Motivational speaker: $9,999.
Secret shoppers: $30,990.
Teaching civil servants about customer service: $173,000.
Creating a new liquor-buying experience for Pennsylvanians: $3 million.
It's not cheap to "educate, regulate and market," but state Liquor Control Board Executive Director Joe Conti said that is his mandate. And the state's liquor monopoly, which generated $428 million in taxes and profits on $1.7 billion in sales last year, will be the better for it, Conti said.
Gov. Ed Rendell appointed Conti, a former Philadelphia lawmaker, to a newly created post as head of the liquor agency after Conti left the Legislature in December 2006.
Conti said the three-man Liquor Control Board merely is following the agency-wide overhaul mapped out by Rendell's transition team in 2003.
"The renaissance of the agency began when Governor Rendell got elected six years ago," Conti said. "Three board members didn't dream it up."
The board became the target of public ridicule last week following reports that it awarded a $173,000 contract for training to Solutions 21 Inc., a West End firm owned by John "Buddy" Hobart, who is married to Susanne Hobart, the LCB's western district manager.
State Auditor General Jack Wagner said Friday that his review of the $173,000 contract with Solutions 21 would focus on the bidding process used for procuring professional services.
"State agencies must go the extra mile, especially during difficult financial times, to assure taxpayers that there is no favoritism or conflict of interest occurring in the awarding of contracts to private vendors," Wagner said in a statement.
Democratic state Reps. Dom Costa of Stanton Heights and Robert Matzie of Ambridge sent a letter to LCB Chairman P.J. Stapleton asking that the contract be voided.
"This contract is a questionable use of taxpayer dollars," Matzie said. "It should be cancelled and the LCB should create an in-house training program geared toward improving customer service at state stores."
Agency officials defended the contract, insisting they had followed all state procurement laws and that Hobart's firm was the low bidder. Conti said it is the only contract the board has awarded to the spouse of an agency employee. He said existing state law would not have allowed him to bar Hobart from bidding on the contract and that it would be up to the Legislature to change it.
In an "op-ed" submission to the Tribune-Review earlier this week, Stapleton argues the contract that has been characterized as "charm school and manners training" is actually far-reaching. It provides each employee with 24 training sessions on issues including complaint resolution, product knowledge and dealing with drunks and minors, he said.
Conti, too, insisted the training is no joke. He said the agency treads cautiously as it tries to balance attempts to increase profits with respecting public safety.
"We do a million underage checks a year. That produces 300,000 denials a year. We take very seriously our commitment to public safety. We don't want to lose one life because of a misstep," he said.
The training is one component of a vast overhaul announced a year ago.
Mystery shoppers from Draude Marketing Services, of Lancaster, are shopping throughout the state through September to take the pulse of customer service.
In addition to schooling employees on customer service, hiring mystery shoppers and giving employees the benefit of Texas motivational speaker Bill Drury's wisdom, the agency spent $3 million with Landor Associates. The national marketing firm won a contract to come up with the plan that will result this year in a new name and layout for the retail stores, as well as a new Web site.
"We're working at the governor's directive. Two years of planning have gone into transforming this from a government monopoly into a specialty retailer," Conti said.
