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..

---

To receive "Daily Updates" from Air-it-Out with George Wenschhof, click on "Subscribe to this feed" below.

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...

---

To receive "Daily Updates" from Air-it-Out with George Wenschhof, click on "Subscribe to this feed" below.