San Mateo Athletic Club deal unnerves college district

But following more than six months of discussing whether the district will extend its deal with current operator Exos, trustees shared their frustration with taking up the issue during a meeting only weeks away from an approaching contract expiration date at the end of the year.

“I wish our staff had not put us into this bind. It’s not how I think we should be operating,” said board Vice President Richard Holober, who directed his displeasure at an administrative team which he believes disobeyed previous instruction from the board.

Holober said he felt trustees had been clear in telling the administrative cabinet that they would prefer for the issue to be brought up for a decision at an earlier meeting. But with the item not put on the agenda for a vote at the most recent meeting, he felt trustees were backed into a corner with limited options other than to grant a temporary extension of the existing contract.

“I’m troubled when the board gives direction to staff to do something, that direction was not followed. That is a big problem for me,” he said.

Trustee Maurice Goodman agreed that the board was in a tight spot, noting that trustees John Pimentel and Lisa Petrides were recently sworn into office and that the new additions would likely need more time to be briefed on the issue.

“We need to have a sense of urgency to see how we can best move forward to ensure the public is a part of this and that our trustees are brought up to speed,” he said.

Officials in June agreed to issue a request for proposals to seek other companies which may be interested in running the gym, and said they will look into the costs associated with the district running the facility as well.

With the request for proposals still incomplete, officials are considering exercising a contract term allowing Exos to continue running the gym for three more months past the January expiration deadline while the process finalizes.

Goodman said he would be comfortable granting the extension, if Exos signed a document guaranteeing it would not sue the district if officials ultimately select a new operator. If the company would not make such an agreement, Goodman urged officials to act swiftly and schedule a special meeting before the end of the year to make a binding decision on the operations contract.

Considering the magnitude of the decision, board President Thomas Nuris encouraged officials to move deliberately.

“We need to look at it carefully and not rush into it because haste in this case may make some serious waste,” he said.

For her part, Petrides said she looks forward to officials finding some resolution on the issue.

“I myself am very much anticipating the legal briefing we will be able to get now that we are sworn in, as well as actually coming to some resolve on this issue that is mystifying to me as to why the current board hasn’t been able to resolve until now,” she said.

Petrides added that she had hoped the previous iteration of the board would have made a decision on the issue before new trustees were sworn into office.

Pimentel concurred, saying he is willing to do whatever it takes to close the book on this problem so officials can direct their attention back to the assuring the district is offering the best education possible to its local school community.

“I really don’t want to deal with this anymore,” he said.

In other business, Pimentel was sworn into office after winning the District 5 race in the fall election. Petrides took the oath of office to represent District 1 and Goodman started his new term representing District 3 after defeating fellow former colleague Dave Mandelkern in November. Holober took over role as vice president from Nuris, who assumed the seat as president following the departure of former trustee Karen Schwarz.

austin@smdailyjournal.com