Top 3 HAPO Center managers resign. Franklin County struggles to decide what’s next

Franklin County leaders were scrambling to find someone to run the HAPO Center after the event facility’s top three managers resigned recently.

The commissioners unanimously approved a three-month agreement that will fill the position during one of the center’s busiest seasons.

A new company, Simmons Venue Management, will be in charge of managing the events in the center just off Road 68 in Pasco.

They will replace former General Manager Tom French and Event and Operations Manager Jorge Rodriguez, who have left to work at Benton County. The sales and finance manager, Diana Brown, also is leaving for Benton County at the end of the month.

Simmons Venue Management will be paid $12,500 a month and could get additional financial incentives based on how well it performs, according to the contract.

The proposal was the only one the county sought after trying to find a new manager to hire.

“It’s been difficult to recruit a qualified general manager,” County Administrator Keith Johnson said. “I think that this (agreement with SVM) is going to be in the long-term best interest of the county.”

While Simmons Venue Management is newly formed, the people involved are familiar faces in the Tri-Cities — Steve and Shirley Simmons of CG Public House and Catering, formerly the Country Gentleman restaurant.

The shorter, three-month, agreement came as a compromise after a 50-minute contentious discussion that threatened to leave the center without anyone in charge of it.

Johnson also is leaving the county at the end of this month for a new position in another state.

The county commissioners have been discussing the issue for two weeks, and were looking at a contract with SVM that would have lasted until Dec. 31, 2024.

Commissioner Brad Peck supported approving the contract. He pointed out that the Fall Home Show was scheduled for Oct. 7-9 and the county needed someone to run the 150,000-square-foot facility, which includes meeting and convention space and an indoor arena.

Peck tried twice to get the other two commissioners to sign off on the contract ahead of the weekend event, and it failed to get a second both times.

“We need to approve the contract, and if you find that it simply doesn’t work or isn’t in the best interest of the county then cancel the bloody thing,” Peck said. “But we’ve got commitments to longtime customers, including the Home Builders (Association), and now we’re about to renege on those because we don’t have anybody to run the facility.”

But Commissioners Clint Didier and Rocky Mullen questioned how quickly the process came about, and wanted more time to evaluate the contract, talk with city of Pasco officials and examine a 2015 private audit performed for the county.

Didier said he felt like he was “left in the dark” in recent weeks about the operations at the center.

Pasco city officials also have complained in recent weeks about feeling left in the dark about what is happening at the HAPO Center.

“I don’t believe Pasco has been consulted, and I’m offering myself up to go down there and to speak with their administrator, “ Didier said. “I just want to get it right.”

2 management audits

The HAPO Center, formerly the TRAC facility, is owned by the county, but the city of Pasco has a financial interest in the operation.

In 2014, a Washington state audit found a series of problems with management of the facility. One problem was unapproved ATMs at the center without any policy of on how the cash was to be handled.

While there was no reported theft, the finding prompted the county to hire an outside auditor in 2015, Minneapolis-based CliftonAllenLarson, to examine how to run the facility without risking losing money.

They looked at everything from planning for improvements to the building to how the financial accounting was handled. The private audit found most areas needed fixes.

Four months after the report, the county hired French to run the facility. French, a former compliance, safety and asset protection manager at the Walmart distribution center in Grandview, worked to correct the issues.

After seven years with the county, he was hired away by Benton County to run an event center at the fairgrounds in Kennewick. Johnson said French left at the end of July.

He was soon followed by Rodriguez, who went to Benton County as well, at the end of September.

With the HAPO center’s business manager also expected to leave at the end of the month, there will only be a single county employee left at the center to handle setting up and taking down for events.

Simmons Venue Management

Johnson initially proposed hiring Simmons Venue Management at the Sept. 27 meeting and brought back a proposal for the contract.

He explained that Washington state law doesn’t require the county to seek different proposals when it involves filling a service contract. A bidding process is required for construction projects and purchases of products.

The Simmons have been in charge of catering at the HAPO Center since 2018, and have been helpful in talking with promoters to make sure that their needs are met.

“We know what we want and what we need, and the folks at SVM have all of the relevant expertise and connections in the community,” Johnson told the Herald. “Those personal relationships are critical to the success of managing that facility.”

About 30 percent of the center’s revenue comes in during the winter months, and it’s important to have someone in the spot during these months, Johnson said.

While current figures were not immediately available, the center had 97 events booked in 2019 with a total revenue of $1.3 million.

Before commissioners started talking about the proposed contract, County Auditor Matt Beaton brought up the 2015 audit and gave it to commissioners. He asked them to hold off for a week for him to get a chance to discuss what the county’s role is in overseeing the facility.

The Simmons, who attended last week’s commission meeting, said they would be willing to work with the auditor to make sure everything was handled correctly.

Shirley Simmons said there is a lot of uncertainty at the HAPO Center at the moment, and they want to bring some stability.

“I’m worried about the HAPO Center,” she said at the meeting. “I’m worried about the customers. .... A lot of those customers are really important to us. I’ve been on the phone all week just making sure that they feel good about coming to the HAPO Center in December.”

The Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities just held its Fall Home Show over the weekend. Custer’s Christmas Arts and Crafts Show will come to the center in early November, along with another holiday show planned for mid-December.

While they don’t know everything about the HAPO Center, she said she felt they would do a good job managing it.

Her son, Kyle Simmons, told the Herald, they already operate a 200-person event space at their restaurant on Clearwater Avenue.

With most of the management already gone, they knew that the county wouldn’t be able to hire and train someone to fill that spot in time to deal with the rush of events at the end of the year.

“CG has a financial interest in keeping the HAPO Center open,” Kyle Simmons told the Herald. “If (the county) didn’t have someone take over management (for the center), it would probably have to shut down.”

He ensured people that the events will still happen and they will work with them to make sure it will happen.

Contentious discussion

The proposal led to a contentious 50-minute discussion were Didier and Mullen said they felt unprepared to approve the contract. But Peck said they’d been given the same materials and information and they could have asked questions of staff before the meeting.

Didier and Muller said they didn’t question the quality of the Simmons family’s services, but they wanted to make sure that this was the best choice for the county.

Didier said because of public meetings laws he wasn’t able to discuss the proposal with other commissioners outside of the meetings.

“So that’s why we’re sort of caught off guard,” he said. “I actually noticed that your LLC was created Sept. 22 and you’ve got the address of (the) HAPO (Center) as your main location. I’m thinking how did all this happen?”

Shirley Simmons apologized if it appeared that she was jumping ahead in the process.

Peck said hiring the company would result in a savings for the county.

He appeared to become increasingly frustrated with Didier and Mullen. After his second motion failed to get a second, he said, “Unbelievable.”

The impasse ended after a series of suggestions that they go with a short-term contract, while the commissioners continue discussing a long-term solution.