Perhaps realizing that it was doomed before the full Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, the proposed contract to privatize the Milwaukee County Zoo’s food, catering and concessions services was sent back to committee for further revisions.
A major sticking point for supervisors had been granting exclusive catering rights at the zoo to the Denver-based Service Systems Associates (SSA) as part of the proposed 10-year contract. Local caterers would be considered for just 10 zoo events annually. As a result of their concerns, the Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee voted 5-3 on April 16 to not recommend the contract.
Now, apparently, SSA has had a change of heart.
Supervisor Willie Johnson Jr., co-chair of the finance committee, told his colleagues at the April 23 board meeting that Zoo Director Chuck Wikenhauser had told him that SSA would remove the exclusivity clause from the contract. Johnson said he was concerned about the negative impact on local caterers and their staff.
“For some entities, it’s very significant revenue,” Johnson said.
Representatives from Zilli Hospitality Group had told the finance committee on April 16 that losing business at the zoo would have a dramatic effect on the handful of local caterers who regularly host events there. Paul Raasch, general manager and director of sales, said Zilli has about 30 corporate clients who regularly hold events at the zoo. He said the news about the catering contract was “unsettling.”
Todd Garvens, Zilli director, said he didn’t want to have to sever relationships with corporate clients such as Robert W. Baird, Aurora Health Care, Columbia St. Mary’s and Rexnord because they couldn’t hold large events at the zoo.
“These are our local corporations that trust us as their local provider,” Garvens told the finance committee.
Zilli employs more than 200 individuals who’d be affected by the privatization plan, Garvens said.
“We’re keeping those people busy year-round,” he said.
‘It’s Not Broken’
The proposal to privatize food, catering and concessions had been controversial from the start.
Last summer, as the Shepherd reported exclusively, the zoo had let out a request for proposals for the services without notifying the county board. Then, Abele included the SSA contract in his proposed 2015 budget. The board stripped out that item, which Abele vetoed. The board unanimously overrode his veto and told the administration to send it to the finance and parks committees, where it could be debated in public.
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Although supervisors can vet a contract, thanks to the Abele-backed Act 14 they can’t amend it or negotiate with vendors and can only give a contract an up-or-down vote on what Abele presents to them.
So although supervisors had reservations about the SSA contract’s exclusivity clause as well as bundling food, catering and concessions into one contract, they couldn’t make any changes. Instead, the finance committee voted 5-3 to not recommend it, then sent it to the board for the April 23 meeting.
Supervisor Theo Lipscomb, co-chair of the finance committee, told the Shepherd that the catering clause “almost universally seemed to be a problem” for the supervisors.
Lipscomb said after the April 16 vote to reject the contract, the Abele administration asked him to schedule an emergency meeting before the full board meeting on April 23 so that SSA could revise its contract. He rejected that offer, saying the matter had already passed out of committee and it was out of his hands.
He said SSA’s apparent willingness to drop the exclusivity clause was a victory for local caterers.
But Lipscomb said there were still questions about the contract. In its current proposed 10-year contract, SSA would provide $3 million in capital improvements to the zoo as well as $150,000 in marketing support during the first five years of the contract. SSA would hire current zoo employees at their present wages and benefits. It would also pay the county annual commissions, projected to be $1.45 million in 2015, $1.65 million in 2016 and $1.7 million in 2017.
He said he hadn’t heard if any of those terms would be changed when it’s next presented to the board.
Johnson told the Shepherd that he was undecided about the contract and wanted to hear testimony about it at the May 14 finance committee hearing.
Zoo Director Wikenhauser told the finance committee on April 16 that SSA had one staffer at the zoo to gather information, in anticipation of finalizing the contract and “scrambling” for the busy summer season.
But zoo employee David Sikorski, an AFSCME District Council 48 representative, testified that he’d had to listen to SSA’s sales pitch while he was working at the zoo. He said he didn’t think that these functions should be privatized, since they generate a profit for the zoo.
“It’s not broken out there,” Sikorski said.
