Culver City Observer -

It now looks certain that there will be at least four summer music concerts at City Hall courtyard this summer—and possibly more than four, if funding becomes available.

On Monday night the City Council passed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Boulevard Music to produce a minimum of four shows during the 2012 summer months for the Culver City Boulevard Music Festival.

The Council had struggled with the issue of funding the music festival since the news came that the Culver City Redevelopment Agency would be dissolved as of February 1. The music series had been funded by redevelopment funds for 17 years.

Following the January 23 City Council meeting, Boulevard owner Gary Mandell met with city staff to develop the components needed for Mandell to produce the festival. It had been stated at the January 23 meeting that limited funding was available in the form of $5,500 left from last year’s allotment and $2,000 from a contribution from Sony.

Mandell was present at Monday’s meeting and fielded questions from council members who wanted to go over every component.

Jeff Cooper, having looked over the attachment that explained the components, said “Where is [the] sound [system] mentioned?”

“I allotted $1250 per show for the technology,” replied Mandell. “It’s on my spreadsheet that I gave to Mr. Nachbar.”

John Nachbar, City Manager, explained that he had not included the spreadsheet in the attachment.

Andrew Weissman had more questions. What about chairs?

Shelly Wolfberg, assistant to the City Manager, noted that the chairs belong to the City but Mandell would be responsible for setting them up and taking them down. Wolfberg also explained that Mandell would be having the courtyard pavement steam-cleaned at least after every other concert.

As for personnel, $1000 of staff time has been allocated. Weissman asked that $1000 be the cap put on spending for personnel, with other work being done by volunteers. He also wanted to be assured that if it turned out that a volunteer crew was not getting the work done, the producer could hire a crew at his own expense.

“I’m confident that Gary is going to be able to produce a quality event. I want to make sure to protect the city,” said Weissman.

Wolfberg also said that Mandell’s financials would be provided to the City.

Weissman wondered if it might be possible to have more than four concerts.

Mandell replied that he did not see the series expanding to more than six.

With all questions answered, the Council voted 4-0 for approval of the MOU.

The Council also received a presentation in remembrance of baseball great Gary Carter, a native son of Culver City who passed away on February 16. Carter was the catcher for several major league teams including the New York Mets, with whom he played in the 1986 World Series, and the Dodgers.

At the close of the meeting, Weissman brought up the topic of discussing health benefits for Council members. The others were reluctant to discuss the issue as they felt it would be inappropriate to do so before the election. However, they finally agreed to put the item on the agenda for the March 12 City Council meeting.