LV Sportspark is slapped with audit after sale talks

Erin Neff

Thursday, July 20, 2000 | 11:23 a.m.

The proposed sale of the private-venture half of a recreational facility rankled the City Council on Wednesday so much that the board ordered a complete audit of Las Vegas Sportspark.

Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, who represents the ward in which the recreation center is located, was visibly upset that Sportspark owner Don Schlesinger didn't bother to talk with her about any potential sale of his end of the public-private partnership.

"I was a little shocked that it even made the agenda without anyone informing me," Boggs McDonald said.

Las Vegas Sportspark, which opened in May 1999, was approved with Schlesinger, a former Clark County commissioner, as a partner. That happened before Boggs McDonald took office.

"If Mr. Schlesinger is watching (on TV), his handshake was with someone else," Boggs McDonald said during the televised meeting. "If he wants to discuss the Sportspark, he needs to talk to Mama."

Schlesinger said he called Boggs McDonald several times after she took office last June to invite her to visit the facility and discuss it with him. He said she couldn't make one appointment and never rescheduled.

"We would certainly love the opportunity to sit down and talk with her," Schlesinger said in an interview after the City Council meeting.

Adding to Boggs McDonald's confusion about the possible sale was the printed agenda listing Sportspark in Councilman Michael McDonald's ward. The 70,000-square-foot facility at Rampart Boulevard and Vegas Drive is far from McDonald's area.

McDonald's disclosure that he would abstain from any item related to Sportspark because his boss, Larry Scheffler, owns a 6 percent interest in the facility raised more than one council member's eyebrows about what was considered simply a clerical error on the printed agenda.

The item before the council was to consider assigning Las Vegas Sportspark Ltd.'s interest to Pristine Properties Inc. But before Wednesday's meeting, Schlesinger's negotiations with Pristine broke off, and the council was asked to strike the item.

But before the council voted to remove the item from the agenda, Councilman Larry Brown said his office received numerous calls inquiring whether the 50-year partnership was benefiting citizens or just the Sportspark owners.

"As a partner in this project, I was disappointed," Brown said about his recent visit to the park.

The Sportspark is situated on 18 acres adjacent to the city's Bruce Trent Park. It includes softball fields, an ice rink, a roller rink, snack bar, arcade and pro shop.

Councilman Gary Reese, who visited Sportspark to watch his grandson play ice hockey, said he felt the facilities were not totally utilized.

Hearing those comments, Mayor Oscar Goodman ordered City Auditor Radford Snelding to conduct an audit.

"We welcome the audit," Schlesinger said. "We're a public facility.

"But the city also had to come in and work with us."

The city and Sportspark first began working together in 1998 when the Bureau of Land Management approved a lease of land for city civic use. Under terms of the 50-year deal, the city is paid $277 an acre per year at the beginning of the contract and $1,111 an acre per year at the end.

When the city entered the agreement many Summerlin residents disputed the facility's role as a civic center. One Summerlin couple sued, and Sportspark faced other legal problems when a professional hockey player sued Schlesinger over breach of contract for firing him.

One of the most common complaints about Sportspark was that Schlesinger got a sweetheart deal.

"This is hardly the sweetheart deal that had been characterized in years past," Schlesinger said, but he denied the facility was having financial difficulties.

Schlesinger said the city hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain because it doesn't promote the recreation center.

"It frosts me a lot that all we get from City Hall is the criticism and not the support we need," Schlesinger said. "Perhaps we don't have the right political connections to the city."

Sportspark charges $5 for public skating and about $3 per player per game in softball leagues. When it opened, it was designed to meet recreation needs the city could not.

"We're proud of what we've done," Schlesinger said. "Frankly, I think we are one of the best kept secrets in the valley."

Boggs McDonald isn't so sure. On Wednesday she likened her position as councilwoman after the deal went through to "the people who walk behind the elephants at the circus."

The City Council asked for the audit information and a full report during the Aug. 16 meeting.