The Keys negotiating team who showed they knew how to count to three.

This lack of communication by the mayor with the aldermen will continue to plague city residents who want issues dealt with in a timely and effective manner.

Whether it is the ratification of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) contract, what to do with the boondoggle property the former administration purchased for use as a Park, or how to redevelop the neglected and rapidly deteriorating west end of the city, communication has been lacking as well as a lack of clarity of the action to be taken on each issue.

Without, a theme or "vision" for The City of Frederick promoted by the McClement administration, a lackluster and seemingly adrift city government has been the result over the first twenty months since the all new mayor and board took office.

New city administrator Josh Russin informed me that after recent discussions with the mayor, he will begin to schedule regular meetings between the aldermen and the mayor to facilitate communication.

Let’s hope the young man has better success with this effort than he did in negotiating the stadium lease.

In these challenging times, city residents deserve better from their elected officials.

Stay Tuned…..

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Harry Grove Stadium Lease Saga Continues

George Wenschhof

In my column last Wednesday, I wrote about how the Request for Proposals (RFP) and award process for the lease of Harry Grove Stadium by The City of Frederick reminded me of the famous comedic routine by Abbott and Costello; "Who's on first".

Noticing the City of Frederick had the lease of the stadium as an agenda item for this coming Wednesday city workshop, I emailed city administrator Josh Russin for specifics to be discussed.

He replied indicating the city lease negotiating team will present to the mayor and board of aldermen a draft lease which does not include any additional revenue sources (dropping parking revenue) and requires The Keys to pay utilities. You can read my email to Mr. Russin and his reply here.

Interestingly, five months after the lease is finally ratified, Russin indicates the city and The Keys will negotiate terms for additional revenue sources such as parking, advertising and naming rights.

Why the additional revenue could not be agreed upon over the last several months of negotiations remains a mystery. One sticking point had been the Keys offer to receive the first $125,000 (later reduced to $115,000) of parking revenues before splitting revenues with the city. This was to offset their annual cost of utilities.

The upcoming five months from October through February are not baseball playing months in our area of the country so one would assume the utility fees will not be significant during this time.

The other team to respond to the RFP was Frederick Atlantic LLC. Monday, Managing Member Jack Lavoie, sent a detailed email to the mayor and board expressing his dissatisfaction with the award process. Mr. Lavoie added he will be unable to attend the workshop on Wednesday and asked for his email be read into the record.

Lavoie points out what I mentioned in my last column, The Keys did not offer to pay utilities in their RFP submission, stating in his email "The proposed Lease does not comply with competitive bids & the RFP terms tendered under a sealed bid by the Keys. This results smacks of collusion and "back-room" dealing."

In a column published on 8-21-2011, I proposed a series of four steps, which if taken, were intended to result in a fair outcome to both bidders and the city.

One of the steps involved a discussion by the mayor and board on what additional revenue sources, if any, were acceptable.

Updated (in bold) 8-30-2011 8:45 AM ET

Another one of the steps I suggested was for the mayor and board to agree on and use a projected expense cost to the city for the stadium. This would then be used to compare to the offers received.

This morning, I received from Alderman Karen Young a financial spreadsheet showing the bid received from Frederick Atlantic LLC, far exceeds in revenue to the city, what was bid by The Keys. You can read it here.

At the end of the first year, Alderman Young's financial projections show The Keys offer resulted in a net loss to the city of $62,948 and Frederick Atlantic LLC was a plus $83,852. Over the ten year period, her projections show a loss of $629,480 from The Keys offer and a plus $148,520 from the Frederick Atlantic LLC offer.

It is not too late for the city to discuss and reconsider their awkward award process to date and see if there is a better way to finalize the Harry Grove Stadium lease.

Stay Tuned...

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Harry Grove Stadium Lease Act ll

George Wenschhof

In what is playing out in a similar manner as the famous Abbott and Costello classic baseball comedic routine of “Who’s on first”, the already muddied and confusing Request For Proposals (RFP) process has taken yet another turn.

Months after the city announced The Frederick Keys had won the RFP and a city lease negotiation team announced, the city remains without a ratified lease for the use of Harry Grove Stadium.

City of Frederick Mayor Randy McClement has now announced the city is dropping the negotiation with The Keys over revenue splits of parking revenue. Instead, the mayor says he now wants to go back to what was in the original RFP.

