I navigated my way through some city traffic and drove along the waterfront to get to the course, which is in an urban area. Considering the great reviews this place gets I wanted to check it out now with its uncertain future. I heard that the lease for Butler Park Pitch & Putt was not renewed for the current group (who date back 70 years) that runs the course. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.I had one final golf-related stop to make on Saturday. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. The Austin Monitor ’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Photo by WhisperToMe, via Wikimedia Commons. He noted his discomfort with Council members potentially getting so deeply involved in the city’s procurement process as to forgo solicitation process standards to make an exception for Kinser.īoth Flannigan’s substitute motion and Kitchen’s original motion failed initially, followed by Council Member Alison Alter making a successful motion to postpone. With Harper-Madison and Adler absent, Council Member Jimmy Flannigan made a substitute motion to postpone the vote to June 20. “The bottom line for me is that I think a decision that is as important as this … needs to be made on the merits, on the fully vetted evaluation, not on a technicality,” Kitchen said. “This is not,” he said, “going to open a floodgate of reconsideration of procurement matters.”īased on those details, Council Member Ann Kitchen motioned to reject all three bids and extend the current contract with Kinser for up to six months to allow for a new bidding process. Steve Butler, whose family the park was originally named after, said Thursday in public comment that this instance is unique considering the circumstances of its rejection and the history of the park. Matt Duree, procurement manager with the city’s Purchasing Office, told the Parks and Recreation Board in May that opening the bidding process up to include Kinser’s proposal after the date had closed would violate city policy and demonstrate preferential treatment to a specific bidder. While the details of the proposals have not been released, Parks and Recreation staff awarded the proposal from Pecan Grove 25 out of 30 points in its evaluation of the plan’s overall concept for improving park conditions while preserving the golf course’s reputation for affordability. The city received two other proposals for management of the course, the most compelling from Pecan Grove and another from Butler Golf Association, LLC. Kinser’s proposal was thus considered “non-responsive” by the city, despite criticism from both city board members and community members that exclusion on such grounds is unnecessarily austere. Since the proposal process is conducted entirely on paper, the mistake was not flagged by staff until after the RFP window had closed on April 9. Kinser compiled her own proposal for business but failed to include a signature validating the document. Though the Parks and Recreation Department says park conditions have improved and revenue to the city has increased in recent years under Kinser’s management, the city chose this time to release a request for proposals in March to compare that performance with other bids. 12, the last day of the city’s contract with Butler Pitch & Putt, Inc., if the contract is awarded to Pecan Grove.Ĭouncil chose not to open negotiations with potential bidders at the termination of Kinser’s previous contract with the city in 2014. Lee Kinser, who has managed the park since 1995, will hand over operations to Pecan Grove on Aug. The nine-hole course in Butler Park was designed by Winston Kinser in 1949 and has been managed by the Kinser family since opening to the public in 1950. With Mayor Steve Adler and Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison both absent for a vote at Thursday’s meeting, City Council has postponed approving a contract of up to 20 years for Pecan Grove Golf Partners for managing Austin’s nearly 70-year-old Butler Park Pitch & Putt golf course.Ĭouncil will be taking up the contract for a vote again on June 20, without granting members of the public another opportunity to speak on the item.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |