Contract with Chevy Centre ticket agency on hold
A contract should be in place in two weeks.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN — GetTix.Net has served as the Chevrolet Centre’s exclusive ticket agency since the city-owned facility opened in October 2005 even though there is no contract for those services between it and the city.
It is the latest on a laundry list of problems related to the operation of the center during its brief existence.
The city’s board of control was to approve a contract Thursday with GetTix, but deferred a vote for two weeks at the request of Kyle Miasek, the city’s deputy finance director and its point man on the center.
Miasek was evasive when asked about the delay, saying it was being done “in the city’s best interests.”
Miasek said he discovered earlier this year the city didn’t have a contract with GetTix to serve as the center’s ticket agency. GetTix has a contract for the work with International Coliseums Co.
GetTix and ICC are subsidiaries of Global Entertainment Corp., the Phoenix-based company that operates the center on behalf of the city.
When asked if it was a conflict of interest for two Global subsidiaries to work out this contract, Miasek declined to comment except to say, “There were concerns it wasn’t an equal partnership,” and that deal was signed under the former mayoral administration of George McKelvey.
Also, Miasek declined to comment when asked how the city could enter into a contract with GetTix when it doesn’t know how much money the company makes selling tickets for center events.
Service charge
The contract with ICC permits GetTix to include a service charge as high as $7 on each ticket it sells via the Internet or the telephone as well as a $3 handling fee for each order.
Tickets sold at the center box office don’t have the service charge or handling fee.
A woman who answered the telephone at GetTix’s office in Phoenix said Thursday the company wasn’t permitted to make comments to the media. Richard Floco, GetTix’s president, couldn’t be reached Thursday to comment.
The contract with ICC sees the center paying $50,000 to $100,000 a year worth of GetTix expenses for items such as ticket printing, its computer system and overhead items, Miasek said.
Global had predicted a profit of $726,585 for the first nine months of its current fiscal year, October 2006 to this past July. Instead, the center lost $33,451 during those nine months.
It ended its first fiscal year with a $23,653 loss.
GetTix signed the contract with the city and agreed as of July 1 to pay the cost of the items that range from $50,000 to $100,000 annually, Miasek said. GetTix officials were told before Thursday’s meeting that the board of control vote would be delayed, Miasek said.
The city is working on other issues with Global regarding the center, said Miasek, who declined to discuss them.
Other problems
Besides Global’s incorrectly predicting profits for the facility, other problems related to the Chevrolet Centre since it opened in October 2005 include:
UFailing to include $1.50 parking fees on most tickets during the first five months of running the center. The city had paid $210,000 to USA Parking Systems Inc. for the parking, expecting to make that money back with the fee. The center received $61,784 for its first fiscal year in parking revenue.
UFailing to receive $2 million from the state’s capital budget last year even though city officials say the money was promised for the center.
UThe resignation of its general manager after an internal audit discovered $700 missing in on-site parking receipts.
UHaving the building largely vacant between May and September 2006. The center booked more shows during that time frame this year. But financial records for May and June showed a financial loss.
UFailing to consider the 3 percent to 4 percent fee paid to credit card companies when tickets are bought with those cards during its first fiscal year.
skolnick@vindy.com