Manager Concerns: Norway Savings Bank Arena
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City Of Auburn 985 Turner Street TO: Howard Kroll, Jonathan LaBonte, Tizz E. H. Crowley, Robert P. Hayes, Mary J. K. LaFontaine, Adam R. Lee, Leroy G. Walker, Sr, Belinda A. Gerry, and David C. Young FROM: Ti m Ho lden , Ge ne ra l Manager RE: Management Concerns DATE: February 13, 2015 To this point we do not feel as though there has been a full show of support from the Council. At our workshop presentation on Monday December 15, 2014 we presented our business plan and management philosophy. Councilor Crowley’s response was “I waited six months for this”? And “How dare you bring up turf at Norway when we are repurposing Ingersoll”. Is this really a show of support for a City owned entity? I understand Councilor Crowley is closely linked to the repurposing project; however, we only made suggestions in our plan to find ways for Norway Savings Bank Arena to financially sustain itself. Councilor Walker stated that he was disappointed with what the arena manager has done to that point. While I respect and understand your displeasure in my job performance, we feel the council was unaware of the state of affairs at the arena when we arrived. Countless sponsorship agreements were in default. A few sponsorship contracts were at the point of possible litigation against the City. Day to day operations were nowhere n ear industry standards and staff was not being held accountable. Under the previous structure the arena was losing over one hour of potential use per sheet, due to the ice make schedule. We have corrected this and added the extra slot to each ice sheet adding over two slots per day. To be honest with you, it has taken almost eight months to correct the majority of these issues. The council approved the formation, construction, and ownership of the arena. The FY15 budget is another council approved item the previous management presented with which we are currently working with. In my first two weeks at the arena I could see there are not enough hours in the day during the peak season to make that budget achievable. While I agree that it is important to l ook forward we also need to look to the past and learn from previous mistakes. Norway Savings Bank Arena has close to twenty times the debt service Ingersoll Arena carried. Is it not the purpose of the City Council to oversee city business? If so, what is the purpose of the suggested advisory board? Isn’t the council actually the advisory board? In my opinion an advisory board will only ma ke things worse. We are now on a cou rse with a bright future. The proposed advisory board could derail all of the efforts and progress we have made to this point. Yes, the rink could use assistance selling sponsorship and advertising spots above what we have already achieved. We feel that the advertising/marketing position should be provided by the city and work to bring in new business to the city as well as the facilities. Any person or firm considered for this position should have years of experience and y ears of proven success in this field.
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Feb. 13, 2015 Letter from General Manager Tim Holden to city management and members of the Auburn City Council.
Transcript of Manager Concerns: Norway Savings Bank Arena
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City Of Auburn985 Turner Stree t
TO: HowardKroll,JonathanLaBonte,TizzE.H.Crowley,RobertP.Hayes,MaryJ.K.LaFontaine,AdamR.Lee,LeroyG.Walker,Sr,BelindaA.Gerry,andDavidC.Young
FROM: TimHolden,GeneralManagerRE: ManagementConcernsDATE: February13,2015
TothispointwedonotfeelasthoughtherehasbeenafullshowofsupportfromtheCouncil.AtourworkshoppresentationonMondayDecember15,2014wepresentedourbusinessplanandmanagementphilosophy.CouncilorCrowleysresponsewasIwaitedsixmonthsforthis?AndHowdareyoubringupturfatNorwaywhenwearerepurposingIngersoll.IsthisreallyashowofsupportforaCityownedentity?IunderstandCouncilorCrowleyiscloselylinkedtotherepurposingprojecthowever,weonlymadesuggestionsinourplantofindwaysforNorwaySavingsBankArenatofinanciallysustainitself.CouncilorWalkerstatedthathewasdisappointedwithwhatthearenamanagerhasdonetothatpoint.WhileIrespectandunderstandyourdispleasureinmyjobperformance,wefeelthecouncilwasunawareofthestateofaffairsatthearenawhenwearrived.Countlesssponsorshipagreementswereindefault.AfewsponsorshipcontractswereatthepointofpossiblelitigationagainsttheCity.Daytodayoperationswerenowherenearindustrystandardsandstaffwasnotbeingheldaccountable.Underthepreviousstructurethearenawaslosingoveronehourofpotentialusepersheet,duetotheicemakeschedule.Wehavecorrectedthisandaddedtheextraslottoeachicesheetaddingovertwoslotsperday.Tobehonestwithyou,ithastakenalmosteightmonthstocorrectthemajorityoftheseissues.Thecouncilapprovedtheformation,construction,andownershipofthearena.TheFY15budgetisanothercouncilapproveditemthepreviousmanagementpresentedwithwhichwearecurrentlyworkingwith.InmyfirsttwoweeksatthearenaIcouldseetherearenotenoughhoursinthedayduringthepeakseasontomakethatbudgetachievable.WhileIagreethatitisimportanttolookforwardwealsoneedtolooktothepastandlearnfrompreviousmistakes.NorwaySavingsBankArenahasclosetotwentytimesthedebtserviceIngersollArenacarried.IsitnotthepurposeoftheCityCounciltooverseecitybusiness?Ifso,whatisthepurposeofthesuggestedadvisoryboard?Isntthecouncilactuallytheadvisoryboard?Inmyopinionanadvisoryboardwillonlymakethingsworse.Wearenowonacoursewithabrightfuture.Theproposedadvisoryboardcouldderailalloftheeffortsandprogresswehavemadetothispoint.Yes,therinkcoulduseassistancesellingsponsorshipandadvertisingspotsabovewhatwehavealreadyachieved.Wefeelthattheadvertising/marketingpositionshouldbeprovidedbythecityandworktobringinnewbusinesstothecityaswellasthefacilities.Anypersonorfirmconsideredforthispositionshouldhaveyearsofexperienceandyearsofprovensuccessinthisfield.
