Shortly before the EIC board adjourned Wednesday, May 26, the organization’s treasurer, Mike Marshall, explained that once all the financial commitments are made by the end of the current fiscal year, the corporation will have slightly more than $600,000 left.
“And we wanted to have some surplus,” Marshall reminded his follow board members. “We’re not rolling in money.”
Marshall also reminded the board that it still owes the Hall-Rialto group $50,000 of a $150,000 stipend authorized some time ago.
Marshall told board members that the EIC is “a couple of hundred thousand dollars below what we’d projected.”
EIC board member Jessy T. Garza reminded those at the meeting that the board had lost $200,000 of its annual $800,000 in revenue from the city’s half-cent 4B sales tax after city voters approved the creation of a street maintenance fund.
Money going into that fund is to be used to seal coat streets and provide maintenance for existing roads within the city limits.
Board members heard from Mark Parsons of the Hall-Rialto group, Dr. Barbara Welder of the Bee County Historical Commission and contractor and project manager James Lamb during the request for more funds for the historic downtown theater.
Welder called the Rialto “an endangered historical treasure,” and said there is real danger that the damage to the interior of the building may quickly advance to the point that it will be too late to save the structure.
Welder, Parsons and Lamb all warned that humidity is destroying the plaster and the important art work on that plaster.
Welder reminded the board that expenses for renovating the Rialto have climbed as codes have changed during the ongoing effort to save the building.
“The Rialto is a major industry,” Welder said. “It will benefit the community.” She urged board members to realize that economic development in the downtown area will be more expensive if the building is lost.
Welder said $9 million have already been invested in the renovation of the Bee County Courthouse and the Praeger Building, which now houses the Joe Barnhart Bee County Library.
Welder called the theater a “national treasure” and reminded the board that it was designed by the same architect who designed the courthouse and took part in the design of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
“I’m personally in favor of it,” Garza told the contingent requesting the funds.
“But the issue is when is it going to get done, how much will it cost and can it be done within a budget?” Garza asked. Until those questions are answered, Garza said it would be difficult for the EIC board to support the project.
Marshall also asked if someone could tell him how much money had been spent on the project so far.
Accountant Libby Spires answered Marshall’s question, saying the association had spent $828,000 to date.
Parsons explained that the organization needs to spend $553,800 to complete the air conditioning and plumbing work needed. With the $400,000 being requested, he said he was confident that the theater would be restored back to the condition it was in when it was in use before.
Parsons said another option would be to restore the theater to the condition of the Rialto in Aransas Pass, with bare walls and minimum seating.
Parsons seemed confident that if the association could get the $400,000 requested, “it would cover everything.”
“It’s time for everybody to pull together,” Parsons said.
When Garza asked Parsons what the association’s backup plan is, Parsons responded by saying, “there is no backup plan.”
EIC Board President Jody Alaniz reminded the association members that $150,000 in 4b sales tax funds already had been promised for the renovation effort and $100,000 of that already has been paid.
“I’m astounded by the figure that it’s 85 percent done,” Garza then said. He asked other EIC board members if they had been inside the building, saying he did not believe the renovation is that close to being completed.
Lamb then said he was sure that the building could be open for business within a year.
EIC board member Leticia Muñoz asked Lamb to assure her that if the association gets the $400,000 that it can have the theater opened for business in 12 months.
Parsons suggested that the EIC board could make the payments over two years, giving the corporation more time to accumulate 4B sales tax funds.
At that point, Garza asked Lamb if the board could get a second opinion of what needs to be done, how much it will cost and how long it will take to complete the job.
Lamb assured Garza he could do that.
“Whether we invest $100,000 or $400,000, the issue is can we get it done,” Garza said.
“I want to see it done,” EIC board member Bill Shroyer said. “But going from $100,000 to $400,000 is hard.”
“It’s actually $500,000,” Garza reminded Shroyer, “because $100,000 is already spent.”
Board members then voted to appoint a subcommittee to study the request and come back in two weeks to give the full board a recommendation.
In other business, the board voted to:
— Provide $16,933 for infrastructure improvements to the Evergreen Concepts home building project east of North Archer Street.
— Appoint a subcommittee to study a proposal made by the Bee Development Authority for economic development services to the EIC.
— Provide half of the total $20,000 cost of paying for the parks master plan recently completed by Gignac and Associates of Corpus Christi.
— Allow Marshall and City Manager Tom Ginter to consider recommending some caps on infrastructure improvement requests.
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