For the first time in the history of the Hollister Independence
Rally, a for-profit group has expressed interest in taking the
event away from the nonprofit that has organized it for nine years,
however city officials say they are not yet considering the
possibility of a changeover.
Hollister – For the first time in the history of the Hollister Independence Rally, a for-profit group has expressed interest in taking the event away from the nonprofit that has organized it for nine years, however city officials say they are not yet considering the possibility of a changeover.
While city leaders are mum on who’s involved in the group looking to get a piece of the rally pie, former president of the Hollister Independence Rally Committee, Dave Ventura, said he’s fully supportive of a for-profit group taking the reins.
Ventura, who recently resigned from the HIRC board, was tight-lipped on the subject for the most part. When asked if he was part of the group pushing for a rally takeover he said, “I’m not going to make any comment on that right now.”
During a City Council meeting Monday, City Manager Clint Quilter briefly mentioned that a for-profit group had approached him about the possibility of taking over the annual motorcycle rally. Quilter declined to elaborate on the group looking to get involved, but said the city is not yet considering giving the rally contract to a for-profit organization.
Ventura did say that the rally, which drew about 120,000 people this year, has become so large that it should be run by a for-profit group that will have paid employees to see that the event is properly organized and supervised.
“I think it needs to be. The fact that the rally has grown so big, it needs paid volunteers,” he said. “You can’t hold people’s feet to the fire if you’re not paying them.”
After five years of involvement with the rally, Ventura resigned in September after submitting a proposal that would have garnered him a commission for selling rally sponsorships – an idea that caused two HIRC founders to resign from the board. Board members voted down Ventura’s proposal.
Although the majority of city council members offered undecided opinions about the idea of a for-profit taking over rally operations, acting HIRC President John Loyd gave a more concrete assessment.
“I think they’re going to have more challenges than we do,” Loyd said. “You’re looking at making the event pretty cost prohibitive if you charge too much for an event that’s always been free. If it goes for-profit, I see it becoming a very expensive situation.”
Loyd said that there is a “philosophical difference” between having the rally remain a nonprofit event or handing it over to a for-profit group.
“The city council has to ask themselves if it wants to put money in the pockets of individuals or put money into local not-for-profits that are serving the community,” he said. This year the rally put about $12,000 into local charities’ coffers.
Also, Loyd said that it is unlikely that a for-profit group could organize the rally – which takes all year to plan – so late in the game.
“We’re seven months away from an event. Do they think that they can hire, do background checks and put everything in place?” he said. “I think they’d be challenged to do that.”
Whatever the outcome, Loyd said he hopes that the city doesn’t discuss giving the rally contract to another group before the future of HIRC’s involvement in the event is decided.
“Discussing a contract with another group while HIRC has a contract with the city is in really poor faith,” he said.
On Nov. 7, the council will decide whether to continue HIRC’s current contract with the city. At that time council members could choose to terminate the contract, approve it, change it or even to cancel the rally entirely, according to Quilter.
The date is not inflexible, but Quilter said time is of the essence because if the council postpones the decision it could make it difficult to contact vendors in time for them to make plans to attend, possibly losing them to other events.
Recently, the Fourth of July event, along with HIRC, has been the subject of considerable criticism. Several weeks ago, Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller heavily criticized the rally in a law enforcement report, stating he cannot guarantee adequate public safety staffing at future events due to the escalating threat of violence between rival motorcycle gangs.
In an effort to figure out how to make the rally work, on Monday city council members created two subcommittees – one which will look into law enforcement and public safety for the event, and another that will look into financial aspects of the rally.
Most on the council aren’t ready to either support or discount the idea of the rally contract being given to a for-profit group.
“I’m not sure yet on that,” Councilman Brad Pike said. “I don’t know if that’s what it’s going to take.”
However, he said at this point he would prefer to work within the community to see what can be done to keep the rally a nonprofit event.
Councilman Doug Emerson said that he was keeping an open mind about the possibility of a for-profit group taking over the rally, but it would take a lot to convince him that it was the right route to take.
“I’d have to see an awful lot of detail before I would even consider that,” Emerson said.
He agreed with Loyd’s statement that a for-profit group likely wouldn’t have enough time to organize the event by next July.
“HIRC puts an awful lot of time into it and has experience,” Emerson said. “For somebody to come in November, to me its very dubious that they can do that.”
Councilwoman Monica Johnson also said that she was keeping an open mind, but didn’t have enough detail to support the idea of a for-profit group taking over the rally.
“I don’t know enough about it to support it,” she said. “I’m open to hear any and all ideas about how to make (the rally) work.”
Johnson did say that if a contract was given to a for-profit group, it could be on the condition that a certain percentage of the profits continue to go to charities.
Vice-Mayor Robert Scattini was the only council member who seemed to have a definite opinion about the possibility of the rally being put on by a for-profit group. He said the rally should remain as it is.
“I’m not on that page at all,” he said. “For charity, yes. But as far as profit, no. The rally was set-up with the idea of contributing to charity.”
Luke Roney covers local politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
