City to seek another stadium promoter

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January 13, 2010

BY MIKE FAHER The Tribune-Democrat Wed Jan 13, 2010, 11:16 PM EST

Johnstown officials again are looking for a Point Stadium promoter, even though a contract signed for that purpose less than eight months ago has not yet expired.

City Council on Wednesday agreed to search for a firm that would have “exclusive rights for event promotions, scheduling and management” at the stadium.

Officials say the park’s current promoter, Spin Wilde Productions LLC, has not responded to repeated inquiries about any upcoming activities at the Point.

“Council is concerned about (Spin Wilde) not communicating with us,” Acting City Manager Bruce Haselrig said.

“We haven’t heard anything official from them since early fall.”

Hiring a promoter was supposed to bring more activity to the Point, which underwent an $11 million renovation with the idea of turning the ballpark into a multiuse facility.

The stadium has hosted few gatherings that are not sports-related.

Council members in May announced a deal with Spin Wilde that would have generated a “facilities fee” and other revenues for the city for each event the promoter brought to the Point.

The contract is effective through October of this year.

But, to date, Spin Wilde has organized just one event at the stadium – the June appearance of Donnie Iris and the Cruisers.

“The Spin Wilde agreement required the scheduling of four events per calendar year,” Councilman Jack Williams said Wednesday. “To my knowledge, there’s been one.”

Haselrig said Spin Wilde has not responded to several communications. Williams last week wrote a letter asking Spin Wilde Producer Ronnie Grigg to provide details on upcoming events.

“The city is attempting to deal with significant budgetary constraints, and all revenue sources are being explored for enhanced collections, including the Point Stadium,” Williams wrote.

Grigg could not immediately be reached for comment late Wednesday.

In seeking a new Point promoter, council also is looking to give that outside entity more control of the facility: While officials last year had resisted naming a “manager” for the stadium, the resolution approved by council Wednesday includes both promotion and management.

In other business Wednesday:

n Council will advertise for anyone who might be interested in purchasing the former Washington Street parking garage property.

Since the partial collapse and subsequent demolition of the garage, the city has used part of the property for monthly parking. But officials are hoping someone will redevelop the site for a purpose that will be taxable.

A previous attempt to find a real-estate agent to market the property netted no such proposals.

n Council also agreed to search for an outside entity that would manage the city’s parking operations. How that arrangement might work remains unclear.

But there is a general push to make the parking bureau more efficient and possibly make it profitable. Councilwoman Marie Mock also said she intends to work closely with parking employees to bring in more revenue.

n A majority of council members voted to retain their salaries. Each council member makes $2,200 annually, while the mayor earns $3,500.

With the city’s financial problems and recent layoffs, Mock had pushed to formally eliminate salaries for elected officials, saying it would be a “tremendous gesture” to the public.

But Solicitor Nicholas Banda said it is illegal to change the salary of an elected official during his or her term in office.

Though the measure failed to pass, Mock later said she and Councilwoman Rose Howarth are voluntarily giving up their council wages.

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