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| Last August Councilman Kent Solt (left), favored enforcing the vNet agreement, opposed by (right), who argued the city owes vNet an "Olive Branch." |
| The Agreement - By The Numbers Promised number of jobs by 2012..................................250 Less 15% not required to be in Loveland (per agreement)...........37 Less the people already working for company.......................78 Actual total of new jobs in Loveland required by agreement.......134 Penalty for default - $2,000 per employee Total liability.............................................$500,000 Amount Not Recoverable by Loveland in the event of default..$400,000 |
Loveland's vNet debacle began officially in January of 2008 when
McWhinney Enterprise's Rocky Scott first proposed to the Loveland
City Council (during an annual retreat meeting at Group Publishing)
Days after the retreat, council members who were friends with vNet
LLC owner Bill Beierwaltes orchestrated a letter by Beierwaltes to
the City of Loveland on January 15, 2008 requesting $890,000 to
move vNet employees out of downtown Loveland and into a larger
facility that required lease-holder improvements.
The Loveland Reporter-Herald cycled in and out various reporters
over the years on this story that relied primarily on a narrative
provided by city staff to report the context and background for the
vNet subsidy. This resulted in a number of contradictory stories
along with factual errors and even a scathing editorial by the
Reporter-Herald newspaper attacking Councilmen Cecil Gutierrez
and Kent Solt for not supporting the vNet subsidy.
Only LovelandPolitics provided readers the actual agreement, the
behind-the-scene personal maneuvering by people like former
Councilman Walt Skowron (both friend and neighbor to
Beierwaltes) and other relevant facts to explain how the City of
Loveland was allowed to enter into such a poorly constructed
agreement that allow Beierwaltes to receive $400,000 even if didn't
ever perform his obligations under the agreement.
Below is a chronologically arranged index of those in depth stories,
a link to the actual agreement Beiewaltes signed with the city for
your review and a summary table showing the highlights of the
agreement.v
McWhinney Enterprise's Rocky Scott first proposed to the Loveland
City Council (during an annual retreat meeting at Group Publishing)
Days after the retreat, council members who were friends with vNet
LLC owner Bill Beierwaltes orchestrated a letter by Beierwaltes to
the City of Loveland on January 15, 2008 requesting $890,000 to
move vNet employees out of downtown Loveland and into a larger
facility that required lease-holder improvements.
The Loveland Reporter-Herald cycled in and out various reporters
over the years on this story that relied primarily on a narrative
provided by city staff to report the context and background for the
vNet subsidy. This resulted in a number of contradictory stories
along with factual errors and even a scathing editorial by the
Reporter-Herald newspaper attacking Councilmen Cecil Gutierrez
and Kent Solt for not supporting the vNet subsidy.
Only LovelandPolitics provided readers the actual agreement, the
behind-the-scene personal maneuvering by people like former
Councilman Walt Skowron (both friend and neighbor to
Beierwaltes) and other relevant facts to explain how the City of
Loveland was allowed to enter into such a poorly constructed
agreement that allow Beierwaltes to receive $400,000 even if didn't
ever perform his obligations under the agreement.
Below is a chronologically arranged index of those in depth stories,
a link to the actual agreement Beiewaltes signed with the city for
your review and a summary table showing the highlights of the
agreement.v
| vNet Stories Index |
| should his company fail to meet the conditions negotiated in a subsidy agreement giving his privately held company $900,000 in taxpayer dollars in exchange for bringing 134 jobs to Loveland by 2012. By the end of the year Beierwaltes laid-off the majority of his employees and later sold all the assets of the company to another entity assets of vNet and not the legal corporate entity which is now an empty shell company he still owns. Apparently, Loveland City Attorney John Duval failed to anticipate such a move therefore the city's agreement with Beierwaltes only contemplates a sale of the company but not the assets. Beierwaltes has exploited this error by claiming he didn't owe the city any money before December of 2012. |
| vNet Index Page |