City lost $736,000 on Navy-Marine Classic Corps basketball game and events

[copperfiend]

I wonder if Alvin will fire his sports Czar, also a friend 

I'm not a Brown apologist but Alan Verlander isn't just some random dude that Brown hired.  He does have qualifications to be in that position as former Athletic Director at JU as well as a position at Samford.  He contributed to bringing the NCAA tournament here in 2006 and 2010.  I'm not saying the Navy-Marine Bball game wasn't completely botched, but to imply that he is some random Brown lackey with no credentials is inaccurate. 

Agree completely. He also had worked under Catlett with the GBA as well.

[Tacachale]

Word. You also need to evaluate the successes along with the failures. There were three soccer games that were major successes. The FL-GA game went well, as did the recent UF-FSU baseball game. The basketball game didn't go as planned, but there has to be room for taking calculated risks if you ever want to do something besides the status quo.

[Cheshire Cat]

Guys the expertise you all point to regarding the man is further evidence of the fact that three quarter of a million dollars should not have been lost on such an event which was in and of itself a gimmick. He should have known better.  Furthermore and more damaging is the fact that the city's own procurement laws and standards were violated.  If we want to sit back and talk about why so much fails in Jacksonville then perhaps we need to take a look at how readily and often some are willing to accept this type of mismanagement. It's a lose, lose all the way around.  If he were in the private corporate arena he would likely lose his job over a loss this size.  Sorry, not buying the "word up" reply this time troops, even if that puts me in the minority at this point in the conversation.  We will "never" do better in Jacksonville until we demand better leadership and representation by those entrusted to take our city forward.  Who among you can excuse the violation of not one but several of the city's own requirements by an official who is paid 170K to do what should be an exemplary job at that pay grade?  Nope, not acceptable and not at all what we should see from a guy as experienced as some claim. 

[fieldafm]

I've been in the private industry my entire life... and I can guarantee you I have never been 100% perfect.  If I screwed up then screwed up the exact same way a second time... you better believe I would be out of a job.  But cutting a productive ball player just b/c they struck out once on a hanging curveball with a 3-2 count isn't the way to build a championship team (since we're talking sports here).

Hammer S/E all you want about how the game played out, but don't stop playing the game b/c you lost one out of 7 games.   

We fired a GREAT public servant once already out of that office... let's not make the same mistake twice.

Ask Charleston how the Navy Classic played out.  It was MUCH worse than Jacksonville's experience. 

If you're in the mood to eat someone's lunch... it would be fair then to call for the Secretary of the Navy to be fired as well.  His office had just a big hand in all of this as COJ did. 

[Cheshire Cat]

Field, it's not about the game win or lose it's about the financial loss in tandem with the violation of the City's own legal requirements for procurement.  The Sec of the Navy was not hired and paid for to represent the City of Jacksonville in this agreement and endeavor, Alan Verlander is and his office violated City law and blew three quarter of a million dollars at the same time.  No excuses here.  It was bad management via Verlander who considering the position and pay grade as well as supposed experience should have never broken city procurement requirements and lost this amount of money.  This city needs every penny as evidenced by the yearly budget arguments and continued claims of great shortages.  Not good, not good at all.

[Demosthenes]

We will "never" do better in Jacksonville until...

Until the city can get out of its own way and try bold shit. Jax is so often unable to execute on big ideas for fear of failure. It sucks that money was lost, but I would rather that failure, than three $250K studies about why Jax cant support College sports, or how on base military events are unsustainable or some such crap.

Jax needs to be smart, but it also needs to mix in some bold decisions. Going after an NFL team was bold. Bringing the Superbowl to town was bold. Both saw successes and failures. I would like to see more efforts to bring big ideas to town. Some of them will work out... some just wont. Im all for keeping civil servants honest, but second guessing and firing people for making bold efforts to improve the city is the wrong thing to do.

[Cheshire Cat]

We will "never" do better in Jacksonville until...

Until the city can get out of its own way and try bold shit. Jax is so often unable to execute on big ideas for fear of failure. It sucks that money was lost, but I would rather that failure, than three $250K studies about why Jax cant support College sports, or how on base military events are unsustainable or some such crap.

Jax needs to be smart, but it also needs to mix in some bold decisions. Going after an NFL team was bold. Bringing the Superbowl to town was bold. Both saw successes and failures. I would like to see more efforts to bring big ideas to town. Some of them will work out... some just wont. Im all for keeping civil servants honest, but second guessing and firing people for making bold efforts to improve the city is the wrong thing to do.

