{"id":9033,"date":"2026-05-23T20:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9033"},"modified":"2026-05-23T20:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T20:01:34","slug":"huntington-beach-scraps-brand-management-contract-hit-with-cronyism-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9033","title":{"rendered":"Huntington Beach scraps brand management contract hit with \u201ccronyism\u201d allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Huntington Beach has scrapped a brand management and marketing contract plan that had been clouded by community concerns over transparency and cronyism.<\/p>\n

Read more Corky: Honoring the greats with the Surfers\u2019 Hall of Fame<\/a><\/p>\n

City Council members agreed at their last meeting to close the bidding process for the proposed contract that would have hired a company to revamp the city\u2019s merchandising and licensing systems, saying what was proposed couldn\u2019t happen in the timeframe city leaders were looking for, among other issues.<\/p>\n

The controversy began last month when Mayor Casey McKeon proposed awarding a two-year, $750,000 contract to Wolffhaus, a local firm run by Tyler Wolff and described as \u201cpart brand incubator, part strategic operator.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city had paid the firm $30,000 earlier in the year to perform an audit of its \u201ccreative, brand, media, press and digital ecosystem,\u201d and the contract would have had Wolffhaus acting on the recommendations it came up with to address issues it had identified, such as millions of dollars in annual licensing and tourism revenues lost, partly due to negative media coverage in recent years.<\/p>\n

Wolffhaus proposed creating a city-controlled merchandising program and establishing a film and digital media office to attract Hollywood production crews to Surf City.<\/p>\n

But there was immediate backlash with some residents wondering why only one vendor was considered for such a costly project. Some said the city\u2019s financial and reputational woes had less to do with branding than the legal battles the City Council is waging \u2014\u00a0and losing.. Others raised conflict-of-interest concerns, as Wolff\u2019s Facebook page indicated that his fianc\u00e9e is McKeon\u2019s appointee to Huntington Beach\u2019s Community and Library Services Commission.<\/p>\n

McKeon, who denied any claims of cronyism, pulled the proposed agreement on April 7, and instead, the City Council put out a request for proposals. Councilmembers Pat Burns, Don Kennedy and Butch Twining formed an ad hoc committee tasked with reviewing the bids.<\/p>\n

After evaluating 10 serious submissions, Twining said the committee decided it would be better to cancel the request for proposals because none of the bids offered any deliverables before America\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Read more Kennedy High graduation postponed by Garden Grove hazmat scare has new date<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe first 60 days were interviewing staff, interviewing retailers, interviewing these different people,\u201d Twining said. \u201cNobody could have met the Fourth of July deadline we wanted to cash in on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twining added that he felt many of the recommendations outlined in the Wolffhaus audit could be implemented internally by city staff or in tandem with nonprofits such as Visit Huntington Beach.<\/p>\n

Burns said the project was an innovative way to generate revenue for the city, but it had been derailed by allegations and political theater.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics sucks, and it\u2019s ugly, and I think this was a classic case of it,\u201d he said, adding he hopes \u201cit doesn\u2019t prohibit or discourage people coming to us with good ideas, and it fall apart because of politics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

McKeon said the public attacks against Wolff and his company were \u201ctotally unacceptable.\u201d He maintained that Wolffhaus is the most qualified vendor to tackle the merchandising and licensing issues that have an impact on the \u201cstructural budget issues\u201d the city is experiencing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of private sector people here, and if they bring forward ideas and proposals and you don\u2019t like it, that\u2019s fine,\u201d he said. \u201cCome up with a different idea, but you don\u2019t need to attack someone personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Company at center of Garden Grove chemical threat paid nearly $1 million to settle 2021 environmental violations<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Councilmembers said the improvements they were looking for couldn’t happen in the timeframe desired, but they hope members of the private sector aren’t dissuaded from coming to the city with ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nHuntington Beach scraps brand management contract hit with \u201ccronyism\u201d allegations - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9033\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Huntington Beach scraps brand management contract hit with \u201ccronyism\u201d allegations - 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