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Whendevelopingourbusinessplan,therewasnocleardirectionastowhatwasexpectedtobepresented.TherearenoplanstorevisethebusinessplanthisiswhatwehaveforecastedforNorwaySavingsBankArenabasedonyearsofexperience.Thenumbersarerealandachievablewithresponsibleleadership.Itisverydifficulttomeetunknownexpectationsandanswerunknownquestions.Itwouldbeofgreatbenefittothearenamanagementandthecitycounciliffutureconcernsandquestionsareformallysubmitted.Thiswillmakethebestuseofbothourtime,andhelptoprovidespecificanswerstospecificquestions.Itiseasytopickapartareportwhenthepersondeliveringthereporthasnoideaastoyourspecificexpectations.Ifthereisaparticulariteminwhichyouwouldlikeanupdateorreporton,pleasesendawrittenrequestwiththespecifics.Wewouldbemorethanhappytoobligeyourrequest.
InJanuaryImetwithNorwaySavingsBank,thearenaslargestsponsor.Wedidafacilitytourandsatdowntodiscussourpartnership.Theyrequestedacopyofthebusinessplanwepresentedtoyou,thecouncil.Aftertakingtimetoreviewtheplan,NorwaySavingsBanksharedtheirthoughtswithus.HereareafewoftheirquotesIwantedtoletyouknowthatIreadthroughyourbusinessplan.ImustsaythattheplanwasoneofthemostcomprehensivethatIhaveseeninalongtime.ItwaswellorganizedandcertainlycapturedalloftheimportantaspectsofrunningtheNorwaySavingsBankArena.Youdidagreatjobidentifyingthechallengesandopportunitiesinyourmarket.Again,thankyouforsharingyourplan.ItconfirmsthattheNorwaySavingsBankArenaisbeingmanagedwellforthebenefitoftheregionalcommunity.
Historically,ittakesyearstobringanewoperationtoprofitability.Someoftheprogramsthatwereinthebusinessplanhavebeencreatedandimplemented.Onlytimewilltellhowsuccessfultheywillbecome.Oursummerhockeycampsarebeingscheduledandimplemented.Twoweekshavealreadybeenfilledandareexpectedtobringinapproximately$30,000.EveryeffortisbeingmadetotryandcurbtheFY15budgetshortfall.Anybusinessneedsstabilityatthetop,thearenahasalreadyhadamanagementchangewithinitsfirstyearofoperation.Ontopofthemanagementchangetherewereothersetbacksalongtheway.Resourceshavebeencommittedtoresolvingsomeoftheseissuesthiswasnotinthebudget.
Withover15yearsofrinkmanagementexperienceandaprovenhistoryofsuccess,IneedtobetrustedtodothejobIwashiredfor.Micromanagementisnotasuccessfulformula.Ittakesyearstogrowaconsistentusergroupbasethatwillfillinthescheduleyearround.AsIhavestatedmanytimesbefore,Iamhappytoanswerquestionsatanytime.IfIdonothaveanimmediateanswerIwilldotheresearchandfindtheanswer.WehaveprovidedtimelyresponsestimeaftertimeinaprofessionalandaccuratemannertothemultitudeofemailsfromthegeneralpublicandthoseofCouncilorWalker.Itisbecomingmoreandmoreapparentthatsomedesiretomanagefrombehindthescenes.Constructivecriticismisalwayswelcomeandgreatlyappreciatedasweareconstantlyfindingnewwaystoimprove.Wesimplyaskthatyouhaveallthefactsbeforejumpingtoconclusions.Inclosing,thereneedstobeoneexperiencedvoicecomingfromtheNorwaySavingsBankArena.
