http://www.ci.glenwood-springs.co.us/Packet/agenda.htm
The subject of whether or not COGS 'leases' the marketing gimmick of 'Glen Wood' back from their hired tourism marketing vender GSCRA, has been moved from agenda to agenda for months now.
Will this be still yet another publicly funded tourism marketing related topic that gets either shoved under the rug or secreted back behind the closed, bolted and security guarded doors of GCRA as so many similar issues have for over 25 years?
Where is COGS? Do they care that public perception is so negative out there? Or are they still influenced by the ludicrous spin that it is all the conspiracy plot of a 'pushed agenda' by a few that 'hang out on a certain (very popular) blog?
Either way, it is absolutely undeniable after over two decades of this kind of nonsense that our elected officials that run the City of Glenwood Springs are out of touch with public need for transparency and accountability.
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(See wk. of April 16 change by city council to move "Glen Wood" topic to meeting of May 3, 2012)
(See public commentary on related story here)
OK, 'kids'. Per your request, 'gws44 and glenwoodsprings 22'; here is your post on the upcoming city council meeting.
City of Glenwood Springs:
"Item #8: Discussion and/or Action on Approval of License to Use Advertising Materials (Re: Glen Wood) with Chamber Resort Association...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetic pursuit and tracking of patterns within the news others make since 2010."
14 comments:
Here's a hypothetical. Let's say a local contractor decided about 25 yrs. ago to start bidding on jobs for the City of Glenwood Springs. Had a good presentation so they landed the first couple of bids. Did a good job and because the bid scope was a recurring one they went ahead and bid every year. Became the sole source. One thing led to another. After a year or two they started padding the bids a bit. Covering their overhead costs that were above and beyond the overhead to pull the work of the actual bid off. Nobody really watching except the employees. Time went by. After about another couple yrs or so they held the monopoly and the city didn't even bother to open bids any more. The local contractor just blew through employees whenever one asked too many questions. One problem though. The line items were padded out with no more room and old employees had been talking. One thing led to another. City started getting restless and talking up opening bids up again. The sole source contractor had to do something to get more cash in so came up with the idea of building a better gimmick contraption to execute part of the current year bid. City was so blown away by the possibilities they didn't notice that part of the new deal was to lease back the gimmick contraption from the contractor for a hefty fee. No problem it's done all the time. What the city didn't bother to check is if they had already paid for the labor and overhead used to make the gimmick contraption and buy all the materials for it because they were paying all the overhead for the multiple enterprises of the contractor. Every year the overhead costs charged out by the contractor kept growing until they topped out at the max they could charge of 20% of the annual bid in addition to all costs to execute. Every year the sole source contractor had to work harder to keep everybody happy or clueless, padded areas hidden and a new and better gimmick contraption to add to the growing list of leased items in the contract. The power of the sole source contractor became pretty much the strongest in town. So much so the city backed down every time a question was raised. Citizenry grew more unhappy. Finally pushing the city hard enough to take control of some of the problems. By this time the local contractor cared more about saving face and power, thought it was invincible. So they pushed back by seeding the new board and doing whatever it took to get voices raised to go quiet
Here's the question about the city negotiating a license to use "Glen Wood" and then using the citizens tax dollars to pay for that license use:
In the world of legitimate bidders on government contracts it's legit for a contractor to own something and then lease it to the government for the life of the project they are bidding on. There's a catch though. The property has to be owned by the contractor, purchased or built on only the contractor's time--overhead--labor and credit means. The property being leased back out to the government can't be property that had a single penny, business stability or credit stability brought by previous government means put into it and not belonging fully to the contractor. The goods being leased back can’t be fraudulent or misrepresented in any way.
City Council: Do you know the details of where, how and the means that were used to create "Glen Wood" and every single line item of lease back equipment, licenses, websites and gimmicks for the past 25 years that is in the current contract? Are you going to ask for a detailed accounting of every hour of labor, every piece of equipment and under whose leased roof went into "Glen Wood" before you lease back something you/we probably already own because it was created off overhead, labor and equipment you already are leasing under the current contract?
