MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Tennis Court Revolution Oath

VOLTE-FACE TENNIS IN MIAMI BEACH

Bollettieris Green Square Team Wins Rematch from Vacillating Commission
March 5, 2014 By David Arthur Walters MIAMI MIRROR

MIAMI BEACHIn an about-face surprising only to the politically nave, the commission of the City of Miami Beach effectually revoked its previous final decision to award the contract for the management of the citys tennis centers to Howie Orlins team instead of Jimmy Bollettieris incumbent team dba Green Square, Inc, a Subchapter-S corporation treated by the IRS as similar to a partnership so that profits and losses can be passed through to its shareholders to report on their individual tax returns. Green Square had been running the tennis centers in an almost continuous breach of its contract with the city, the terms of which were grossly neglected by city officials for over a
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

dozen years. Its partners cried poor as they reported nearly $100,000 losses according to its 2012 Form 1120-S tax return prepared by Commission Deede Weithorn, yet they fight tooth and nail to keep the contract. The contract expired on April 15, 2012, and was put out for bid while Green Square retained month-to-month possession of the courts. Normally, only three bidders would have made the final list. However, Green Square was shoed onto the list as the fourth place bidder. Orlin, the top bidder, would normally have been awarded the contract. If a final agreement could not be made with Orlin after his team was chosen by the commission, it could have then been made with the next bidder on the list, and so on down. Yet on September 11, 2013, the commission, in a travesty that made a joke of the spirit of the states contract procurement law, capriciously and unreasonable threw out the bids on pretext of working out some thorny issues with Green Square, allowing it to continue managing the centers on a month-to-month bases, with the intention of ultimately awarding the contract to Green Square. To accomplish that end without a new bidding process, the city manager would have to provide a written recommendation that the bidding be waived. At the February 12 commission meeting of this year, City Manager Jimmy Morales said he saw no exigent reason to waive bidding either way. The commission, on the advice of Chief Assistant City Attorney Raul Aguila, that it could waive the bidding process on its own volition without the affirmative recommendation of the city manager or on his refusal to make the recommendation, then made three motions: A motion to put the contract out for bid again failed. A motion to waive bidding and give the contract to Green Square failed. A motion to waive bidding and award Orlin the contract passed with the necessary 5 of 6 votes needed for the waiverCommissioner Deede Weithorn recused herself because her brother-in-law is the general manager and owns an interest in Green Square. From the city commissioners: You have to have five. We have five. You have five? Good, then its over with, congratulations! The outcry was outrageous, with one man yelling that he wanted his tennis membership dues back. Commissioners, adopting a paternalistic tone, did their best to quiet the temper tantrum. Later in the day, long after the players, coaches and sponsors had left to gnash their teeth or drink champagne, and with the commission chamber nearly emptied, Chief Assistant City Attorney Raul Aguila worried that the city managers recommendation to waive the bidding process, the recommendation being a refusal to make a recommendation, was not in writing as required by the city charter. Wherefore he was anxious about suiting the requirements of
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Due Process, so he gave the commission cause to instantly amend its final decision, converting it into a non-binding expression of sentiment. To wit, the commission would take up the matter at the next meeting, and then, with the socalled non-affirmative recommendation of the city manager committed to writing, waive the bidding process and give the contract to Orlin. Everyone was certain the contract was in the bag for Orlin, that the final resolution would be put on the consent agenda and rubber-stamped. That is, until Green Square posted a notice on the door at the Flamingo Park tennis center, to be pulled down shortly thereafter, that there had been no win at all, that the final decision of the commission had been revoked at the end of the day. Although several people scoured the video of the meeting, no such revocation could be found. No one noticed the brief, sentimental motion of the commission that suddenly took place at 4 pm as aforesaid. So the Green Square notice of revocation was deemed to be a practical joke or hoax. But it was not a hoax. Perhaps the final decision was the hoax. Perhaps a deal had been cut somewhere the Sun does not shine. The proverbial Fat Lady was yet to sing. Hopefully her voice would not be diminished by a diet, as the beautiful voice of Maria Callas was said to have been diminished as she lost weight and became the most beautiful woman in the world. Here is the volte-face: On the morning of March 5, 2014, the commission took up the tennis contract item prior to the consent agenda and without public participation. The city manager recounted previous events, and reiterated his decision not to recommend a waiver. However, if the city commission reverted to the original bids, his positive recommendation for the Orlin team would stand, for he had already deemed that process to be fair and reasonable. The commission went right through that open door. It unanimously decided that it would reconsider the original bids, listen to public testimony, and decide on the contract at its next meeting. In other words, it will go back to square one, and, perhaps, it will undo the travesty conducted by the previous set of commissioners, but do not count on it. Analysis: 1. The spoiler was Raul Aguilas opinion that a refusal by the city manager to recommend a waiver constituted a negative recommendation that would allow the commission to waive on its own motion. If that were true, the deal would have been done as intended if the city manager had committed his refusal to writing. Raul Aguila was just doing his best to serve the best interests of his client. I was willing to swallow the logical absurdity since it would be foolhardy to risk up to $250,000 to challenge it in court given the size of the contract. However, the Bollettieri team has a wealthy friend, energy trader Mark Fisher, dedicated to the principle
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that Green Square should have the contract at all costs. He has already offered to throw in $250,000 to allay any concerns that Green Square will perform on a new contract. 2. All bets are off. There are already cracks evident in Mayor Levines so -called reformist coalition. We are probably going to see business as usual, for which the Green Square contract has been emblematic. Do not be surprised if Green Square gets the contract, or if another fiasco occurs allowing it to retain month-to-month possession of the courts, although that is not highly probable at this time. 3. Jimmy Morales told me that he does not care what people think about him because he knows the truth. Pontius Pilate asked, What is the truth? The truth is that h e is a nice guy. He is not as handsome, in my opinion, as his predecessor, Jorge Gonzales. He has good intentions, as far as he is concerned. However, he is also a polished politician and Harvard lawyer, not the professional, apolitical business manager that our form of city government is supposed to have. He is a homeboy shoed into the position ahead of outsiders recommended by a professional recruiting firm. That is to say that he is old guard, one of the Good Old Boy political insiders despite illusions of radical reform projected onto the clouds by the new regime as it merely tweaks the machine. I respectfully believe he speaks cleverly, keeping forked tongue on both sides of questions just in case. He is entitled to uninformed discretion, yet he was sorely mistaken when he said there was no exigent reason for providing a recommendation to waive the bidding process so that the contract could immediately be awarded to Orlin pursuant to the will of the commission at the time. He could have written a positive recommendation out on the spot. His refusal to waive and get the long and painful process over with was the deal killer. Yet we must remember that he is just the manager, not the boss. Ultimately the commission will do whatever it wills, with or without him.

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