Greensboro’s highest-paid employee made a rare appearance before the City Council during last night’s meeting.

Coliseum director Matt Brown was called ot the podium by council member Mary Rakestraw to provide updates on the progress of the recently-purchased Canada Dry property. Details on that were a bit sketchy earlier in the evening as the council discussed a financing arrangement to reimburse the city for funds used to purchase the property. City Manager Mitchell Johnson explained that there were still environmental remediation issues with the building — namely asbestos and lead paint —- and the plan right now was to use the building for storage and make use of the open area on the property for outdoor events.

Brown verified plans to use that area in a way “that might be attractive to an arts and crafts festival.” When Rakestraw pressed him for a firm date, Brown said he hoped to have it ready in time for the April 12 Dead show.

When council member Trudy Wade then asked whether or not there were still plans to put an ACC Hall of Champions on the property, Brown replied that the best place would be the western wing of the Special Events center. Funding would start with $2 million the Coliseum has in reserve now and would continue pending funding from the state, for which newly-elected state Sen. Don Vaughn is a strong advocate.

Wade then followed up with a question about War Memorial Auditorium, and Brown replied that by “spending any dollars on that current facility, in my view, you would unfortunately not be getting your money’s worth.”

Brown added that he plans to come back to the table with a proposal for a “replacement facility” with smaller price tag. Good luck with that. As for the Canada Dry property, it doesn’t sound like they have sound plan in place. Yes, the city just purchased the property a few weeks ago, but the coliseum’s been eyeing it for years, right?