Tuesday, March 14, 2000
Bengals balk at bids for stadium contract
Management deal requires public process
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County officials are hanging a “Help Wanted” sign on the front door of Paul Brown Stadium just five months before it opens.
The Bengals are balking at the competitive bidding process for a Paul Brown Stadium Management deal.
(Jim Matthews photo)
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The county needs to find a firm to manage the $450 million football palace in a hurry, because a disagreement with the Bengals has led them to look elsewhere for someone to maintain the stadium.
It was always assumed the Bengals would run the year-round, day-to-day operations at Paul Brown Stadium. An interim agreement was reached in July, and the two sides started negotiating a long-term deal.
But county officials said Monday that the Bengals objected to the public bidding process required by state law when governments buy goods and services.
That impasse led to an announcement that the county plans to ask national stadium management companies to bid for the work — everything from buying equipment to hiring a grounds crew.
“This really speaks to all of the expenditures associated with the stadium” after construction, said Suzanne Burke, the county's director of administrative services. “It extends to pretty much everything.”
Although the Bengals would have been buying those goods and services, it would have been doing so for Hamilton County. That means the team would have to open for bid any contracts it would enter into related to stadium management.
“If the stadium managers want to buy a large piece of equipment, specifications of what they want have to be drawn and bids accepted,” Ms. Burke said. “Then we evaluate those bids to see who is the lowest and best, and we buy from them.”
County officials say the Bengals don't want to play by those rules.
In fact, the Bengals have hired several people for their stadium management team, known as Paul Brown Stadium Ltd., without going through the bidding process. That has led the county to withhold more than $21,000 in payments from the team.
Bengals' officials released a written statement Monday, but declined to answer any questions about ongoing negotiations. Jack Brennan, spokesman for the team, said the Bengals could save tax dollars if they get the stadium management contract.
“We remain confident that the Bengals can manage the stadium at the lowest cost to taxpayers because no management fee will be charged,” Mr. Brennan said.
“We also believe that because the Bengals have an obvious compelling interest, we would best preserve the community's investment by assuring maintenance at the required levels,” he said.
Commission President Bob Bedinghaus said he likes the idea of accepting proposals to manage the stadium.
“The idea here is to have a competitive process,” Mr. Bedinghaus said. “It makes perfect sense. I think we need to insert competition everywhere we can.”
Ms. Burke said an interim management agreement was reached with the Bengals so key staff, such as a building engineer and controller, could be hired before the stadium opened.
She said the Bengals called her repeatedly in the months following that agreement to ask if they could hire additional personnel without going through a bidding process.
Time and again, Ms. Burke answered no.
“They kept submitting invoices, and I kept scratching them out,” Ms. Burke said.
Ms. Burke said it will take about a month to evaluate the proposals, interview the firms and make a decision.
“It's important for us to expedite this,” she said.
The county paid the Bengals more than $58,000 for salaries of the building engineer and controller during the last half of 1999.
So if the Bengals do not get the stadium management contract, will that money be wasted?
Not necessarily, said Ms. Burke.
“I don't know that we have wasted that money,” Mr. Burke said. “We did get the benefit of their controller looking at the operating budget. And all of that information is transferable.”
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