Denver City Council has rejected a proposed contract extension that would have handed a Florida-based video production company an eight-year deal worth up to $1 million to keep producing the city’s employee recruitment campaigns. The proposal would have added $600,000 to Sunny Side Up Solutions LLC’s existing agreement with the city, pushing its total value to $1,000,000 and extending its end date from 2026 all the way to December 31, 2031.
The contract had cleared the council’s Governance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee on a consent agenda on August 4, meaning it was headed toward approval without much floor debate, according to The Common News. But the full council pumped the brakes, ultimately voting down what would have amounted to an eight-year relationship between Denver and the company, as reported by the Denver Gazette.
Sunny Side Up Solutions LLC is based in Florida and was founded by Jennifer “Jennie” Castor, who serves as the company’s executive producer, according to city documents and LinkedIn profiles cited by the Gazette’s Deborah Grigsby. Castor previously worked as press secretary for former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, and Denver first awarded her firm a contract in 2023. The company was tasked with producing employment brand videos and all ongoing video projects for the city’s Office of Human Resources, including recurring campaigns branded #EmployeeTV, #SeeYourselfTV, and #SeeYourselfHere, according to filings reviewed by Legigram.
A Newsroom Connection Behind the Contract
Teresa Marchetta, who oversees marketing and communications for Denver’s Office of Human Resources, worked at KMGH-TV in Denver for more than a decade — the same station where Castor also worked, and the two were employed there at the same time, per the Gazette’s reporting. Marchetta told the paper that retaining marketing assets and brand consistency matters for the city’s recruitment efforts. She said she plans to have further conversations with councilmembers to address their concerns and find a path forward…