St. Paul Company Vying for BPAC Contract

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A company that primarily specializes in hotel management has submitted a proposal to the city in hopes of winning the contract for the city-owned Burnsville Performing Arts Center.

At a council work session on March 12, Council Member Suzanne Nguyen disclosed that the St. Paul firm—LHR Hospitality Management—was one of two contenders for the BPAC contract. The other party is VenuWorks, the Iowa-based company that has run the BPAC since it opened in 2009. VenuWork's current contract expires at the end of the year.

Little else is known about the specifics of either contender's proposal, though a recent report in SunThisWeek suggests that VenuWorks will retain the contract. A special committee—consisting of city staff and several members of the BPAC’s citizen advisory commission—has been set up to vet the proposals, but it has not met in a public setting. The RFP documents themselves will also be withheld from the public until the council has voted on the matter. At the work session, City Attorney Joel Jamnik explained that unlike a bid, state law classifies "requests for proposal" as private.

Initially, the plan was to have the sub-committee review the RFPs and interview the candidates, then make a recommendation to the BPAC’s citizen advisory commission (which does hold public meetings). The advisory commission would in turn take a vote and submit their own recommendation to the city council, the body that would ultimately approve the contract.

Council Member Dan Kealey encouraged the council to interview both candidates at a public meeting before putting the matter to a vote, both to avoid the appearance of secrecy and to give the council a more active role in the process.

"I've had a reflective moment about the magnitude of this decision. This is a $20 million asset unlike anything else we have," Kealey said. "I want to be able to defend the decision I'm making." 

Kealey found support in two fellow councilors, Mary Sherry and Bill Coughlin. 

"I've had some concerns about this, only because this is a first. When we hire contractors we usually rely on staff to do (the research), but this is a different animal," Sherry said. "I think that we can't just waive them away."

The BPAC has been beset with frequent changes in leadership and deficit spending since its inception. According to a report delivered by BPAC brass in January, the center took in $975,388 over 2012, with $1,228,854 in expenses, for a net loss of $253,466.

The city decided to put out the call to other management companies in July 2012.

“This is not a startup,” Burnsville Performing Arts Center Advisory Commission chair Sal Mondelli said at the time. “We’re in a growth mode, so we need somebody who’s got a track record of growing things, of taking it to the next level.”

The BPAC advisory commission will put the matter to a vote on April 10.