DULUTH – Duluth's publicly funded convention center laid off several people this week, including its operations director, as it struggles to pay its bills.
Last week the Duluth City Council approved a $1 million line of credit for the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, the region's largest tourism hub.
The DECC needs a cash flow "cushion" to get through lean months, its executive director Dan Hartman told the council, blaming post-pandemic increases to part-time wages and the breakdown of major equipment. But those problems are expected to be long-term, so layoffs were necessary in addition to the loan, Hartman said Thursday.
Seven positions were eliminated — four held by employees and three that were open — in the DECC's attempts to save $500,000 annually, Hartman said.
"We made the decision primarily around what will have the least impact on our guests and clients down the road," he said. "We let go of a variety of people who, honestly, brought really high value to the DECC ... so this week was tough."
Eliminated roles also involved marketing, sponsorship and entertainment.
The DECC has struggled financially since it was shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, hampered further by an ammonia leak shortly after Hartman took over in 2021, and the failure of big-ticket items. The Environmental Protection Agency fined the DECC $118,000 last spring for failing to report the leak.
Director of operations Jeff Stark, who held a supervisory role, had worked for the DECC nearly three decades, first as an usher and ticket-taker and also as the overseer of events at Bayfront Festival Park. He declined to comment, but wrote on social media that it was "an extremely difficult bit of news to take in."
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