The business group that successfully emerged from a selection process last year to run the Erie Basin Marina is now seeking support from the Buffalo Common Council to get a signed contract.
But some, including City Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams and restaurateurs who felt they were unfairly treated in the process, want the city to take another look at the process before making a commitment.
It's frozen now, but soon enough the Erie Basin Marina will need to be ready for summer. The prospective management group and city department heads presented their Tuesday.
Joed Viera, Buffalo News
Common Council members on Tuesday questioned city department heads on the selection process, which happened in the final months of former Mayor Christopher Scanlon’s administration.
The prospective management group and city department heads presented their plans at Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting. They said they want to offer a wide range of experiences at the marina's three restaurant spaces. The operators said they envisioned places to buy hot dogs and ice cream, an outdoor bar with live music, and upscale casual seafood dining options to be available for visitors this summer.
Jon Nash, the former manager of the marina under previous operator Smith Boys, submitted the winning request for qualifications (RFQ) under the newly formed company Marina Management Group. He is partnering with restaurateur Jason Davidson, who owns The Terrace in Delaware Park and Liberty Hound in the nearby Naval Park, which are both in city-owned properties.
Nash has run the day-to-day operation at Erie Basin for the last four boating seasons.
Buffalo pushes forward with Erie Basin Marina contract, over objections
Buffalo pushes forward with Erie Basin Marina contract, over objections
Mayor Sean Ryan's administration is pushing forward with a contract for a new operator despite concerns from city officials and a potential legal challenge.
He said he was sometimes frustrated by the lack of investment into the property from Smith Boys and has ideas on how to grow the marina business, making a better experience for slip holders, visiting boaters and people using the tour boats that leave from Erie Basin.
“For the last 12 years, we've had very disjointed management, not focusing on one particular goal,” Nash said.
Davidson said he and Nash have had a good relationship as Davidson has run the Sully’s outdoor bar operation for the last few years and they have a vision for each side of the operation benefiting the other.
“I really want to connect those two together and make it a whole destination that can really thrive together,” he said.
The Common Council is reviewing a draft contract for Marina Management Group. Under the proposed agreement, Marina Management would pay 20% of net revenues, rising to 30% in the third year of the contract, into an escrow account that would be used by the operators to invest in improvements to the city-owned facilities.
The city is also proposing that the new operator sign a five-year contract with options for renewals, instead of three-year contracts. Included in the draft contract is a unilateral termination clause that would allow the city to get out of the agreement if it is dissatisfied with the performance of the operators.
Department of Public Works Commissioner Nolan Skipper said respondents to the RFQ told the city they would be less inclined to invest in the business with a three-year contract.
“Five years offered more of a collaboration, sense of a contract that they're more willing, then, to invest in the marina up front,” Skipper said.
But some questions continue to swirl around the process and agreement.
And Comptroller’s Office staff continued to raise concerns over internal controls that were not properly in place or adhered to during the tenure of the previous marina operator, Smith Boys.
The effort to get a new operator in place for the Erie Basin Marina and adjacent restaurant spaces has hit a snag after a restaurateur cried foul on the process for selecting a new contractor.
The Comptroller’s Office has issued five recent audits of the marina showing lax enforcement of internal controls, incomplete bookkeeping and little financial benefit for the city under the previous deal.
A 2022 audit found that Smith Boys paid the city less than $1,000 over an eight-year period.
Sam Bruno, a city auditor in the Comptroller’s Office, said the office would like to see more language in the contract guaranteeing that controls will be in place to ensure that the operators are regularly reporting, and that the city is getting its money due.
“For 12 years, the previous operator wasn't giving us financial statements or complying with other terms, and the city did nothing,” Bruno said. “There was no enforcement.”
Deputy Comptroller Delano Dowell also said he is concerned with reinvesting all of the money derived from the contract back into the properties given the city’s budget deficit issues.
“We've been talking about increasing revenues,” Dowell said. “This is a way that the city can increase revenues.”
Evetta Applewhite, owner and operator of Evelina’s Kitchen, had been holding regular dining hours and events at the former William K’s space at the marina, subleasing from the approved operator Angelo Canna Jr. without a written agreement or permission from the city, which was required under Canna’s contract.
When Canna’s contract was terminated by the city, Applewhite had already booked out months of events and invested in the business.
But Council members, Scanlon administration officials and Ryan administration officials have all said that while Applewhite’s situation is unfortunate, she was operating without the required permission. In addition, Canna’s contract included a clause that allows the city to unilaterally terminate the contract.
Behind the scenes, the disagreement between Applewhite and Davidson has become acrimonious, after years of working together.
In documents shared with The News and other media outlets, Applewhite has accused Davidson of getting the inside track on the RFQ process, in what she has said amounts to bid-steering under the Scanlon administration. Davidson and city officials deny this.
Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope said that while some issues still need to be resolved, she is confident that the new operators will be in place in time for boating season.
"The good thing is, it's just February right now, and so we have a little bit of time," Halton-Pope said. "I think, right now, it's a matter of making sure that we cross every 't' and dot every 'i'."