Before you blow off what the folks know you're reading here, ask yourself this: How would you know if you/we had already paid for "Glen Wood"?
Thanks nanny.
Got a calculator?
Let's see. We've been leasing a special printer from the chamber for about 3 years now to the tune of a few thousand a year if we break down that 20% on top of everything ka-ching. How many printers could we have bought for $6,000 +? Hypothetically.
Let's see. We pay the full-time salaries of the tourism employees under contract and then 20% on top of that for their supervision at the chamber. So call me confused. Did they hire Hill Aevium to create Glen Wood? Or did they come in off the clock (no, they're paid salary that can't be) and create him on their own time? Or did the chamber board create him? And we're leasing him back because of why?
Let's see. What would the cost be to buy each one of the council their very own little pocket calculator?
You know the "Glen Wood" agenda keeps getting bumped by council. I wasn't sure if you guys had noticed. It was supposed to be on the next one. 3rd of May. Agenda came out today and it's bumped to the 15th and showing up on another draft agenda. What's going on with this?
Thanks for the call and info inkwars.
I wonder how long law enforcement, prosecutors, commissioners, council and city management are going to keep allowing closed doors, preferential treatment and political manuevering? We have so many problems similar up and down the valley.
Sending a shout out this morning to every person who's fed up and had enough of all these colored and blurred lines that our collective lives as communities have to put up with wasting our cumulative resources and pooled tax dollars and funds. Fed up enough that you're approaching your 4th year of boycotting local hotels, restaurants and Strawberry Days. My husband and I haven't encouraged a head in a bed in Glenwood Springs since 2005 and we aren't starting now. We send them to Carbondale and Rifle and we tell those friends and family why. Our anonymity at our house is on a need to know basis and that includes the prominent jobs we hold in this town. We've seen a hundred times over more accomplished by supporting the shadows than we've ever seen out of city management or council. Neither one of us would cough up our names even if Terry Wilson was standing in front of us demanding it. That's how disgusted and fed up we are at our house.
Go figure that some cartoon character gimmick that is so silly and ridiculous to put up against all the other destination resorts advertising would be the catalyst that finally tips over the boat in the tsunami. Lodging up 12% says the shill on council. Who cares, Ted? When those bodies are not sticking around and spending money and our own government won't ram the door down at the chamber to find out how much money we spent on "Glen Wood" before we go "rent him back" at outrageous boon to a non-profit bottom line for the next quarter of a century?
Good to know from inside source that could lose their job if anonymity isn't protected that behind closed doors there's finally some hot heat being put on.
Now let me ask my next question. Who's political derriere is being covered by those closed doors? John Martins? Martin Beeson? Leo McKinney? Stephen Bershyni?
Let's see, this year we have 2 family sets incoming and their extended family. That's 13 family members lodged for a week. Carbondale? Rifle?
12% now. 5% a few months ago. 7% last month? 1.5% 14 months ago. be kind and politically correct and toss in another 6% to up the whole shootin match to around 30% over past 2 yrs. let's just say we're up 30%. let's see. we were down 70% (but good to know a council mtg or two ago that virgzilla and company finally boosted the work out to get enough money to pay back city coffers on what never should've gone out in grant funding). be kind and say it's just 70% down.
70 - 30. leaves us what? only 40% down to recover before we can even start thinking about profits again? let's see. nobody bothering to add in the factors of lost businesses and no money trickling in worth counting to the other businesses in town that are still hanging out of the stuffed lion's mouths.
factor in all the damage everywhere and we're what? over 100% down? a conservative guess on that. no problem. we've got glen wood riding in any day now and a heckuva lot of 8x10 glossy images everywhere around the world and I'm not talking just about full page ads.
sent from my verizon blackberry
Our eleven family members put up at the cabin last year worked quite nicely and we will do same this year. Sending a scout out to gather the vendor names at the fair worked out nicely as well. The ladies went direct to source after the "Strawberry Days Massacre" based on that good intel.
