Sports Complex simplified

Dave Brooks

A city project tied up in controversy came one step closer to

completion this week.

The Huntington Beach City Council unanimously approved a plan

Monday night to hire contractors with Major League Softball Inc. of

Burbank to complete batting cages on the Sports Complex. The plan

comes months after the contractor originally hired for the job

abandoned the project with nearly $1 million of the city’s money.

The batting cages planned for the Sports Complex will bring in

additional revenue to the project, which utilizes revenue bond

financing where the money generated by the project is used to pay off

its long-term loan.

During Monday’s City Council meeting, Community Services Director

Jim Engle said despite a strong winter season, the baseball diamonds

at the Sports Complex generated about $100,000 in profits, and he

hopes the batting cages do more to boost the city’s bottom line.

While the original plan called for previous contractor Community

Parks Foundation to both construct and operate the new batting cages,

Engle said his staff will now run the facility.

While the project is still not complete, finalizing the batting

cage deal has been a relief for Engle, who inherited the task from

it’s original visionary, retired Community Services Director Ron

Hagan.

“We had a 10-year relationship that is now lost,” said Engle,

adding that he struggles to meet the stringent financing deal Hagan

orchestrated to pay for the project.

The most difficult part has been meeting the terms of a tax-exempt

financing deal that requires the bulk of the work be done by a

nonprofit agency.

When Hagan first put the project out to bid, only one group

applied to take it on -- Joe O’Conner and his Community Parks

Foundation.

In past interviews, Hagan described O’Connor as a charismatic

business man, who said his nonprofit agency had built sports

facilities around the world and fundraised with private donors to pay

for the project.

What he didn’t tell city officials was that he didn’t actually

have his nonprofit status and that his company, along with a string

of others he owned, had been suspended by the state of Oregon. There

was also a warrant out for his arrest for abandoning a soccer arena

he was hired to build in Michigan.

Part of the way into his contract to build the Huntington Beach

Sports Complex, O’Connor said he ran into construction problems and

abandoned the job without completing it. In an unrelated lawsuit, he

would later testify that only $37 was left of the $950,000 he has

been paid to do the work.

City Attorney Jennifer McGrath said her department is still

pursuing legal action against O’Connor.

“The city filed it’s lawsuit and has waived its right to

arbitration but Mr. O’Connor has asserted his right to arbitration

and a hearing is set for July 29.”

In the meantime, city officials are still struggling to finish the

final component of the project, which was originally envisioned to

include hockey rinks and a soccer field. Engle said he might have to

amend the site plan for the Sports Complex and possibly eliminate the

final stage of the project.