Seems, new city administrator Josh Russin, who was leading the city negotiating team was not having any better success in dealing with The Keys than his predecessor, Rick Weldon.

Interestingly, it was the failure by former city administrator Rick Weldon and the city to negotiate a satisfactory extension of the existing lease with The Frederick Keys which led Mayor McClement to issue the RFP.

The 120 day period the bids were require to stay in effect per the RFP, has now expired, making one wonder what the mayor is referring to when he says he wants to go back to the original RFP. Why were lease negotiations taking place outside of the RFP is another good question.

When I informed John Lavoie, Managing Member of Frederick Atlantic LLC of the latest development he said the following in an email I received last evening; “saw the new Gazette article today ..

If that is all recent info from the Mayor, the City's pending course of action is possibly illegal and confusing at best. If taken at face value, this will now totally ensure that the proposed Keys Lease does NOT comply with their RFP submission and that the Mayor and Aldermen are all active and knowing participants who have orchestrated this flawed RFP, engineered a closed process and concluded a one-sided auction in concert with one of the bidders- The Keys club.”

In a follow up phone conversation with Mr. Lavoie, he indicated it was fine for me to publish verbatim what he had stated in his email.

The announcement by the mayor comes after The Keys negotiated terms with the city which had them receiving the first $150,000 in parking revenue to reimburse them for the estimated annual cost of utilities at the stadium. This was later dropped to $125,000, before the mayor announced, at the last minute, he was pulling the discussion of the Harry Grove Stadium lease from the scheduled workshop last week.

Next, to appear was a financial analysis from Aldermen Karen Young which indicated the city’s financial cost to operate the stadium was not covered by the offer made by The Keys and showed Frederick Atlantic LLC offered a better deal for the city.

What followed was a motion by Aldermen Carol Krimm, which was unanimously approved, at the mayor and board meeting the next day, to release minutes of the private mayor and board meetings pertaining to the stadium lease.

What was the startling disclosure that resulted from this action? – The Keys were to receive extra points in the evaluation of their proposal due to their affiliation with a major league baseball team. The person who suggested the added weight to be given to The Frederick Keys was Alderman Karen Young.

Hardly a surprise, as this was clearly spelled out in the RFP evaluation criteria which was provided to the bidders.

In addition, over the last six months, gossip was spread around town by supporters of both teams. One, persistent rumor had The Frederick Keys for sale and/or leaving town.

The responding rumor involved original owner of The Keys; Peter Kirk, who is now affiliated with Opening Day Partners who has a strong relationship with Frederick Atlantic LLC. Kirk had a past relationship with former City of Frederick Mayor Ron Young, with the rumor suggesting this would make his current wife; Alderman Karen Young a supporter of Frederick Atlantic LLC. I wrote about both rumors in a column dated 4-20-2011.

Casting aside all of the smoke and mirrors one has to ask; where do all these theatrics leave the city?

According to the side-by-side comparison (prepared by John Lavoie; Managing Member of Frederick Atlantic LLC) of the two bids received by the city; The Frederick Keys did not offer to pay for utilities and Frederick Atlantic LLC offered to pay 100%.

So, with the recent announcement from the mayor, do the mayor and board of aldermen now intend to accept an offer from The Keys that does not include payment of utilities? Or, do they intend to alter the bid received from The Keys and include payment for utilities? Is this a fair approach in the RFP award process?

Where does this leave the city in regard to additional revenue streams? Clearly, one of the purposes of issuing the RFP was to see what reasonable additional revenues could be utilized for the benefit of the city.

Meanwhile, the question remains as to whether the city will receive enough money from the lease to pay for their operating expenses of the stadium.

Another unanswered question which remains is how did the secretive RFP review committee come up with their evaluation of the two proposals in the first place?

No request was made by the committee to have representatives of the two bidders give an oral presentation (allowed under the guidelines of the issued RFP) to them.

This oral presentation would have allowed the committee to get all their questions answered in regard to additional revenue streams and to also make sure they were comparing “apples to apples” when evaluating what was arguably a difficult RFP to rank.

A presentation from the review committee to the mayor and board in a workshop also never took place which would have allowed a clear picture to unfold. If, the aldermen or mayor had questions, they could have been answered at that time.

Whether what has transpired to date with the RFP process has been legal or not is best left for lawyers to decide. Let's hope it does not come to that.

