LovelandPolitics
| Loveland's Independent News Source |
| Mayor Finally Runs Madwire Out of Town |
Loveland, November 6, 2015
Madwire Media Cos., was founded in Loveland in 2009 by Joe Kellog to assist
companies with creating an online presence through websites, social media
and email. The company is not a web design shop nor full advertising firm
but instead occupies a place between these two traditional market segments
by providing start-ups and small companies a complete online presence and
digital marketing tool name "Marketing 360."
Perhaps the biggest challenge Kellog has faced is finding another location in
Loveland large enough for his fast growing company while fighting the
headwinds of an increasingly political economic development agenda in
Loveland. Mayor Cecil Gutierrez is a regular critic of the company and tried
placing roadblocks in the way of their various expansion ideas in Loveland
back in 2012.
The day after the election on November 4, Loveland City Manager Bill Cahill
disclosed to the entire Loveland City Council what staff already knew for
sometime. Madwire has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) already to move their
Loveland operation into former HP Facility in Ft. Collins. This despite efforts
by the city bureaucracy to force them into the former HP facility in Loveland
instead of assisting them to move where they expressed an interest originally.
Longtime Gutierrez backers Frederick J. Richart and Maryjo Faith Morgan
own Fred's Used Websites, a failed Loveland competitor of Madwire, who are
reported to rely heavily on political contacts, like Gutierrez, to get city
business but have been unable to grow their company in the private sector
on a scale comparable to Madwire. In 2012 (read article) LovelandPolitics
detailed meddling by Gutierrez on their behalf to prevent Madwire from
receiving city subsidies like other, much less promising, high-tech companies
in Loveland. The article also documented opposition to Madwire subsidies
by the Loveland 912 break-away group Liberty Watch.
Councilor Incensed
Councilman Troy Krenning responded to the news of Madwire's immanent
departure by dispatching a harsh email to Loveland City Manager Bill Cahill
in which he summarized the city's business attraction programs as,
"We have spent or encumbered $6.5 million and to date have nothing but
undelivered promises and a bunch of "wait and see" responses."
Cahill's announcement along with Krenning's email response are in the
column to the right of this story.
Madwire Media Cos., was founded in Loveland in 2009 by Joe Kellog to assist
companies with creating an online presence through websites, social media
and email. The company is not a web design shop nor full advertising firm
but instead occupies a place between these two traditional market segments
by providing start-ups and small companies a complete online presence and
digital marketing tool name "Marketing 360."
Perhaps the biggest challenge Kellog has faced is finding another location in
Loveland large enough for his fast growing company while fighting the
headwinds of an increasingly political economic development agenda in
Loveland. Mayor Cecil Gutierrez is a regular critic of the company and tried
placing roadblocks in the way of their various expansion ideas in Loveland
back in 2012.
The day after the election on November 4, Loveland City Manager Bill Cahill
disclosed to the entire Loveland City Council what staff already knew for
sometime. Madwire has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) already to move their
Loveland operation into former HP Facility in Ft. Collins. This despite efforts
by the city bureaucracy to force them into the former HP facility in Loveland
instead of assisting them to move where they expressed an interest originally.
Longtime Gutierrez backers Frederick J. Richart and Maryjo Faith Morgan
own Fred's Used Websites, a failed Loveland competitor of Madwire, who are
reported to rely heavily on political contacts, like Gutierrez, to get city
business but have been unable to grow their company in the private sector
on a scale comparable to Madwire. In 2012 (read article) LovelandPolitics
detailed meddling by Gutierrez on their behalf to prevent Madwire from
receiving city subsidies like other, much less promising, high-tech companies
in Loveland. The article also documented opposition to Madwire subsidies
by the Loveland 912 break-away group Liberty Watch.
Councilor Incensed
Councilman Troy Krenning responded to the news of Madwire's immanent
departure by dispatching a harsh email to Loveland City Manager Bill Cahill
in which he summarized the city's business attraction programs as,
"We have spent or encumbered $6.5 million and to date have nothing but
undelivered promises and a bunch of "wait and see" responses."
