Moose Jaw’s notorious city council has signed a contract with an American ticket agency to provide ticket services and software for Mosaic Place and the Moose Jaw Warriors.
The last ticket services provider, Ticket Rocket of New Zealand, went into receivership, as it apparently had problems paying revenues collected even before the pandemic. An estimated $200,000 for concerts and Warriors games remains un-refunded.
Although the city had no legal obligation, council chose to preserve Mosaic Place’s reputation by distributing gift cards for future events instead of a refund. That was nice of council.
One has to ask why council jumped into the arms of an American ticket service? Are there no Canadian firms? Wouldn’t this be an opportunity to have a local company start up a ticket service?
One difficulty with an out-of-country ticket service comes from the inability to sue them if something goes wrong.
Suing an out-of-country business requires deep pockets and the patience of a turtle on its way from Moose Jaw to the Pacific Coast.
The new contract with Paciolan LLC of Los Angeles runs for seven years with a three-year option to extend. Why so long? It would be better to have a two- or three-year deal with a seven- or eight-year option.
That is more in Moose Jaw’s interests considering past experience. If the city doesn’t like the service from a company unknown to it, taxpayers will be stuck for years.
The contract calls for minimum annual payments by the city. Given the strong possibility of another pandemic lockdown or prolonged low numbers allowed at public events, Moose Jaw risks paying for services not received.
When the city manager was asked about the guaranteed payment he said the city would talk to Paciolan if something happened.
A clause in the contract should have covered the matter. Get it in writing.
Perhaps the idea of getting the Paciolan franchise for Saskatchewan and the vision of profits led to sloppy negotiations.
Moose Jaw has the franchise for Saskatchewan to ink other teams and event centres to the service.
Sounds great but what about the liability the city is exposed to by the franchise?
If things go south, if we have another lockdown, Moose Jaw can be easily sued by other teams using the service. Paciolan will be difficult to sue because it is in a foreign country.
Then there is the question of who authorized the city committee negotiating the contract to get into the ticket business?
That kind of operation is a significant departure from collecting taxes and fees for service expected of a municipality.
Did council approve of this business deal in one of those closed-door meetings and fail to tell taxpayers?
Too many questions arise from this contract to satisfy taxpayers.
Then we have to realize this city council agreed to take the losses from events at Mosaic Place by an American management business with no city control.
This is also the council that agreed to give Canadian Tire a 20-year no competition clause on land near the new store site.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
