Request to run Springs community centers garners interest
The city of Colorado Springs received at least one proposal to take over operations at four community centers whose funding is about to run out, but officials refuse to reveal any details.
A city official on Tuesday said he will not identify who submitted responses to the proposal requests or disclose how many responses the city received by Friday’s deadline, saying it’s part of city regulations and that doing so could jeopardize negotiations.
“With an RFP process, we don’t divulge any of that information at this point in time,” said Curt DeCapite, the city’s procurement services manager.
“It’s considered proprietary until we go through a selection and make a recommendation,” he said.
DeCapite would say only that the city received “some” responses.
“A request for proposals is not just numbers. There’s financial statements that we require. There’s reference checks,” he said. “As we get into the evaluation process, we may sit down and negotiate with these vendors.”
The Deerfield Hills, Hillside, Meadows Park and Westside community centers were slated to close under the 2010 budget. But the City Council decided last year to fund them for three months to give the community a chance to find new funding sources. The centers served tens of thousands of children and others last year, providing summer and after-school programs, recreation, meals and other services.
The council is scheduled to discuss the fate of the community centers March 22.
Councilman Sean Paige, who advocated for the three-month reprieve, said he didn’t put a lot faith in the RFP process and that the council may have to consider spending more money on the centers.
“I’m not holding out a lot of hope because I’m afraid people will get comfortable thinking that council will come to the rescue, and I don’t think that’s necessarily so at this point,” he said. “There are a lot of other demands on the city’s limited resources.”
Paige, who is heading an effort to develop private partnerships to keep the centers open, wanted the city to streamline the RFP process and relax some of the requirements. But officials said certain criteria, such as liability insurance, had to be met. The 24-page request for proposals required a pile of paperwork, including five years of financial statements.
“I have talked to at least one potential partner that found it intimidating and didn’t participate for that reason,” Paige said.
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