The Hollister council directed the city and the Hollister Downtown Association to move forward on plans for next year’s motorcycle rally with North Carolina-based WorldWide Dynamics, the manager that oversaw the 2013 event revival.
Interim City Manager Bill Avera at Monday night’s meeting said the 2013 rally was “fairly successful” in the first year since the event’s cancellation following the 2008 rally. He said this year’s event produced a total of more than $240,000 in revenue with final costs topping $60,000. Overall, the city gained a profit of more than $140,000 from the rally, while Worldwide Dynamics received around $30,000 in total compensation.
Last week, Worldwide Dynamics paid the city its remaining balance from the event. Still, city officials, as required by the contract with Worldwide, want to see more detailed accounting of the rally’s expenses. The city will have a new contract worked out with Worldwide by Dec. 16 after reviewing those records, Avera said.
Council members mostly agreed with this decision while also praising Mark Cresswell, who heads the management company and attended Monday’s meeting.
“I think it’s pretty wise to look at the promoter’s books,” said Councilman Victor Gomez, who praised Cresswell for being available to council members by phone and for his work on the 2013 rally.
“There was a decision to make everything accounted for,” said Avera.
Avera said he had hoped to produce a contract with a manager for next year’s rally by October or November.
“We’re already past that,” he said. “It would be better for us to start earlier than not.”
The council, comprised of just four members after Mayor Ignacio Velazquez recused himself because of his ownership of The Vault building downtown, expressed surprise at the lack of progress on next year’s rally.
“I thought we made a deal to allow the promoter to work with the Hollister Downtown Association,” said Councilman Ray Friend.
Avera said the council did approve that deal and that the city is always involved in the rally.
“The HDA doesn’t know how much work it takes,” Avera said.
Still, the council decided to move forward on the HDA and Worldwide partnership.
“We did give it to the HDA,” said Councilman Robert Scattini, who contended the HDA needs to take charge. “I hope it goes off good, but I have my doubts.”
Cresswell said he was glad to be a part of the rally.
“Going into talking about the future, we have to finish what we started,” he said.
Cresswell said the community is the “real star” here.
The promoter said he was committed to a three-day rally instead of a two-day rally. Additionally, the city is looking to expand the area of the rally for next year.
“We have to be pretty darn sure we can handle the extra cost of a third day,” Cresswell said. “I’m committed to working with the HDA.”
