{"id":104438,"date":"2026-02-04T01:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/104438\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T01:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:54:07","slug":"city-comptroller-questions-erie-basin-marina-operator-selection-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/104438\/","title":{"rendered":"City Comptroller Questions Erie Basin Marina Operator selection process"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 Tensions are rising inside Buffalo City Hall over who will operate<\/a> the Erie Basin Marina, as the Common Council and the city Comptroller\u2019s Office disagree over how the selection process was handled.<\/p>\n

The Common Council is seeking a new marina operator after cutting ties with the former operator, the Smith Boys, in November. Past audits by the Comptroller\u2019s Office found the city lost significant revenue under previous marina contracts.<\/p>\n

Councilman Mitch Nowakowski said the city followed a public Request for Qualifications process and expressed frustration that concerns are being raised now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand necessarily the timing of this,\u201d Nowakowski said. \u201cIf they showed up and came to work and were a part of it and understood the process, that would have been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowakowski said the RFQ process was publicly posted in December and reviewed internally, adding that further delays could affect boaters and taxpayers as the city approaches the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoaters are going to expect that they can go into a municipal-owned operation where they have previously for decades,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Comptroller\u2019s Office, however, is calling for a pause, saying it was not included in reviewing the RFQ and that long-standing concerns about marina contracts remain unresolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to have an opportunity to review it,\u201d the comptroller said. \u201cWe always want to be able to review the RFQ as well as the RFP\u2026 to make suggestions and recommendations to the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comptroller pointed to multiple audits conducted over the past decade that raised concerns about lost revenue, inaccurate financial reporting, and contract oversight at the marina.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done numerous audits\u2026 and the need to improve and enhance the services and the existing contracts that existed,\u201d the comptroller said.<\/p>\n

The Comptroller\u2019s Office also raised concerns about how the new contract is structured, arguing that marina operations and hospitality services should be separated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole way that it was set up, it just does not appear to have been properly done,\u201d the comptroller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While council members argue the need to move quickly, the comptroller said city leaders have known for years that a new marina contract was needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Common Council and the administration have known the problems at the Erie Basin Marina for years,\u201d the comptroller said. \u201cNow is the time to get it right. Now is the time to stop making mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both sides say they are willing to meet, but remain divided on whether the marina contract process should move forward or be paused for further review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 Tensions are rising inside Buffalo City Hall over who will operate the Erie Basin Marina,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-104438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}