SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – The founder and CEO of the non-profit that the city says is disqualified from managing Shreveport‘s public pools after running them for 13 years says she is hoping to resolve the issue.
The City of Shreveport said Thursday that Rock Solid “failed to disclose any and all litigation that they were involved in over the past five years,” explaining why the only other organization that bid for the $125,000 contract would not be offered the opportunity, even after Atlanta-based USA Management backed out.
At the time, the city said the decision was based on the highest-scoring applicant. After USA Management declined to take the contract, which is managed through the city’s purchasing department, the city said it would still not be offering it to Rock Solid, “due to its failure to provide accurate information in the documents that were submitted.”
The city has not specified what litigation Rock Solid failed to disclose, but court records show at least one lawsuit was settled in 2020 that claimed a young child nearly drowned at a Rock Solid day camp.
Shelly McMillian did not specifically address any litigation the non-profit has been involved in, but she did release a brief statement early Friday evening in response to the decision.
“Rock Solid has responded to the correspondence from the city’s Purchasing Dept. We are anxious to resolve whatever issues there may be so we can continue to be of service to the children of Shreveport, just as we have been for the past 13 years. We will have no further public comment until we have heard back from the city.”
Now that USA Management is out, the city is scrambling to come up with a plan to open the pools in just a few weeks.
According to the SPAR website, five SPAR pools are scheduled to open to the public from June 28 to July 28. After July 28, the Southern Hills pool is supposed to be open on weekends only through Labor Day (Monday, September 2) from 1-5 p.m.
The mayor’s office says plans are in the works to open the pools on time but did not offer details on how they expect to do that.
“The City of Shreveport and SPAR are working quickly to develop a plan to provide access to swim programs and to create a safe experience for local youth this summer.”