July 23, 2014
Rio Nuevo Reschedules Arena Lot Oral Presentations
On May 27, 2014 the Board of Directors (“Board”) of the Rio Nuevo Multipurpose Facilities District (“District”) issued a Request for Proposals for the Sale or Lease and Development of the Arena Site (“RFP”). There were two qualifying responses to the RFP. In accordance with the terms of the RFP, the Board members graded these two proposals. Both the individual Board members’ initial scoring sheets as well as a combined scoring sheet were then promptly posted to the District’s website.
At the July 15th meeting, the Board considered the initial scoring and the options available to it under the RFP. It then voted 4-1 to schedule public interviews of the entities that had submitted proposals. The RFP provided notice to all proposers that as part of the scoring process interviews were a possibility. During the meeting, a strong sentiment was expressed for the Board to schedule the interviews as quickly as possible. In an effort to accommodate that request while still allowing reasonable time for the two entities to be prepared for such presentations and interviews, the Board originally scheduled a Special Meeting for July 23rd.
One of the bidders asked for additional time and in the interest of fairness and full representation the District cancelled the meeting and immediately began the process of rescheduling the interview meeting to give both proposers additional time to prepare. To date, the District has not received a single complaint about this process or its timing from the community as has been erroneously reported by alternative media.
The new meeting date and time is August 12, 2014 commencing at 9 AM.
The sale and quality development of the Arena Site remain of vital importance to the District. For this reason, in the Board’s view this RFP has been and will continue to be handled in accordance to its terms and the District’s Procurement Code as a transparent and competitive solicitation.