Wellington Village Manager Paul Schofield informed the Wellington Village Council on Tuesday that he has thrown out all of the recent bids for operation and maintenance of the Wellington Tennis Center due to disparities in the responses. Instead, he proposed running the program in-house.
Last month, Wellington’s Parks & Recreation Advisory Board ranked tennis pro Jeff Bingo first in its recommendation for a new tennis center operations and maintenance contract after hearing presentations from current provider Tommy Cheatham, Tennis Exclusive, Bingo and Plantation Pro Shops.
Discussion of the bids came up at the tail end of Tuesday’s council meeting when Councilman Michael Drahos said he had received many e-mails regarding the recent recommendation of a new contractor, but had been unable to respond because a gag order had been placed on the process while the selection was underway.
“I just wanted to say that we have received those e-mails,” Drahos said, addressing citizens who expressed their opinion. “You are not getting a response on purpose. We are not allowed to respond… I wanted to assure you that I have read every single one of those e-mails. Your insight is certainly valuable to the village.”
Schofield, however, explained that he had rejected the bids, and that the cone of silence they had been under was lifted.
“I had not taken a detailed look at the proposals, because if I do, I become part of the appeals chain and need to take a look at the four corners of the proposals, but I did send a letter earlier today rejecting all bids,” Schofield said. “I had serious concerns when I started looking into it.”
He cited an item of $110,000 that was overlooked by the low bidder.
“He recognized the mistake,” Schofield said. “There was also an overestimation of the income… I had reservations about that. Based on where we are at, I rejected the bids in the best interests of the Village of Wellington.”
Schofield said that the budget includes a provision for bringing the program in-house.
“That would be my recommendation,” he said. “We will continue that program exactly the way it is, we will advertise those positions, and we will hire the best person for the job.”
Mayor Anne Gerwig said she had questions about the operation when the previous council voted to build the new tennis center. At the time, as a councilwoman, she said operator Tommy Cheatham told members that if they moved the program and gave him 21 clay courts, he would be able to operate it at no cost to the village.
“That was part of our incentive, so I have some questions about why his proposal didn’t come back in that way,” Gerwig said. “Is it possible to have that discussion with him now? Even though I didn’t vote for it, it has 21 clay courts, it’s a fantastic facility. He said, ‘If you do this, I can do that,’ and it didn’t seem to happen. He probably has a wonderful explanation. I just don’t know what it is. We hadn’t been able to have that discussion before.”
Gerwig said it’s time to put away the question of people making money from village operations.
“That was the constant question about how we ran that program,” Gerwig said. “If we bring it in-house and hire the best people for the jobs, then we’ll never have this situation again.”
However, she added that when the village ran the tennis program in-house before, it was more expensive. “But staff is presenting to us that they think we can run it in-house and actually break even or make a profit,” Gerwig said.
Schofield said that he did not anticipate making a profit, and that it is not village policy to make a profit off of the program.
Councilman Michael Napoleone said he was confident that bringing the program in-house would work.
“We will hire the right people and run an excellent program, because that’s just what we do here,” Napoleone said.
