Will making a clean sweep help jump-start activity at the Mayo Civic Center?

May 4, 2017 was billed as a transformative moment for Rochester. After two years of work and $84 million in state and local support, the city now had the state-of-the-art entertainment and convention center it needed as it set out to become a first-class Destination Medical Center.

Complete with a new 40,000 square-foot ballroom and a stunning two-story glass wave wall, the Mayo Civic Center, we were told, could now begin attracting a whole new tier of events to the Med City.

City leaders lined up for a ceremonial ribbon cutting as live music played in the background, creating the kind of celebratory atmosphere that generally indicates Mission Accomplished. Fireworks capped off the evening.

The warm feelings, however, did not last long. Within a year, the tone out of City Hall became more subdued. Despite the makeover, future bookings had fallen flat. All the while, the costs to operate the venue were on the rise, putting a strain on the yearly subsidy provided by the city.

So, what exactly went wrong? Some pointed to the ineffectiveness of Experience Rochester, the city’s visitor and tourism bureau, which had been charged with luring new events to the Civic Center. Others noted that having a larger venue meant Rochester had to compete with bigger cities, many of which have more attractions, hotel rooms, and marketing appeal.

But while there was debate on where to assign the blame, there was a growing consensus on what needed to be done to turn things around. The entire system needed to be rewired, and sooner rather than later.

In late 2018, newly-brought-on City Administrator Steve Rymer announced a bold proposal: Rochester would combine its tourism bureau with the Civic Center management to form a singular authority, completely restructuring the way the two previously-separate institutions had operated.

“This recommendation is not a reflection of [staff] efforts,” Rymer said at the time. “It is the current system that is not sustainable.”

Since then, the city has moved quickly in its pursuit of a more effective way of doing business. In the past six months, the city has dissolved both the Experience Rochester and the Mayo Civic Center boards; key personnel from the Civic Center have left; and the framework of a new nonprofit corporation has been formed, complete with a new board and president.

With all the changes taking place, Rochester City Council President Randy Staver said he’s confident the Civic Center can get back on track.

“There’s a lot of optimism here,” Staver said in an interview. “We know we had some concerns with that facility for a number of years.”

While the new corporation won’t take over operations until January 2020, its board has already begun negotiating with two industry-leading contractors — SMG for operations and Spectra for food and beverage. (If you have heard of SMG before, it may be because the company operates U.S. Bank Stadium, where the Minnesota Vikings play home games.)

In bringing in the national firms, Staver said he’s hopeful the city will be able to leverage their connections to “juice things up a bit” — perhaps bringing in bigger musical acts and larger conventions.

He also believes the makeup of the new board, a carefully-selected group of industry professionals with experience in destination marketing and event production, will help make the Civic Center more competitive.

“A key component of the new board is that we, the city council, are maintaining an arms-length relationship [from Civic Center and tourism management],” said Staver. "Not that we’re not still accountable at some point, but we really don’t want to micromanage what they are doing.”

Joe Ward, who was brought in to lead the corporation, told us he believes the new, more-centralized model will lead to not only cost savings — about $1 million in the first year — but also quicker decision-making.

“We are trying to get rid of redundancy, and we’re trying to get rid of silos,” said Ward, the corporation’s president, of the transition to a new operating model. “We’re trying to make sure everything is as seamless as possible.”

Ward acknowledged it could take some time before the Civic Center reaches its full potential. Many shows and conferences book out a year or two in advance, meaning they will have some playing catch-up to do.

In the meantime, Ward said his goal will be to have better communication with the community. After all, it is a Civic Center, he noted.

“You have to be a reflection of a community and understand what people want,” he said. “Part of that means we have to work on a menu of services and things that are available to the smaller budget organization in the community that can still find value in using the Civic Center.”

Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.