Cahill's announcement along with Krenning's email response are in the
column to the right of this story.
| Council and Council elect, I do not have an email for councilor elect Johnson, if anyone could forward I would be appreciative. Can we schedule a meeting with Madwire ownership and the Council? This is a hometown company and it seems like council should meet with the company to see if anything can be done to have MW reconsider. The timing of the announcement to council, the day after the election is highly suspect in my opinion. It's nothing short of suspicious that I heard this news last week and our city manager and PIO announced it to us the day after the election. Council needs to take more ownership of economic development and downtown in particular. It is my humble opinion that staff (City Manager) is incapable of closing deals. My report card for Downtown: Staff handling of Micheal's group. F Staff handling of County Building. F Staff handling of property acquisition. F Staff handling of DDA election. F Staff handling of Madwire. F Staff handling of Constant Contact. F I'll stop there. We have spent or encumbered $6.5 million and to date have nothing but undelivered promises and a bunch of "wait and see" responses. Troy Krenning Sent from my iPhone On Nov 5, 2015, at 4:39 PM, Bill Cahill <Bill.Cahill@cityofloveland.org<mailto:Bill.Cahill@cityofloveland.org>> wrote: Hello John, We haven’t lost any yet; let’s see if the LOI for the Fort Collins property gets finalized into an actual transaction. However, if and when the move comes, the number may be between 140 and 225 – depending on the numbers in various company statements we’ve gotten. See Marcie’s detail below. Thanks. Bill William D. Cahill City Manager City of Loveland 500 East Third Street Loveland, CO 80537 v 970.962.2306 f 970.962.2900 bill.cahill@cityofloveland.org<mailto:bill.cahill@cityofloveland.org> <image001.png> From: Marcie Erion Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2015 4:39 PM To: Bill Cahill <Bill.Cahill@cityofloveland.org<mailto:Bill.Cahill@cityofloveland.org>> Subject: RE: Madwire Our latest QCEW says 140. But when we were working on a city package, Joe had said he was committing to moving 225 to start and we were incenting with cash for an additional 50 employees. From: Bill Cahill Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2015 4:22 PM To: Marcie Erion <Marcie.Erion@cityofloveland.org<mailto:Marcie.Erion@cityofloveland. org>> Subject: FW: Madwire Do you have a number? Bill William D. Cahill City Manager City of Loveland 500 East Third Street Loveland, CO 80537 v 970.962.2306 f 970.962.2900 bill.cahill@cityofloveland.org<mailto:bill.cahill@cityofloveland.org> <image001.png> From: Ward III - John Fogle Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2015 3:37 PM To: Bill Cahill <Bill.Cahill@cityofloveland.org<mailto:Bill.Cahill@cityofloveland. org>>; City Council <CCouncil@cityofloveland.org<mailto:CCouncil@cityofloveland.org>> Cc: Temp CCMAIL <TEMPCC@cityofloveland.org<mailto: TEMPCC@cityofloveland.org>> Subject: RE: Madwire Bill, How many jobs are we losing? Sent from my Android phone using TouchDown (www.nitrodesk.com<http://www.nitrodesk.com>) -----Original Message----- From: Bill Cahill [Bill.Cahill@cityofloveland.org<mailto:Bill.Cahill@cityofloveland.org>] Received: Wednesday, 04 Nov 2015, 4:25PM To: City Council [CCouncil@cityofloveland.org<mailto:CCouncil@cityofloveland.org>] Subject: Madwire Marcie Erion has supplied me with this update on Madwire, due to the number of rumors about the company and its location. The staff in the Economic Development Department has been working with a team at Madwire since late March of this year to assist in their expansion plans. During this 7 month period, the Madwire team has explored many options including expanding adjacent to their current location, leasing space at RMCIT as well as leasing space at the HP facility in Ft Collins. The city team did encourage Madwire to consider being an anchor tenant as part of the South Catalyst Project as well. But because of their need to be in a new space first quarter of 2016, Madwire indicated they could not wait for the development to come online. City staff participated in several Developer Review meetings and offered assistance throughout the process in order to help Madwire find a location in Loveland. The expansion adjacent to their current building was explored with several local developers, but Madwire ultimately said that it was not a good fit with the site or the company plans. Cumberland and Western, along with RMCIT and city staff, worked diligently to promote the RMCIT space. CW offered a year of rent abatement as well as a security deposit reduction and city staff had worked with the City Manager on a proposed assistance package from the city. Between the two, if approved, this package would have been $900,000. Madwire has communicated that even with the lower lease rate at RMCIT and the proposed incentive package that it is still more affordable for them at the Ft. Collins HP facility. Currently they have an LOI with HP and are negotiating lease terms. An official lease had not been signed as of Tuesday morning. Every effort has been made to keep Madwire in the Loveland community and Ft. Collins has not pursued them nor are incenting them in any way. The only consolation with a move of this small distance, is that while the jobs move, the employees living in Loveland are most likely to stay invested in the Loveland community. If you need additional information, please let me know for Marcie to provide. Thank you. Bill William D. Cahill City Manager City of Loveland 500 East Third Street Loveland, CO 80537 v 970.962.2306 f |
| Loveland Mayor Cecil Gutierrez has been attacking Madwire from behind the scenes since 2011 |