Council questions $60,000 Juneteenth contract, asks for post‑event accounting

Cleveland Heights council members questioned a proposed $60,000 daytime contract with the organization JAVA to manage Juneteenth activities at King Park and asked staff to provide complete accounting and attendance data after the event.

The item, introduced at the Committee of the Whole meeting May 19 as Resolution 96‑2025, would authorize the mayor to enter into a contract with JAVA for event planning and logistics. Staff said the city lacks a special events coordinator and that Parks and Recreation and communications staff absorbed planning duties; contracting with JAVA was presented as a way to deliver a larger program than staff could manage alone.

"The event is one month away. It'd be beneficial to start allocating funds to fulfill vendor and performance purchase orders," Jessica Schantz, director of communications and counsel, said, explaining the timing pressure to secure vendors and performers. Staff emphasized that this year’s daytime Juneteenth will be at King Park to showcase recently upgraded audio‑visual equipment and to help draw visitors toward the Cedar‑Lee business district.

Council members pressed for details about the city’s event budget. Staff said the city’s current event budget was $50,000 and that the $60,000 contract would require transfers from departmental funds to cover the cost. Staff said additional small expenses (marketing, production support) were anticipated but that the $60,000 would be the largest daytime expense.

Questions focused on who pays vendors and how revenue is handled. Staff said vendors would pay concession or booth fees; those fees would go to the city’s general fund. "No vendor can sell anything on our property without a fee," a staff member said, and staff added those vendor fees would be collected by the city. Staff also said JAVA would manage payments to performers and vendors under the contract so the city would not be issuing individual vendor checks for the daytime program.

A separate, ticketed nighttime concert is planned under a separate contract with a revenue‑share arrangement; that contract was described as "under consideration." Staff said the city has no fixed monetary obligation to the concert promoter other than in‑house production costs and would share revenue if ticket sales warrant it. "If only a hundred people buy tickets, then we'll receive some portion of that, but there's no cost risk to us," a staff member said.

Council members asked that staff provide a post‑event accounting of money spent, attendance figures (including concert, t‑shirt and food sales), and an estimated budget for the Pride event the city is planning. Several council members said the $60,000 figure and the late timing — with the event one month away — required clearer financial documentation and stronger sponsor outreach for future years.

No final vote on the JAVA contract was recorded at the committee meeting; staff said a draft daytime contract had been sent to the law department and that two separate agreements (daytime, ticketed concert) were expected.

Next steps: Council requested an audited accounting after the event and asked staff to return with an estimated budget for the related Pride program.