AUBURN — Norway Savings Bank Ice Arena General Manager Tim Holden blasted city councilors and previous city management in a Feb. 13 letter.
Holden said he found the arena, which completely opened just more than a year ago, to be poorly managed when he arrived last spring.
“Countless sponsorship agreements were in default,” Holden wrote in his letter to city management, councilors and Mayor Jonathan LaBonte. “A few sponsorship contracts were at the point of possible litigation against the city. Day-to-day operations were nowhere near industry standards and staff was not being held accountable.”
He also criticized city councilors for being impatient and for meddling in the day-to-day management of the arena.
“With over 15 years of rink management experience and a proven history of success, I need to be trusted to do the job I was hired for,” Holden wrote. “Micro-management is not a successful formula. It takes years to grow a consistent user-group base that will fill in the schedule year-round.”
Holden said Wednesday he meant the letter to be a rallying cry for the community and to convey the idea that the arena can be profitable if given a chance.
“I just want to be sure that we have everybody’s support,” Holden said. “I think everybody wants it to be successful, but sometimes people have different views on how to get there.”
The arena is off Turner Street near the Auburn Mall and overlooks Shaw’s Supermarket and Center Street.
The city hired Holden in May 2014, a replacement for the rink’s first manager, Josh Macdonald. Macdonald took the job in November 2013, just as the first ice surface in the two-rink arena was opening. He resigned in March 2014 — soon after the rink had fully opened — to take a similar position at an arena in New Jersey.
Holden presented a disappointing financial report to councilors in December, blaming canceled tournaments, smaller youth hockey rental revenues and disappointing advertising revenues.
The three biggest income generators for the rink are youth program rentals, tournaments and advertising. The rink’s fiscal year 2014-15 budget called for youth hockey program rentals to bring in about $387,000. According to the December report, program rentals were bringing in $225,000. Rental by hockey tournaments was budgeted to bring in $173,000 but had accounted for $45,000 in December.
And advertising generated $140,000 by December, short of the $237,000 the budget forecast.
In his letter, Holden said that budget is attainable but not right away.
“Historically, it takes years to bring a new operation to profitability,” he wrote. “Some of the programs that were in the business plan have been created and implemented. Only time will tell how successful they will become.”
In the letter, he noted that he had scheduled a summer hockey program and filled two weeks, bringing in an expected $30,000. According to a report Tuesday night by Finance Director Jill Eastman, the arena already has erased $60,000 of the losses it reported in December.
“We are closing that gap, but it just will not happen in one fell swoop,” Holden said Thursday.
Mayor LaBonte, who released the letter to the public, said he thinks Holden is doing a good job.
“I have absolute confidence in Tim’s ability,” LaBonte said. “The reality is he inherited things that have been kept from public light. He is uncovering a number of managerial issues and he needs to address those issues.”
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