Stadium Authority Meeting — Part 1
By Robert Haugh
Stadium Authority meetings are now held separately from the City Council meetings. Good thing because it was a long meeting. It started at 4:30 p.m. and ended after midnight.
Today’s report will be mostly about the workshop. Monday’s column will be about the meeting — where the real fireworks happened.
Audit Workshop
Fred Brousseau of Harvey Rose spent almost two hours (5-7 p.m.) walking the Stadium Authority members through the final audit.
But first Brousseau felt he needed to respond to the public criticism from the 49ers about the qualifications of his firm. It’s impressive. They’ve been in business 38 years doing auditing for all the major cities and counties in California.
Here are the major answers to what the auditors discovered from one of the presentations slides:
1.Were City policies & procedures in place to ensure Measure J compliance during audit review period? No.
2.Was the General Fund reimbursed for all Stadium-related work (NFL and non-NFL) No. At least $229,239 not reimbursed in audit review years for NFL & non-NFL events.
3.Could revenues and expenses associated with non-NFL events be identified? No. Information kept by ManCo; could not be accessed, reported for audit.
4.Does information provided to Board allow give full financial picture? No (e.g.: unreported $894,228 in Construction Fund monies for staff costs).
5.Could parking receipts and off-site parking fees for City-owned property be validated? No. Records are kept by ManCo could not be accessed & reported for audit. StadCo owes City $718,803 in unpaid fees for Golf Course used for parking.
Brousseau explained each issue in great detail. In turn, he fielded a lot questions from Stadium Authority members. But there were no major debates or fireworks. Even Stadium Authority member Dominic Caserta, a solid 49ers supporter, said that he thought the audit was money well spent.
Speaking of money, the audit cost was approximately $180,000, not the $200,000 that has been reported in the media, including us. Total money identified that needs to be returned to the general fund or the stadium construction fund is approximately $1.8 million.
But the biggest thing we learned is that the audit has forced a lot of systematic changes in how the City staff is handling stadium billing and operations. That may be the biggest, long-term benefit. Kudos to the Harvey Rose team.
Stadium Authority Meeting Preview
On Monday, read about how:
- Police Chief Mike Sellers delivered a 6-minute tirade attacking Mayor Lisa Gillmor and defending his department against the audit.
- Stadium Authority member Teresa O’Neill corrected Sellers and the public record about how the auditor was chosen and why.
- Caserta complained about audit leaks from the Ad-Hoc audit committee.
- Stadium Authority Member Kathy Watanabe defended the committee.
- Caserta believes Santa Clara’s most important local news site does “fuzzy math.”
- Read about how Caserta’s motion to lift the weekday stadium curfew to 11 p.m. for the Coldplay concert failed on a 4-3 vote.
[…] Raul Chaundook and 49ers’ political consultant Ed McGovern on Aug. 24 – just hours before a Stadium Authority meeting that took us two columns to write about. Caserta grilled Fred Brousseau of Harvey Rose auditors […]
I am continuously impressed by Mayor Gillmor’s handling of stadium related issues. When the dust cleared, she was right, large amounts of money are owed to the city. The cost of the audit should be paid for by the 49’ers organization because it was their obfuscation of the financial issues that forced the audit in the first place. We’d still be in the dark if the audit was not performed, compounding an already lop sided situation and loosing money year after year. In contrast, the Chief of Police’s tirade was disgraceful especially in light of the fact he would be the first to know, via overtime and his budget, if department resources are being excessively drained by stadium-related issues.
mrhmyers I know I jumped the gun. The nauseum was at such a level that I had to dump this and could not wait till Monday. Didn’t want to wreck my weekend.
I feel my comments work both for the stadium audit and the noise ordinance. Hopefully next election the Niners won’t support such a whiner.
I’m not angry at all. When I see elected officials supporting businesses and big money over the residents, I feel the need to call that out.
My heart goes out to the North Side neighborhoods having to deal with the stadium on a daily basis. When you move into the old quad you know what you’re getting. When the city decides to drop a giant stadium in your backyard and your vote is nullified based on the 49ers big money, I think that’s a good time to say something.
Transparency, right Dominic?
Shame on you Richard. Leave your hate behind and come in peace and love.
But don’t forget your black outfit, your mask and your club with nails in it. Then we will recognize your peaceful intent and know that you couldn’t harbor hate yourself but are only fighting hate.
Funny that ‘Hate’ hides behind a mask instead of user the hate’s name (sound familiar?) but makes it a point to use other’s last name.
Yes, true to form, your type never fails to deliver.
No? Well prove me wrong by dropping the mask and telling us who you are.
Richard, you are jumping ahead. That’s the Monday report.
Yes, this meeting was the most electrically charged meeting I have been to. Lightning bolts everywhere and I didn’t notice anyone being spared. Debi Davis said some good things and didn’t seem to suffer too much from it. Walking wounded?
I was there but still look forward to Robert’s summary. You have to love it when the opposition provides free advertising.
I think Hossam said it best. It was easy to see Casserta, Mahan, and Kolstad are in the 49ers camp with all the leading softball questions. It seemed they were reading from a script. Casserta says they need to come together, then shows no regard for the Northside Residents. The more Casserta speaks the less I like him. A whiny narcissistic that supports the 49ers. I hope the other residents (VOTERS) see what I see.
Richard Bonito why are you such an angry man? Your hate is a poor reflection of you!