Quotes were not questioned by city purchasing department

December 10, 2013, Joe Boles is still mayor, Dana Ste. Claire has no spending limits for the 450th Commemoration, Charlie Seraphin’s $78,000 consulting agreement has just be renewed October 1.

Even though he is not a city employee and still has not produced a “corporate sponsor”, Charlie Seraphin reaches out to two video production companies, one of which is located in California, asking for a quote to produce a video presentation based on the following description:

Journey: 450 Years of the African-American Experience
Exhibition, January 20-July 15, 2014
Video Presentation Specifications

A twelve-minute video presentation for museum visitors (projected on a 14.5′ x 8′ media wall screen via video player) that overviews four-and-a-half centuries of African-American history and culture in St. Augustine in a national context from the genesis of African-Americans at the nation’s first and oldest colony at St. Augustine (1565) to the battleground for civil rights in the 1960s when St. Augustine was the catalyst for the passage of the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964. Video to include black & white footage of the Civil Rights Movement from the National Archives and other sources, Associated Press black & white photographs of the same, archival document images, and interviews with St. Augustine Civil Rights leaders, participants, African-American and other historians, and reenactors. Coordinate script recording with narrator. All editing, production, installation, and maintenance. Includes an edited short version of the full video for Journey marketing and corporate sponsorship purposes.

The California company, Granville Group located in Grass Valley, replies by e-mail with a quote of $26,900. On the same day, a Florida company, Bluwave Productions located in Jacksonville, replies by e-mail with a quote of $27,220. Although the two December 10th quotes are only $320 apart, despite originating on two opposite sides of the country, and both quotes well exceed the purchasing limit of $20,000, sealed bids were not obtained.

The following day, December 11th, Seraphin contacts Mummy Cat Productions (Michael Carr), the ONLY local company asked to quote, and obtains a bid, ostensibly from the same set of specifications, that is far less than half of either other quote. Mummy Cat proposes to do the work for $10,000.

When Ste. Claire presented the request for payment on the following Monday, December 16, 2013, the city purchasing department did not question him about the wide disparity between the two “competitive quotes” nor did they question why sealed bids were not ordered given that the only other quotes well exceeded the maximum $20,000 limit. Instead, at the behest of Dana Ste. Claire, General Services issued a purchase order for $10,000; calling for progressive payments of $3,000 immediately and $7,000 upon completion.

According to Financial Services, the City issued the initial check the following day, December 17, 2013 (it cleared the bank on December 23rd), and the final check on January 31, 2014 (it cleared the bank on February 4th).

During this Monday night’s City Commission meeting, January 12th, as a special agenda item, Michael Carr and Executive Producer and Director of Business Development for Mummy Cat Productions, Lura Readle Scarpitti, told the story of how the video, originally made for the City, caught the eye of producers at a Las Vegas convention; prompting the team to stretch the 15-minute version by eleven additional minutes. The 26-minute version was presented to the public at Flagler Auditorium that night, preceded with opening remarks by Dana Ste. Claire and ex-mayor Joe Boles, who was defeated in the November General Election by current mayor, Nancy Shaver.

Based on comments made during the commission meeting and elsewhere on the Internet, Mummy Cat Productions, LLC, has made claims to have negotiated syndication agreements for distribution of the documentary to more than 100 television stations across the country.

That recent revelation has led to inquiries into the value of the syndication agreement, income to Mummy Cat Productions, LLC, associated with future distribution of the documentary, and any royalties to the City of St Augustine whose taxpayers paid for and own the original video — including all intellectual property rights. The additional 11-minutes of content added to the original “mini-documentary” video, which was pitched by Mummy Cat, Michael Carr, and Lura Scarpitti, appears to make the 26-minute “documentary” a “derivative work” from property owned by the City of St Augustine.

Perhaps that is why Mummy Cat Productions, LLC, offered a price over $15,000 less than the two out-of-town video production companies? Perhaps imagined revenue from future syndication and distribution will far exceed the discount offered by Mummy Cat to get the contract under a suspicious, insider negotiation process that, like the now ex-mayor and now terminated consultant who contrived it, mocks transparency, open meetings, and government in the sunshine.

How’s THAT working out for you, Mr. Boles and Mr. Seraphin? Perhaps as Historic City News and others continue to investigate the fraud, waste and abuse appertaining to the entire 450th Commemoration over the past four years, it will one day be time for Mr. Ste. Claire to make reparations for his role in this fiasco, and others.