Stadium board explores how to recoup security money
U.S. Bank Stadium’s oversight board has hired a forensic accountant to determine the scope of alleged billing irregularities by a security firm fired in September and to lay out the possibility of recovering money, a top official said Wednesday.
Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority Chairman Mike Vekich didn't provide a timetable for the review but told a state House committee that the review is into improper billing for security staff time.
Vekich revealed the inquiry while fielding questions about the troubles with Chicago-based Monterrey Security, which had its contract was abruptly terminated after irregularities about billing and guard hiring came to light.
A law firm probing Monterrey on behalf of SMG, which manages the $1.1 billion stadium on a day-to-day basis, highlighted instances where Monterrey allegedly submitted invoices for staff it listed as terminated or that included the same guard more than once.
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Rep. Mark Uglem, R-Champlin, said he was troubled by that among several revelations in the law firm’s Sept. 25 report.
“This is money that the taxpayers of Minnesota are going to be out, so have you done anything further on that?” Uglem asked Vekich.
“Whatever action is necessary to recover, we will take,” Vekich said.
Monterrey disputed the portrayals of wrongdoing. In a letter last month to state lawmakers, Monterrey President Juan Gaytan said the report “grossly overstates” billing concerns.
“These allegations are so unsupported by fact and are so premature that they are, at best, reckless,” he wrote.
Gaytan added that software problems account for invoices that included employees more than once. “As a result, the amounts Monterrey billed SMG were accurate but some of the names on employee rosters were not,” he wrote.
Gaytan said Monterrey had been willing to work with SMG on routine audits but was never asked to. The security company executive also disputed there were widespread instances of unqualified, disqualified or improperly trained personnel keeping watch at the stadium.
In a press statement Wednesday, the firm suggested it was being mistreated.
"We are proud of our 18-year record as an independent, minority-owned business," the statement read. "While our expansion led to some administrative mistakes on our part, those are now being used as an excuse for selective enforcement against the only minority-owned security firm in the NFL."
While best known as the home to football’s Minnesota Vikings, the stadium has also played host to rock concerts, monster truck events, youth sports, a prominent pro soccer match and scores of private events in its inaugural year. Vekich, who has chaired the stadium board since June, said more than 1.6 million people have come through the stadium’s gates to date.
Vekich’s appeared before the House State Government Finance Committee during the second of the panel’s two hearings into stadium security concerns. The first came weeks after Monterrey was let go and had its license to operate in Minnesota revoked by a separate state board. Two firms were quickly brought on by SMG to take over security.
Vekich assured lawmakers that security staffing concerns have been addressed. Vekich said the authority and a stadium management company have modified policies to prevent future problems with security vendors. He expressed confidence the building is safe for users and visitors alike, and he said he personally notices the difference.
"I see a new day at U.S. Bank Stadium,” Vekich said. “Even as we come in on a regular basis and they know us, it is if they don't know us. And that's exactly what we are expecting."
February's Super Bowl will be the biggest event held at the year-old stadium. The NFL and federal agencies will handle security for that.
Some DFLers on the committee complained about the continued focus on the security issue after stadium managers took action to correct problems.
“Isn't the company that was doing this, they’re not on board and the leadership at the stadium is all new and are on top of it,” said Rep. Leon Lillie, DFL-North St. Paul. “It seems like we’re kicking a dog that’s already been put to death.”
Republicans said they had a duty to look into the matter for the sake of public accountability. Committee Chair Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, said it’s not just about the Monterrey situation but also about the way stadium managers and MSFA board members are policing their vendors.
Anderson said lawmakers must to steps to provide “guarantees that one we are protecting citizen safety going into the future and that two we are protecting the asset, which is the Vikings stadium.”