Management of veterans halls in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Cotati returned to Sonoma County

A Petaluma nonprofit group that for several years ran three Sonoma County-owned veterans halls has terminated its contract early because it was losing too much money, forcing the county to take over management of the aging facilities until it can find a new operator.

As of last week, United Camps, Conferences and Retreats no longer manages the veterans halls in Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Cotati. The departure of the nonprofit, which runs recreational sites in Northern California and elsewhere, has temporarily shifted control of the buildings to the county’s general services department as officials evaluate how best to attract another manager.

Veterans use the three halls and others like them for meetings and gatherings free of charge, while community groups pay to use the spaces. Ranging in age from 55 to 66 years old, the buildings have a combined maintenance backlog of more than $43 million, according to the county.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted to turn over management of the Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Cotati buildings to UCCR in 2012, hoping to save the county hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.

At the time, supervisors also shifted management of the Guerneville veterans hall to another local nonprofit, but that group left after a little more than a year due to the high cost of operating the building.

UCCR notified the county three months ago it was terminating its agreement about six months early, said Caroline Judy, the county’s general services director. UCCR President Mike Carr did not respond to requests for comment, but Judy said the group was losing too much money from operations.

“It’s difficult to cover the expenses of managing the facilities,” Judy said. “You have to pay your janitorial and pay folks who set up and take down for every event. You have to pay building maintenance - just ongoing preventative and corrective maintenance - on the facilities. It’s hard to recover those costs through a use fee, and that’s really been the challenge.”

The county will likely issue a new request for proposals from operators interested in managing the three veterans buildings, with the goal of getting a new vendor in place by July 1, Judy said.

While UCCR’s departure was unexpected, Judy said the county ensured a “seamless transition” for organizations that booked events at the facilities. As of last week, more than 250 events were planned to be held at the three buildings through June.

As they prepare to request new proposals, officials are re-evaluating the relationship between the county and the buildings’ operator, an effort that could make the county responsible for covering more costs, Judy said.

That could make the buildings a more appealing opportunity for event service providers.

In the meantime, taking over the facilities’ operations - including regular maintenance, janitorial work, event-related expenses and utilities - is expected to cost the county more than $246,000 over six months, according to Judy. The cost will be absorbed by the general services department’s previously approved budget, Judy said.

Veterans’ representatives spoke glowingly of the nonprofit that formerly managed the buildings.

“The veterans really liked UCCR. You could talk to them. They helped you out. .?.?. They bent over backwards to do anything that you wanted. They would paint, they would do all kinds of stuff,” said Robert Safreno, a representative of the United Veterans Council who sits on the county’s Veterans Memorial Buildings Advisory Committee. “They were just great.”

Terry Leen, the Sonoma-based chairman of the veterans’ buildings committee, said the county acknowledged all veterans’ activities would remain in place despite the management change. Like Carr, Leen did not expect UCCR to leave and said he heard from veterans’ representatives that the nonprofit had managed the three buildings “quite well.”

Of the seven veterans halls owned by the county, two remain managed by others: the Sebastopol Center for the Arts still runs the Sebastopol facility and American Legion Post 293 manages the building in Cloverdale. In addition to the Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Cotati and Guerneville halls, the county also operates the veterans’ building in Sonoma.

Eugene Marcinkowski, another member of the veterans’ buildings committee, said veterans were able to negotiate a contract with the county about a year and a half ago that gave the group much-needed flexibility in its management of the Cloverdale building. That includes the ability to adjust rates they charge non-veteran groups as needed, which has been “tremendous,” according to Marcinkowski, who represents the Cloverdale building on the committee.

While the veterans hall still operates at a loss, Marcinkowski said it’s “doing very well.”

“We’re losing less money than the county was,” he said.

“Those buildings were never designed to be a profit maker. They were designed by the federal government to give the veterans a place to meet and commiserate.”

You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter?@thejdmorris.