By Brian Biggane
In a move that Mayor Tom Carney termed “a bad look for us” and ultimately voted against, the Delray Beach City Commission at its Oct. 13 meeting awarded JCD Sports Group a new five-year contract to run the city’s two tennis centers.
A story in the October edition of The Coastal Star, which featured former players and coaches of the Delray Beach Tennis Center and the Swim and Tennis Club harshly criticizing JCD management, led eight people to address the commission during the public comment period, seven of whom offered their support of JCD and managers Jeff Bingo and Jennifer Fiedler.
The exception was Patricia Ryan, who backed the complaints and said the reason more dissatisfied players were not at the meeting was that the commission had shifted its handling of the contract from Oct. 20 — the date mentioned in the story — to a week earlier.
City Attorney Lynn Gelin brought the commission up to date on the history of events going back to March, laying out how the city sought proposals from management companies interested in winning the contract that would replace the current one that expires in December.
Gelin said a three-person committee headed by Parks and Recreation Director Sam Metott selected five companies and heard their proposals. She said two of the companies dropped out after being emailed follow-up questions, leaving JCD, The Baral Group and FM Management.
The committee rated the three by a points system and judged JCD the best by a significant margin, then sent the commission its recommendation to award the contract to JCD, which has managed the facilities for the past 30 years.
The commission was scheduled to consider the recommendation in August, but deferred action when Carney suggested bringing all the companies back to be interviewed by the commission after hearing concerns about JCD’s current management of the centers.
However, before the Oct. 20 meeting was held to hear from JCD and the other two finalists, City Manager Terrence Moore used his authority to disqualify The Baral Group and FM Management, saying they lacked the required 10 years of management experience the city had spelled out. Since there was only one company left, there was no need for the scheduled Oct. 20 commission interviews.
FM Management co-owner Brandon Flanagan, who runs tennis operations for the city of Boynton Beach, said his company has been in business since 2015 and three of its employees, including himself and co-owner Allington Mutimer, worked for many years at the Tennis Center prior to starting their business.
“I thought we had similar size and experience (as JCD),” Flanagan said when contacted later. “I have to say I’m disappointed the city staff interprets it that way.”
Despite Moore’s disqualifications, city officials said the other companies were allowed to make presentations to the selection committee. Commissioners pointed to the 50-point disparity in scoring between JCD and FM done by the three-member panel as a reason to favor JCD.
But Flanagan said two members of the panel rated the two very close; Lynda Wieland of Parks and Recreation separated the two by an almost absurdly wide margin, he said.
“Lynda Wieland was what killed us,” Flanagan said.
Carney, who was attending the Oct. 13 meeting remotely, made a motion to start the process over and Commissioner Judy Mollica joined him, but the motion was defeated on a 3-2 vote. Commissioner Juli Casale then made a motion to award the contract to JCD, which was approved 4-1, with Mollica switching her stand to support JCD’s bid.
While the contract is for five years with five one-year contracts to follow, there is no provision for reopening the bid process within the 10-year term.
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