After the Detroit City Council last week failed to approve a management contract for three Detroit's municipal golf courses — Chandler Park, Rackham and Rouge Park — the city administration said it might have to shut them down.
Now all is well.
The council voted to approve a $180,000 management contract for the courses, which now will remain open.
Katrease Stafford of the Detroit Free Press writes:
Some council members publicly criticized the administration for the imminent closure announcement, including Council President Brenda Jones who said last week during a Neighborhood and Community Services Standing Committee meeting that she felt the administration was trying to place the blame on council.
Within the past several months, many council members have raised concerns about the how the vendor was being selected and the transparency of the process. And last year, the City Council and administration tangled over a separate $98,000 consulting contract for seeking ideas to potentially repurpose Chandler and Rouge into a residential development, industrial park space and other purposes.
"I would just like to say to the administration ... I am very disappointed with how that (press release) went out," Jones said last week. "I've been a member of this body for 13 years and I will continue to do my due diligence. ...To put out something to the general public to literally blame council who has a responsibility to do due diligence, to print in a paper that it is council's fault, I truly have a concern."
