'We owe it to ourselves': Holland will seek other management options for Civic Center

HOLLAND — Following a lengthy, and at times contentious, meeting Wednesday, Holland City Council voted to seek other options for future management of the Holland Civic Center.

The decision, which comes after years of tension with current management company VenuWorks, goes against the recommendation of the Holland Civic Center Place Board, which suggested the city renegotiate and obtain a two-year extension with VenuWorks.

The current VenuWorks contract expires June 30, 2024. The city hopes to make a decision by the end of 2023 to allow for a smooth transition.

The original VenuWorks contract was approved in March 2017, prior to the completion of the center's $16.5 million renovation. At that time, the contract said Holland would pay VenuWorks $4,000 per month for pre-opening services.

After opening, the city would pay the company $6,500 per month in management fees and VenuWorks would also get five percent of gross food and beverage sales up to $400,000, and eight percent of sales exceeding that amount. The company would also receive five percent of gross annual revenue up to $150,000 and eight percent of revenue exceeding that amount.

But instead of seeing high revenue and sales, the Civic Center often fell short of expectations. While several council members on Wednesday admitted two years (2020 and 2021) were basically a wash due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there have inarguably been growing pains.

In September 2019, news broke of a $95,000 shortfall in the center's fiscal budget  — and that was after the city’s $719,000 subsidy to the venue.

At the time, Mayor Nathan Bocks served as Civic Center Board Chair. He said he wasn't sure $95,000 would be enough, despite both the city and VenuWorks financial staff members agreeing it was the correct number.

"My confidence is honestly very low with this," he said. "The city should not and will not be responsible for losses that are a result of decisions made by VenuWorks."

Then, in November 2019, council approved a one-time allocation to the center of $48,871. It was the third budget amendment the city approved for additional funding that year, totaling $767,871 in subsidies for fiscal year 2019.

The city discussed leaving the contract early, but Assistant City Manager Matt VanDyken said “there was never the expectation this place would ever make money” and added that, to his knowledge, the city has always subsidized the Civic Center to some degree.

Mayor Pro-Tem Myron Trethewey was skeptical.

“What I’m sick and tired of hearing is that VenuWorks didn’t know this or VenuWorks didn’t know that,” Trethewey said in 2019. “We hired them as a professional team. For them not to see this stuff, that’s irresponsible. I can’t accept that. I simply can’t accept that.”

He was also wary of paying the subsidy.

“This better be the last time that a request comes before this body. I will vote it down anytime in the future. We better turn this ship around and we better turn it around quickly. I don’t want to have this discussion again.”

Five years of frustration seemed to reach a boiling point Wednesday, as council discussed next moves. Concerns included cleanliness of the center and whether it's being used appropriately.

Councilman Jay Peters voiced general support for VenuWorks, despite concerns of his own, and ran through the various uses of the Civic Center, including events during Tulip Time, basketball games and the farmers market.

“Those are the priority bookings that we've given to VenuWorks to deal with,” Peters said. “None of which are really big money makers. We are prioritizing events that don’t necessarily help us financially.”

Peters said the Civic Center is gaining momentum, and last year saw its best year financially.

“The fourth year, they exceeded their budget and then last year, their goal was $605,000, and the budget we approved was $605,000,” he said. “Their current actual for last fiscal year ending in June was $1,074,267.92.”

He said VenuWorks “has gone above and beyond” during its time leading the Civic Center.

“Let’s just extend the contract for two years, give us an opportunity to do our job and figure out what the Civic Center is and what direction we want to go in,” he said.

Peters also questioned whether fellow councilmembers had reviewed the data provided, a notion that didn’t sit well with Councilman Scott Corbin.

“To be honest with you, this (the data) wasn’t given to me until two weeks ago," Corbin said. "I’ve been asking for information from the Holland Civic Center Place Board for a couple years. It’s kind of insulting to even suggest, but I’m used to it. It's common practice with one of my colleagues to do that routinely.”

City Manager Keith Van Beek said whether the city votes to extend and renegotiate the existing contract or put out an RFP (Request for Proposals), there are opportunities for adjustment.

“Depending on your direction and vote tonight, we don’t have a contract in place and, in fact, the motion of the Civic Center Place is to renegotiate a new contract,” he said. “So, we would either renegotiate a new contract or we do an RFP that would outline a little bit more of what isn’t in place right now and wasn’t in the original RFP."

Councilwoman Nicki Arendshorst compared the RFP process to renewing one’s car insurance, saying each year, a person shops around for the best option. She felt the same theory should be applied to this process.

“We owe it to ourselves to find the best value, the best outfit that's out there,” she said.

Council voted against renegotiating VenuWorks' contract, then approved a vote for an RFP, which will solicit proposals from other management companies.

Van Beek will move forward with that process — which gives VenuWorks an opportunity to throw their name in the ring again.

“We've learned a lot and that's been mentioned tonight,” Corbin said. “We've learned a lot and I think that can be applied to the RFP process and can be included so we get the best outcome for our community.”

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Van Beek said, over the next month or more, staff will collect input from various stakeholders to craft the RFP.

“Ideally, the RFP would be issued likely in late October or November, and then responses received and a choice made for the successful company maybe by December or early January,” Van Beek wrote in an email. “The specific contract would then be negotiated and presented for final approval by council after selecting the company through the RFP process.”

— Contact reporter Austin Metz at ametz@hollandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: 'We owe it to ourselves': Holland will seek other management options for Civic Center