|
Shelve the attitude,
start solving problems
By CAL BEVERLY
Publisher
Let’s all take a deep
breath and try for some perspective on this Peachtree City clash of strong
wills.
A lot of ego-power is involved in the struggle between the Peachtree City
mayor, Steve Brown, and the Tennis Center supporters. But what are the
actual facts? And may we draw some conclusions from the facts and not
from our well-developed prejudices?
Fact: The tennis center technically and legally belongs to the city of
Peachtree City, under the direction of the mayor and four city council
members. That council has the right, legally and morally, to change the
hired managers of a city-owned property.
Fact: The “hired” managers of the tennis center and the city-owned
amphitheater have been for the past decade the city-council-appointed
Development Authority of Peachtree City.
Fact: The group hired to manage the two venues (the DAPC) has made some
good decisions and some very bad decisions, particularly about the tennis
center finances.
My opinion: It was a bad decision for the DAPC to operate two city-owned
venues without even a written budget for the better part of a decade.
It was a bad decision, and most unbusinesslike, to operate for the better
part of a decade without solid accounting procedures in place. It was
bad management to borrow money for day-to-day operational expenses and
just hope that future tax revenues would bail the decision out.
Fact: A private management group, headed by Fayetteville businessman Tommy
Turner, has been poring over what financial records exist to determine
what the actual financial status is.
Fact: Mayor Steve Brown has been calling for such strict accounting for
at least two years now. It is only now that the accounting is taking place.
Opinion: Whatever your visceral reaction is to Brown, you would have to
ignore the actual facts to proclaim that the DAPC has been a model of
good management.
Fact: The DAPC owes a lot of money, including nearly $200,000 for construction
work done at the tennis center. That bill is a year old; it is owed to
Group VI. At least two local banks also are carrying notes approaching
$1.2 million. Some of the borrowed money was used to pay for construction
of tennis center expansion areas; some apparently was used for day-to-day
operating expenses.
My opinion: The services rendered and the money owed was provided by Group
VI and the banks in good faith. Those debts must be repaid. The quarter-million
dollars of hotel-motel tax collected by the city council and passed through
to the DAPC is the likeliest candidate for repaying honest debts.
Fact: The DAPC has been so engaged in operating these two venues and the
ensuing controversies that relatively little time, money or effort has
been spent on its primary mission, to bring new industries to Peachtree
City. The DAPC is using some of the tax money earmarked for economic development
to pay lawyers defending it against a sex discrimination lawsuit. It uses
tax money because the DAPC never bought liability insurance to cover such
suits by employees.
Fact: The DAPC admitted last month that the operation of the two venues
was beyond the abilities of part-time volunteer board members and should
be turned over to professionals at the city, the entity that owns the
venues.
My opinion: The DAPC should get out of the management business and return
to its primary mission.
Also my opinion: The city council has to swallow its collective animosities
and provide some leadership. The council should devise a spelled-out plan
for managing the venues and immediately move to implement the plan. If
that plan involves a hired management group, answerable to the elected
city council, then the agreement must be open, transparent and subject
to the financial oversight of the council.
Mayor Brown, the time has come to stop throwing bombs and start providing
some leadership. Newt Gingrich never learned to make the transition. Here’s
hoping that you can.
Tennis center advocates, that facility belongs to all of us city residents,
not just to you. Life goes on outside. Tennis is a minor issue, compared
to the tens of thousands of folks involved in activities carried out on
less than adequate facilities with a lot less per-capita investment. You
have an elite facility. Soccer and baseball and football advocates can
only dream of comparable facilities. Recognize that numerical and political
reality.
Fact: Councilman Dan Tennant is running for reelection.
Opinion: Desperately.
|
