CMS wants reduced settlement
COEUR d'ALENE - The company that provided crowd management and security manpower at last year's Diamond Cup hydroplane races didn't get paid by event organizers.
Randy Scott, director of operations for Portland-based Starplex Corp. which does business as Crowd Management Services, said CMS has asked the Diamond Cup organizers to pay a reduced settlement amount to close the books on the outstanding debt.
"We're hoping something works out," Scott said Wednesday.
He declined to give specific dollar figures for either the full debt or the settlement offer amount.
Diamond Cup president Doug Miller on Wednesday described the settlement offer as "pretty attractive."
"We're well aware of who and what we owe funds to," Miller said.
Scott said CMS employees from the Spokane office worked all three days of last year's races.
"We took care of what they asked us to," he said.
Diamond Cup organizers did pay a deposit to get CMS personnel to show up.
He said CMS has worked the hydroplane races in the Tri-Cities in south central Washington for 20 years.
"That's how we got this (Coeur d'Alene) gig," he said.
Service from a business like CMS is necessary at the Diamond Cup because there is a lot of ground to cover to provide crowd control and security. Scott said there were also some volunteers who worked the event.
"If it's not done properly, (spectators) find holes," breaching crowd-containment barriers and viewing the event for free, he said.
He said CMS lost money because it paid its employees fully following the Diamond Cup races, but the race organizers never fulfilled their obligation to compensate CMS.
"I'm hoping that somewhere down the line, no matter where it comes from, somebody pays this back debt," Scott said.
The Press previously reported that Diamond Cup organizers owe money to H1 Unlimited, the hydroplane league that added Coeur d'Alene to its racing circuit last summer, and TraffiCorp., a Coeur d'Alene business which didn't get paid fully for producing a traffic control plan.