In my column published on Sunday, I presented a series of steps which, if taken, were intended to result in a fair outcome to both bidders and the city.

Instead, city taxpayers are left wondering, Who’s on first?

Stay Tuned…

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What’s The Next Step with Harry Grove Stadium Lease?

George Wenschhof

Originally published 8-21-2011

The handling of the lease of Harry Grove Stadium by the City of Frederick has raised more questions than was intended since Mayor Randy McClement issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) back in the spring of this year.

Rather than dwell on the less than satisfactory manner the award process has been to date, it would behoove the mayor and aldermen to examine the options available to them to ensure the city ends up with the best terms available for the use of the stadium – city residents deserve no less.

Public scrutiny of the terms of the lease agreement being negotiated by the city with The Keys has highlighted significant income differences to the city in various areas compared with the terms proposed by Frederick Atlantic LLC. Some of these areas were discussed in my column published on August 17, 2011.

In that column, I also pointed out the mayor and board of aldermen had never really discussed the pluses and minuses of charging for parking, stadium naming rights, and various billboard advertising options which have been identified as potential revenue streams for the city.

The lack of effort by the city to limit excessive pricing of concessions at the stadium was another disappointment discovered as the award process/lease negotiations have played out.

Rather than conduct a do-over of the issuance of the RFP, the possibility exists for the mayor and/or board of aldermen to require a few additional steps be taken prior to the ratification of the stadium lease.

While, the city RFP review committee has recommended The Keys and lease negotiations are taking place with them, no formal action has been taken by the mayor and board to affirm/confirm the recommendation by the review committee.

In addition, no lease agreement has been presented to the mayor and board for an official vote.

The intent of these proposed additional steps prior to ratifying a lease agreement would be to ensure the city receives the best lease possible from the two respondents to the RFP.

Prior to continuing lease negotiations with The Keys, discussion should take place in the next city mayor and board workshop with an agreement to implement the following steps:

First, review the Harry Grove Stadium financial pro forma (AL v. Keys and Proposed Keys Lease) prepared by Aldermen Karen Young – confirm the projected city expenses portion with city financial staff – instruct RFP review committee to use the projected city expenses when they evaluate clarified lease offers received in step three.

Second, decide on what additional revenue streams are acceptable to the city. This would include naming rights and a determination on “what” is available to be named, parking revenue, billboard advertising, and the price of concessions.

Third, instruct the RFP review committee to request private and separate oral presentations from both bidders (allowable under the RFP issued) to clarify their proposed terms based on the agreed upon additional revenue streams from the decisions made in the mayor and board workshop in step two.

This is important as City administrator Josh Russin in an article written by Katherine Heerbrandt in the Frederick Gazette was quoted as saying "The changed items — the split in revenues for signs and parking — were not part of the selection committee's purview, and only came up in the negotiations process."

In addition to clarifying proposed revenue splits on the agreed upon additional revenue streams, if any other areas of the submitted proposals need to be discussed to ensure “apples are being compared to apples”, the review committee would have the opportunity to do so at this time.

Fourth, have the RFP review committee (or a designee, if privacy is preferred) present in a mayor and board workshop, their ranking of the two proposals and their subsequent recommendation.

Unless, objection to the recommendation is heard from a majority of the aldermen at the workshop, the finalization of the lease agreement would then take place to be formally ratified at a following mayor and board meeting.

These steps should have been taken in the first place to ensure transparency and to preserve the integrity of the Request for Proposal process.

It is not too late for them to still happen – city residents deserve it.

Stay tuned…

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Questions Remain with Harry Grove Stadium Lease

George Wenschhof

Today, The City of Frederick will hold another workshop on the proposed lease. Aldermen Shelly Aloi (R) and Karen Young (D) questioned various aspects of the proposed lease from The Keys during a city workshop held two weeks ago.

As a result, several minor tweaks to the lease were done, but still no attempt has been made to compare the lease offer from The Keys to the proposal offered by Frederick Atlantic LLC.

John Lavoie; managing member of Frederick Atlantic LLC, emailed me a side by side comparison of the two bids submitted to the City of Frederick.

After looking at this comparison, one can see why questions have been raised by the Aldermen.

For instance, in the capital expense section of the scoring, The Keys won by 3.0 points when their obligation was up to $100,000, but only obligated if the city matched.

