The possibility of partnerships

The various tennis association, whether local or regional, have expressed their desire for the proposed center to serve as a possible economic development engine. The rationale is that a large enough facility can land various competitive tournaments, and the participants and attendees of those events would understandably spend their money in the area.

As a result, these associations - the same ones who officially submitted the request for the project to the SPLOST Citizen Advisory Committee way back when - have a vested interest in seeing those considerations factored in and are more than open to exploring partnerships with Athens-Clarke County officials to help share the cost burden of the project.

The minutes from the May 7 meeting record Michael Beck, the vice president of the Georgia Tennis Association, inquiring about the possibility of partnering with the local government in an attempt to share some of the costs for construction and, most importantly, maintenance. Beck asked, on three different occasions, for additional details regarding possible areas of collaboration.

The first question raised the feasibility of working together ...

In Columbus, the tennis association there partners to actually manage the 35 clay court facility there. What if the Clarke Oconee County Tennis Association wanted to be involved in managing and raising funds for this facility? What if I said that we are ready to write you a check to build 8 more courts, how would that factor in?

Athens-Clarke County District Two Commissioner Harry Sims, who served as chair of the Site Selection Committee, responded that such a partnership would require an intergovernmental agreement and would need to be reviewed by Bill Berryman, the county's attorney.

Beck followed up by asking how the community association should best go about getting that partnership started, to which Sims directed the question to various members of Athens-Clarke County staff present at the meeting. Derek Doster, the SPLOST Project Administrator, said the local government was reluctant to take any donations or enter those types of partnerships if they were allocated for new projects that would require new maintenance costs.

Beck responded by focusing on the committment to assist with maintenance and noted that the United States Tennis Association has a number of grants available to assist with projects like these. Then, in what was arguably the most unusual response of this exchange, an unidentifed staff member followed up with ...

Mr. Beck was then reminded that the original project proposal had the local tennis association contributing $100,000 for furniture, fixtures and equipment for the center.