By Sharon McBrayer
smcbrayer@morganton.com
MORGANTON — Burke County commissioners are trying to figure out how to make use of a conference center it included in the Foothills Higher Education Center.
Commissioners held a work session on the conference center Tuesday night to discuss how to make it usable.
The conference center still needs tables, chairs and audio/video equipment. That would take about $200,000, according to figures from the county.
The county can apply for a grant with a maximum of $100,000 but it would have to match the grant dollar for dollar.
County Manager Ron Lewis said there's no way to apply for the grant because the county can't come up with the match.
Commissioner Wayne Abele disagreed, saying, "To let it sit there is crazy. It's the taxpayers' money."
But the bigger issue for getting the conference center up and running is getting someone to market it and oversee it.
Lewis said Blue Ridge HealthCare has said it would oversee it but wants total control of the center. That would mean county officials wouldn't have to staff the center or worry about marketing it.
However, when the conference center was built there was a verbal agreement with caterers in the county that they would be able to use the center, Lewis said.
Commissioner Vice Chair Ruth Ann Suttle said she doesn't agree with turning over something built by taxpayer money to a private corporation to make money from it.
Suttle said the county doesn't need to spend the $100,000 grant match on the conference center until it figures out the lack of parking issue, who will manage it and who will clean it.
"I just think we're getting the cart before the horse," Suttle said.
Abele suggested hiring someone with experience in coordinating events to manage the center.
While commissioners didn't solve the issues on Tuesday night, they formed a sub-committee to come up with solutions and make the center viable.
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Conference center still unfinished
Commissioners discuss options
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Morganton News Herald
Published: January 20, 2010
Published: January 20, 2010
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