City commissioners voted 4-1 to sign a contract with a production company. The company wants to present the city with an award - for $24,000.
By CANDACE RONDEAUX
Published November 28, 2003
TARPON SPRINGS - When it comes to smooth talk, few people can rival sportscaster Pat Summerall. His silver-tongued play-by-play was a hallmark of NFL broadcasts for years.
Now Summerall wants to lend some of his slick skills to Tarpon Springs.
Summerall's video production company has selected the city to receive its Champions of Small Government award. The distinction means Tarpon Springs will be featured in a 2-minute video with opening and closing segments by Summerall that will eventually be aired on a CNN affiliate. As part of the award, Summerall's company also will make a 5-minute promotional video linked to the city's Web site.
There's only one hitch. The city will have to pay Summerall's company $24,000 for the privilege of receiving the award.
"It's not really an award; it's a marketing tool," said city attorney John Hubbard.
On Tuesday evening, City Commissioners voted 4-1 to sign a contract with Summerall's Texas-based company. The city will pay a one-time fee to "defray production costs" to tape and air the video between 6 and 6:30 p.m. on cable's premier news network.
Though some at a City Commission meeting Nov. 18 meeting questioned the wisdom of paying for an honorary award, several city officials said the video could spur much-needed publicity for the city.
"The bottom line is there is a definite marketing advantage to getting such a distinction," said city business services specialist Charlie Attardo.
As part of the deal with Summerall's company, an announcement about the award would be featured in Forbes magazine and on Forbes.com, Attardo said. The city would also be able to buy copies of the video for promotional use at conferences or other events, he said.
"When a residential developer has to make a decision on where to put his money, his knowing that Tarpon Springs has a designation of Champions of Small Government could be a deciding factor," Attardo said.
Calls to Summerall's producers requesting comment on the company's potential deal with the city were not returned.
Money for the project would come directly out of the city's budget, which now has a surplus of roughly $5-million, said City Manager Ellen Posivach.
But some city officials are not convinced that spending city dollars to help Summerall produce the video is such a good idea.
"I'm not really happy about the whole thing," City Commissioner Peter Nehr, who voted against the proposal, said on Nov. 18.
At that meeting, Nehr questioned the value of such city-sponsored marketing ventures and criticized city officials' February 2002 decision to spend $50,000 on another film about Tarpon Springs.
Under that deal, the city agreed to front the money to help defray production costs for Orlando-based Eagle Productions' documentary about Tarpon Springs sponge divers.
Though city officials received periodic updates about progress on the documentary, more than a year passed before the city received concrete information about the return on its investment. In August, the film's director Tom Lowe said he had nearly finished the hour-long documentary about the city's 100-year-old trade. That film is now scheduled to air on Tampa public broadcaster WEDU-Ch. 3 in the coming months.
But Nehr said he'd like to see the city find other ways to help attract more business to the city.
"To promote something that we don't know will actually work and spend almost $25,000 of taxpayer money - I don't think so," Nehr said. "In my opinion that money could be better spent on keeping businesses that are already in Tarpon Springs happy."
