Mutual protection stalling final contract between Spokane County, new operators
By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
Spokane County and the new operators of the Airway Heights racetrack are taking the tortoise approach rather than that of the hare. Some six weeks since Ron Hodgeson and Charlie Allen were selected to run the facility there is still no contract signed, but that should come soon and racing will follow.
The two sides are literally taking the approach that slow and steady wins the race – or in this case make sure everybody's you-know-what is covered.
Back in February, county commissioners followed the recommendations of a selection committee and chose the bid provided by Hodgson of Edmonton, Alberta and Allen of Phoenix, Ariz. to operate the facility for the next 10 years. The two agreed to pay the county flat rent of $73,346 per year for the life of the agreement, plus 10 percent of gross annual revenues exceeding $1.5 million.
This compares to the deal that former operator Bucky Austin and the county inked last year of annual rent of $275,000, which Austin was unable to meet the terms of. Austin was fired back in October 2009, leaving the county holding the bag for over $1 million in improvements for which he had failed to pay various contractors.
“I think both sides are working very hard to get things done,” Doug Chase, the county's director of golf and parks said last week. “We're having great discussions with the operator, we're really happy with how things are going. The emphasis is to really take our time and see that everything's done right.”
SCR's operations manager, Cindy Gibbs, echos Chase's concerns. “ We need to take our time and do this right. And we will.” Gibbs expects the contract to be signed by mid-April and racing to commence in May on both the oval and drag strip.
Chase did not see anything that would potentially derail the talks, and chose instead to indicate that the two sides were just acting cautiously.
“I think there's some time of course with the operators and kind of putting together some of the assurity requirements that are new to the agreement that create a little more work for the operators, but provide that extra level of security to the county,” Chase said. “The operators absolutely understand what our experience last year was and why we're being careful to take steps to help better protect the public's interest.”
Another thing Chase said is slowing the process is the need to do some safety improvements at the track. Foremost is installation of additional taller debris fencing on both the drag strip and oval. Those are top priority and are to be finished before the season commences.
Hodgeson, who had multiple business interests in the Alberta capitol, including auto dealerships, also operates Castrol Raceway there. Allen runs Firebird International Raceway in suburban Phoenix, Ariz. The two were in town recently to meet with some of the user groups, collect input, and provide some of their visions on how the facility may operate.
Both Hodgeson and Allen have strong across-the-board community involvement with their other racing complexes and promise the same approach here.
Each of their racetracks have facilities similar to those that exist in Spokane, including drag strips and road courses. Edmonton has an oval track while Firebird is also home to man-made Firebird Lake, which hosts a variety of boat racing events.
J-Mar Racing Inc., operator of Woodburn Dragstrip in Woodburn, Ore. was the other finalist in the bidding that originally included four applicants.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)