The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority will reduce funding help for two of the area’s biggest festivals because of its ongoing lawsuit with its former CEO.
This year’s smaller SSCVA sponsorships for two of Northwest Indiana’s biggest festivals – Festival of the Lakes in Hammond and Pierogi Fest in Whiting – prompted President and CEO Phil Taillon to consider changing the application process, he told the CVA board during its Thursday afternoon meeting.
Having previously paid $20,000 for a high-level Festival of the Lakes sponsorship, the organization will be able to give only $10,000 to it this year and $5,000 to Pierogi Fest, he said.
The lesser sponsorship amounts, Taillon said, are directly tied to the SSCVA’s lawsuit between it and former President and CEO Speros Batistatos.
“We’ve had some additional expenses with the lawsuit, attorney fees we’re dealing with,” he said. “It’s capacity building, but we’re going to have one year where things are normal and another where we can’t give as much. But I’m OK – I’m basing the decreases on past events.”
Board member Bernie Grisolia asked whether the board would consider giving Festival of the Lakes $15,000 since $10,000 is “kind of an insult.” Chief Financial Officer Nicole Wolverton concurred with Taillon that the money isn’t there right now.
“(The sponsorship amount) has been on the budget,” she said. “(The legal bills) are hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been making me nervous.”
Taillon said he envisions the new process as having the 19 Lake County municipalities submitting their events for which they want sponsorship by a proposed time each year so the CVA can plan the funding all at once. Because the events are scattered throughout the year, however, he conceded handling the process that way “won’t work perfectly.”
“So you’re saying there’s only a $20,000 budget?” board member Matt Schuffert asked, to which Taillon said they were talking only about Festival of the Lakes and Pierogi Fest. “This lawsuit is costing us so much money. Hopefully next year, we’ll be past it.”
The board then voted unanimously to put Merrillville Board Member Dena Patena in charge of a committee to create a sponsorship process.
Schuffert then asked about funding for the Gary Air Show. Chief of Events and Facilities Kristin Taylor said that the air show is different because the CVA runs it while the city of Gary provides money, in-kind donations or both. This year, the city will provide an in-kind donation of security; last year, it provided security as well as a $50,000 donation, she said.
With the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds – and its $100,000 price tag — coming back to the event this year, the CVA will need more than the $580,000 it raised in sponsorships and donations last year for 2025, Taylor said. So far, the money isn’t coming in as quickly as they hoped.
“It stinks to say, but I think it being the ‘Gary Air Show’ is deterring it,” Taylor said.
The South Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau has spent almost a quarter of a million dollars in its ongoing legal battle with Batistatos — and that only covers one of the law firms involved, the Post-Tribune previously reported.
An analysis of some of the legal bills the tourism agency has racked up in the litigation reveals that it’s so far paid $237,835.80 between 2021 and November to Indianapolis-based Barnes and Thornburg, which is representing the SSCVA as an entity.
For the month of February, the CVA paid Barnes & Thornburg $100.50 in “February legal services” and Hammond-based attorney firm Westland & Bennett $2,805, according to the CVA’s April claims register. Westland & Bennett Principal Dave Westland is representing Board President Andy Qunell, Board Members Brent Brashier, Matt Maloney, Schuffert and former Board member Tom Dabertin individually in the suit.
Batistatos sued the SSCVA on August 29, 2022 — a month after it fired him — alleging it violated the law in the handling of his contract renegotiations due to his age as well as misspent federal Payroll Protection Plan funds in violation of the CARES Act, a claim the board disputes.
The SSCVA budgeted $150,000 in its legal line item for 2025, though it’s able to make appropriations from other funds in its $6,614,250 2025 budget. The entity is not a publicly funded agency, but is funded through casino and hotel tax revenues, according to its website.
In other business, the CVA awarded unanimously several contracts for facility repairs, including a $29,889 contract to Hammond-based Gluth Brothers for a new roof; a $11,950 contract to Crown Point-based Bellsom Electronics to replace the center’s outdoor flood lighting; a $22,680 contract to Cover-Rite Flooring in Crown Point for new carpeting in the upstairs offices; and $431,800 contract with Tri Electronics in Hammond for AV system upgrades to the center’s exhibition hall, theater and boardroom.
The projects will be paid for out of a $2 million bond the CVA took out when former CVA President Dave Uran was at the helm.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.