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Port Orange council rejects hunting-lease bids, offers one-year extension to current manager
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Summary
After staff flagged procurement problems, the council voted 4-0 to reject all bids for ITB 25-23 and separately approved a one-year lease extension to the current manager at the prior annual rate, authorizing the city manager to execute the agreement.
The Port Orange City Council voted unanimously to reject all bids for ITB 25-23, the city's hunting-lease solicitation, and to offer a one-year extension to the current manager while staff reworks the solicitation.
City Manager described the procurement as having technical issues related to staff transitions and recommended rejecting the bids so the city could consider a different procurement approach. He said 10 bids were received, of which two were found nonresponsive and three were protested during the process. Council members said they wanted a fair, defensible process and to avoid repeating the procedural errors.
Council then approved a motion to offer a one-year lease through April 30, 2027, to the current manager (identified in the meeting record as GNG) at the annual rate the manager paid previously and authorized the city manager to sign the lease. The motion carried 4-0. The council also directed staff to schedule workshops to examine long-term options for the roughly 11,000-acre property, which council members said is a conservation and well-field area for the city.
The decision followed substantial public comment from members of the formerly held Smokey Hunt Club and other longtime users who urged continuity. "If you take the members away, once they scatter they may never come back," said Robert Thomas Jr., a former club principal, who asked how violations by a previous bidder would be addressed during a one-year extension. Conservation-minded speakers emphasized stewardship and the role hunters have historically played in habitat management. "Hunters generate more funding and wildlife conservation for habitat management than any other group," said Herb Mimbleer, a longtime club member.
Councilmembers stressed the extension was a short-term fix to provide continuity for season planning, member access and to avoid immediate displacement while staff returns with a revised procurement or RFP that factors stewardship, insurance and other qualitative criteria.
The council vote to reject the bids (motion recorded as accepting staff recommendation to reject all bids for ITB 25-23) passed 4-0; the subsequent motion to offer the one-year lease extension and authorize the city manager to execute it also passed 4-0. The meeting record shows a May 30 deadline previously set for removal of personal property if no agreement were reached; council members said the newly authorized extension would supersede that removal timeline if the lease is accepted.
