Wednesday, November 5, 2003
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Wednesday, November 5, 2003 |
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PTC plans to run both venues By J. FRANK LYNCH Within a month, the Peachtree City Tourism Association, Inc., could be functioning as the non-profit group charged with running the city’s tennis center and amphitheater. The City Council will consider a request from City Manager Bernard McMullen at Thursday’s regular meeting to approve creation of the 501(C)6 nonprofit board. In addition, the council will be asked to appoint two of its own to serve on the association’s board of directors through the end of this year. If the plan is agreeable, the tourism panel will be running the show by early December. “With approval of the Council on Thursday, we intend to have this thing up and functioning by next week,” said McMullen. The proposed solution to the seemingly never-ending saga involving the Development Authority of Peachtree City was the brainchild mostly of McMullen, who stressed that “nothing is a done deal” until the council acts. That would include any role played by Fayetteville computer dealer Tommy Turner, who last month put together a group of private investors to step in and take over the tennis center. Turner met with McMullen and other city staff on Friday, both men confirmed. “We wanted to get some input from him on what his concept of operations should be,” said McMullen. “But we also wanted to make sure he understood that there are other options” for the city to consider. On Tuesday, Turner said he’s willing to give the city staff the time to get the nonprofit established, a necessity no matter who actually ends up running the day-to-day operations. Among Turner’s chief concerns is that the vision of former tennis center director Virgil Christian continues on. “I don’t want to see the place neglected,” said Turner. “If you talk with a lot of people with a lot of time in this industry, municipalities have not had a good track record running tennis centers, particularly facilities of this stature.” That doesn’t appear to be a concern for McMullen, who said, “The positive thing is that a decision has been made and we’re able to move forward.” Unlike the Development Authority of Peachtree City, which was made up of volunteer residents appointed by the city council, the proposed Peachtree City Tourism Association will have a set board of five members to include the following: City Manager McMullen, City Finance Director Paul Salvatore, the chairperson of the city’s Recreation Commission, and two city council members who will be chosen by a majority of the council, rotating on and off every two years when council elections are held. The detailed plan to be presented Thursday includes a 19-page document spelling out the articles of incorporation and by-laws for the commission, which must be considered a non-profit group in order to collect and distribute the share of the city’s motel-hotel tax that goes to help fund operations at both the tennis center and Fred Brown Jr. Amphitheater. “We’ve put together a transition plan with a number of different steps we need to do in order to make this happen,” McMullen said. Those include meeting with Donna Romeo, amphitheater director, and Sean Ferreira, the senior pro and acting manager of the tennis center. “What we’re focusing on right now is getting their 2004 budgets in shape and identifying short-term cash flow,” said McMullen. As proposed, both Romeo and Ferreira would report directly to the non-profit commission, with Assistant City Manager Colin Halterman serving as a kind of staff assistant or liaison to both venues. “I see that as a permanent solution for the amphitheater, and with the tennis center if it looks like the city can make it work without an outside group, we must consider it,” McMullen said. Turner conceded, “I’m willing to work with them. It would be disheartening if they didn’t have a plan to in place to run it. But if they do have a plan in place that we think might work, I’ll be willing to consider it.” In other news related to the issue: • City Hall has received the official letter from the DAPC outlining its intentions to hand over responsibilities for the venues, McMullen said. “We actually received the letter Thursday, though it was dated for Friday, the end of the month,” he said. When the DAPC resigned the first time on Sept. 25, it never submitted the formal letter stating such as required in its contract with the city. • Virgil Christian, the former executive director for DAPC, was feted at a staff lunch on Friday and later honored by tennis center members on the courts. Christian, who was hired by the DAPC to build the tennis center from the ground up in 1994, resigned his position on Sept. 25 as well but honored his Oct. 31 departure date. While he has not announced his future plans, associates say Christian is considering several lucrative offers to run tennis facilities in other states.
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