City officials went with operator’s ‘local flavor’

Diana Sahagun

Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2001 | 9:52 a.m.

Members of the Las Vegas City Council were silent earlier this month when they chose to begin negotiating with local golf course operator Billy Walters over an operator from Irving, Texas. Now they are explaining their votes.

The council Oct. 3 voted unanimously, and with little discussion, to begin negotiating with Walters to operate the Northwest Family Golf Course.

The vote came after a city evaluation panel recommended that the council choose Evergreen Alliance Golf Limited because its proposal offered the least financial risk to the city.

Walters said last week that he has been unfairly hammered by critics who say he was given the contract solely because of his political influence. He said if the council had better explained its vote, he could have been saved from the backlash.

Walters said last week that he was inclined to drop negotiations with the city altogether, but he was even more determined to prove that he was not given special treatment by the council.

Five council members and the mayor this past week explained their votes to the Sun. Councilman Michael McDonald could not be reached for comment.

At the time of the vote only Councilman Larry Brown spoke up to explain his decision to vote against the panel's recommendations, saying Walters had a "local flavor."

Later, Brown said he judged both proposals to be equal, regardless of staff reports that painted Walters' proposal as lacking necessary information. Although Walters' proposal was estimated to cost the city $8 million more over 10 years, compared to Evergreen's proposal, Brown said the cost had nothing to do with his decision. The numbers will be finalized during negotiations, he said.

Brown said he also had concerns about statements made by the panel in one of the back-up documents provided to the council. Brown said some of the language should have been reworded so that it was more objective.

Lost in the debate surrounding the vote is that the city has reached its commitment to build a quality golf course at a price that will not require city subsidies, he said.

"I have been extremely disappointed in some of the innuendoes that have been stated at City Hall and in the newspapers," Brown said.

Councilman Lawrence Weekly said he was troubled by the staff reports, which indicated Walters' proposal "provided little detail with no firm action plan." But his concerns were alleviated during Walters' presentation, he said, adding that he also followed Brown's lead.

Councilman Gary Reese said he made his determination because of Walters' "local flavor." Walters operates the Desert Pines Golf Course, which is in Reese's ward. The course is a positive sign of redevelopment in a declining area, Reese said, and was a welcome addition to the neighborhood at East Bonanza and North Pecos roads.

Councilman Michael Mack and Mayor Oscar Goodman both said Walters has what it takes to build a high-end golf course, because of the courses he operates locally.

Unlike Brown, Goodman said he did not think both proposals were equal. Instead, Goodman said Walters' proposal was better because he is a proven operator who is familiar with the Las Vegas community. Goodman said he wanted a "home-grown product."

"I want to take care of those who live here," Goodman said. "If I have a choice, if you know somebody and they're honorable, and you've done business with them in the past, they get the best of it."

Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald said she voted against Evergreen because she heard the company had caused problems in Henderson, where it is negotiating for a contract to operate a golf course.

Boggs McDonald talked with Henderson staff members before the council meeting and was told that Evergreen was awarded negotiation rights to operate a golf course, but then came back to the city and asked for an additional $2 million to $3 million.

"In my view, we had two extremes," Boggs McDonald said. "One that hadn't been very specific (Walters) and another that, while it looked great on paper, I didn't have a degree of confidence that they had delivered their product."

Phil Speight, Henderson's city manager, said that in September 2000 Evergreen was selected from a field of four -- including Walters -- to operate a golf course. After Evergreen began more in-depth soil testing, it determined that due to groundwater and tainted soil, it would cost an additional $2 million to $3 million to make the property ready for construction.

Speight said a consultant, hired by the city of Henderson, tested the soil and agreed that the conditions were much worse than previously thought.

The city, though, declined to provide Evergreen additional funds and determined the soil could be made remedied with its current budget of $13 million to $16 million. Speight said he expects a final contract for operation in 60 days.

"We had no problems with Evergreen. We had problems with the site," Speight said.

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