Walters gets new golf deal

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, Oct. 4, 2001 | 10:36 a.m.

The president of a Texas-based golf company whose bid on a Las Vegas contract was rejected in favor of high-roller Billy Walters says the City Council was more concerned with political ties than with qualifications.

Larry Dorson, president and chief executive officer of Evergreen Alliance Golf Limited, said this morning that he was disappointed that his company -- the low bidder on the contract -- was not chosen to negotiate with the city to operate the Northwest Family Golf Course.

The council instead Wednesday chose to negotiate a final contract with Walters, a high-rolling gambler and developer who operates six golf courses in the Las Vegas Valley.

Dorson said his proposal would have cost the city $7 million to $8 million less in management fees over the next 10 years.

"My guess is there is a much stronger political connection between Billy and the city than we have," Dorson said. "We tried to win on the merits of our company, and he was very open about his relationship with the city officials. And we can't compete with that. Sometimes merit isn't important. Sometimes local connection is important."

An evaluation team made up of staff members from the city departments of Field Operations, Public Works, Leisure Services, Finance and Business Services, and the Boulder City Golf Course manager, recommended that Evergreen Alliance Golf Limited be awarded the contract, as the lowest qualified bidder.

While the council typically awards construction contracts to the lowest qualified bidder, the members have the discretion to vote against staff's recommendations.

Councilman Larry Brown said he recommended Walters because of his extensive experience locally in managing golf courses, with almost 30 years in the state of Nevada.

Development of the $12 million, 78-acre golf course and 10-acre city park at Gowan Road and Durango Drive has been a challenge for Brown since he was elected four years ago.

During one of his first Town Hall meetings, Brown was bombarded by hundreds of residents who were angry that he was pushing for more soccer fields and parks, rather than a golf course. The residents told Brown the city had promised a nine-hole municipal golf course and some had moved to the neighborhood for that reason.

Brown said then that he would work with the residents to bring them a golf course, with the condition that a city park would be included.

The golf course would be located on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management. The city would pay for development of the course through bond issues, then recover the cost through revenues generated by golfers. Walters would be paid a management fee from the same revenue.

Dorson maintains the city would save money by dealing with Evergreen because his company would charge a lower management fee over the course of the bond repayments.

The amount of the management fee will be part of the city's coming negotiations with Walters.

Evergreen Alliance Golf Limited has built 41 golf courses around the country and was established 18 years ago, Dorson said.

Locally, the company is working with the city of Henderson to build a course at Whitney Ranch, and was awarded a contract last year to manage Arrow Creek Golf Course in Reno.

Police attempted to seize one of Walters' courses, Desert Pines, in 1999, alleging the $20 million golf course was funded in part by illegally obtained gambling funds. The golf course, leased from the city in eastern Las Vegas, has since been dropped from police forfeiture attempts, and two criminal indictments against Walters have been dismissed in court.