Glendale council narrows experience weighting, approves amended scoring for Glorietta Park tennis RFP

Glendale — The City Council on Tuesday approved an amended scoring rubric for a revised Request for Proposals (RFP) to operate tennis facilities at Glorietta Park, shifting points away from pure longevity and toward affordability and public access.

Community Services and Parks staff told the council the RFP process began Dec. 17, 2024; staff received eight proposals from seven proposers, of which three met the minimum qualifications. Council had originally voted to award a contract on June 10 but rescinded that approval on Sept. 30 after an unsuccessful proposer threatened legal action alleging the award was based on criteria not listed in the RFP. The revised draft requires three years’ experience as the principal party operating a public-agency tennis facility with at least two courts and removes advertising and marketing as an evaluation factor.

“Rather than making it a revenue for the city, it’s a quality of life for the residents of the city,” public commenter Steven Meek said, asking the council to preserve open play time for seniors and other residents.

Staff recommended (and the mayor and city attorney confirmed) that evaluators score each subcriterion on a 0–3 scale (0 = unqualified; 3 = exceptionally well qualified) and that staff apply percentage weights afterward. Aaron Israel, senior assistant city attorney, said the phrase “best qualified” in the scoring is a term of art meaning “exceptionally well qualified” for a subcriterion and that multiple proposers may receive top numeric scores.

Council members objected that the revised draft put too much weight on duration of experience and not enough on quality and financial efficiency. Councilmember Brotman proposed removing 10 percentage points from the top experience-related category and reallocating them to make open-play availability and affordable hourly court rates more consequential; colleagues discussed dividing the 10 points between court-rental affordability and tennis camps/integrated programs. The motion to adopt the amended scoring sheet was moved, seconded and carried by roll call (clerk recorded: Jose Durian — Yes; Brotman — Yes; Garagretian — Yes; Sagin — Yes; Aaron Jarian — Yes).

Under the amended rubric staff will use an external panel of three evaluators with experience running tennis concessions to score proposers; if panel scores tie, the tied proposers and the panel evaluations will be presented to council for final determination. Staff told council they expect to return with an award recommendation by May.

The council’s action changes how proposers will be evaluated but does not award a contract. The revised RFP and the amended weighting will be posted and used for evaluating reissued proposals; the city will accept and score proposals using the external panel and the updated criteria before returning to council for an award decision.