Problems continue at Roanoke Rapids Theatre

The problems continue to mount as the City of Roanoke Rapids tries to get a handle on dealing with the shaky start of their theater. Within a couple of days last week the City terminated its agreement with the UGL Unicco and Unicco decided to walk away from theatre. 

Unicco was hired last November to replace Randy Parton as the management of the theatre.  At the time Unicco was anticipating a final two year facilities management contract with the City .  The agreement called for Unicco to provide total facilities management services.  They were to include janitorial, ushering, cash collection, vending, box office and other services as well as self perform or engage a contactor to book performers.

In the last several weeks there have been glowing reports on the increase in attendance and on financial reports that made everything look like it was moving to complete profitability.  Then on February 13 the city council voted to terminate its arrangement with Unicco.  The city said it was because they could not reach a contract agreement.

 The city voted to give Unicco a 30 day notice.  Within a couple of days Unicco decided to terminate liquor sales in the theatre.  By Monday, February 18 Unicco decided to end it’s relationship with the city immediately.

At that point the city and Unicco have been trading statements on whether or not Unicco had the right to place certain employees under non compete contracts and on why the city should or should pay Unicco $113,000.

On February 18 the city stated, “Contrary to what the city and Unicco had verbally agreed to, Unicco had placed some of the employees under a non-compete clause.”

On Feb 19 Unicco stated, “…the City agreed in writing not to solicit any employees to protect UGL Unicco from exactly this situation – where we invest in the recruitment and training of employees and the client terminates us and takes them in house.”  Unicco backed their statement up with a copy of the Letter of Intent (LOI). 

The LOI under section 11 states, “The city agrees not to directly or indirectly solicit or employ any key employee of the Agent during the term(s) of the LOI and any final agreement and for a one year period thereafter without the Agents prior written consent.”

The city sites a verbal agreement and the contract calls for a written agreement.

The city also contends that it was not in their best interest to advance Unicco an additional $113,000 to serve as their agent for another week.

Unicco details why the city owes them the $113,000.  Unicco states, “On January 25, UGL Unicco was owed $243,000 that was to go directly to cover operating expenses including, employee compensation and payment to vendors.  At that time the City only paid $130,000 of the monies owed, and UGL Unicco offered a payment extension.  On Friday, February 15 the remaining $113,000 was again due, and the City informed UGL Unicco that they would not pay, leading us to believe that they had never intended to pay the remainder of the cost necessary to keep the theatre running throughout the month of February.”

Once again Unicco backs this up with a reference to the LOI.  In effect the LOI states that after Dec 19, 2007 the city shall provide advance payments on the 19th day of each month proceeding the month in which the services shall be performed.  The city voted to terminate the agreement on Feb 13. 

The city has taken over the management of the theatre.  They plan to conduct business as usual and continue to book shows.  They stated that ticket sales were good for the upcoming Lori Morgan concert and other shows that are currently on the schedule. 

According to published reports the city is also negotiating with the attorneys for Randy Parton to work out an agreement involving the $250,000 a year contract they signed last November when they terminated his management agreement with the city.

The city has reinforced their determination to the Roanoke Rapids Theatre succeed.  When they started the project in 2005 it was their goal to create a tourist attraction for the region to help overcome the loss of hundreds of textile jobs.  The say their vision remains the same.