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City In Middle Of Turf War

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By LAURA KINSLER

lkinsler@tampatrib.com

Published: March 25, 2009

Updated: 03/25/2009 11:56 am

ZEPHYRHILLS - If you think football is a violent sport, try reasoning with two youth leagues fighting over the same field.

City Manager Steve Spina has been stuck in the middle of a dispute between the Zephyrhills Police Athletic League and Zephyrhills Pasco PAL for nearly a year. The two youth sports leagues have been in a turf war since last season, when they shared the city's Krusen Field football facility.

"This has just been an awful experience from Day One," Spina said.

But the controversy grew even uglier Monday night when the City Council voted 3-2 to award ZPAL exclusive use of the field despite allegations the league operated without insurance last year and without conducting criminal background checks on its coaches and volunteers.

Mayor Cliff McDuffie, who did not have a vote, was clearly upset. "I'm really concerned that we just awarded the bid to a league that apparently has no proof that background checks were ever done. We have no proof."

The two leagues shared the city field last year, which led to overuse and open hostilities among parents and league officers. For the past six months, the two leagues have been vying for exclusive use of the city's facilities.

ZPAL was the original youth football league, but it left the Pasco Police Athletic League umbrella to join the MidFlorida Football Conference in search of better competition. The league prospered, bringing home a national title for its under-12 team. But some parents complained that the league and director, Mark LaMonte, benched local children to recruit players from outside of Zephyrhills.

So a splinter group of parents formed their own league to continue the affiliation with the local PAL organization. They shared the city's field, but complained that ZPAL wouldn't let them use the scoreboards or raise money through concession sales.

At one point, Spina attempted a Solomon-like compromise, offering to build a second concession stand so each league could continue to share the field. But the Parks and Recreation staff said the city needed to pick just one league.

Each league submitted a bid package. An independent review committee gave ZPAL the advantage by one point, but the league appeared to be disqualified when City Attorney Joe Poblick raised questions about its insurance documentation. Poblick said the insurance certificate was actually for a league based in Lakeland.

"I am very concerned that it appears that ZPAL has been utilizing the City's field without any insurance, thus putting the City at risk of lawsuits," he wrote in an e-mail to Spina.

LaMonte was allowed to provide additional proof of insurance, but ZPAL president Marsha Decena continued to dispute his evidence. She had letters and e-mails from the director of Lakeland PAL stating the policy was not in effect after ZPAL switched leagues.

"Every time we delve into this, it just gets murkier and murkier," Spina said.

Council President Luis Lopez said the decision should have been made based on bid packages. "We can't change the rules midstream," he said. "I don't want to see one party lose out on a technicality, but at the same time, I don't want to see the other party cheated out of something they earned."

Decena also accused ZPAL of providing false information in its bid package when it said the insurance company performed background checks on all coaches, board members and volunteers.

Spina checked with the insurance company, which denied conducting background checks for ZPAL.

The background checks are required by the Jessica Lunsford Act, and ZPPAL contracts with Pasco County Sheriff's Office to run checks on all coaches and volunteers.

"They did not do background checks," Decena said.

Councilman Manny Funes said he wouldn't award the bid to ZPAL unless it could prove it had complied with the Jessica Lunsford Act. But his concerns were moot.

Councilman Kent Compton, whose child plays for ZPAL, made motion after motion to award the bid to ZPAL. He finally got a majority vote when he added two conditions: that city staff verify the league's insurance is in order and that ZPAL conduct new background checks with the Zephyrhills Police.

Council members Clyde Bracknell and Jodi Wilkeson voted for the motion. Lopez and Funes voted against it.

Parents from ZPPAL stormed out of City Hall promising to file a legal protest.

"The deal was, if the bids were false, you would be disqualified," board member Annette Poe said.

Poblick said the council was authorized to award the contract to ZPAL because "this wasn't a true bid. It was an informal process."

Lopez disagreed. "If we're calling it a bid, it's a bid."

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 779-4617.

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