James commented the other day about an agenda item on the Tuesday, July 15, 2014 city council agenda.
Our airport manager wants permission to sign a contract for over $292 thousand for advertising services without bidding it.
The backup material claims that the advertising services are exempt from bidding requirements under section 252.022(a)(16) of the Texas Local Government Code.
The proposed contract is for “the development of an advertising campaign to attract public attention to El Paso International Airport as a gateway for the City of El Paso. The Scope of Work includes video production services to provide principal video, post production services and delivery of one finished 30 second television spot and one finished long-form video not to exceed 90 seconds in duration”.
You decide
Texas local government code section 252.022(a) says:
This chapter does not apply [to] … (16) advertising, other than legal notices.
So what is advertising? Most of us would think that the work described here is preparation of material to be used in advertising — advertising is the process of publication and making visible the material that will be created here.
However, Merriam-Webster gives the following as it’s third definition of the word: the business of preparing advertisements for publication or broadcast.
Section 252.022 was modified by our legislature in 2007 to exclude advertising from competitive bidding requirements. Before that advertising had to be handled competitively.
Not final
City council can still subject this contract to a competitive process if it wants to. The state law simply allows council to avoid competition here, it does not require them to.
What for?
Our intrepid Reality Checker commented on this blog that most people already realize that our airport is a “gateway to El Paso”. I certainly hope that our city does not decide to spend money to inform people that interstate 10 is a gateway also.
Hopefully city council will examine the need for spending this money. Will one 30 second video really cause more people to use our airport?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
And, just where is this advertising to be show? How much more will that cost? How will that cost be paid? Isn’t advertising for the City – whatever that might consist of – more properly in the domain of a Chamber of Commerce, or maybe the Convention and Visitors Bureau?
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Any way you look at it, it’s super expensive and the people who get the job….some lucky cronies, most likely….are shamelessly sticking it to the city, or shall we say “sticking up” the city? Rounding off the 292 grand to an even 300 grand and just counting the main product, the 30 sec video, comes out to $10,000 per second on that video. Are they planning on hiring an army of extras? or building an MGM style set? or maybe buying some super hi tech photography equipment that they can keep? Any way you look at it … must be nice! I know some local people who make commercials and they tell me this is outrageous!
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If the City receives 1.5 cents in sales tax revenue out of every dollar spent in El Paso, this little project would have to generate about $16 million in additional consumer spending to pay for itself.
The timing also also makes no sense because they are doing this after the El Paso airport has seen significant declines in traffic.
The more I think about this, the less it makes sense. It seems like this is being done for some unstated reason.
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C’mon, Brute… most people realize that EPIA is a gateway to EXIT El Paso… this campaign is needed to let them know it’s also an entrance… silly blogger!
But you’re right… why WOULDN’T they bid out a cintract worth over a quarter mil?
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We did a really nifty 30 second spot to promote usage of the public computer centers and BTOP literacy education for about $25K, Competitively bid, too. I can’t see where he is spending that much money for 90 seconds. Maybe if it were a 30 minute infomercial, but who would listen?
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I have not heard a peep from Mayor and/or City Council concerning my inquiry and statement about Resolution 3.1 on tomorrow’s agenda. I guess we are not in an election year.
Hopefully, City Council can be trusted with the money we have entrusted them to spend on our behalf.
I do not have any ill will towards Wingo/Sanders, I just think any qualified bidder should have an equal opportunity to perform services for the City.
If other businesses in the El Paso area similar to Wingo/Sanders knew about the preferential opportunity given to one of their competitor, would they approve?
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Ask David K. He’s an expert on how contractors collude on bids.
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At the moment, a motion has been made to delete Resolution 3.1 and item 12.1. City Council is in executive session.
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Looks like item 3.1 has been deleted.
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