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Public employees still work in PTC
pro shop

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Front desk employees at the Peachtree City Tennis Center are ringing up purchases for the privately-operated pro shop on the side, under a contract approved by the city’s tourism association back in March.

Association representatives insist the deal is legal, but the use of tennis center employees to ring up the purchases for Your Serve Inc. draws comparisons to the former arrangement for the old pro shop, previously operated by former tennis center director Virgil Christian, who also used tennis center workers to ring up pro shop purchases.

The practice was criticized by Mayor Steve Brown at the time as an example of improper operation of the facility.

Christian, however, was given the pro shop space rent-free under his employment agreement with the Development Authority of Peachtree City. Now, the space is leased by Your Serve, Inc. for a guaranteed $24,000 a year. If sales surpass $190,000 in a year, the association gets another 10 percent of the profits.

Former authority members said Christian’s deal on the pro shop was recommended by the firm that orchestrated the search for the tennis center’s first director.

Although the pro shop sales are rung up while the employees are on the clock for the association, which is funded in part by income from the city’s hotel motel tax, Executive Director Linda McCarthy says the workers’ front desk duties are the first priority. At the front desk, patrons check in, schedule court times and pay court fees.

A customer service rep merely “floats over” to the shop, which is immediately adjacent to the front desk reception area, whenever a customer needs assistance, McCarthy said.

The front desk staffers at the tennis center also restock the store when new items come in, but only when they’re not busy helping tennis center patrons, McCarthy said. The employees do not earn any extra pay or commission for sales made, McCarthy added.

The pro shop money is taken in separately from the money paid for court fees at the front desk of the tennis center with the use of different cash registers, McCarthy said.

Your Serve, Inc. manager Dale Queen comes by, usually once a week, to evaluate the stock in the store so more orders can be placed, McCarthy said.

The contract with Your Serve, Inc. calls for the association to provide one publicly-funded employee to ring up purchases at the privately-owned shop, but no one employee is dedicated solely to that task during any given shift, McCarthy said.

Association vice chairman Murray Weed, who is the city attorney for Hapeville, said it’s legal for the tennis center’s front desk employees to handle the pro shop sales.

“We have the right to assign our employees at that facility wherever we want to,” Weed said, noting that the pro shop is a part of the tennis center although it is leased by Your Serve, Inc.

Weed also said case law has established that government agencies can “hire out” employees “as long as it’s for a fair market value that you’re getting in return.”

Association Chairman Steve Rapson said the $24,000 annual rent for the pro shop is more than the yearly salary for any front desk employee who rings up the pro shop purchases, meaning essentially that tax dollars aren’t used to pay any employee who performs that function.

McCarthy sees the arrangement as a plus for the association because it allows her to track exactly how much the pro shop is making on a monthly report, important because of the possibility of getting more in rent if the $190,000 sales goal is reached.

The process helps serve “as a check and balance,” said McCarthy, who was not on board when the contract was approved back in March.

“We have to track and make sure that money is appropriately accounted for to make sure the tennis center gets its fair share under the contract,” McCarthy said, adding that the tennis center would be taking a tremendous risk to stock items that may not sell.

“It’s kind of hard to turn away $24,000 in guaranteed revenue and take that risk.”

Rapson said the agreement is a partnership that allows the association to realize a profit while a service is provided to tennis center users. He also noted that the association sent out a request for proposals before selecting Your Serve to operate the pro shop.

“We’re setting it up to be revenue-producing,” Rapson said of the tennis center.

There haven’t been any problems with the pro shop operation by Your Serve in the three months McCarthy has been on board as association executive director, she said. The shop stays well-stocked with a variety of items and it’s professional looking, she added.

Although the contract calls for the authority to provide a computer for the pro shop, it has not done so, McCarthy said. The customer service desk still uses old-fashioned paper and pen to record court reservations, but the association may ultimately move to a computer system to manage that and other functions of the tennis center, McCarthy said.

Another provision of the contract, calling for the possibility of creating a system to bill tennis center members for pro shop purchases, hasn’t materialized either, McCarthy confirmed.

The contract ends in March, but McCarthy said she thinks the deal could be renewed with similar terms except for a few small changes.