Clubhouse confusion reigns

County’s stories on shift to private manager proliferate

Friday, July 4, 2008

The Charles County commissioners had voted unanimously to hire Rink Management Services of Mechanicsville, Va., to assume management and promotion of the facility. The county purchased the facility from a failing private operator in 2006.

Kim Ward, program specialist at the Capital Clubhouse, who was the manager in charge on Wednesday, was under the impression that the new management company was coming to take over July 5.

When a reporter asked her for more information, Ward would not reveal anything else.

‘‘This is a private entity,” she said, ‘‘and it is run as a business. Not one taxpayer dollar goes into this building.”

She referred further requests for information to the community services department.

The building is owned by Charles County, which will pay a fee to Rink Management Services to manage the facility.

On Wednesday, depending on who was talking, the rink was still under control of community services.

‘‘We don’t know if we will have our jobs, or if they will continue any of the programs after Saturday,” said a woman who was working the front desk selling tickets July 2 and was unwilling to give her name.

No one was answering the phones at the clubhouse on Wednesday for at least three hours until after 3 p.m., and a call to the community services receptionist Charleyne Zabko revealed that she understood the Capital Clubhouse was no longer under the jurisdiction of community services personnel.

‘‘I think that we give up managing the clubhouse on [July 2],” Zabko said.

When a reporter called community services to bring the problem of unanswered phones to their attention the person answering the phones at the department said that they were no longer responsible for the clubhouse after July 1.

Community services staff referred requests for information to Charles County Administrator Paul W. Comfort.

The woman taking tickets at the clubhouse said the phone problem was related to a new security system being placed in the clubhouse; Ward said it was a problem with the phone company.

Tom Hillgrove, president of Rink Management Services, said he has met with all the full-time salaried employees, except for one or two.

‘‘I am offering everyone a chance to be successful,” Hillgrove said. ‘‘And I can indubitably state that we are opening [July 5].”

James Greenwell, a manager at the Capital Clubhouse, was unwilling to talk about the new management.

‘‘I have been here for two years,” Greenwell finally said. ‘‘I just want to tell the public that when they come in after Saturday, the faces may be a little different, but all the programs will be the same.”

Comfort said the business needed to be outsourced.

‘‘Some employees may not be as happy as others,” Comfort said. ‘‘Several of the employees of the clubhouse were offered jobs in other places with the Charles County government.”

Hillgrove said that all the programs offered at the clubhouse will stay the same, at least in the beginning.

‘‘We manage 30 properties around the country, and I can say that we don’t do any fine-tuning in the beginning when we take over somewhere,” he said.

When made aware of the situation, County Commissioner Reuben B. Collins II (D) said, ‘‘I prefer that we give consistent information.”

Collins said he would need to investigate the situation before commenting further.