The Frederick Atlantic LLC bid was for $100,000 through years 1-3 with no obligation by the city, with the money placed in a local bank account.

The overall average scoring by the city RFP review committee was 89.80 for The Keys and 80.35 for Frederick Atantic LLC.

Interestingly, the utility fees (estimated $150,000 annually) which are presently being negotiated between the city and The Keys were an obligation agreed to by Frederick Atlantic LLC.

Now, The Keys are requesting in their lease proposal, to receive the first $150,000 (now $125,000) in parking revenue to offset utility fees, whereas Frederick Atlantic offered to pay 100% of utilities.

Another question brought up in the previous city workshop was concern to the lack of "green initiatives" in the lease offered by The Keys.

This was an area in the RFP which was won by Frederick Atlantic LLC.

As to potential parking and signage revenues contained in the proposed Keys lease, it would be wise for the city to reconsider this as a revenue source.

First, the added cost of parking to attend a minor league baseball game will have an adverse affect on working families who want to take their families to see a game. As a result, this added cost would also most likely drive attendance figures down.

Second, in regard to additional stadium signage; what type of appearance will billboard advertising on the outer wall of Harry Grove Stadium present as one enters The City of Frederick?

When I emailed these concerns to Alderman Karen Young, she responded with the following:

"I agree that we should be very cautious about charging for parking. If this is about "affordable family entertainment", parking charges will defy that goal. The Keys used some very misleading assumptions in their parking revenue projection. My calculation shows $25,653 for the city. Is the juice worth the squeeze?

Furthermore, the Keys estimate over $250,000 in total income to the city. My calculation (taking out naming rights and using a more realistic parking projection) is $156,103. That's BEFORE our bond payments on the scoreboard. I am obtaining that number to get a better net income projection.

I agree with your signage observation. Do we really want to over-ride the LMC to make this deal work?"

In another email, Young indicated the projected cost for the city in 2012 to operate Harry Grove Stadium is $287,756. This figure includes operating expenses, maintenance and debt service.

She added "Unless we charge for parking and make money from signage, this contract doesn't work. I am very uncomfortable signing a ten-year contract that depends on parking and signage revenues to break even!"

In addition to the above concerns, concession sales have never been discussed, but remains an irritation to many who attend a game.

While, the cost of admission has remained low, the cost of a hot dog, peanuts and even bottled water mirrors the price one pays at Camden Yards, the home stadium for the Baltimore Orioles.

It would have been nice to see an attempt made by the city to review who manages the concessions and have been given a suggestion price range.

Jack Boehmer, in a letter to the editor which appeared in the Frederick News Post on August 11, wrote how minor league baseball is big business, adding how when he was in charge of concessions at Harry Grove Stadium 15 years ago, he took in one million in six months.

With all the questions raised, slowing down to fully understand the ramifications of the proposed lease would be prudent. Careful review and consideration by the city aldermen should take place prior to ratifying a long term lease for the use of Harry Grove Stadium.

Stay Tuned...

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City Workshop on Harry Grove Stadium Lease Highlights City Hall Problems

George Wenschhof

The dysfunction which exists at city hall was on display at last week’s workshop when newly hired city administrator Josh Russin made a poor attempt to present the details of the proposed Harry Grove Stadium lease with the Frederick Keys.

Apparently, City of Frederick Mayor McClement’s interpretation of the city charter as it relates to the relationship between the aldermen and the mayor is “I am the administrator and you are not”. Instead, the mayor views the aldermen literally as the legislative body as strictly defined in the city charter.

As Russin was repeatedly unable to answer questions asked by city aldermen Karen Young and Shelley Aloi in regard to The Keys contract, it became obvious the city aldermen had been kept out of the loop in regard to the recommendation process by the RFP review committee and subsequent contract negotiations with The Keys.

A similar situation is also currently playing out in the stalled contract negotiations between the mayor and the Frederick Order of Police.

In regard to the stadium lease, some of the aldermen were upset initially for they were not consulted before the mayor unilaterally issued a Request for Proposals (RFP). After considerable venting by some of the aldermen, the mayor allowed for their input in the writing of the RFP.

After allowing for input, which included, bonus points awarded to a team who was affiliated with a major league baseball team, communication from the mayor with the aldermen and the public stopped.

