COSTA MESA : Council Balks at Paying Design Firm

Citing dissatisfaction with past work, the City Council this week decided not to pay a Santa Rosa design firm $21,000 to renovate the driving range and irrigation system at a municipal golf course.

The firm, Ronald Fream Design Group Ltd., however, has already incurred the costs of the redesign and was under the impression that the work was ready to go out to bid, according to design associate David Dale.

“All the drawings and specifications have been prepared by our consultant and we have finalized all the technical specifications and work documents,” Dale said.

He added that the company does not do work on speculation and is expecting payment.

City officials, meanwhile, will seek bids from other firms interested in the project, Mayor Mary Hornbuckle said.

Council members accused the Santa Rosa firm of designing the Los Lagos driving range as if it existed in a more arid area such as Palm Springs.

“The greens did develop a fungus, so we had to completely redo some brand-new greens that we had put in about three years ago,” Hornbuckle said.

The city manager and golf course committee had recommended that officials award the contract to the firm based on the belief that the city had an existing contract with it and that the irrigation and driving range improvements would be added to that contract, according to a staff memo.

They also wanted to get the work done during the off-season.

Hornbuckle said the city wants to know how much it would cost to have another firm complete the work, but, she added, because the Ronald Fream Design Group has already started, it may end up completing the job after all.