JOHN COFFELTEditor

The Manchester Public Building Authority addressed some of its pressing issues regarding the operation of the Manchester Coffee County Conference Center during a work session Sept. 18.

“During the budget season this year, it was surprising to me how much misinformation was provided to the community regarding the convention center,” PBA Member Megan Jackson said. “In order to facilitate a healthy conversation regarding the facts impacting the center, we held a special work session specifically inviting Manchester and Coffee County elected officials to sit at the table and review the current and upcoming assessments including a detailed capital project risk analysis.”

Jackson said while the meeting was not well attended, the PBA did receive information from the center’s General Manger Rebecca French, and received information on several pressing capital projects that the community leaders need to be aware of and participate in the discussions regarding the prioritization and funding.

“The Manchester Coffee County Convention Center is a valuable asset for the increasing trend for Coffee County’s tourism spending,” Jackson said. “

Based on the information received at the recent Governor’s Conference, Tennessee is ranked 11th in the United States for travel spending.

“The PBA, in collaboration with several other appointed boards, is working to make sure Coffee County is positioned to take advantage of the assets the community has invested in through tax dollars,” Jackson said.

According French’s presentation, the facility has a capital improvement to-do list that comes in at an approximant cost of $335,000 that could be spread out over the next two fiscal years. A parking lot project is expected to go into 2025.

The report assessed risk and potential impact for each item. Of the 16 items listed 10 were rated highly likely to fail, and of those all but the ice machine were ranked as a high impact in the event of failure.

The two top-dollar items listed were $100,000 in HVAC needs and a $75,000 freezer. The remainder of items hovered in the $8,000-$22,000.

Funds for the projects are expected to come from the PBA, along with the city and county.

French said that the public should be award of these numbers from the state.

Tourism revenue in 2022 exceeded 2019 pre pandemic numbers, which was the best year before the pandemic.

According to data, Coffee County had an increase in tourism-related revenue of 24.5% in lodging without new hotels being completed in this figure. The lodging number is driven by several variables but both the City and County fiscal year audits show the highest years of hotel/ motel tax collections even beating 2019 numbers.

French said that the city’s Hotel/Motel tax directly increased once the conference center switched to a full service venue.

“These numbers all tell the same story that the Center has tried to convey to taxpayers the last several years,” she said. “The center was built to create economic growth and create overnight stays within our community. The state numbers depict exactly as we have reported.”

Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen narrowly passed the 2023-24 budget that included a substantial reduction in allocations to the Manchester Coffee County Conference Center from the PBA’s initial request of $548,457 to an amended amount of $350,000. No capital project money has been approved by the county, which remained partial owner of the facility following when in 2020, the city took over the full responsibility of funding the center.

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.