Should the mood and concerns raised at the Nov. 28 Hollister City Council meeting carry over to the Dec. 5 meeting, it is possible that Hollister will no longer have a city-sponsored motorcycle rally. Its air show, however, is apparently finished. Between Councilman Karson Klauer telling Airport Manager Mike Chambless that he believed neither Chambless nor the air show committee had faith in the air show, and Councilman Raymond Friend saying he might tell the motorcycle rally promoter to “hit the road,” one event is gone and the future of the other is far from secure.
When he stepped up to the podium to announce the air show’s dates of June 17-19, Chambless was in an unenviable situation. One member of the audience was overheard to whisper, “The poor guy,” as he stood up to an onslaught of criticism and second-guessing.
Friend asked Chambless if the same performers from previous shows were coming next year. Chambless said he was about to sign contracts with two performers, Vicky Benzing and Spencer Suderman, the next day. Other than those two, he said he was “kind of stuck” because one who appeared regularly was retiring and Chambless was looking into other options. Councilwoman Mickie Luna wondered why the same performers came back every year. Chambless told her Benzing is a regular because she is considered a local and a great role model for girls.
“She’s an incredible pilot who flies three different aircraft for very little money,” he said. “To me, she is a mandatory for the air show. Spencer Suderman flies multiple times for us, which gives us a good bang for our buck. Most performers will charge the city $10,000 for one flight and I tend to stay away from those guys.”
Luna asked him if there was a typical cost for a performer. He told her each contract is negotiated separately, but they range between $6,000 and $7,000. She asked Chambless what his budget was and he said $50,000.
Luna was the first to broach the matter of commitment to the air show, by asking the airport manager about the show’s committee and if they were still onboard in raising money. He said they had never committed to raising money. She said she was concerned about that because the show was “in the red for several years.”
“That’s going to the point,” Mayor Ignacio Velazquez added. “If those involved aren’t going out to help find sponsors and do things that need to be done to raise the dollars, this isn’t going very far and we’re going to be in the same situation every year.”
City Manager Bill Avera said he was stunned by the mayor’s comments.
“At the last council meeting, you asked Mike to come back and put on an air show,” he said.
Velazquez replied, “There’s a consensus to move forward, but I think what Council member Luna was asking was to make this successful every year it’s going to take those who are involved to participate and help find sponsors. Otherwise, it’s just the city footing the bill. It will go through this year, but time is limited.”
Avera said, “Can we please agree that it is not an ‘us and the airport,’ it’s ‘us.’ It’s the ‘City of Hollister’s air show.’ It’s not the ‘City of Hollister’s airport air show.’ In order for it to be successful, I was wanting to ask if there would be a couple of folks on the city council who want to participate. I think the city council has to own it to make sure it is successful. You have to participate. You have to see that the people who are on the airport commission and all the volunteers who are part of this understand that they have your support. If you’re not supportive of it, it’s never going to work.”
He went on to say that he agrees that continually being $20,000 in the red isn’t acceptable, but did not think it was fair to blame the air show committee if the council was not vested in the show.
Hollister resident Marty Richman said he stopped going to the air show because the same performers keep coming back and the crowds keep getting smaller. He said out-of-towners aren’t coming and the locals have stopped coming. He went on to claim that the airport has been neglected and plans for expansion have not materialized. He recommended that the city use money it would have lost and invest it in other project to make the airport more desirable, such as a restaurant.
“When there was a restaurant there, people actually flew in to sit down with somebody to have a cup of coffee and talk business,” he said. “You can’t even get a cup of coffee out there. You’re asking people to fly in and we give them nothing. We don’t have Wi-Fi in the place and we should have that. What you have is a place that doesn’t supply any luxuries or even necessities.”
Klauer then spoke directly to Chambless: “I don’t know if you believe in the air show anymore in terms of breaking even or providing the type of show that you want. I don’t think the air show committee believes in it because they didn’t say they would even try to come up with the money to make a difference. When the city manager asked if there would be somebody that would take ownership of it, I realized that I didn’t believe in the air show and I wasn’t going to be the one to do it.”
Klauer said he asked himself if he was even going to the air show and admitted he was on the wrong side of the vote in favor of it.
“It’s been on the agenda for the last two weeks and as far as I can tell there’s nobody from the airport committee or air show committee or the public who has spoken, other than Mr. Richman,” he said. “I’m confused about what I should do. I do know that I am not gung-ho enough to lose 20 grand without a bunch of people excited about it.”
While Klauer apologized for flip-flopping on his position of support, Velazquez said he would flip-flop in the other direction and support the show, with the proviso that he agreed with Klauer, yet remained hopeful.
“He’s right. Where is everybody?” the mayor said. “They should be here. It’s their airport. They need to be involved and excited to make it happen. I want to give it another chance, but I do want to see the commitment from those involved. If the council has to come out to make it happen, it’s probably not a good thing. There needs to be a sit-down with everybody and are we going to continue after this year, or not.”
Luna said that while members of the council often attend meetings of other commissions she didn’t think any of them even knew who is on the air show committee.
“If we’re going to move forward with this, we, as a city council, should talk to this commission to make sure they’re on board,” she said. “How much effort is everybody who likes the air show putting into it?”
She said that while people will donate time and money to other causes, not many are aware of what is involved with the air show.
“I’m concerned about losing money every year and everyone is telling us the same thing,” she said. “I don’t know about other people, but right now I can’t support this.” Then she said to Chambless, “And don’t try to tell me that it’s enterprise funds.”
Chambless held up his hands, almost in surrender.
