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A motion hearing will be 9 a.m. April 11 at Coffee County Circuit Court concerning a property dispute by co-landowner Wayne Lance and the Coffee County Manchester Conference Center. Motions will be heard including a motion for summary judgement to dismiss.

The motion to dismiss, filed by Brent Keeton, representing the Public Building Authority (the body that oversees the Conference Center) argues that that statute of limitations had expired when Lance filed his suit with the courts.

Lance is the deeded owner of 1/3 of a lot that adjoins that of the Conference Center. The lot is the site of the outdoor wedding venue. Lance is asking for damages for the Conference Center which he said the center built on the property without his knowledge or consent.

General Manager Rebecca French, however, states in her November 2022 deposition that an employee spoke with Lance and got a verbal agreement to the project. During the deposition, attended by Lance, Keeton and County Attorney Edward North, French says that she was in the room when the call was made by Anthony Morris in 2016 when the center was working on a state grant that would help pay for the venue.

She said that at the time she felt that verbal agreement was sufficient, but when asked by Lance said she had not consulted with an attorney.

In the long and, at times, rambling deposition, French is asked about who and when the then-Coffee County PBA knew about Lance’s 1/3 ownership in the property. Lance also asks about the profits made by the venue and the Conference Center as a whole.

A good portion of the deposition concerns French’s qualifications to manage the center, her chain of command under the Manchester PBA and her marriage to Alderman Ryan French.

In the interview, French, after confirming the venue has not broken even, she notes that the venue does not have electricity run to it.

When asked by Lance why, she said that an employee, Matt Gulick, asked Lance for an easement in 2019 to run utilities to the building.

According to the Deposition, when Gulick was told no, then –CCPBA Chairman Stan Teal called and, according to French’s statement, was told by Lance that the PBA could buyout his portion for $35,000.

According to county records, the 1-acre property is appraised at $25,000.

Lance’s involvement with the conference center dates back to 1999 when he and some partners sought to build a Holiday Inn Express Hotel. The County Executive at the time James Wilhelm discussed building a conference center as part of the project that ended in a lease with the option to purchase, which the county did.

The purchase excluded one extra acre that was left. Two of the partners deeded their two thirds of the property to the Coffee County Public Building Authority. Lance did not, however and retained one third ownership in the property.

Lance’s lawsuit was filed in December 2021. According to Keeton’s motion, this was well outside the one year statute of limitation from when the property was taken possession of and internal improvements began.