Team San Jose Pact Renewed
By Stephanie Corbin -- Tradeshow Week, 1/7/2008
Last year was a tough one for Team San Jose, the public-private partnership that runs the San Jose (Calif.) McEnery Convention Center and other venues in the city.
Despite the scrutiny that the organization has been subjected to, the San Jose City Council gave it a vote of confidence Dec. 17 by unanimously approving a five-year renewal of Team San Jose's contract with the city.
The current contract expires June 30, 2009.
“We think it validates Team San Jose's future,” said Dan Fenton, chairman and CEO of Team San Jose, when asked about the vote. “It was the right decision for San Jose.”
Approving the contract renewal so far in advance also gives the city and Team San Jose the ability to rework the contract for the next period.
“We've got plenty of time to work on new terms and conditions,” said Kay Winer, San Jose's chief deputy city manager.
Winer said several changes will take place:
n Performance measures will be expanded to include each of San Jose's cultural centers. At present, only the convention center has them in place.
n Revenue and expenditure projections will be corrected. The figures in the current contract are incorrect, Winer said, which has caused Team San Jose to deliver less revenue than originally projected.
n The partnership between Team San Jose and the San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau will be examined. Winer said the two have informally merged, and she wants the contract to be clear about how money flows between and out of both organizations.
Until the contract expires, the current terms will remain in place.
Fenton said he's excited about expanding the performance measures.
“We think that there's a lot of other measures in addition to revenue and expense that are vital to success,” he added.
Team San Jose also will propose that the contract include a provision requiring an annual review of revenue and expenditure projections, and annual approval of Team San Jose's budget, Fenton said.
“We think it's a much better way to approach this,” he added.
Fenton also said he was happy the contract renewal came so long before the end of the current contract, allowing Team San Jose to do a better job planning for the future.
“I think this was prudent to happen when it did,” he added. “We think this was the right time for the council to make the decision that it did.”
