Council grants ‘relief’ to golf course eatery

Group running restaurant receives cut in fees owed to city

The Yuma City Council granted contract changes requested by the concessionaire operating the restaurant at the city’s Desert Hills Golf Course.

Alex Trujillo, owner of Chef Alex Group, which has been operating The Patio for several years, had asked for a contract with his company name and a reduction in the percentage of revenues that go to the city.

Chef Alex asked for “relief” from the 10 percent gross revenue fee provision in the original contract with Frank’s Family Dining of Yuma No. 2 LLC. The city had called for a minimum of 5 percent, but Frank’s submitted a bid with the higher amount and received the contract.

Chef Alex later took over the contract, and the company has now asked to be the direct concessionaire with the name of the restaurant as “The Patio” on the contract instead of “The Hills” as used in the current agreement.

The council unanimously approved the changes in a new contract during the Wednesday meeting. The city granted him “relief” by reducing the fee paid to the city to 6 percent of gross revenues.

During a Tuesday work session, City Administrator Greg Wilkinson said that the city looked at “a lot of things” when considering the request for relief, including that restaurants are struggling due to the increasing minimum wage. After some discussion with Trujillo, “6 percent came back as the right number.”

Wilkinson explained that when the city decided to privatize the restaurant in 2014, it asked for proposals with a minimum of 5 percent. Frank’s Family Dining offered 10 percent “because he really wanted it.”

Frank’s operated The Hills for about a year and then closed due to financial difficulty. Frank’s sought an assignee to the contract and Chef Alex became the assignee in October 2015, with the council’s consent.

Wilkinson added that “Alex has done a good job” in running the restaurant.

A staff report noted that Chef Alex wants to complete the remaining year left in the original contract and if the city granted relief would agree to automatically renew for additional five-year periods.

The requirement that the restaurant will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner hours, seven days a week, 12 months a year will not change. Trujillo clarified that although the restaurant opens at 11 a.m., the snack shack and beverage cart is available to golfers at sunrise.

“Privatization of the restaurant was, and is, a winwin for the City, the taxpayers, the concessionaire, and the customers of the restaurant,” the staff report says.

In other action, the council approved a $1.6 million contract for the paving of 4th Avenue from 32nd to 40th streets to DPE Construction of Yuma.

A staff report notes that the section of 4th Avenue from 32nd Street to 40th Street has been the subject of extensive citizen complaints for a number of years due to excessive potholes, pavement deterioration and lack of turning lanes. The city’s pavement management system indicates that the pavement has deteriorated beyond repair and a geotechnical investigation confirmed that the pavement and base structure has failed to the point that full reconstruction is required.

This project will reconstruct the roadway pavement section to meet current city standards and will address other related needs including updating streetlights, addition of a continuous center two-way left turn lane, installation of a needed sewer manhole, and pedestrian safety enhancements such as multiuse pathway improvements and new crosswalks.

The council also approved the final plat for the Park West Unit 5 Subdivision located at South 43rd Trail and West 28th Street. The applicant is Dahl, Robins and Associates, on behalf of Yuma Valley Land Company.

However, Deputy Mayor Gary Knight asked that Condition 6, which was struck by the Planning and Zoning Commission, be reinserted. The condition calls for landscaping to be installed for the parkway along the north side of 28th Street from 45th Avenue to Avenue C along the south boundaries of Units 4 and 5.

The commission removed that condition at the request of the applicant,

who called it redundant and unnecessary.

“With my experience with legal documents, redundancy is more the norm than the exception. I really don’t see why the fact that it’s redundant justifies removing it as a condition ... I’m not comfortable removing Condition 6 and I’m going to request we reinsert for Unit 5 in its entirety,” Knight said.

Mayor Doug Nicholls noted that the council does not take the commissioners’ recommendations “lightly” and pointed out that they “do a lot of good work,” but he added that he “tended to agree” with Knight.

The council unanimously approved the final plat with Condition 6.