GALVESTON — Yielding to strong public pressure, park board trustees agreed Wednesday to allow Meghann Nash to take over a bait camp her family has run for 50 years.
The board voted in March to sever its relationship with Earl Nash Jr. after repeated unsuccessful attempts to collect $3,000 in rent and get copies of an up-to-date insurance policy for the property.
Meghann Nash, Earl’s daughter, offered to pay her father’s debts, the legal fees the board incurred trying to collect it and one year’s rent up front as a show of good faith.
While a majority of board members said they were glad to give Nash an opportunity to continue the family business, several of them said they thought the board was perpetuating a bad practice in entering into a new agreement without some sort of review process that would allow other people to present proposals for running the camp.
Board members also defended their decision to evict Earl Nash, citing problems with the concessionaire that dated back to 1979.
Meghann Nash struggled to talk through her tears as she told the board how much the camp meant to her family.
“I think I took it for granted until I realized you could take it away,” she said.
“People all tell me they want to keep it open ... I think the community has made it clear they want us to be here as much as we want to be here.”
She promised the board it would never have to deal with her father again.
None of the eight people who spoke in favor of Meghann Nash’s request defended the camp’s previous owner, but they all said his daughter deserved a chance to right his wrongs.
The park board had to send default letters to Earl Nash during 17 of the past 29 years, mostly for rent that went unpaid for six months or more at a time.
He always got a reprieve, until now.
The board was just doing its duty to protect a public asset, said member Vic Maceo.
“Many of you out there who are in favor of Mr. Nash’s business would be a lot of the same ones, if we had given him preferential treatment, who would say we did not do our duty to protect public funds,” he said.
Meghann Nash said she could not explain why her father never told his family about the demand letters the board sent.
She said she never knew of the problem until she saw the eviction notice.
As part of the new agreement, the board has agreed to drop the eviction case pending against Earl Nash in municipal court.
Meghann Nash must sign a new concessionaire agreement with the park board and provide beer, tobacco and sales tax licenses in her name. She has agreed to keep the camp closed until she does.
Although park board attorney Carla Cotropia told board members state law did not require them to conduct a competitive bidding process for concessionaire agreements, several members said they should.
The board has signed many agreements in the past without soliciting proposals from other interested parties.
But in this case, it should accept other proposals because several people had shown interest in the bait camp, said board member Michael Hightower, who alone voted against the agreement with Meghann Nash.
After the vote, board members agreed to clarify the process for forming all future concessionaire agreements.
Nash’s contract will be for one year, the only term the park board will agree to for businesses on Boddeker Road.
The city, which owns all the property managed by the park board, will eventually incorporate the area into a nature preserve.
