Jane MusgraveDeal would add fees to play and could oust longtime pros.
West Palm Beach is close to inking a deal that would cost at least one – possibly two – popular tennis pros their jobs and force residents for the first time to pay to play on courts that were recently rebuilt with millions in tax dollars.
The deal, which rocked the city’s tight-knit tennis community, spawned bid protests and a lawsuit, will turn the operations of tennis centers at South Olive, Howard and Gaines parks over to Let’s Play Tennis, a Palm Beach-based firm that wasn’t the city’s top choice.
Once a proposed three-year contract is finalized, the city will immediately turn over the operations of Howard and Gaines parks tennis centers to the company, headed by Cameron Lickle, a former tennis professional and a standout at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Lickle and his business partner, Gulf Stream resident Kevin Anderson, who was once the No. 5 tennis player in the world, would take over the South Olive Tennis Center in May, according to a draft version of the contract obtained from the city.
To settle a lawsuit filed by Skip Jackson after his bid to operate the centers was rejected, city officials agreed that the longtime director of the South Olive Tennis Center could stay until the end of the upcoming season of the women’s tennis teams that are based at the park. The season, which begins this week, ends April 30.
Once Let’s Play Tennis takes over, the days of free tennis will end at Gaines and South Olive parks.
Paying to play tennis
A fee schedule established by the city would force city residents to pay $6 an hour at Gaines Park and $9 an hour at South Olive to play during peak hours. Reduced rates would be offered during non-peak hours, which are in the middle of the day. Nonresidents would pay nearly double.
Annual permits, costing as much as $1,380 for unlimited play at all three centers, would also be available.
Michael Williams, a retired city firefighter who has been organizing tennis clinics at Gaines Park for years, said he has many questions about the city’s plans to bring in new people to manage the centers.
But he was unequivocal about the plans to charge residents to play on hard courts.
“It’s absurd,” he said.
Fees have long been charged at Howard Park because it has clay courts, which are expensive to maintain.
“There’s no maintenance on hard courts,” he said. “People shouldn’t have to pay to play.”
Further, he said, it makes no sense to charge different rates at South Olive and Gaines parks.
“All of them need to be the same,” he said. “Why should I pay more to play on courts near my house than I would if I drove to ones farther away? That’s crazy.”
City officials didn’t explain why the rates will be different, but it is likely because the neighborhoods surrounding Gaines Park are far less affluent than those surrounding South Olive.
The apparent recognition that the tennis centers are vastly different also raises questions about why one company is being hired to run all three, Williams said.
“My mama always told me not to put all my eggs into one basket,” he said.
For years, the city has cultivated tennis at South Olive and Howard parks by hiring pros to operate programs there.
Gaines Park, which is in a predominantly Black community, hasn’t had a tennis pro for years, relying instead on Williams and other volunteer members of the Gaines Park Tennis Association.
Williams has watched the drama unfold from afar. He said little makes sense about the city’s decision to oust Jackson and Mark Jones, who has run the center at Howard Park for decades.
Jackson and Jones were beloved by regulars at the centers. Both took over when the courts were in disrepair. Once they were improved with the proceeds from a $30 million parks bond issue, the city put their contracts out to bid.
City dropped two bidders
Initially, the city selected USTA Florida, the Orlando-based arm of the national governing board of tennis, to run the three centers. Those plans were derailed when Jackson raised questions about its failure to divulge its parent company’s involvement in several sexual assault lawsuits.
In January, the longtime director of USTA Florida was charged in North Carolina with multiple child sex crimes.
By then, the city had disqualified Jackson from bidding on the contract because he spoke out at a City Commission meeting about why he should be allowed to continue to manage the center at South Olive.
The city’s procurement officer ruled that his comments violated a “cone of silence” that prohibits those who bid on city contracts from talking to elected officials in an attempt to curry favor. Jackson immediately filed suit.
With USTA and Jackson gone, city commissioners in January awarded the contract to Let’s Play Tennis, which also filed a bid protest raising many of the same claims as Jackson.
Jackson dropped his suit against the city in mid-August, allowing negotiations with Lickle to begin.
Saying that he doesn’t want to violate the cone of silence, Lickle declined to comment on the status of the negotiations or when he expects to take over the tennis centers at Gaines and Howard parks.
He could hire Jones to continue to operate the center at Howard Park. Jones said he hadn’t been contacted by either Lickle or the city about his future. “I’m open for negotiations,” he said in a text.
While Jackson didn’t return a phone call for comment, those close to him said it’s unlikely he would agree to work for Lickle or that an offer would be made.
Million-dollar deal
According to the draft contract, Lickle would be paid $920,000 annually to staff and maintain the three facilities. The city would also pay $60,000 a year to maintain the clay courts at Howard Park.
During the first year, Lickle would receive nearly $100,000 to establish pro shops at each center and purchase supplies. He would get another $80,000 in the first year to pay bonuses to retain employees and cover startup costs.
In return, the city would pocket his first $300,000 in revenue from lessons, clinics, court fees and other sales. After reaching that amount, Lickle would retain the lion’s share of the revenue.
An analysis by artificial intelligence showed that Lickle would have to generate $3.9 million in revenue during the first year and $4.7 million in the second year for the city to break even.
Jackson’s existing contract with the city is much simpler. He keeps 85% of the revenue he earns and shares the rest with the city.
While the contract negotiations have been conducted privately, tennis players have publicly railed against the city’s handling of the contract for the three centers.
Jackson’s supporters turned out in force when he – and they – appealed to the commission to let him keep running South Olive.
Chrisana Blanco, who plays in the women’s league that Jackson runs, said she and others are focusing on the present and trying to forget that Lickle will take over in May.
“I’m happy we have this season and we’re going to make the most of it,” she said.
She and others are still upset and angry at the way Jackson was treated, she said. But, once Jackson settled the lawsuit, agreeing to leave, she said there was nothing she or others could do.
“I told him it was like a Bonnie Raitt song,” she said. “You can’t make them love you.”
