Friday, Mar. 11, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Facilities in the black by Sept., Weed saysBy JOHN MUNFORD When the Peachtree City Tourism Association took over operations of the citys tennis center and amphitheater in January last year, they in essence started from scratch. The association has implemented financial and personnel policies in addition to budget procedures, none of which existed when the venues were run by the Development Authority of Peachtree City, pointed out association chairman Murray Weed. The DAPC was chided in its 03-04 audit for failing to have checks and balances in place for financial reporting, a condition which could ultimately lead to funds being spent without being accounted for, accountants said. The DAPC also was criticized for overspending, but the associations bottom line is making sure the facilities break even, Weed said. We should be making a profit by the end of our fiscal year in September, Weed said. The priority after fiscal responsibility is providing excellent customer service, he said, adding that a number of improvements are either concluded or in the works. Now, much of the associations workload is being handed off to the new management of the venues, selected within the past three months, and the associations executive director. Weed said thats a natural transition for the association to make, now that the system has been created. If we didnt step back right now, wed be micromanaging, Weed said. We have people in place to do that job. The process up to now has included developing contracts for vendor services, leasing out the pro shop space (previously it was done for free to former tennis center manager Virgil Christian), new contracts for tennis pros so all can share in the profit of the individual programs they operate and writing job descriptions for all employees. Now, we can take the next step, Weed said. Weed acknowledged that the association has come a long way from its initial stages, with roughly 150 people coming to meetings to complain about changes. Now, the complaints are limited to one or two rants in the newspaper, Weed added. Among future tasks for the association is developing a visitors center at the newly-renovated building on the tennis center campus that was formerly the facilitys pro shop. We want to promote tourism and bring tourist dollars to the city, Weed said.
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