“I was here last week trying to cancel this thing,” he said and added, “Everybody who has worked on this has put their hearts and souls in it. What kind of show we have is a direct result in how much money we spend and I’ve taken it up to the line every year with every penny. Sometimes we go over the line, like to get that F-18 (Navy Hornet Fighter). The people who work the air show are committed and I’m sorry if you didn’t get that impression.”
He said he does not look at the $20,000 as a loss, but an investment in the goodwill of the community. He said Santa Clara County spends $1.5 million just on noise abatement for its airport.
“We don’t get noise complaints in Hollister,” he said. “When we have the big airplanes flying around, we get calls saying ‘that was cool.’ That is a relationship that is worth more than $20,000. That is a golden relationship.”
Then he challenged Richman’s assertions that nothing is being done to improve the airport. He said millions of federal dollars have been invested in replacing the main runway.
“We just signed a huge lease with a company to build a very large hangar and we’re in negotiations with other people,” he said. “Things are happening. Six of the seven airport commission (members) agree that this is an investment in good will with the community. That is their thinking. They’re not looking at it as a profit/loss for a business. They’re looking at the airport as a business as a whole, and if there is a $20,000 investment on a $1 million budget; that’s not a lot.”
Then Chambless reminded the council that he did try to cancel the show and pleaded, “Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it.”
Velazquez thanked Chambless and then asked for a motion. Friend made the motion and when neither Klauer nor Luna offered to second the motion, he did so. The final vote was 2-2 (outgoing Councilman Victor Gomez recused himself). Velazquez said it might be possible to come back with a new resolution, giving Roy Sims, who would be taking Gomez’ seat a chance to cast one of his first votes on the future of the air show. However, Velazquez clarified to BenitoLink that the air show could not go forward because Chambless needed to book the performers the next day, and since that could not happen, the air show is cancelled.
Motorcycle Rally stalled?
Then it was Avera’s turn in the hot seat as he explained to the council that he had received the “redline” version of the contract back from Roadshows LLC. (Formerly Roadshows, Inc.), concerning the 2017 motorcycle rally. It was obvious he was troubled by the changes Roadshows made to the contract.
He told the council that the promoter not only wanted to lower the amount of the contract from $180,000 to $135,000, but wanted a guarantee that the 400 Block would be available to them for three consecutive years, and the wanted to have a four-day event, rather than three days. He said that because the largest expense for the city is public safety, this was troublesome for him.
“Like Mike (Chambless), we will do what you, the council as policy-makers, tell us to do,” Avera said, adding that he believed the $180,000 was needed to cover the city’s public safety costs and recommended that the rally remain a three-day event.
Friend agreed with Avera on the public safety cost.
“If they don’t want to pay that, then hit the road,” Friend said and admitted the statement was a 180-degree reversal from his previous stances on the rally. “I’m tired of these guys coming to us and saying ‘you guys are up against the wall and we’ll low-ball you.’”
Friend said that when he first supported the rally it was on the basis that it would be revenue-neutral and that the city should not budge from that stand. He said the 400 Block, at the corner of Fourth and San Benito streets has been sold and there was no guarantee it would be available by next April, much less for the next three years.
“I believe the rally can make money and I know those people are making money because I know they made more than $180,000 last year, or they wouldn’t be back talking to us at all,” he said. “Those people don’t do anything for free. Randy (Burk, president of Roadshows) and I have been friends for a long time and I thought he was going to do us right. We gave him this chance and he put on a good rally, I’ll give him that, but just like the air show, we’ve got to come up with some sponsors. It’s a shame because Hollister would lose several millions of dollars in advertising next year, but we have to draw the line.”
Klauer said he believed Roadshows was proposing changes that they knew would not be approved by the city. He described it as a negotiating technique where one side would ask for the impossible in order to get what they really wanted. Luna questioned taxes that were deducted from workers’ checks, wondering to which state—Florida or California—they would be paid. Velazquez, who has always supported the rallies, questioned how any promoter could succeed when they had no long-term commitment from the city and the question of whether there would even be a rally had to come back to the council every year for discussion. He also questioned why the fire department had charged $20,000 for the rally. He said the city would continue to experience shortfalls when it made excessive charges for services and did not collect fees from vendors.
“You can see why we’re having problems with this rally,” the mayor said. “We’re not letting it work. Give it a commitment for three years so they can succeed, but if we’re going to have this conversation every year, who in their right mind would want to do this? That’s a shame. This is an event known around the world, and once again we’re about to put an end to it for no reason.”
Councilman Gomez said that three professional promoters have not been able to make the rally profitable, with one still owing the city nearly $100,000. He said he does support the concept of a safe event, but not at the cost of cutting back on public safety expenses.
“We cannot sacrifice the safety of our community so the promoter can make money,” he said, adding that until someone figures out how to make money off the event, it would be difficult to allow anyone to conduct a rally. Gomez agreed with previous statements that the promoter was just trying to see if the city would be foolish enough to sign the contract.
“We get a lot of shady characters who come and try to do business with the city and they can’t make it work,” he said. “I find it a hard pill to swallow that multiple promoters have tried to make this event successful.”
The mayor said the tone of the conversation he had been hearing was, ‘we don’t want the rally.’
“So, why go on with conversations?” Velazquez said. “Just end the rally.”
Friend reminded everyone, “Please remember, the mayor is only one person. I want to see the numbers and if they can’t meet us, then I agree, let’s cancel the rally. But I’d give them one more shot to make this neutral because I think we gain a lot from the rally.”
With that, the meeting was adjourned, with Avera saying he would be countering the offer to Roadshows, and the council will discuss it at an upcoming meeting.
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