Friday, May 05, 2000
Stadium manager bidding approved
By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer
There will be no restraining order to keep Hamilton County officials from opening bids on Monday from firms who want to manage the new Paul Brown Stadium.
But a judge still has to decide whether a lease the Bengals signed with the county in 1997 guarantees the team's right to manage daily operations at the $450 million football complex.
Common Pleas Judge John O'Connor will hear arguments on the issue May 24.
But the judge said Thurs day that Bengals officials did not make a strong enough case in asking him to stop the county from proceeding with the open-bidding process.
Stadium management includes just about everything associated with running the stadium — such as painting, field maintenance, hiring security and window washing.
Bengals attorney Robert G. Stachler told the judge the management agreement was an essential part of the lease.
The team has hired about 16 employees on its stadium-management staff. Those hires have become the focus of the battle.
Mr. Stachler said the team will agree to go through a public bidding process when buying goods or services for the stadium. But the Bengals say the employee hirings should not be subject to open bidding.
The Bengals have billed the county $108,000 for those salaries, which the county says it cannot pay because the employees were not hired properly.
“I don't think we're that far apart,” said Troy Blackburn, the team's director of stadium development. “We're trying not to fight. We're just trying to have our lease upheld.”
Mr. Blackburn said the team is “scared to death” that a ruling in the county's favor might void the lease.
Carl Stich, assistant county prosecutor, said that won't happen. He said that even if one aspect of the lease were considered void, all the others would remain in force.
The question, he said, isn't really who will manage the stadium. Rather, it's a question of how the county will pay for management of the stadium.
The Bengals still can be guaranteed that right, if they go through a public-bidding process for most hires and when buying goods and services, Mr. Stich said.
The other option is that the Bengals could just hire their stadi um management staff and pay those salaries without reimbursement. The team doesn't like either option.
The two sides seemed to move a little closer Thursday when the Bengals said they would, indeed, go through public bidding for goods and services.
But Mr. Stich said they have to bid out stadium management positions — jobs such as groundskeeper, carpenter and security — as well.
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