SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Shreveport‘s swimming pools will be managed this summer by the Rock Solid Athletic Club after all, according to the non-profit’s director.
Shelley McMillian told KTAL/KMSS that the City of Shreveport has verbally offered the $125,000 contract to operate five of the city’s swimming pools for Shreveport Parks and Recreation. She expects to sign the paperwork on Wednesday.
That would bring the saga of the SPAR swimming pool contracts full circle, two weeks after the city initially offered the contract to Atlanta-based USA Management. The move stunned McMillian and set off a wave of criticism and questions about why the city suddenly required a bidding process after 12 years with Rock Solid. The city said the change was driven by an effort “to adhere to state statutes and city ordinances, policies, and procedures.”
The city says that decision to award the contract to USA Management was based on the highest scoring applicant for the contract through the bid process.
The evaluations were conducted by a team of SPAR employees, whose names were redacted in the documents provided to KTAL/KMSS by the city. But they show that two of the three evaluators scored Rock Solid far lower than USA Management.
According to documents requested from the city, the scoring was based on five criteria, scoring from 0-50 on Qualifications; 0-20 each on Equipment and Experience and capacity; and 0-5 each on “demonstrated understanding of the problems and needs presented by the project” and “Cost-effectiveness and reasonableness of” the proposed $125,000 fee for those services.
In the end, USA Management came out on top with 262 points to Rock Solid’s 179, and all three evaluators voted in favor of offering the contract to the Atlanta company.
The following week, the city announced USA Management had turned down the contract but said Rock Solid was not eligible to get it because the non-profit had not fully disclosed all litigation they were involved in over the last five years.
At the time, McMillian said she was reaching out to the city to appeal the decision in hopes of clearing up any questions.
A spokesperson for Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins‘ office said Tuesday morning that there was no paperwork on which to base a confirmation that the contract has now been offered to Rock Solid.
According to the SPAR website, five SPAR pools are scheduled to open to the public from June 28 to July 28. After July 28, the Southern Hills pool is supposed to be open on weekends only through Labor Day (Monday, September 2) from 1-5 p.m.
Rock Solid has also run ‘Project Swim,’ providing free swim lessons to more than 18,000 since its inception following the drownings of six local teens in the Red River in the summer of 2009.
