Cumberland Times-News

Local News

January 18, 2013

‘Very grave concerns’ for Rocky Gap labor

Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News

ROCKY GAP — A local union leader and Delegate Kevin Kelly wonder whether the developers of Rocky Gap’s casino are making good on their promise to use local union labor to build a casino at the site.

“I have some very grave concerns. ... I’m looking into it,” said E. William DuVall of Carpenters Local 1024.

Both Kelly and DuVall agree that some local union labor is being used at the site, but they are concerned about whether that’s standard practice and if local carpenters are being excluded from the work.

Kelly cited license plates of apparent contractors from North Carolina and other states in the parking lot.

“I’ve put a lot of time and effort into this, as have others,” DuVall said. Local unions have been cooperative and have tried to help make the project a success, he said.

“They feel miffed about it,” Kelly said. “Hopefully, Lakes can resolve it, because this is wrong.”

DuVall and Allegany County Commissioner Bill Valentine spoke to the Times-News on Thursday. Kelly raised the issues at Friday’s delegation meeting in Annapolis.

The delegation meeting was attended by Sen. George Edwards, Kelly and Delegates Wendell Beitzel and LeRoy Myers Jr.

Brandon Butler of Greenwill Consulting Group LLC, which represents Lakes Entertainment and its subsidiary Evitts Resort LLC, was also at the delegation meeting.

The lodge and resort are located in Rocky Gap State Park.

Valentine said Lakes is doing a good job employing local workers and that any nonlocal labor is likely being employed to meet minority business participation requirements set by the state.

Kelly said Friday that DuVall had offered to provide Lakes representatives a list of minority-owned contractors that would employ local union labor. Kelly said he’d recently been on a phone conference with DuVall and Butler.

Butler told Kelly and the delegation that he appreciated their concerns.

Tim Cope, the president of Lakes Entertainment, has previously said that local labor and contractors will play an important role in work to  transform Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort into a casino and then building additional conference space.

About 50 construction workers would likely be on-site daily through the construction period, Cope has estimated.

Myers asked Butler on Friday for an overall progress report on construction. Myers said such a report “would be helpful.”

Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com.

Text Only
Local News
  • Bear in tree

    A crew from the Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service successfully removed a young female bear from a tree in South Cumberland Thursday morning, eventually releasing the bruin on state-owned land in Allegany County.

    May 23, 2013

  • Taking the fifth Taking the fifth

    The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the storm over the agency’s targeting of conservative groups told Congress on Wednesday that she had done nothing wrong in the episode, and then invoked her constitutional right to refuse to answer lawmakers’ questions.

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo

  • Rocky Gap casino opens

    The newly christened Rocky Gap Casino Resort has opened its doors to the public.

    May 22, 2013

  • Frostburg officials OK 2014 budget

    The Frostburg mayor and city council have voted to adopt a $9.7 million budget for fiscal year 2014 and to keep open an alley that many citizens feared would be closed.

    May 22, 2013

  • Driveway artist Driveway artist

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo

  • Okla. tornado may have caused more than $2B in damage

    The tornado that struck an Oklahoma City suburb this week may have created $2 billion or more in damage as it tore through as many as 13,000 homes, multiple schools and a hospital, officials said Wednesday as they gave the first detailed account of the devastation.

    May 22, 2013

  • Somerset-to-Meyersdale U.S. Route 219 sends its last permit

    The final permit is on the way for a Somerset-to-Meyersdale U.S. Route 219 improvement project to begin.

    May 22, 2013

  • JOHN DELANEY Delaney introduces an initiative for a national infrastructure bank

    Freshman U.S. Rep. John Delaney on Wednesday rolled out his signature legislative initiative for his first term — a plan for a national infrastructure bank that requires no federal appropriations.

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo

  • Fireball spotted over Maryland

    A bright light seen traveling across the sky over the weekend by dozens of witnesses across Maryland and the region is what astronomers are calling a fragmenting meteoric fireball.

    May 22, 2013

  • 6th annual DelFest has arrived, bigger than ever 6th annual DelFest has arrived, bigger than ever

    Thirty national recording artists are preparing to step into the Cumberland spotlight this weekend at the Allegany County Fairgrounds as DelFest rolls into town for its sixth annual musical festival.

    May 22, 2013 2 Photos