New board gets along

To borrow from James Brown Arena's namesake, the new Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority got off on a good foot Tuesday, conducting the first authority meeting in recent memory where all members showed up and not a cross word was spoken.

The meeting also started on time and wrapped up within an hour, including seven minutes spent in a closed session to discuss a pending lawsuit.

New member Bonita Jenkins, the marketing director of Augusta Technical College, said friends were calling her later in the day, wanting the scoop on what happened. Her answer: It was just a regular board meeting.

"It went exactly like I wanted it to," she said. "I think the first meeting was kind of an icebreaker."

After a prayer by Chairman Cedric Johnson, the new members took turns introducing themselves, then heard generally positive reports on the status of the civic center complex. Their first action was to form an interim finance committee made up of Mr. Johnson, Augusta Technical College professor Shirley Darby and banker David Hogg Sr. as a temporary mechanism for signing checks.

Accountant J.T. Cosnahan told them their hotel/motel and beer tax collections were $348,960 in May, a 67 percent increase over April's collections, which might have to do with irregularities in the state's reporting system. Complex Manager Monty Jones, of Global Spectrum, said revenues were $71,217 ahead of budget for May and $253,625 ahead of budget so far for the fiscal year ending in June.

Mr. Jones also told them about two potential sellout shows -- the Darius Rucker concert at Bell Auditorium on Aug. 27 and the Gaither Vocal Band at the arena Nov. 14. He said he's also expecting to pick up extra bookings because of Columbia's Township Auditorium undergoing renovations and the fire at Athens' Georgia Theatre. (One of the new board members, insurance agent Louis "Hap" Harris, was involved in the redevelopment of the Georgia Theatre in the late 1970s.)

Attorney Ed Enoch went over the restructuring bill the Legislature passed this year, which ousted the remaining members of the old 12-seat board in favor of a new seven-member panel. According to the bill, the new board needs to attend an orientation and training course approved by the Augusta Commission and elect a vice chairman or vice chairwoman, secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Enoch recommended they form a committee to redraw the bylaws because the current ones are written for a larger board and include language about personnel and management, which is obsolete now that Global Spectrum runs the complex.

"I think we need to start with a clean slate," Mr. Enoch said, "and let's lay down some rules so that everyone knows where we're starting from."

Mr. Johnson told board members he wants to maintain a positive tone, reminding them that the community is watching. He said they might want to make appearances at arena and auditorium events, even things they wouldn't normally attend, such as hip-hop concerts.

"I think it's important that people know that we're here, that we want to be here, and we're going to do an excellent job," he said.

Afterward, the new members toured the complex. Brad Usry, the owner of Fat Man's Riverfront Cafe, noticed something odd inside the arena.

"We need to get the Lynx signs down," he said of the reminders of the former hockey team.

"You can put Augusta Tech on those, if you like," Ms. Jenkins kidded.

Mr. Hogg, the Augusta market president of Savannah River Banking Co., said he's optimistic about the group he met Tuesday, including Global Spectrum's management team.

"If you can have a facility like that stand on its own and not be a cash drain on the community, that's a goal that we should have," he said.

Asked about his impressions, Mr. Collier, a counselor at Murphey Middle School who spent two decades playing in James Brown's backup band, said he liked what he saw and heard.

"I feel good," he said.

Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.