A resolution approving a proposed Tenth Amendatory Agreement between the City and County of Denver and SMG by adding funds to provide continued scheduling and management services and administrative and payroll services for on call stagehands who provide theatrical production services in city venues. Amends a contract with SMG by adding $23,000,000 for a new contract total of $86,000,000 to provide continued scheduling and management services and administrative and payroll services for on call stagehands who provide theatrical production services in city venues. No change to contract duration (CE93004-10/THTRS-202261807-10). The last regularly scheduled Council meeting within the 30-day review period is on 4-4-2022. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 3-2-2022.
No items have been called out under bills for final consideration. Council member CdeBaca has called out Bill 273 for a vote. Under pending, no items have been called out. Madam Secretary, please put the first item up on our screens. Thank you. Councilmember Sawyer, will you please put resolution 214 on the floor for adoption? I move. That council resolution 22 dash 0 to 1 four be. Adopted. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded. Comments and questions by members of Council on Resolution to 14. Councilmember Sawyer. Thanks, Madam President. Although this is not specifically an on call contract, which I always call out to vote no on, it is a contract where there are still negotiations happening between the different parties that are involved in the contract. So really appreciate them coming to committee to explain what was going on there. And you know, the contract negotiations between SMG and the theatrical production services team. But since this is a contract for up to $23 million and it's unclear how much of that could potentially be access, but the average spend amount is about $7 million. I feel like this falls into the same category as a number of the on call contracts that I call out because we don't have any reporting that tells us at the end of the day what is used, how much is used and for what. I think that I am I'm equally uncomfortable voting yes on this contract, so I'm going to go ahead and call it out to vote no. You know, the charter says that we as council members have a duty to oversee the budget and to oversee improved contracts over $500,000 and without the reporting requirements on the end of some of these open ended up to contracts. That's a little bit it can get a little sticky. And I feel like we are we're not necessarily, you know, following the money in the way that we should be. So I'm going to be a no vote. But, you know, I understand why everyone else supports it, and that's great. Thanks, Madam President. Thank you, Councilmember Sawyer. Councilmember Flynn. Thank you, Madam President. Tad, are you here to represent arts and venues? Okay. Oh, the whole gang. Hail, hail. The gang's all here. Okay. Can someone come up and just briefly explain the relationship between the city SMG and and the Yahtzee Local seven and why we fund this and what what the purpose of this is? Because I'm concerned that if this were not to be approved, what would be the consequences? Just briefly and as you come up, we'll ask you to go ahead and introduce yourselves for the public record as well. I'm Mark, Company Director Performing Arts Complex. And your question, I think, gets to when we were in committee, we talked about why Local seven is not a union that is negotiated with the city, has to do with the CSA rules and things like that. So we have a third party that we enter into an agreement with and they negotiate on our behalf. Exactly. I recall when this came to the committee. The the rationale is that we do not have a collective bargaining agreement with the union. And this goes back to quite some time ago that we've been doing this. So SMG, which is our our vendor, our operator of these facilities, pays the members for the work that they do and. We pay for that work, but it has to go through SMG. That's correct. Okay then. So why $23 million? Yes, we have. Did you introduce yourself? Yes. I'm sorry. My name is Frank Del Monte. I'm the director of Finance of Arts and venues. $23 million. So we had put into the ordinance that we had been averaging about $7 million a year. That was before the pandemic. Activity has increased dramatically. We've added about ten weeks to the season. We're probably averaging now between nine and $10 million a year. We had two years left. The contract is going to be competitively bid this year going into 2023, and we'll consume that. So as we articulated, this is a pass through. We pay the stagehands, they're called for the events and it's negotiated through SMG. Thank you. So the understand, just for the folks who are listening on Channel eight or here in the room, the the $23 million is not fully spent unless $23 million worth of work is is performed. That is accurate. So it's a it's a pool of money from which we will pay. And right now, the balance in the contract is how much? About $1,000,000. So if this were not to be approved. We could not pay the stagehands and we couldn't hold the event. Okay. Thank you. And we also have here Brian Preston, who is the business agent for Yahtzee Local seven. And I spoke with him briefly in the hallway before the meeting, and I believe he had some input he wanted to give us on this. Madam President, sorry to invite him up to the mic. Sure. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr.. Preston, yourself for the public record. Absolutely. Thank you, Councilman Flynn. Good evening. My name is Bryant. I represent I stagehands under the collective bargaining agreement with F and g for councilwoman. Can each agency stand through International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees? We were organized in 1891, not 1908, as stated in the committee. But it's always difficult to bear witness to and far too common for us to be the topic of conversations we're not included of. So here we are. We know that COVID changed the face of our industry and funny looks to have been temporary, but we're still not back at full scale. We spent the pandemic being categorized as hospitality workers, not as entertainment workers, which left a lot of our members without that needed assistance during the time. As stagehands, we make a living not being seen. But if the last two years have taught us anything, it is the visibility matters. So here we are. We're here to speak today in favor of this amendment, so long as it represents the reality that truly includes us, as we haven't had a raise under this agreement in four years. So we view this as the first step, going to hopefully many to come in gaining equitable pay for our members. Thank you. That's all I have. Madam President. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you. Councilman Flynn. Councilmember Sawyer, we have you back up. Thanks, Madam President. I was in committee and so already had this discussion. This isn't a question of the contract itself. It's a question of the agencies of the city and county of Denver not reporting to city council on the money that they are using on open contracts. So just want to make sure that I clarify that obviously I support our workers and and obviously, as I said in committee, incredibly grateful to arts and venues and the entire team for doing what is an extraordinary job, keeping all of our arts and venues operations running even during COVID, when, you know, it was very unclear what was going to happen next. So really appreciate all of that. This no vote is not at all about that. It is about the lack of reporting structure from the agencies of the city and county of Denver. Thanks. Thank you. Councilmember Sawyer. Madam Secretary, roll call on Council Resolution 22. Dash 214, please. Sawyer. No. Torres, I. Black I. CdeBaca, I. Clark, I. Flynn All right. Herndon, I. Cashman Kenny Ortega, I. Sandoval, I. Madam President, I. Madam Secretary, please close the voting and announce the results. When you have a nice. 11 eyes council resolution 22 dash to 14 has been adopted. Madam Secretary, would you please put the next item up on our screens? Council members say to Barca, Please go ahead with your questions on resolution 251.