Our View Softball tourney troubles a bad beat for WM

Our View

Softball tourney troubles a bad beat for WM

It is always easy to play armchair quarterback but, in this case, there displays a classic example of failure to do due diligence in regard to the City of West Memphis entering into a non-binding agreement with a private promoter who apparently didn’t live up to promised expectations.

As many read the exclusive story about the so-called shenanigans surrounding the fourth annual Southland Softball Classic tournament in June on Tuesday, June 21 in the Times, it is plainly clear West Memphis has a legitimate beef with promoter Clint Albright.

You see, last October, the West Memphis Advertising & Promotion Commission pledged reimbursements up to $5,000 to Albright for his promise to promote city hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions to tournament teams and their traveling fans.

It seems that not only did Clint and Maria Albright not perform to expectations but said the A& P commission and the city owed them $4,700 in expenses without submitting any samples of the actual promotion work the couple had actually completed.

In fact, there was no proof whatsoever of publication for the advertising and no documents that reflected any sort of promotion.

The icing on the cake, so to speak, was when A& P commissioners heard the promise to play the majority of the tournament in West Memphis failed to pan out.

And where were the games played? Well, of course, on Marion’s fields at the Marion Sports Complex.

So then, it was the taxpayers of West Memphis who were stuck with the costs so that the tournament games could be played in Marion.

Oh, but the situation gets even worse as commissioners pondered on meeting Albright’s demands for park improvements to the tune of $57,000. So it seems, Mayor Bill Johnson, with the approval of both the Parks Commission and the Budget Committee, authorized the Parks Department to laser level playing fields and make some other improvements around the city park in order to retain the tournament.

The added insult to this sad situation occurred in late May when regular city league play at Tilden Rodgers was suspended for a week to get the work done before the scheduled tournament started.

Sadly, instead of holding the tournament at the revamped West Memphis park Albright unexpectedly shifted it to the Marion Sports complex for all of the Sunday Tournament.

It was also revealed that the tournament fielded just 41 of the promised 60 teams with the vast majority of the games moved away from West Memphis to Marion’s facilities.

And, if that wasn’t enough, Parks Commission Chairman Darin McCollum accused Albright of playing dirty by also causing concession operators to lose a considerable amount of money that was spent on extra food and beverages that were never sold.

What we have heard is a failure on the part of city leaders, making expensive decisions without entering into a legal and binding contract with this private promoter.

The contract should have been drafted by the city attorney and spelled out specific requirements, expectations and legal consequences for failure to comply.

This was an embarrassment to those involved and a valuable lesson learned that should be taken very seriously so as not to occur again.

As the old saying goes, “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”