Negotiations on Stadium Price to Begin Again

Negotiations over the price the city should pay to bring a baseball stadium to town are set to begin again today, even before the City Council has a chance to reconsider its controversial decision to oust an outspoken critic from the bargaining team.

Two meetings are planned today and a third on Monday, in an effort to make progress toward a deal with developer John Hofer, who is offering to donate 20 acres of land if the city spends $18.7 million on a stadium there.

“We will enter true negotiations,” Councilman Ray Di Guilio said. “I spent most of a sleepless week trying to figure out what is the right approach--and I think we need to move along or stop wasting everyone’s time.”

But all three sessions would take place before the City Council can consider an item on Monday night’s agenda, responding to a public outcry that Councilman Gary Tuttle be reinstated to the negotiating team.

“They take me off. They cram in a bunch of meetings without me. Then when I return, they will have gone beyond a point where I can play a part,” Tuttle said angrily on Thursday. “I’ll only be a token part of it . . . meaningless.”

Tuttle was ousted from the three-man bargaining team earlier this week by council colleagues who considered him a divisive element in the negotiations. At the same time, the council voted 4 to 3 to continue talks with Hofer for another 30 days.

Since then, citizens have deluged City Hall and council members with phone calls and faxes protesting Tuttle’s treatment. Tuttle said he can barely hang up the phone before it rings again. Councilman Jim Friedman, who supported Tuttle, said he can’t read his faxes fast enough.

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And Di Guilio said he has received many critical phone calls. Even some supporters of the stadium, which would bring minor league baseball to Ventura, were shocked at Tuttle’s treatment.

The impassioned personal attacks and raw, divisive emotion that spilled out into the open in the five-hour council debate Monday have alienated many citizens, Di Guilio acknowledged.

“This is like a big black eye for the council,” he said. “The council as a viable body with credibility just got hit big time.”

Despite the fact that he voted to remove Tuttle, Councilman Jim Monahan said Thursday that excluding him “is not right.” He asked the city clerk to add an item to Monday’s agenda reinstating Tuttle. Monahan said the last meeting ran so late, that he didn’t think through what he was doing.

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Tuttle dismisses Monahan’s gesture as last-minute damage control.

“He got a whole lot of flak from his supporters--that’s why he’s doing this,” said Tuttle, adding that he and Monahan have not spoken for seven years. “This is to protect his own political skin. It’s not about me.”

Monahan said he did not receive a single call regarding Tuttle, and moving to reinstate him is simply a matter of principle. Monahan also said he will push for the negotiating deadline to be extended so that Tuttle can participate.

Both appear unlikely.

Today’s meetings occur just as Tuttle leaves for a two-week vacation, and Di Guilio said Hofer needs some kind of sign within 30 days to meet a deadline with California League President Joe Gagliardi.

But Friedman, the third member of the original team, said he is not sure how to proceed with negotiations today. He said he is waiting to receive a letter from Tuttle confirming that he wants to rejoin the talks.

“I really wonder if we should wait til he gets back,” he said. “If we do anything before he gets back, there could be the perception we are not on the up and up.” Talk of building a stadium began two years ago when the California League promised to deliver a Class A team if a city in Ventura County built a stadium. Ventura picked up the ball and began talks with Hofer for his land near the Ventura Auto Mall.

The three-man negotiating team met Hofer in closed-door sessions for three months but made little progress. Hofer’s only offer--that the city foot the entire bill for the $18.7-million structure--was deemed unacceptable by the majority of council members Monday.

The council has scheduled two public hearings on the stadium for Oct. 2 and 9 to allow residents to express their views.