After less than a year, Franklin County is already looking for a new HAPO Center manager
Less than a year after losing the senior leadership team at the HAPO Center, Franklin County may already be looking for a new steward.
When three of the county’s top leaders for the event venue left for jobs in Benton County between July and October of last year, Simmons Venue Management quickly stepped in to help keep the center running during its busiest season.
Now, just nine months later, that team also may be on its way out.
At a recent Franklin County Commission meeting, commissioners Clint Didier and Rocky Mullen outvoted Brad Peck to send the contract out for bid for a potential new management group. The current interim contract ends at the end of June.
The two expressed initial wariness with the contract last year. At the time they did not seek a Request for Proposals because it was not legally required for that type of contract.
All three commissioners praised the work SVM has done over the past year.
New contract
County Administrator Mike Gonzalez told the Herald in an email this week that the decision to seek new proposals came after a recommendation from the county’s new Strategic Growth Committee and the public’s desire for transparency in the contract process.
He said the committee includes both elected officials and county department directors, who will lead strategic planning and future growth initiatives. The group will help make a recommendation on who the commissioners award the contract to.
Gonzalez said that SVM — operated by the Simmons family, who also run the CG Public House restaurant and catering business — stepped up and has done a great job in a challenging situation, calling them a first-class organization.
The county is now looking to lock into a longer-term contract after issuing SVM an interim contract and extensions.
Gonzalez said they’re aiming for one to three for the new contract, with a similar payment structure. Currently it’s set at $12,500 a month, with bonus opportunities.
“We want to maximize the use of the HAPO Center and see it be an incredible economic driver for the region,” Gonzalez said in the email.
“The facility is a special place. It’s truly the heartbeat of the community and it’s one of the reasons west Pasco has grown so quickly over the years. The city (of Pasco) has been a great partner and I am certain they share that same sentiment. I believe SVM will be one of the front-runners based on what I’ve seen of their performance.”
Caught off guard
The Simmons had been the center’s contracted caterer since 2018. They were caught off guard by the decision to seek new proposals rather than being awarded an extension of their contract.
The week before the announcement, SVM had given the commissioners an update on all the goings-on at the center, new contracts and events they’re chasing.
They said they’ve managed to even begin turning a profit at the center, which is rare for a municipally-owned conference center, because their primary role is driving regional economic impact.
At the meeting, Steve Simmons told the commissioners he was disappointed in the decision, and that they feel they’ve more than earned a contract over the past nine months.
The family also said they put up $100,000 of their own money to ensure bills were paid during the transition period.
“There was plenty of business on the books that would have just been canceled and the county would have missed out on the revenue, and the HAPO Center would have taken a bad (hit) to their reputation,” Simmons later told the Herald.
“We kinda felt that we had earned the right to a longer-term contract, then they made the decision to go to RFP which was disappointing to us,” he said.
False allegations
At the meeting Simmons also expressed concern that the move may have been made in retaliation for an unsubstantiated accusation of mismanagement made by a former employee.
“We felt there might have been some underlying issues,” Simmons told the Herald. “We had some problems with a former employee that embarrassed our company and put us in a really bad light and the allegations were false. We felt that was part of the reason they decided to go to RFP, but (Gonzalez) said that was not the reason.”
According to discussion at a previous meeting, that issue stemmed from a misunderstanding of how cash receipts were supposed to be handled at the center. Gonzalez told the Herald that they looked into the matter and found no evidence of wrongdoing.
“Yes, we looked into it. But we didn’t find anything credible about the complaint,” Gonzalez told the Herald in an email. “I have 100 percent trust in the way SVM operates. CG has an incredible reputation in the community. The county has a great working relationship with SVM and that continues to this day.”
Ultimately, the Simmons feel they’ve done an outstanding job and have shown the county they’re the right management group for the facility. They’d like to continue to do so.
Simmons told the Herald that they fully intend to bid on the contract and hope to continue managing the facility.
“We want to see the HAPO continue to have a good reputation and to even grow and get better with time, and we’d like show the county what we can do,” Simmons said.
“We were disappointed and I had some things to say at the last meeting, but we generally have a very good working relationship with Franklin County. When the RFP is issued we will respond to it, but you know, only time will tell,” he said.
In the meantime, the county has reached an agreement to keep SVM on until the process has concluded, so that no events are impacted.
“I had a good conversation with Steve Simmons (Wednesday) and I made a commitment to keep them on, beginning July 1st on a month-to-month basis,” Gonzalez said.
“I expressed to Steve how much we appreciate SVM but our Strategic Growth Committee felt strongly that it should go out to RFP as did the majority of the Board of Commissioners. The primary reason is we want complete public transparency. I’ve also heard from the public that it should go out to RFP because the original contract was put together with a real sense of urgency because of the circumstances.”
“Regardless of what the commissioners ultimately decide, I have tremendous admiration for the job SVM has performed since October of 2022. I will always appreciate their efforts,” he said.
The county is currently working on the wording for the request for proposal, and expects to have more information for interested bidders soon.