Who was on the city RFP review committee was never disclosed and there was never a presentation of the two offers received at a city workshop so the aldermen and public could see the difference in the two proposals which had been submitted.

Only, after a freedom of information request was filed by the Frederick Gazette, were the two proposals given the light of day, but not the scrutiny they deserve.

Only now, as Mr. Russin struggled to explain financial details of the proposed contract with The Keys is the comparison of the two offers beginning to emerge.

While, a “home field advantage” is understood in regard to the stadium lease, what transpired brings a whole new definition to the term.

Under questioning from alderman Young and Aloi, Russin failed to explain why The Keys were given the first $150,000 in parking revenue to offset utility fees when the offer from Frederick Atlantic indicated they would pay 100% of the utilities.

In addition, revenue splits on naming rights to the stadium, capital expense obligations, advertising on portions of the stadium and whether an analysis had been done on the more “up front” ($245,000) lease money offered by Frederick Atlantic LLC; were all questions the city administrator was unable to answer in a satisfactory manner.

Interestingly, a study obtained by the city on stadium naming rights and advertising was shared with The Keys during contract negotiations. However, the study was never given to Frederick Atlantic LLC until managing member John Lavoie asked for a copy at the city workshop held last week.

Russin repeatedly sought to compare the new Keys contract with their existing agreement, often citing the increase in the current $30,000 yearly lease amount.

What should be asked for and has never been done is a public presentation of the two offers received.

What is important to note is The Keys were not competing with themselves; they were competing against another entity.

A question I had was answered when after the workshop last week, Alderman Young asked city attorney Saundra Nichols in an email "I have a procedural question. Don't we (the Aldermen) have to accept the recommendation of the evaluation team's choice before we start modifying the proposed contract?".

The email response from Nichols stated "There is not a separate step for accepting the recommendation of the evaluation team. The Board of Aldermen is typically presented with the proposed final contract".

The city attorney response along with the approach taken by Mayor Randy McClement in governing may be technically correct.

However, the residents of The City of Frederick deserve more transparent and open government.

When I spoke with Frederick Atlantic LLC managing member John Lavoie the day after the city workshop last week, he said “the scoring of the RFP Review Committee did not account for the depth or substance of the proposal they tendered“. He added “they had tendered a proposal far superior to The Keys”.

Prior to approving a lease agreement with The Keys, the aldermen would be wise to request a detailed presentation from Mr. Russin of the two proposals received.

At a minimum, when negotiating the terms of the agreement with The Keys, the comparison should be with what was offered by Frederick Atlantic LLC and not the existing lease with The Keys.

After all, it was the inadequacy of the existing lease and failure to negotiate by The Keys which led to the RFP being issued.

In the future, let’s hope for more transparency from the mayor along with a move from him to communicate more fully with the city aldermen and involve them in the decision making process – city residents deserve it.

Stay tuned..

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Sloppy Handling of Harry Grove Stadium Lease

George Wenschhof

We are now well into July and still no presentation to The City of Frederick mayor and board of aldermen has taken place. Yet, reports indicate contract negotiations with The Keys are ongoing. In fact, city administrator Josh Russin informed the press the three city employees (Russin was one of them) who were on the contract negotiating team

This is important for several reasons. One, there has been no formal action taken by the mayor and board to accept the proposal presented by The Keys or to authorize the mayor to pursue contract negotiations with them.

The other critical issue is the proposal presented by Frederick Atlantic, LLC expires as of August 15, 2011. Leading to the possibility contract negotiations with The Keys could drag on past August 15, leaving the city with no leverage in negotiations.

In addition, if the persistent rumors The Keys are for sale and The Baltimore Orioles are planning to move one of their minor league affiliated teams to their new Spring Training facility in Florida turn out to be true, where would that leave The City of Frederick?

The possibility the city would be left without any contract and without a team to play in Harry Grove Stadium could become a reality.

Unfortunately, it's been a public display of a learning curve by the current city administration on how to enter into a lease of a city owned property.

One has to hope Jack Lavoie, Managing Member of Frederick Atlantic LLC, a lawyer by profession, does not pursue legal action on this matter.

For years now, I have been calling for a city policy on the sale/lease of city owned properties, including a list detailing the disposition of each property. Availability for lease, sale or other, along with an expense/revenue projection for each should be a standard operating procedure. My question has been; how, in the world can one manage without knowing this information?

