JOHN COFFELTEditor

Conference center sees drastic cut

An ongoing stalemate over the city budget was broken during the May 18 special called meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen with the 4-2 vote that approved the first of two readings of the 2023-24 city budget.

This version of the budget passed with a substantial reduction in allocations to the Manchester Coffee County Conference Center from their initial request of $548,457 to an amended amount of $350,000.

That line item has been a sticking point for the board this year, with a split among aldermen over the funding.

The break came after what looked to be a second unsuccessful meeting at passing the budget but then Alderman Joey Hobbs presented the amendment with the reduced allocation. It passed with Anderson and Parsley voting no.

When asked how the cut in allocations would affect the conference center, Chairman of the Manchester PBA Zach Lowry responded, “Unfortunately, I don’t have a good answer for that at this time.”

“We are going to meet soon and attempt to figure out the specifics, but with a 36% cut to our budget we can say for certain that no repairs will be made to our failing infrastructure and we may be forced to cancel events due to equipment or building failures, which may reduce bookings or open us up to litigation. We also expect that the political and economic climate around the center will cause additional attrition in our workforce further impacting our ability to serve the community. ”

Conference Center General Manager Rebecca French said that

“The Conference Center and the PBA are excited that a budget was passed. We look forward to working with the city and strengthening our relationship in the future moving forward, and addressing any concerns that were expressed by BOMA in the venture of negotiating the budget,” French said.

She did express concerns that the about the aging building and that the reduced budget would not cover things that “have not been maintained properly.”

She said having a long-term vision and partnership with the city is key to sustainability for the center.

The May 18 meeting was the second special call meeting to address the budget, and like in the first meeting, the budget failed as presented with $500,000 in allocations to the center with Alderman Ryan French and Joey Hobbs voting yes this time around. That vote was quickly followed by a motion by French to adjourn, which failed.

During the discussion that followed, a second push by Alderman Julie Anderson to cut the center’s allocations to zero also failed.

Alderman French criticized the push as political, accusing fellow members of the board of being unprofessional.

“I cannot possibly express my disappointment on how this has been handled. And how unprofessional some of you have been and reckless with your comments,” he said.

Going further, he chided fellow members for not addressing their concerns with the Manchester Public Building Authority that oversees the conference center.

“Not one of you that have brought concerns up at these meetings have taken concerns to the PBA, who is a whole entire body of people in this community who volunteer their time to do what’s best for the PBA. Not one of you have brought your concerns, no matter how legitimate or illegitimate it is, to that PBA to have it corrected.”

French called the push to defund the conference center a personal attack on his family.

“This isn’t a campaign that has happened in the last two weeks. This is a campaign that has been taken out on my family for the last eight years. If you bury your head in the sand, and say anything else, you’re a damn fool,” French said.

Manchester Coffee County Conference Center General Manager Rebecca French is the Alderman’s wife. Alderman French has defended his budget votes, citing that it was an indirect conflict and permissible by state statute, a position that the City Attorney Craig Johnson agreed with at an earlier meeting.

Had the motion to amend the city’s budget to zero passed, the conference center would likely not have been able to meet its fixed expenses.

Anderson in-turn called the PBA a flawed entity.

“The individuals who serve on it have the best intentions…but a board it becomes not accountable to its funding body. That’s the part I have a hard time with — is that we’re not trying to make an accountable budget and that’s historical,” Anderson said.

“Philosophically for me, this is outside what the city should be doing,” Anderson said, citing other pressing needs in the city.

“I don’t like having a budget where we cut out a police officer, we cut out a playground, we cut out stuff from the fire (department) and we are telling people this is what our priorities are,” she said.

“It doesn’t make sense for us to be in the conference center business,” Anderson said.

Mayor Marilyn Howard said the PBA had recently responded to her request for the conference center’s salaries and job description.

Howard added that she regretted breaking the tie at the first special call meeting.

“I was over focused on everything else, but being made aware of the value of (the service the center provides as a venue for industrial recruitment meetings) and not just the hotel/motel tax,” Howard said.

She was also concerned about how closing the conference center would impact already booked events that have secured contracts.

Finance Committee offered slimmed request

After a short but intense Finance Committee meeting May 17 that body of three aldermen could not reach a consensus toward a recommendation on the 2023-24 budget to return to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen after the first reading of the budget that failed at the May 10 BOMA meeting.

The board is split over the city’s proposed allocation to the Conference Center. The original request from the center for $548,457 was entered into a first draft of the budget as only $500,000.

An amendment failed on May 10 that would have cut all city’s funding to the center in a split vote, which Mayor Marilyn Howard broke. She then asked for an amendment to reduce the figure to $400,000. That motion failed, and then approval of the budget failed with Howard breaking the tie with a no vote.

The budget returned to the Finance Committee May 17 and at this meeting, the body that oversees the operation of the Conference Center, the Manchester Public Building Authority, brought a restructured request, $419,000 for operating and a capital fund (to be split with the county).

At the Finance meeting Vice Mayor Mark Messick floated the idea of only financing the center for six months for $250,000.

“There’re issues between this board and that board (the Manchester PBA). Let’s give them 60 days to work out the problem,” he said.

That motion died from lack of second.

“It will be hard for the board to pass a budget that we don’t recommend,” said Joey Hobbs, Finance Committee Chairman.

Howard noted the need for the center as a venue for upcoming industrial development events.

“When you have evens, whether you’re for the megasite or not, you have events and you have that type of event with the governor come in… when utilities come, it’s good to have that facility,” she said.

Howard said that only funding the center for six months would make customers of the center nervous and could impact bookings.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.