SAN CLEMENTE : Park Developer to Run Sports Complex

The job of running the city’s $1-million softball field complex has been given to the leader of a group that recently lost its lease on the park.

The City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to let Steve Boehm, who was part of a sports management company that ran into financial problems after developing the sports complex at Richard T. Sneed Memorial Park, operate the facility until at least June 1991.

Steve Boehm, who was part of a sports management company that ran into financial problems after developing the sports complex, was given a contract to run the Richard T. Sneed Memorial Park until June, 1991, by unanimous vote of the council.

Councilman Thomas Lorch briefly questioned the 58% cut of league fees the contract will give Boehm, but city parks director Bruce Wegener said the costs of running the leagues justified that figure.

“He has to pay for a lot of expenses--hiring the umpires, buying the softballs and the chalk,” Wegener said. On Thursday, Boehm said that expenses will take $120,000 out of about $150,000 the city estimates that it will pay for his services over the next year.

The council also agreed to let city staff negotiate with Berryman and Stephenson Inc. to develop a proposal aimed at finding a permanent operator to run the park.

However, Wegener said city officials are still considering running the park by themselves.

“We felt a need to find out first about what the private sector has to offer us,” he said.

Boehm was one of several partners who owned South Coast Sports Enterprises, a sports management firm that leased the park site from the city and developed a four-field softball complex that serves 18 leagues and 127 teams.

But shortly after the first pitch was thrown in June, 1989, the firm’s financial troubles began surfacing. The City Council voted last January to void its agreement with South Coast Sports after several subcontractors complained to City Hall that they had not been paid and some of them filed lawsuits against the city.

The firm responded by filing bankruptcy to protect its interest in the park and to win time to find a new financial backer.

But in May, a bankruptcy judge voided the firm’s lease and returned the softball complex to the city.

Shortly after losing the park, Boehm agreed to run the softball leagues until city officials decided how they would operate the sports complex. He also indicated a desire to become the complex’s permanent operator.

“I would hope to be part of a group that will put together a proposal” to run the park, Boehm said. “I would like to stay involved with the park, but first I have to resolve my ties with South Coast Sports Enterprises.”