If anything came out of Tuesday night's special meeting (originally scheduled as a workshop until the last minute), was the fact (and I've said it before), staff runs the show. I'm just going to touch on golf carts in this blog. Through the years, we've had a lot of horse trading involving golf carts and frankly, no one can keep up with it. All we do is recycle OLD information and OLD justifications to new commissions and new city managers to buy/lease the entire golf cart fleet every 4 years.
Back in 2010, the city purchased 50 new golf carts from ClubCar, Inc. for a total cost of $134,550. The entire commission approved of this purchase, including Scott Maxwell. Not only did former city manager Susan Stanton approve of it (this commission loves to conjure up things to blame on her) but it was approved by the Public Works Director (Joe Kroll, the guy who this commission believes could do no wrong), the Recreation Manager and the Golf Course Manager. The warranty covered ALL major functioning parts as well as a battery charger. Kroll gave examples of other area golf courses using ClubCar and finagled a way to waive the bid process required by law. It was also stated that there was an authorized dealer on Lake Worth Road that could service our carts and where we could get parts quickly.
Agenda Date: October 19, 2010, Regular Meeting
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The Recreation and OMB Departments recommend using an existing Tucson, Arizona bid award with ClubCar to take advantage of the competitive pricing offered through this existing contract and waiving the formal bid process. Other local municipal golf courses that have used the same Tucson, Arizona contract include:
· Palm Beach County Southwinds Golf Course
· Palm Beach County Okeeheelee Golf Course
· Palm Beach County Osprey Point Golf Course
· City of Palm Beach Gardens Municipal Golf Course
· City of Port St. Lucie Municipal Golf Course
· City of Sebastian Municipal Golf Course
Although I don't recall staff telling us Tuesday night how old our golf carts actually are because there were some changes going on in 2011 and 2012, Juan Ruiz did say that our golf carts are near the end of "their useful life" due to bad batteries, broken body parts, broken hinges and several other mechanical issues which create serious operational problems and staff just can't keep up with it all--the exact same explanation that was given in 2010. Batteries can last up to 8 years depending on how well you maintain them but we're talking about the entire golf cart. Apparently the carts are just worn out. This was the same excuse that was given back in 2010 to justify replacing what we had.
Forward to December 2014--Now the staff wants to trade in the 70 carts that we own and purchase via E-Z-Go, a Division of Textron, Inc., that has offered the City "many advantages," according to the Recreation Manager, including a competitive price; excellent quality; and a maintenance program (with weekly mechanic visits). Financing through E-Z Go will cost the city $289,310 over four years. They, once again, are piggy-backing and in their justification for no bid they say that other local municipal golf courses that have used the Tucson, Arizona contract include:
· City of Lake Worth
· Palm Beach County Southwinds Golf Course
· Palm Beach County Okeeheelee Golf Course
· Palm Beach County Osprey Point Golf Course
· Palm Beach Gardens Municipal Golf Course
· Port St. Lucie Municipal Golf Course
Sound familiar?
The first 23 months of this lease is covered by the City’s proposed $122,000 trade-in value for its existing 70 cart fleet (E-Z-Go will credit the City $1,800 in trade-in value for 50 of our 2012 golf cars, and $1,600 for 20 of our 2011 golf cars, which would give the City a total of $122,000 in trade in value.
What happened to the 50 carts we bought back in 2010 that were under warranty...with battery chargers? Why were they not maintained per our warranty? Why did the batteries go bad and why not just buy new batteries?
The city Commission just voted for flood insurance in the amount of $13,478 to ensure the golf course barn was protected. The coverage is for $231,100 for the golf course barn plus contents worth $346,500 that houses our golf carts. We are not known for maintaining our assets and the city taxpayers just keep paying and paying and paying and this horse-trading goes on and on and on--the Walking Wallet.
3 comments:
And this is the SAME COMMISSION that held our streets hostage ,saying that they were BROKE and couldn't fix them until we "walking wallets" coughed up 63,000,000 for them to play with??????
This is the SAME COMMISSION that can't afford to keep our pool open during reasonable hours ??????
Lynn,you did this research. WHY can't our elected officials get a clue? This whole deal stinks.Follow the money. I'll bet that the receipts don't add up.
Was this something on consent agenda? The rec mgr should do his job. City mgr too. Commission too.
Kuan Ruiz gets paid 100,000.00 plus to do what?!!!?? He does nothing! And wasting our tax dollars!!
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