Alderman Michael O’Connor echoed my thoughts during the recent budget talks.

I brought up the lack of a city policy on leases and the lack of information on the disposition of city owned properties once again during discussions I had with the current four Democratic aldermen in January and February of this year. Republican Shelley Aloi was unable to schedule a time to meet. The topic came up as we were discussing the inappropriate sole source lease negotiations pertaining to city own space for use as a Restaurant.

During those same discussions, along with one I had with Mayor Randy McClement at the same time, the breakdown of the lease renewal of the Harry Grove Stadium was also discussed, leading me to opine in an earlier column dated April 20, the issuance of a Request For Proposals (RFP) by the Mayor was a good move. A move I hoped would be best for the City of Frederick.

What has happened since only highlights the inexperience of the current administration.

Secrecy has surrounded the entire RFP process with the details of the proposals submitted by the two bidders; Frederick Atlantic, LLC and The Keys, only made available after a freedom of information act request was submitted.

New City administrator Josh Russin initially informed me in a telephone conversation after the review committee completed their review in late May, the bids along with the committee recommendation to move forward in negotiating a contract with The Keys, would be presented to the mayor and board of aldermen in a workshop in June with contract approval hopeful in August.

Several recent messages left with Mr. Russin asking specifically what will be the process of approval have not been answered as of publication date of this column. I inquired if the plan was to present the two proposals and the committee recommendation to the mayor and board and then follow, based on mayor and board action, with the presentation of a contract for their action.

Surely, they can not expect the aldermen and mayor to consider a contract at the same time, as approval to negotiate a contract has not been given as I stated previously.

Time, is now of the essence, as the August 15 date nears the Frederick Atlantic LLC bid proposal expires. A difficult position to have put the city in.

This issue also illuminates the growing rift Democratic alderman Kelly Russell has with alderman Karen Young (D) and mayor McClement (R). Russell has battled the mayor over his lack of communication with aldermen on administrative issues. An issue, which over the years and other past administrations, has surfaced due to the nature of charter government which establishes a legislative (board of aldermen) and administrative (mayor) body.

Russell and Young have been sparring for quite some time over various issues. The most recent issue being the negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) on the extension of a contract. Russell, a former city police officer, called for an end to the secret talks and asked for more openness in the process.

Leading Young, who has called for more transparency in regard to the Harry Grove Stadium lease, to respond the city should be consistent with their policies.

Young and Russell have expressed differences on both of these issues, with Russell supporting The Keys and the FOP and Young favoring a bid process for Harry Grove Stadium and pointing out the money is not there for raises and pension contribution for the FOP.

The Harry Grove Stadium lease has illustrated the need for a policy on the lease of city owned property and the creation of a system to enable the management of the same.

Let's hope new city administrator Josh Russin moves forward soon on developing a policy to present to the mayor and board for their consideration.

Stay Tuned...

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Two Bids Received For Harry Grove Stadium

George Wenschhof

As expected, two proposals were received by The City of Frederick. One from Maryland Baseball Holding LLC, owners of The Keys and Frederick Atlantic LLC.

A question many have been asking around town is why was a Request For Proposals (RFP) issued for the use of Harry Grove Stadium? The Frederick Keys are a single-a Baltimore Oriole affiliated farm team who have called the stadium home since it opened in 1990, playing their first year in Frederick at the old McCurdy Field stadium.

The short answer to why an RFP was issued is money. The city negotiated with the Keys management for some time for an extension to the lease which ends after the current baseball season.

When I talked with former City of Frederick administrator Rick Weldon recently, he said "the lease rate was the stumbling block" to reaching an agreement. The annual lease fee is presently thirty thousand.

As baseball fanatics also know, rumors The Keys were for sale have been whirling around for at least the last six months with a March 11, 2011 article in Baseball Digest saying multiple sources indicate The Keys price tag was nine million and the sale was contingent on a lease agreement with The City of Frederick.

Frederick Keys General Manager Dave Ziedelis assured me the team was not for sale and expressed confidence in their bid proposal. Over the last seven years, Ziedelis told me he has been involved in three lease negotiations with three different city administrations.

The lease agreement years were 2005, 2007 and 2009. The two year periods, an oddity, as most minor league teams sign long term ball park deals.