Bold is good.  Bold with lasting impact is even better but breaking our own city laws is neither bold or smart.  Truth is beyond bold we need "smart" investment and this does not count as smart investment and this mess is nowhere near going after a NFL team or Superbowl, nor was the return on investment going to be even close.  I am hearing more and more excuses but very little input about what makes it okay for a high level city official to break "several" of our own City laws and requirements.  That's not bold, it's incompetent.  That is not okay.  Waste like this is not easily excused in a city that is suffering such economic woes as is Jacksonville.

[fieldafm]

Sounds like we need more information about the alleged procurement process breakdown.  Seems that is a more prudent course of action than immediately calling people incompetent and demanding their heads on a stick.

[cline]

Sounds like we need more information about the alleged procurement process breakdown.  Seems that is a more prudent course of action than immediately calling people incompetent and demanding their heads on a stick.

Agreed.  Cheshire, care to share with us a breakdown of what happened and what laws were broken since you seem to know and are convinced that he should be fired immediately?

[Tacachale]

Yeah, I want to know more about these procurement violations before demanding someone's head. As for the event, again, we need to have room for some calculated risks if we want to keep seeing different things, and Verlander has also overseen some great successes, those need to be weighed too.

[johnny_simpatico]

The soccer match I was referring to was the MLS exhibition in February which reportedly was watched by 7,549 souls.
I won't deny there have been plenty of successes and some surprises with respect to attendance at sports events.  Seems to me that if the city is going to have a six-figure official dedicated to building sport-related economic activity, events will routinely be adequately promoted, priced, positioned. 

[fsquid]

someone has to fall on the sword for this situation, regardless of qualifications or buddy system.

[dougskiles]

^that's a great way to foster a spirit of innovation and creativity.

It makes me wonder though, if the game had been a smashing success, who would be getting all the credit?  Would it be Alan?

[Tacachale]

The soccer match I was referring to was the MLS exhibition in February which reportedly was watched by 7,549 souls.
I won't deny there have been plenty of successes and some surprises with respect to attendance at sports events.  Seems to me that if the city is going to have a six-figure official dedicated to building sport-related economic activity, events will routinely be adequately promoted, priced, positioned. 

You said "soccer matches". There were three: the MLS friendly, which "only" drew 7,549 - over seven times the crowd of the previous friendly in Orlando; the men's national team game against Scotland, which drew over 44k, and the WNT game, which had over 18k and set a national record for women's soccer. The games ranged between "successful" and "astonishingly successful".

^that's a great way to foster a spirit of innovation and creativity.

It makes me wonder though, if the game had been a smashing success, who would be getting all the credit?  Would it be Alan?

At any rate, it sounds like he's taking full responsibility. Not sure what more could happen at this stage until we know more.

[Cheshire Cat]

In reviewing the commentary I can only surmise that many are commenting without reading the entire article.  The info is all within it including a statement from Alan as to his actions and the outcome of the event.  Secondly I never called for his resignation.  What I did say is that were a mistake like this to happen in the corporate world with extensive breaking of corporate rules and loss of three quarters of a million dollars, a person would likely be fired as a result and that's a fact.  Certainly someone needs to be held responsible for this mess otherwise we may as well throw out the rules of procurement and start handing out money to whomever wants it.  Giving the administration a pass on another major misstep is not a go after this amount of time in office.  Seriously guys, you are arguing on behalf of "incompetency" at the highest levels of our government.  It makes no sense to do so. It may however behoove everyone to rethink their personal standards of measure as to what is responsible action on the part of a high paid official in our city government.  If breaking rules and loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars is a okay in your book and should simply be sniffed at, I honestly don't know what to tell you other than to remind you that these types of losses and poor choices all impact Jacksonville's ability to move forward and do the "positive" things to grow the city everyone talks about.  This city has a history of financial missteps and ridiculous losses along with many cases of ignoring their own rules, while at the same time firing employees, limiting city services and library access etc. etc. etc.  Something is definitely wrong with this picture and some of that is due to the lack of response on the part of citizens and taxpayers in the face of this type of situation.  If you want the status quo of the past, keep making the mistakes of the past and do nothing about it but defend the mistakes and those making them.  Do not however expect positive change while doing so.