UFO entertainment contract moves forward | local news

Four members of the Roswell City Council’s legal committee voted 4-0 on Tuesday to forward the resolution and draft contract to the entire governing body for consideration at its next meeting, now scheduled for April 13.

Public Affairs Director Juanita Jennings reminded committee members attending the town hall meeting that the city had approved a budget for the UFO festival, previously set at $150,000. Entertainment is part of it. She added that there were bids from three companies for the entertainment.

J&S Pro Sound LLC, a company led by local entrepreneur and restaurateur Saul Aguilar, will now work to ensure the safety of entertainment and Stage and other production needs are coordinated with performing artists to occur sometime during the festival, June 30-July 2.

The company will also handle bookings and manage VIP seating charts for any “runners,” pre-concert “lounge” and artists. For these services, the company will receive 10% of the artist’s fee, not to exceed $20,000.

Among other things, the city will pay the company to provide hospitality and catering services and will cover up to $1,000 in costs related to the artist’s pre-concert needs. It will also provide some staffing.

J&S Pro Sound will also be granted a picnic license to sell alcohol at the DeBremond Stadium venue where the concert will be held.

Aside from some minor changes, such as a $1 increase in maximum damages to $20,000, the contract is the same one considered a month ago for The Liberty Presents, an affiliate of local social and entertainment club The Liberty Inc.

Councilors Ed Heldenbrand and Cristina Arnold criticized the original contract — saying the bidding process lacked transparency — and the committee deadlocked in forwarding it to council, meaning the motion failed. Arnold also said she recommends an RFP to avoid any perception of favoritism or hidden deals. She and others, including observers from the public, also questioned entitlement to Liberty’s lucrative liquor service, saying it would be unfair to the other two bidders if they didn’t know they could negotiate for it. The Liberty’s Josh Ragsdale agreed to delete the clause, but a motion to move it forward again failed due to a 2-2 vote.

Mayor Tim Jennings then met with The Liberty owners on Feb. 24 and agreed to include an item on the liquor clause on the council’s agenda for March 9, according to city documents. But then a meeting between Mayor Jennings, Councilman Bob Cohen and the city’s legal staff amended the contract again, which led the Free Press to have its lawyers notify the city that it would withdraw its proposal.

Lagersdale could not be reached by press time, and city employees had not responded by press time to requests for clarification as to why Liberty canceled its proposal.

Alcohol service and picnic permits were debated again Tuesday.

“I think there was discussion that we were going to cancel it, and (the Liberty owner) was willing to do that,” Heldenbrand said. “Now that it’s back, why don’t we try to use it as some form of revenue recovery or cost recovery? …It’s just confusing because the last time we talked about this, we said, ‘Well, we’re not going to put this in, we’re going to find another way to do it.’ “

Juanita Jennings said state law does not allow the city to benefit from alcohol sales if other entities have picnic permits, and she and the city’s legal staff say the city is not entitled to picnic permits at DeBremond Stadium . Deputy City Attorney Josh Nairn-Mahan added that the alcohol sales clause was retained in the new contract because it was reintroduced into the contract with Liberty following a Feb. 24 meeting with Mayor Tim Jennings, It was decided at the time that the entire city council should consider the issue.

Saul Aguilar told committee members his company did not consider alcohol sales to be important to the contract.

“For the record,” he said, “the only reason we’re talking about serving alcohol is because it’s already in the contract. You can do both.”

He also said, in response to a question, that it was unlikely that the main entertainer who hadn’t been identified during the meeting would be Tejano or a Spanish-language performer, but that he would investigate the possibility of getting an opening act of that type.

Committee forwards other items

Committee members also took a first look at amendments to the Roswell City Code related to campaign finance and municipal election disclosure reporting. The action follows the city council’s decision in January to hold municipal elections based on state regular elections starting this year. This means that municipal elections will be held in November of odd-numbered years alongside other elections, rather than separately in March of even-numbered years.

Under the proposed amendments approved by the Law Commission, municipal candidates will disclose their contributions and expenditures when they submit their candidatures, no later than the first days of September, October, November and December. Elected officials submit their reports annually on July 1. Political action committees are also required to submit regular reports. If a city judge finds that people willfully failed to file a report, they could be fined up to $100 a day, which committee members said typically means the city must first issue a formal notice of the failure to file.

The amendment also limits total campaign contributions to $11,000 for mayoral or judicial candidates and $5,500 for city council candidates. Anonymous donations are limited to $100 per individual or entity, up to $11,000 for mayoral or judicial candidates, and $5,000 for council members in a single election cycle.

Committee members decided that the entire city council should decide at its April meeting whether to hold a public hearing on the ordinance, with a vote only after the hearing, or as early as May.

The commission also voted 4-0 to send six other projects to the City Council for an April meeting, along with a previously reported bill for a building fee abatement program. The six projects include a five-year lease renewal for fixed-base operator AV Flight at the Roswell Aviation Center at $241,512 for the first year, with annual increases; for approximately $83,216 from Honeywell International Temporarily rented an HVAC cooler to install in the Roswell Air Center building leased by the International Law Enforcement Academy on Gale Harris Street in time for the Academy’s April training session; the city partnered with the Friends of the Spring River Zoo non-profit A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is renewed annually between fundraising and volunteer groups; acceptance of Theresa Mendiola’s $80,000 offer for a home at 928 Davidson Avenue donated to the city for Roswell Public Library use; Roswell’s two bidders, Custom Construction and Allen Roofing, approved for roof replacement and repair services for the city; Albuquerque’s Custom Construction and Keers Remediation Inc., approved for The city offers asbestos, lead and mold remediation services.