The decision comes after a Williamson County resident created a petition with over 200 signatures from community members who were against the contract renewal.
The background
RippnerTennis, owned by Brie Rippner, manages the eight tennis courts at Southwest Williamson County Regional Park through a county contract that started in 2017, Williamson County Parks Director Russell Fishbeck said at the Oct. 15 meeting.
The park is located near the border of Leander, Round Rock and Cedar Park. Along with tennis operations, RippnerTennis provides management services for the tennis pro shop at the park, according to the contract.
RippnerTennis can use four out of the eight courts for lessons, camps and other activities for profit, and the other four are for general public use, Fishbeck said.
The contract’s renewal was originally on the Oct. 8 agenda but was pushed back one week after commissioners heard concerns from Round Rock resident Barbara McGary, who has been captaining tennis teams in Williamson and Travis counties for over 20 years, she said.
“Please do not give another contract to [Rippner],” McGary said Oct. 8. “She is creating a monopoly by obtaining all of the public tennis courts in both Travis and Williamson County. [She] profits off the taxpayers’ backs while destroying the league teams, which bring her no profit.”
McGary said Rippner has caused turmoil within the tennis community by dissolving tennis teams that were previously able to play on the courts.
A week later, Rippner addressed community members’ concerns at the Oct. 15 meeting, and said a new lottery system RippnerTennis recently incorporated means not all league teams are able to play on the courts at their desired time.
“Customer service is really important, and my name is on this business,” Rippner said. “I want everyone to have a great experience, even if we have to say no to some of these league teams, which is a very difficult process.”
What happened
In addition to the petition with over 200 signatures, McGary returned to Commissioners Court on Oct. 15 with three more concerned tennis players. They joined her in addressing the court over maintenance concerns, communication issues and court availability.
Sylette Kitchen, the WilCo club coordinator for the Women’s Team Tennis Association, said WTTA has over 2,000 players across Williamson and Travis counties.
WTTA is an amateur tennis league with a fall and spring season, and members use the Southwest Williamson County Regional Park for matches, according to WTTA’s league rules listed on its website.
“In July, Rippner made two significant changes,” Kitchen said. “The first was limiting the number of teams and matches available for league play, and then introducing a quarterly lottery system with no transparency or oversight with respect to team selection.”
Along with WTTA, the Austin Tennis League and the United States Tennis Association are other leagues that book on RippnerTennis courts, Rippner said.
After noticing growth within RippnerTennis’ locations, Rippner said the city of Austin recommended RippnerTennis switch to a lottery system to accommodate for the large number of leagues that play on RippnerTennis courts, which has two other Austin locations.
“There has been a lot of growth in the area, and more people want to play, and there is a limited resource,” Rippner said. “With eight courts with [leagues] all starting at 9:30 [a.m.], we can't say yes to everyone, as much as we would like to.”
After introducing the lottery system, Rippner said more teams applied this year than ever have before.
Public input
Along with league concerns, citizens said they often see the four for-profit courts sitting idle. Rippner said courts 1 through 4 are used for lessons or clinics, as noted in the contract, but that there’s no reason why players can’t use them if they’re empty.
“It's not like we're holding courts and then only allowing [courts] 5 through 8 for leagues,” Rippner said. “We're trying to get as many people out on the tennis court as possible whenever we can.”
Fishbeck said some of the vacancies could be centered around leagues requiring certain playing times, and if the window to play expanded, empty courts throughout the day might fill up.
Additionally, Kitchen said the courts at Southwest Williamson County Regional Park are often lacking proper nets, clean restrooms and water.
“[RippnerTennis] has been made aware of these issues for years, and yet they have not even acknowledged our request for meetings,” Kitchen said.
Rippner said this was the first she was hearing about maintenance issues.
In their own words
“Where [McGary is] coming from makes a lot of sense to me as well,” Rippner said. “This is the first season that her team didn't get approved to play in years, but new teams got to play, so it's a very tricky situation,” Rippner said.
As a former professional tennis player, Rippner said she wants public tennis centers to be equitable and affordable for all. Although the lottery system makes sense to her, Rippner said she’s open to exploring other options.
Upon Precinct 1 Commissioner Terry Cook’s request, Rippner said RippnerTennis is open to holding a public lottery in the future to be transparent about the selection process.
Going forward
Gravell made a motion to adopt the agreement for the renewal of the contract extension for one year, with a caveat that RippnerTennis will work with the Parks Department and citizens to discover areas of improvement.
“I'm okay with this agreement today,” Gravell said. “I hear what folks are saying, but I hear a spirit of cooperation, too.”
In an email to Community Impact, Fishbeck said the Parks Department is working closely with RippnerTennis and tennis associations on a path forward that will “hopefully meet the greatest needs of all the organizations.”