Ziedelis also pointed out the team has paid around $175,000 annually in amusement tax and have also invested significant capital into stadium improvements.

Interestingly, The Keys competition comes from Frederick Atlantic LLC who has a strong relationship with Opening Day Partners. Opening Day Partners has Peter Kirk as their chairman and Baltimore Oriole star Brooks Robinson as a partner. Peter Kirk is what makes it interesting, as he was the original owner of The Frederick Keys back in 1989. The team would play in the independent Atlantic League.

I met Jack Lavoie; Frederick Atlantic LLC Majority Member and Michael Kidder; an independent communications consultant and over coffee discussed their interest in bringing an Atlantic League team to Frederick.

Mr. Lavoie said his group became interested as the rumors spread The Keys were for sale and media reports indicated The Keys lease extension with the City of Frederick had not been finalized.

When I asked him if Frederick Atlantic LLC planned to move one of the existing eight teams from the two divisions within the independent Atlantic League, he said no. Instead, Lavoie said "the team for The City of Frederick would be an expansion team".

Lavoie told me after hearing the rumors surrounding the Keys, he reached out and met with Mayor Randy McClement, the city aldermen and city administrator Rick Weldon to discuss his interest. He followed up those meetings with discussions with many community leaders.

Back in February and early March of this year, I was in the process of meeting with city officials for I wanted to "catch up" after I had mostly ignored them during the 2010 mid term elections.

A surprise to me was the topic which came up in every conversation was The Harry Grove stadium lease.

It was during my meeting with Mayor Randy McClement one morning in February at his Deli, the mayor informed me, that due to the failure to finalize a deal with The Keys, he was going forward with a request for proposals for the use of the stadium.

Perhaps, the move to a RFP was a result of the botched sole source lease proposal for use of first floor space in a city owned parking deck for a restaurant. The sweetheart deal, once publicized, has yet to come to fruition. Another example of why I have been calling for the city to establish policies and procedures in regard to the sale/lease of city owned properties.

The areas I heard the most discussion from elected officials during my meetings with them pertained to the lease amount, the use of the stadium during "off days" for other uses (concerts, Babe Ruth teams, etc.), and improvements to the facility.

A concern I have expressed previously is the price of the concessions at the stadium, which are close to the price one pays at Camden Yards; the home of the Baltimore Orioles. While the price of admission has been low to see The Keys play, feeding the kids a hot dog and bag of peanuts has become a stretch for families attending a game.

The other prevalently voiced concern by the aldermen centered on whether there would be a significant difference between a minor league team affiliated with a major league team and a independent league team. However, all of the elected officials I spoke with indicated they wanted what was best for The City of Frederick.

A look at attendance records of the two leagues does not indicate a significant difference. Mr. Lavoie, who lives in nearby northern Virginia, said "he would like to see Harry Grove Stadium become the Living Room for The City of Frederick".

He has spoken with local American Legion and Babe Ruth representatives and would welcome their use of the stadium along with other venues such as concerts, when the team is away. Lavoie has even entertained the thought of providing a prominent display of the local Alvin G. Quinn Sports Hall of Fame memorabilia (currently located at the Talley Rec Center) at the stadium.

Whether The Keys are for sale or not should not be the sole question for city officials when they decide on the stadium lease, as minor league teams are often sold. The Keys themselves have been sold several times since 1989, the most recent sale coming after Comcast realized they were not in the baseball business. However, the likelihood the bidder will remain in the City of Frederick is important.

The decision should be based on the financial stability of the bidder, the viability of the bidder to field a team, the financial benefit to the city, and whether issues, such as "off day" usage and improvements to the stadium have been addressed.

City aldermen were provided the opportunity for input in the preparation of the RFP and Addendum, and when I reviewed them, it appears their areas of concern were included.

Now, the bids have been received, they will be reviewed by a committee which will make a recommendation to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen, who will have the final approval. Mayor McClement indicated to me the review process will take at least three to four weeks.

One option in the RFP, reserved by the review committee, is to also ask for oral presentations from the bidders. An option, which would be prudent for the review committee to exercise.

It was a good move by the Mayor to issue an RFP for the use of the stadium, as the city should benefit as a result. What professionals in sports and in business want is a level playing field on which to compete - the issuance of an RFP should provide this.

May the best team for The City of Frederick win the bid.

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