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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