Just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger.
A few hours after the outgoing Greensboro City Council voted to approve funding for the proposed aquatic center, incoming council member Danny Thompson made a motion to rescind the vote. That set off considerable discussion, and in the end the council approved Nancy Vaughan’s substitute motion to place the issue on the agenda for the Dec. 15 meeting.
Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young repeatedly stressed two things to the new council: first, Guilford County commissioners have still have to sign off on the deal at its Dec. 10 meeting and time is crucial since the contract has to be in place by Dec. 20. But right after the vote, commission chairman Skip Alston stepped to the podium and informed the council that commissioners no longer had anything to discuss at their meeting, since council evidently is going to revisit the matter.
As you can imagine, council member and aquatic center booster Zack Matheny was incensed that Thompson would make such a motion at what was supposed to be a ceremonial meeting. Matheny also chastised incoming council members for saying they needed more information when the issue’s been playing out in public and in the media for weeks now.
But when fellow council member Trudy Wade argued that money to fund the swim center was being diverted from coliseum maintenance, Matheny argued that the coliseum commission was making a sacrifice because certificates of participation that will now replenish hotel tax money would have gone toward coliseum improvements.
So that supports my earlier theory that the city is borrowing money to support the coliseum. I realize my theory focused on War Memorial Auditorium, but it’s all the same pot, eh? This is also the first time I’ve officially heard about COPs going for such purposes —-if I’ve missed something, let me know.
