Petition For Changes For Veltri Tennis Center & Termination of Superintendent Chris Cooksey

Members & supporters alike have concerns about the suitability of the person holding the office. Below are examples of his authority violations, unprofessionalism & dereliction of duties:

I. Arbitrary Use/Abuse of Authority:

a. In April, Mr. Cooksey unjustifiably prohibited use of the courts before 8am, citing “liability issues” despite all coaches possessing up to $6 million in liability coverage and the City having its own liability coverage (temporarily then reversed this);

b. On April 13th, Mr. Cooksey, via email, unreasonably prohibited Coach Jesse from transacting business on any one of the satellite locations based on an exaggerated complaint by one Plantation resident for using the Jacaranda Lakes site, threatening his permit to work at Veltri if he continued to do so, despite the fact both the former Director, Ramona Dash, as well as former Assistant Director, Jill Rickey, both granted him the authority to under the condition he pays rent, which is a known grant provided to all coaches for all satellite sites;

c. In June, Mr. Cooksey unreasonably prohibited coaches from transacting business before 8am on weekends, citing “lack of personnel on the premises to ensure safety (i.e. administrative office staff)” despite all but one staff member being mandated to be in the office at 7am during weekdays, in which the courts are not officially open (via the voicemail) when anyone calls before 8am, creating confusion as to why this policy is in place;

d. In July, Mr. Cooksey wrongfully prohibited members from using the players lounge, citing the potential of pedophilia during the summer camp time, despite there never having been a complaint or finding of any evidence of such, infringing on the privilege granted to them through membership;

e. Also in July, Mr. Cooksey prohibited tennis students of Marcus Pruitt, a respected coach, who has consistently paid dues/rent for business transacted at Veltri, from using the players lounge, citing his personal belief that he should “combat the culture of entitlement” despite them having a business license to use it through Marcus’ renting of the facility’s spaces;

f. Again in July, Mr. Cooksey arbitrarily prohibited the summer campers from using any of the players lounge’s utilities (such as the microwave, coffee maker, fridge, etc.) for no discernible reason despite there never being complaints about the summer campers or evidence of damage to said utilities;

g. In February 2025, prior to Director Ramona’s hiring, and withstanding the pleas of former Director Dan DeBruyne, Mr. Cooksey wrongfully terminated former respected coach & groundsman Mark, a staple to the center since the the 1990s, citing “failure to pay rent” despite the fact he has consistently done such for decades;

h. Following her return from FMLA, Mr. Cooksey unjustifiably stripped former AD Jill of her duties, effectively handicapping her without work;

II. Negligence In Exercising Duties and/or Gross Lack of Professionalism:

i. Prior to former Director Ramona’s hiring, Mr, Cooksey willfully ignored the questionable work ethic exhibited by former Director Dan for years before eventually terminating him;

j. Despite tens of phone calls & emails regarding the substandard quality of the courts by members & patrons alike over the years to former Directors Dan & Ramona, Interim Directors Jill (along with Jeff Cannon), Mr. Cooksey has willfully ignored properly addressing this, even relaying to various groundsman & staff his reluctance in investing $30k to do so, a benefit the members, as well as taxpayers, have a right to possess through their dues & taxes respectively;

k. Despite having the necessary equipment on hand to properly fix the courts (such as a laser grader), Mr. Cooksey refuses to utilize such tools at his disposal, educate himself or have educated the groundsman on how to use said tools (as Mark was the only person with knowledge on how to use such) or hire others that could properly complete resurfacing the courts;

l. Prior to former Director Ramona’s hiring, and before interim former acting Director Jeff’s time, Mr. Cooksey twice told former Assistant Director Jill to “apply for the Director position” despite never having true intentions to hire her and providing her multiple occasions of false hope;

m. During former AD Jill’s medical leave (FMLA), Mr. Cooksey, on April 13th, wrongfully included her in an email to Coach Jesse, violating federal guidelines on not having an individual do work (i.e. review or respond to work-related emails). Jesse alerted Mr. Cooksey of this in his reply on April 17th, not including her in the reply out of respect;

n. Despite Veltri hosting Central Park’s largest annual event for a week in July (Girls 14s National Championship), this year which garnered the City $35k, Mr. Cooksey, as acting superintendent, failed to make an appearance;

o. Despite that the courts are understaffed (only 2 full-time groundsmen), Mr. Cooksey has stalled in hiring more.