Tucker City Council debates pickleball complex bid process at heated meeting

The Tucker City Council meeting on June 9 saw heated exchanges between its members regarding a last-minute addition to the agenda to reopen the bid process for a controversial proposed pickleball court complex.

The motion passed 4-3.

The discussion turned ugly as council member Alexis Weaver and mayor Frank Auman exchanged barbs about whether or not the community was properly involved in decisions about design and location.

At the beginning of the meeting, Auman proposed that the council discuss the pickleball bid at the end of the lengthy agenda, a discussion that occurred more than three hours later.

“I would like to make a motion to return to the original bid and begin the bid process again,” Auman said.

However, several council members pushed back on Auman’s suggestion, saying that they felt the current design needed modifications, which could be minor or involve redesigning the orientation of the courts.

Alexis Weaver, said the last-minute addition of the agenda item did not allow the community to be engaged in advance of meeting. But Auman disagreed.

“As far as the timing, I am tired of all these emails that I am getting from both sides asking what is happening with the bid process,” Auman said to Weaver. “I completely and strenuously object to the statement that the community has not been engaged.”

The agenda item to award the bid was originally scheduled to be considered at the May 12 meeting , but was abruptly pulled on Friday, May 9 around 5 p.m. after a citizen made allegations that Complete Site LLC, the low bidder, did not have the proper qualifications.

As the May 12 meeting was beginning, city manager John McHenry said, after conducting due diligence, “decided that the City of Tucker will reject all proposals and not award a contract in response to solicitation ITB 2024-017, titled TRC Pickleball Courts Construction at this time.”

At the June 9 meeting, Auman said his proposal to restart the bid process would give the community a starting spot for discussion, a statement that was met with differing views from the council.

“This feels rushed, because I just found about this five minutes before I walked into the meeting,” council member Virginia Rece said. “We need to earn the community’s trust.”

Roger Orlando said he agreed with the mayor’s position that restarting the bid process “would get the ball rolling.”

During council member Vinh Nguyen’s remarks, he and Weaver started a back-and-forth argument about Weaver’s earlier statements, forcing Auman to bang his gavel repeatedly until Weaver stopped talking.

“I’m just going to keep banging this gavel,” Auman said, to which Weaver replied, “You like to do that to me a lot.”

The council had been discussing a variation on the original proposal that would involve a combination of pickleball and multi-use courts, rather than the original 12 dedicated pickleball courts.

Auman, Cara Schoeder, Nguyen, and Orlando voted in favor of the motion, while Weaver, Amy Trocchi, and Rece cast dissenting votes.

In other action, the council also held a public hearing and voted to approve, with modifications, an application for a Special Land Use Permit for a special events facility that has been operating out of compliance for several years.

Along with the SLUP request, the applicant, Luxe Events, had asked for concurrent variance requests include relief of distance separation requirements from residential properties, and relief from accessory structure materials and accessory structure location.

Courtney Smith, Tucker Community Development Director, said Luxe Events agreed to re-stripe the parking lot to bring the property into compliance with the city’s codes.

Tucker officials and the city’s planning commission had recommended approval of the SLUP and the distance separation variation, but denial of the two others. Smith said Luxe has agreed to remove the ancillary structures currently on the property, thus making the variance requests moot.

The property, located on a 2.7-acre site at 2101 Northlake Parkway, has been operating for at least two years without the needed variances, and without an occupational tax certificate.

Joseph Wilburn, representing the applicant, said the facility is compatible with surrounding businesses and pledged that parking lot striping and removal of the existing accessory structures will be made within 90 days of the SLUP approval.

In other action, the council heard from Tucker Parks and Recreation Director Rip Robertson about improvements to Rosenfeld Park’s tennis courts, including proposed repairs to three existing courts and the conversion of one court to add eight off-street parking slots.

Schroeder asked Robertson if the renovated tennis courts could be converted so that they could also be used for pickleball. He said the cost of the needed striping would be negligible.

He also mentioned that the city held two community meetings held prior to the design and engineering phase, but recommended that if the tennis courts are to be modified to allow pickleball, that another community meeting be held and a sound study be conducted.

The council also heard from Tucker Finance Director Beverly Hilton about a final budget amendment for the 2025 budget, with a request to transfer the maximum amount allowed from the general fund to the capital and SPLOST funds to support the maximum proposed budget recommendations from city management to the mayor and council. This would allow the city to fund a project in advance, rather than arrears.

“This is the most exciting budget amendment I have ever worked on,” Hilton said. “We don’t have a ‘wish list’ anymore, we have a ‘let’s do it’ list.”

She said technology improvements to make capital projects more transparent to the public was a two-year effort that “involved lots of work and lots of meetings.”

In other action, the council:

• approved a $75,000 contract for a commissioned art sculpture for the Tucker Town Green;
• passed on a second read an ordinance to adopt the FY 2026 operating budget and updated pay structure;
• approved a resolution to adopt the proposed FY 2026 schedule of fees that support the operating budget;
• discussed adopting a millage rate of 2.036 mills, which will keep revenues neutral, and may even reduce taxes for homeowners.

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