The infectious puss that lies within the tentacles of the problems has rotted and decayed to the point where the only viable choice for officials and authorities now is to drain and irrigate the wound.
In other words, kicking the can down the road is no longer an option. The time has come for rats to flee the ship or drown in the waters of their own making.
no can to be kicked anymore. every little thing they do when it comes to tourism promotion is suspect until they clean it up. nobody will believe them until they perform. can't perform to level needed when their clinging to the edge of the vortex circling the drain. cabin again, eh? we're going for the 4wd trip again. missed the massacre last year. this year going for missing CIRC's last stand and hoping Lou's not the alamo. still welcome to join up. things might be dry and dull up on the hill.
These bones are too old and too valuable at this stage to be rattled around the terrain you're on. Father's Day week and weekend in Steamboat has some very interesting music lineups and events. Shopping for the ladies and our own beds and pillows at night. Old men appreciate their creature comforts, friend.
An unplugged drain is what the economic and political factors are now circling in this multiple layered deception protected behind closed doors and blanketed with unprecedented care by power in control. To borrow a phrase recently used by 'SandboxNanny' elsewhere:
The Devil lives in the details.
And vice versa, 22. If the rocketing wheels of those souped-up terrain vehicles comes our way you all are always welcome.
make it sound like you're a 100 yrs old. come on, bosk. you didn't even know what an avatar was or how to tweet until we gave you one and showed you. you're missing some fishing that can't be gotten to unless you terrain access. just might do that. we'll bring the fish. with you pretty much on the other. think they need some drano action still though. working on it.
sent from my verizon blackberry
You would think they had learned by now that it will never be the same world again. There are microscopes and they are under one. This kind of thing is so damaging to 81601. The lack of transparency and accountability that bothers me the most is that we have all these authorities and officials running around listening to a sorority era voice trying to convince them it's the fault of all the whistles and she's going to be their saving grace. They all look like their still walking the hallowed halls of high school instead of adults. By all means, let the stick figure cartoon character version of Waldo be the battering ram that finally gets the door down. Why not? What other bad PR could there possibly be that is greater than the way our leaders are handling the money and the power?
Make that moved again to the council meeting of May 17.
Good, because that gives time for the private bets going around town on how much we're going to get soaked for Where's Waldo after we probably paid for his conception and birth in 2010 and 2011.
Good morning, 'kids'.
Yes, your email links to the send-out from City of Glenwood Springs this morning have all been rcvd.
I didn't realize so many of you were subscribed to the council agenda send-out that COGS releases on the Monday prior to meeting.
Instead of doing as some of you have asked and putting up another post re: the ongoing saga of 'Glen Wood' and his lease viability, I opted to just do another update on the original post. That post has been picking up traffic for some time off major news outlets keeping an eye on it and I think the overall need is best served simply by keeping it where it is and public commentary ability open on the post.
No, I do not yet know anything on my end regarding when it will be on council's public agenda. Please remember that it is rare any more that I pay attention to council and the ongoing tourism issues with the chamber. Just what comes out of the daily news ag roundup. I think you're best served to keep tracking your alerts and your own sources.
Make it a great day out there.
Draft agenda last week has Glen Wood up on next meeting. May 17th video reviews show Edmonds talking about what everyone else has known for some time, that the city is finally waking up to the reality of disentangling websites, reservations and association between tourism owned and chamber owned. That threat of having control is something that the chamber board has held over the city for years. Sooner or later somebody needs to step up to the plate and hit hard forensic questions at the chamber and find out exactly who paid for what, when and with whose financial stability. Especially now that the city is forced to stand proud and tall alongside the choices the chamber has made over the past few years in standing by Marianne. Just say NO to leasing back what we probably already own in Glen Wood. Just say YES to severing tourism and chamber into the seperate entities that they are.
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