As cities across Silicon Valley brace for cuts to staffing and services, the Santa Clara City Council on Tuesday afternoon is poised to approve a six-figure public relations contract between its stadium authority and controversial communications consultant Sam Singer.
If approved, the $170,000 contract between the Santa Clara Stadium Authority and Singer Associates would go into effect on July 1 and run through March 2022. The stadium authority could also use its “sole discretion” to extend the contract for three one-year options though March 2025.
The hearing of the agreement, however, is scheduled just hours before the council will review the Stadium Authority’s potential revenue losses of up to $8 million—should the NFL season be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But city spokesperson Lenka Wright said that Singer’s services were especially needed since Levi Stadium will be impacted by Covid-19 fallout as well as ongoing litigation.
“The Stadium Authority Board has determined that it is important to keep the public apprised and, for that reason, we continue to need consultant services,” she said. “As noted in the May 12 agenda memo, unspent funds from the current Stadium Authority contract with Singer & Associates, Inc.—approximately $70,000—are recommended to be carried over to a new contract, which would be in a not to exceed amount of $170,000. The FY 2020/21 Adopted Budget for the Stadium Authority already includes $100,000 for communications and the recommended consultant services contract.”
This isn’t the first time that Santa Clara has retained Singer for his services. In February 2018, Santana and City Attorney Brian Doyle signed off on two separate public relations contracts: one with the city and the other with the stadium authority. Each contract was worth up to $100,000, sparking accusations that city officials tried to flout procurements rules—which state the city council has to approve all contracts over $100,000—by separating Singer’s services into two separate contracts.
“In early 2018, staff conducted the process and Sam Singer was the single respondent to that procurement process,” Wright told the Mercury News at the time. “As such, and well within the city’s procurement rules and delegated authority, the city manager issued two contracts for up to $100,000 each (one for the City and one for the Stadium Authority). The City Manager’s contract authority for the City contract is $100,000 and for the Stadium Authority, which is a separate entity from the City, the Executive Director’s contract authority is $250,000.”
Singer’s scope of services in the proposed contract, for which he will bill $250 an hour, include community engagement and outreach, branding, assisting with media relations and supplementing in-house communications. The city’s past contracts with Singer have had a similar scope of services. In an August 2019 invoice obtained by San Jose Inside, Singer billed Santa Clara $3,000 to “review and monitor news media” for 12 hours.
Like the Stadium Authority, the city of Santa Clara is bracing for the economic ripple effects of Covid-19, as well. Last week, City Manager Deanna Santana authored a letter to community members about the fiscal toll the pandemic has taken on the city.
Santana said that Santa Clara has taken a number of measures to cut down on costs—including the evaluation of all current contracts. “Understandably, due to the COVID-19 fiscal consequences, our priorities have shifted,” she said. “Where we were once focused on growth strategies and strategic addition of resources for expanded services, we are now focused to strategic decision of maintaining service levels.”
Santana added that library hours, community events and parks and recreation programs could be on the budget chopping block in the coming months, as well.
This communication contract is absolutely frivolous! Santana recently hired one of her cronies to be the Communications Manager … A position that the City of Santa Clara never needed before Santana ever arrived … Along with a plethora of other additional positions added by the highly paid Santana that were never needed and never advertised and coincidentally filleted with people from her old stomping grounds too.
Santana was supposed and billed to bring in more revenue and streamline Santa Clara’s revenue streamline … But that certainly hasn’t happened at all. Her presence has cost the citizens of the City of Santa Clara, literally millions of dollars in frivolous lawsuits, needless ballot measures and cronyism. And Deanna Santana’s exorbitant salary and benefit package too … Cut library hours … BS … The first thing to be cut needs to be her latest $40,000+ RAISE … Then reduce the number of excess assistants she has surrounded herself with too.
Then … Get a new City Attorney, City Manager and City Mayor and Council — the current ones have lost track of who is working for whom and are spending the public’s’ money like it is water. And, let’s not forget about how they all keep raising the cost of city services (like garbage) while the level of services plummet.
Santa Clara desperately needs new leadership who knows the value of money and how hard it is to earn it — time for the good old boys and gals to be kicked out of the nest or send them back to living off of Daddy’s silver spoon.
No books for kids, no parks, no services, but trips to Paris for Escargot Santana, loans for ONeill house guest.Vartan. and money for Singer.
https://youtu.be/6D1nK7q2i8I
Insert Sam Singer for Goldfinger
In 2018 I filed a Civil Grand Jury Investigation into the improper bid & contract procurement procedures for Sam Singer and the City of Santa Clara. The results were…..well the Grand Jury, they couldn’t get the documentation from the city and scolded Santa Clara for faulty public records requests.
Nearly 2 years later we are still expensing the services of Sam Singer and Associates. Based on Santa Clara’s “Budget in Brief” in March 2020, “Santa Clara Stadium Authority would face three fiscal years of generating no net revenue and losing approximately $2.7 million per fiscal year to the City of Santa Clara’s General Fund”. With the current shelter-in-place and lack of events at Levi’s stadium why do we need a pricey taxpayer funded PR firm for the stadium? Is that backwards?
Santa Clara has a $22 million-dollar deficit, but Mayor Gillmor’s council majority thinks the city needs to spend another $170,000 on a city hall spin-doctor.
With the pandemic, our residents are suffering economically. Why is the city of all times wanting to continually hire a highly paid person at the expense of taxpayers to do a job that should be done internally?
We should be safeguarding salaries, not dolling out contracts for the city manager or those with an agenda.
What this means is no parks, no services, reduced library hours and possible cuts in staffing at city hall. What about the kids? This communication contract is absolutely ridiculous! Our city does not need expensive consultants
This city was great and never needed Mr. Singer. Santa Clara always hired competent people internally and not helping out ‘friends of those in power.
This is why I am running for city council to bring common-sense fiscal responsibility. Did we not learn from the 2008-2009 recession?
#Vote #District6 #Becker2020 #StaySantaClaraStrong #WeLoveSantaClara #budget #
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Glad I’m not a taxpayer in Santa Clara.
Now we know what Sam Singer was providing to the city… the fake news outlet Cupertino Today with posts promoting Mayor Gillmor and denigrating opponent council candidates in an election. Isn’t that an illegal use of city money?
https://www.svvoice.com/santa-clara-spin-docs-fingerprints-on-questionable-news-site/