City Cancels Contract With Valley-Wide for West Parks

Valley-Wide will continue to supervise and maintain Wheatfield Park and others east of Interstate 215, but after June 30, the City of Menifee will take control of parks on the west side.

The City of Menifee has notified Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District that it will not renew its services and maintenance contract for the west side of Interstate 215 when it expires June 30.

The parties entered into the agreement in May 2014, after the City Council by a 4-1 vote directed City Manager Rob Johnson to formalize a three-year contract with Valley-Wide for the care and supervision of parks on that side of town. Parks and recreation facilities on the east side of the 215 fall within Valley-Wide's district and will continue to be supervised by Valley-Wide, as they have for more than 25 years.

The contract called for one year of service and two option years. In a letter dated April 2, Johnson informed Valley-Wide officials that the city would not pick up the option years.

"While we appreciate the district's effort to provide services to the residents of Menifee, the City has determined that further efficiencies will result from in-house operations and directly contracted maintenance provdiers," Johnson wrote in the letter. "Since July 2014, the City has become more established and secure in its ability to provide quality Parks and Recreation programs to its residents, as evidenced by several success staff-led special events, fiscal management, community partnerships and park development planning."

Near the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year, city officials were prepared to take control of the west-side parks after terminating a previous contract with Riverside County. At the authorization of the City Council, a community services division was formed and Robert Lennox was hired as its director. A budget proposal for the city's maintenance of west-side parks was presented to the council for consideration.

Before that proposal was approved, however, council members during an April 30 workshop heard testimony from several residents in favor of allowing Valley-Wide to take over control of all parks in the city. In addition, Dean Wetter, general manager of Valley-Wide, presented council members with cost estimates less than the city's figures. Two weeks later, the council voted to go with Valley-Wide, even though the city's community services department had already been formed.

That decision at the May 14 meeting was a bit of a surprise to Johnson, who had planned for exactly the opposite.

"When (city consultant) Shawn Nelson was brought on staff, he was asked to develop a plan," Johnson said. "Part of that plan was community services. Shawn and I wholeheartedly believed that the City Council wanted us to create a community services dept. Somewhere lost in the translation, and after we presented our staffing plan to create the department, Valley-Wide decided to take our information and go around the city manager to some council members and offer a way to do it cheaper."

Johnson said the 4-1 vote was taken before he had the opportunity to review a detailed financial proposal from Valley-Wide.

"Mr. Wetter comes to the podium and says, 'I can do it cheaper,' " Johnson said. "That was the first time I had seen [their cost estimates]. It didn't matter. It was a 4-1 vote to go with Valley-Wide. So we licked our wounds and we signed the agreement with Valley-Wide. We thought it was for a particular cost and it didn't end up being that cost."

According to city records, the City of Menifee and Valley-Wide on Sept. 3 agreed on a supplemental contract for additional work Valley-Wide officials said was beyond the scope of the basic agreement but necessary to maintain the parks in good condition. The extra work form for those first two months of the fiscal year totaled more than $12,000. While the City Council approved it, Johnson estimated that the supplemental work would cost the city an extra $100,000 over the course of the year.

"As a staff, we took all the bullets," said Johnson (left). "What we're doing now is going back to presenting our plan. We believe we can do it cheaper and we can do it better. We have our master parks plan in the works, we have a parks commission now, and we have a lot of people invested in seeing the west wide and the east side come together."

Because of Valley-Wide's existing jurisdiction over the east side of the city, that will require continued cooperation between the two sides in events such as the Independence Day celebration, which is held annually at Wheatfield Park.

Wetter was diplomatic in his response to the city's decision.

"I think the city entered into the contract with the intent to one day operate the parks on its own," Wetter said. "It's become apparent they are ready to do that. Meanwhile, I think we've done a great job helping in the transition.

"We're talking about an aging park system, so we knew there would be some issues. There's probably 3,000 sprinklers out there that need replacing. We repaired facilities that were in need even before this contract. We put in new mulch and wiped out graffiti.

"I understand how it's been viewed, but this was not a black-and-white area. I think both agencies have worked well together and will continue to do so."

Wetter also said that Valley-Wide is currently 12 percent under budget on its base contract and expects to come in $70,000 under its budget of about $586,000 for the fiscal year.

Thus beginning July 1, the City of Menifee will be responsible for maintenance of west-side parks, including Audie Murphy Sports Park, Lazy Creek Park, La Ladera Park, E.L. Pete Peterson Park (right) and several others. City staff's budget for those services will have to be approved at a future council meeting.

The decision not to renew the contract did not take council approval, Johnson said.

"The council directed me to sign a contract with Valley-Wide. I had the authority to sign the contract and I have the authority to cancel the contract," Johnson said.

Johnson said he consulted with council members and discussed the financial situation with them before making the decision.

Matthew Duarte, a longtime Menifee resident who grew up in the Valley-Wide recreational programs, expressed his disappointment with the decision.

"Valley-Wide is an award-winning agency with a 25-year track record of providing great parks and services to the east side of Menifee, and we were looking to continuing that tradition on the west side of the community," said Duarte, who is on the Valley-Wide Board of Directors. "Obviously, we weren't given that chance.

"As someone who lives here in Menifee, I personally would have liked to have seen the City focus its efforts and financial resources on further developing our safety services. City officials have reported that we are below standard in the number of police officers for our size, and I think addressing that issue should have been a priority before the City created a Parks Department from scratch.

"But I'll tell you what -- I refuse to make this a political issue. The City has made it clear that this is the direction they want to go in, and I will be here to support their efforts."