Board reopens swap meet bid

Deirdre Newman

The Orange County Fair Board decided Thursday to reopen bidding for

the lease of the fairgrounds’ high-end, weekend swap meet, despite

lingering reservations from some directors who wanted to negotiate

solely with Tel Phil Enterprises, the founder and 35-year operator of

the Orange County Market Place.

The board also approved hiring an outside consultant to help

design an equitable and impartial process for requesting bids, which

is an about-face from a January decision it made not to look outside.

Tel Phil is competing against Delaware North Co. for the lease.

They were the only two companies to submit bids when the original

request for bids went out. The board nixed that bidding process in

July after it became tainted by various charges and allegations.

Tel Phil had requested the board negotiate directly with it since

it has provided a high-quality, profitable service for more than

three decades. The state Department of Food and Agriculture, which

has to approve the contract, and Delaware North urged an open bidding

process.

Many board members said they felt conflicted about the choice, but

ultimately decided an open bidding process would be the fairest way

to handle the leasing process.

“It’s been a very difficult issue,” said director Luis Pulido. “I

didn’t talk to anyone. I made the decision on my own.... In this

case, I can’t get over the fact that I don’t own this property, the

board doesn’t own this property -- it’s government land. So it’s our

duty to send it back to the [open bidding process].”

Jeff Teller, president of Tel Phil Enterprises, said he respected

the board’s decision.

“I appreciate the need of this board to do what they feel is in

the best interest of the state and the city of Costa Mesa -- I think

they take that seriously,” Teller said. “By the same token, I don’t

think they want to compromise that quality and risk losing an Orange

County institution.”

Jeff Flint, a consultant for Delaware North, said he was pleased

with the outcome.

“We look forward to the opportunity to put a bid in when the

process is ready and not only do we think we have a strong financial

component, but I don’t think we take a second seat to anyone in terms

of quality,” Flint said.

Before it approved hiring an outside consultant, the board tweaked

some of the language in the goals of the request. Instead of keeping

the goal of preserving and maximizing the district’s revenue, the

board changed “maximize” to “enhance” to remove the perception that

the board is only interested in the bottom line. It also removed the

outside consultant from coordinating the scoring process, since that

is the board’s responsibility, said director Ruben Smith. Scoring is

the process of rating the bidders in various categories.

In the previous bidding process, Delaware North had offered to

give the fair district 50% of all swap meet revenues, an increase of

more than $2 million per year over the 35% that Tel Phil currently

gives the district. Stuart Suchman, an attorney for Tel Phil,

declined to disclose how much Tel Phil had offered.

A preliminary timeline shows the new request for bids being issued

in July.

As a result of the board’s decision to open the bidding process

for the swap meet, the board will consider opening the bidding

process for the speedway contract the next time the lease is up.

International Speedway has been holding events at the fairgrounds for

the last 35 years and there has never been an open bidding process,

said fair spokeswoman Pam Highwart.