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

[fsquid]

^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?

it wasn't it lost a ton of money and it looks like procurement rules were broken.  guess thats ok in your book.

[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?

it wasn't it lost a ton of money and it looks like procurement rules were broken.  guess thats ok in your book.

As far as I know, there hasn't been an official investigation to determine anything.  So, until we know what happened, how it happened, who did it and what impact it had, I don't believe anyone should be asked to "fall on a sword".  Let the OGC do an investigation and make recommendations.  The Florida Times Union making an accusation hardly qualifies as a guilty verdict in my book.

[Cheshire Cat]

^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?

it wasn't it lost a ton of money and it looks like procurement rules were broken.  guess thats ok in your book.

As far as I know, there hasn't been an official investigation to determine anything.  So, until we know what happened, how it happened, who did it and what impact it had, I don't believe anyone should be asked to "fall on a sword".  Let the OGC do an investigation and make recommendations.  The Florida Times Union making an accusation hardly qualifies as a guilty verdict in my book.

For heaven sakes Doug.  They admitted it.  This is a direct quote from the TU article. And the head of the city’s Sports and Entertainment office admitted it violated procurement practices when hiring six vendors and broke city code when it failed to seek contract approval from its sports advisory commission  TU did their homework on this.  Facts are facts not liking them or the source of them doesn't change the reality of the sizable mistakes made all the way down the line.  http://members.jacksonville.com/news/premium/metro/2013-04-06/story/city-lost-736000-navy-marine-classic-corps-basketball-game-and-events#ixzz2Pm1d8xqV

[fsquid]

^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?

it wasn't it lost a ton of money and it looks like procurement rules were broken.  guess thats ok in your book.

As far as I know, there hasn't been an official investigation to determine anything.  So, until we know what happened, how it happened, who did it and what impact it had, I don't believe anyone should be asked to "fall on a sword".  Let the OGC do an investigation and make recommendations.  The Florida Times Union making an accusation hardly qualifies as a guilty verdict in my book.

based on the article, it seems like admissions have already been made.

[Cheshire Cat]

This is how the situation has fleshed out.

The Jacksonville Sports and Entertainment Commission will now oversee the city’s sports trust fund, the commission was told at a meeting Tuesday.

The change in course comes after a Times-Union story Sunday
J
about a $736,000 loss on the Navy-Marine Corps Classic basketball game held on an amphibious assault ship in Mayport in November. The story also pointed out that the commission wasn’t reviewing contracts involving the sports trust fund, which is required by city law.

“I think everyone agrees that we need to improve the process, and I think that’s going to happen,” Mayor Alvin Brown said Tuesday.

Assistant General Counsel Gayle Petrie said Tuesday the commission must approve all contracts for money coming in or out of the trust fund. The contracts will have a maximum amount that can be used from the trust fund for the event, and then Brown or his designee can make payments as needed up to that limit.

The commission had not been approving contracts or getting complete financial information about events. In fact, commissioners had been told by Michael Bouda, who used to head the Sports and Entertainment office, in January 2012 that they were just an advisory board that recommends things but has no power to spend money. Brown said Tuesday he believed an advisory board would be more effective and efficient, but he is fine with the city law as it’s written now.

Commission Chairman Ron Salem said he’s glad the group will have oversight of the finances. He said the commission has gone through a bad situation with the basketball game and the new process will help in the future.

City Council President Bill Bishop said the council may consider creating a special committee to look at the issue.

“The sad part is it was a wonderful event,” Bishop said. “It appears it just wasn’t managed in a fiscally prudent way.”

Alan Verlander, executive director of the city’s Sports and Entertainment office, told the commission he took full responsibility. He said he saw the game as a success because it was primarily intended to show the city’s support for the military.

However, it was also supposed to raise money for military affairs efforts, which didn’t happen.

Instead, the city almost wiped out the sports trust fund to pay for the more than $700,000 the event lost. The events cost about $2 million and the city received about $1.3 million in revenue to cover those costs. The city continues to crunch budget numbers, but on Friday said the loss was about $736,000, with about $8,300 remaining in the trust fund when all bills were paid and revenue received

For complete article:  http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-04-09/story/commission-will-now-oversee-money-jacksonville-sports-trust-fund

[Demosthenes]

I think we need a $500K study done to determine why this happened.

[Cheshire Cat]

I think we need a $500K study done to determine why this happened.

Bring this request to council Demosthenes and perhaps they can make this an "emergency" bill kinda like the chairs for 20K.