Elk Grove City Council Nixes Aquatic Center Bid Reimbursement Request
The Elk Grove City Council turned back a request from a bidder for the city's aquatic center that sought to be reimbursed for biddi...
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2013/05/elk-grove-city-council-nixes-aquatic.html
The Elk Grove City Council turned back a request from a bidder for the city's aquatic center that sought to be reimbursed for bidding on the project.
By a 4-0 vote (Vice Mayor Steve Detrick was not present) the council denied a request from the P3i company that sought to be reimbursed up to $155,000 for the cost of bidding and development of a plan a plan for the city's proposed aquatics center should their bid be denied.
Assistant City Manager Rebecca Craig noted during her presentation to the council that the proposal is "scoped as a high risk project." PSi is the only bidder who qualified for the request for proposal.
During council questioning, Craig said that the aquatics center would likely end up with two operators - one for the commercial water park and another for the competitive center which would include among other things a diving platform facility and an Olympic sized swimming pool. She also said the commercial component would need to subsidize the competitive facilities so the center would not operate at a net loss to the city.
During their deliberations, the council uniformly expressed skepticism about the request noting the putting together a bid and proposal is the cost of doing business.
Council Member Jim Cooper noted the city is putting $14 million and 20-acres of land towards the center and the commercial component will make a good return.
"I have a hard time as a council member sitting up here doling out $155,000," Cooper said. "That is not a ton of money, but it is significant."
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3 comments
Wise move gentlemen. Glad to see you saw/understood/grasped the silliness of such an agenda item. This was a can of worms waiting to escape and would have created a slippery slope indeed. Perhaps this should be a wake-up call that our dream aquatic center may be a pie-in-the-sky idea. Let’s work on the mall and finish that project first. There are plenty of other half-baked ideas floating out there i.e. SOI, Civic Center project; MLS; MLS stadium; to name of few that could use your attention.
I agree - nice move by the Council. Thank you.
It appears the Council does listen to their constituents once in a great while. Jim Cooper made the comment that he heard from citizens that they were against approving this item and we answer to them!
On this one, they got it right!
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