Genesis Health, City Hall and the debacle at the Wichita Ice Center headed to court
City Hall is taking the extraordinary step of suing Genesis Health Clubs over their soured public-private partnership at the Wichita Ice Center.
It probably should have been done long ago.
On Tuesday, the City Council voted to pursue legal action against Genesis to try to recover about $425,000 that the company owes for city-funded improvements in the private health club Genesis ran on the second floor of the public facility.
“Our goal is just to be fair with folks who do business with the city, but they need to be fair with us,” said Mayor Brandon Whipple. “Our staff’s been negotiating with them for months. I’ve been here three years and we’ve never had a vote like this where we had to go to court to collect a debt.”
For 10 years until last April, Genesis — presided over by entrepreneur Rodney Steven II — operated the Ice Center for the city and under contract to the city.
The contract ended poorly with Ice Center users complaining of blown-out lights, rotted floors in the bench area, recurring problems with the Zamboni used to smooth the ice and non-functioning scoreboards.
More than 3,700 signed an online petition demanding an end to Genesis management as the company allowed the center to run down.
But that’s not why the city is suing Genesis.
As part of the deal for Genesis to run the Ice Center, the city fronted the company up to $750,000 to remodel the second floor for the private health club and a bar.
The city borrowed that money to help Genesis get its business off the ground and it was supposed to be paid back by the end of the first 10 years of the public-private partnership, which was automatically renewable for another five.
But according to the city, Genesis hasn’t made a payment in years. That coupled with frequent complaints about the management of the public part of the facility prompted the city not to renew the contract and give it back to Rink Management Service Corp., which ran the center before Genesis.
The split has been acrimonious and the upper floor of the Ice Center has been been stripped bare by Genesis on its way out the door.
Where Pucks Bar used to be, there’s nothing left but an outline on the floor, with severed water, sewer and electrical connections sticking up and out.
Genesis stripped the floors down to bare concrete, took out the bars that were bolted to the walls in the ballet/warmup room, and even took doors off lockers in the locker room.
To borrow a term from figure skating, it’s poor form.
And all that was done despite clear terms in the contract that “all elements of the fitness center upon construction, except fitness equipment, shall immediately be and become the property of the city.”
Maybe the city ought to sue Genesis for that too.
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 3:05 PM.
