In a 3-2 vote, the Hollister City Council approved a resolution on Oct. 21 that set in motion the return of the official, city-sanctioned Hollister Motorcycle Rally for the next five years. In 2020, the rally will be centered in downtown Hollister.
Although councilmembers Marty Richman and Carol Lenoir professed to be pro-rally, they cast the two “no” votes and said they felt the city would be put in financial jeopardy without any workers’ compensation insurance to cover police officers brought in from other communities to help patrol the event. Hollister Police Chief David Westrick warned the council was “playing a high-stakes game.”
None of the previous rallies have had workers’ comp insurance. Instead, Hollister is self-insured through its general fund. There have been concerns in years past that an accident at the rally could bankrupt the city. Westrick described a case that occurred in another city, where an officer suffered a head injury that cost the city $1.2 million.
Both Richman and Lenoir tried to impress upon their fellow council members the financial risk to the city, but Mayor Ignacio Velazquez and council members Rolan Resendiz and Honor Spencer were not swayed.
Randy Burke, president of Reno-based Roadshows Inc., had already signed a three-year contract to put on the biker rally, and the council vote extended it to five years. Burke has worked to promote city-sanctioned rallies in the past, and told BenitoLink on Oct. 22 that he would sign the amended contract as soon as the city sent it to him. At a cost of $130,000 for the 2020 rally, the contract is about $50,000 lower than what was paid to the city in previous years.
In previous years, Burke and other promoters had to make two payments to the city, with the last one due by June 1 in order to give the city time to cancel the rally should the promoter default. For the new contract, however, the city agreed to accept three payments with the last one due July 1. This makes it impossible for the city to cancel the event, according to the resolution (see PDF of contract below), because the rally will take place days later.
The mayor, who owns the Vault and is partial owner of another building across the street, has been a long-standing supporter of the rally. At the meeting, he said that the city has to stop being so fearful because it does not have workers’ comp. He repeated this to BenitoLink after the meeting, where he referred to the July 28 Garlic Festival shooting and said that Gilroy had plenty of police and the shooting still occurred.
Westrick took issue with the mayor’s comparison.
“The event in Gilroy took place in a controlled environment, so I have to worry about copycats of that event,” he told BenitoLink, adding that there would need to be more security for the rally than in years past. “We will have to change our tactics so folks will see us out there to know we’re there to keep downtown friendly and safe. It’s a daunting task because we also have a fiduciary responsibility to the city to run it efficiently that doesn’t expose it to any undue risk.”
Westrick said the city’s human resources department has exhausted just about every angle to come up with a solution.
“It would be wise for us to have workers’ comp for those folks because we don’t want to risk our general fund being depleted because of an accident,” he said. “There’s been no solution. I think they even called Lloyds of London and they wouldn’t cover it. It’s not about a motorcycle rally; it’s about an assignment of risk.”
He said it is difficult to convince out-of-town law enforcement agencies to provide officers when they’re told there is no workers’ comp to cover them.
“When we sign contracts with other agencies we agree to cover all risks of injuries and accidents,” Westrick said. “[Council members] have all known this for years and we tell them every time. My responsibility is the safety of the event and to have enough people to cover all shifts.”
Burke, on the other hand, is not involved in security matters. According to him, his job is to arrange for what he calls a “Cadillac event” over the next few months. He said there are no shows during the winter months, so he has the time to contact sponsors and vendors to let them know the official rally is back on. He said the new five-year contract will help attract bigger sponsors.
Other related BenitoLink articles:
https://benitolink.com/2019-hollister-rally-promoters-call-unofficial-event-a-success/
https://benitolink.com/rebel-rally-video-talks-motorcycle-history/
https://benitolink.com/hollister-rebel-rally-promotional-videos-capture-san-benito-county/
https://benitolink.com/rebel-rally-july/
https://benitolink.com/with-no-official-biker-rally-in-2018-whispers-begin-about-next-year/
