At its weekly meeting on Tuesday, City Council signed off on the new design-build contract for the Convention Center despite its $120 million price tag. That did not, however, signal its support for the folks at Team San Jose. Last week City Council asked the City Manager to request new proposals for managing the Center and indicated that it could approve a new team by June. The city is aware of the problems with Team San Jose, and its recent audit placed a large part of those problems squarely on the shoulders of Team leader Dan Fenton. At an emergency board meeting on Thursday, Fenton resigned after six years as head of Team San Jose. His resignation will go into effect as of January 31.

In a statement released to the press on Thursday night, Fenton said, “I believe that after fourteen years we have built a great foundation and it’s time for me to move on to consulting, where I can constantly innovate new projects.” Team Chairman John Southwell continued the thought, saying, “We look forward to building on that foundation with new leadership that will take Team San Jose to the next level in its evolution.”

Other Board members seemed to agree that Team San Jose needs a “fresh start,” though they are reluctant to comment about the resignation or their future plans for Team San Jose. After several tumultuous months, and deficits that have raised more than a few eyebrows in City Hall, their first priority will be to get themselves back in the city’s good graces.
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