Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Skirmish over security contracts at Qualcomm Stadium

Elite and Staff Pro fight over paying employees living wages

The scuffle between Elite Show Services and Staff Pro over two open security contracts at Qualcomm Stadium rages on. At the center of the debate is allegations that Staff Pro is trying to avoid paying their employees living wages.

Now, armed with a recent opinion from the City Attorney's Office it appears as if Elite may have the upper hand. In a February 6 memo, Deputy City Attorney Thomas Zeleny stated that Staff Pro was required to pay living wages during all events at Qualcomm, despite the size or length of the events.

The back and forth broke out shortly after the city awarded two separate security contracts for Qualcomm Stadium in August and September 2012. One was for the overall security of the facility every day, 24 hours a day. Elite won that contract with a bid of $351,000 a year for 24/7 security detail at Qualcomm. The second contract was to provide security for events. Staff Pro, with a bid of $69,500 a year, won that.

The fight for the contracts, however, was far from over.

Months later, during a November 28 meeting of San Diego's Budget and Finance Committee, representatives from Elite, the City's go-to security outfit for years, accused Staff Pro of trying to skirt the Living Wage Ordinance. Councilmembers decided to look into the claim and continued the item until a later date.

Staff Pro's president, Cory Meredith, fired back in a January 2 letter to members of San Diego's Budget and Finance Committee. In his letter, Meredith called out Elite and Stadium staff for conspiring against them.

"Elite, our competitor, had the opportunity to malign Staff Pro without our ability to respond," reads the letter. "Given past behavior related to this particular procurement, we fear that the presentation was coordinated and that we were intentionally kept in the dark."

Meredith added that his company would pay the required living wages at those events that fall under the Living Wage Ordinance. "The City has acknowledged that some of those events do not trigger the City's Living Wage Ordinance, but where it does, we will fully comply."

Meredith then took a shot at Elite over a recent federal investigation into claims that Elite hired high school students to work during Charger games in exchange for donations to their school's sports teams.

"Clearly, these are very serious allegations," wrote Meredith. "If borne out, it will mean that far from having paid a 'living wage,' Elite would have paid far less than even minimum wage to children."

Despite the letter, Deputy City Attorney Zeleny sided with Elite, saying that city staff and Staff Pro were wrong to think that the company was exempt from paying living wages during smaller events.

"The [Living Wage Ordinance] requires payment of living wages on both the 24/7 Contract and the Events Contract. While many of the future contracts between Staff Pro and those holding events at Qualcomm Stadium may be too short to be a City facility agreement, the Events Contract meets the definition of a service contract under the [Living Wage Ordinance] which independently requires payment of living wages."

The Budget and Finance Committee will hear the item at an upcoming meeting.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

How to Get Legal Assistance When Your Car Accident Insurance Claim is Denied?

Next Article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule

The scuffle between Elite Show Services and Staff Pro over two open security contracts at Qualcomm Stadium rages on. At the center of the debate is allegations that Staff Pro is trying to avoid paying their employees living wages.

Now, armed with a recent opinion from the City Attorney's Office it appears as if Elite may have the upper hand. In a February 6 memo, Deputy City Attorney Thomas Zeleny stated that Staff Pro was required to pay living wages during all events at Qualcomm, despite the size or length of the events.

The back and forth broke out shortly after the city awarded two separate security contracts for Qualcomm Stadium in August and September 2012. One was for the overall security of the facility every day, 24 hours a day. Elite won that contract with a bid of $351,000 a year for 24/7 security detail at Qualcomm. The second contract was to provide security for events. Staff Pro, with a bid of $69,500 a year, won that.

The fight for the contracts, however, was far from over.

Months later, during a November 28 meeting of San Diego's Budget and Finance Committee, representatives from Elite, the City's go-to security outfit for years, accused Staff Pro of trying to skirt the Living Wage Ordinance. Councilmembers decided to look into the claim and continued the item until a later date.

Staff Pro's president, Cory Meredith, fired back in a January 2 letter to members of San Diego's Budget and Finance Committee. In his letter, Meredith called out Elite and Stadium staff for conspiring against them.

"Elite, our competitor, had the opportunity to malign Staff Pro without our ability to respond," reads the letter. "Given past behavior related to this particular procurement, we fear that the presentation was coordinated and that we were intentionally kept in the dark."

Meredith added that his company would pay the required living wages at those events that fall under the Living Wage Ordinance. "The City has acknowledged that some of those events do not trigger the City's Living Wage Ordinance, but where it does, we will fully comply."

Meredith then took a shot at Elite over a recent federal investigation into claims that Elite hired high school students to work during Charger games in exchange for donations to their school's sports teams.

"Clearly, these are very serious allegations," wrote Meredith. "If borne out, it will mean that far from having paid a 'living wage,' Elite would have paid far less than even minimum wage to children."

Despite the letter, Deputy City Attorney Zeleny sided with Elite, saying that city staff and Staff Pro were wrong to think that the company was exempt from paying living wages during smaller events.

"The [Living Wage Ordinance] requires payment of living wages on both the 24/7 Contract and the Events Contract. While many of the future contracts between Staff Pro and those holding events at Qualcomm Stadium may be too short to be a City facility agreement, the Events Contract meets the definition of a service contract under the [Living Wage Ordinance] which independently requires payment of living wages."

The Budget and Finance Committee will hear the item at an upcoming meeting.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.