County Mayor wants Manchester to “Buy” Conference Center

Will the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center (MCCCC) be sold? Some people have voiced that opinion for a long time because the center has had financial troubles for many years.
In a twist that some leaders did not see coming, County Mayor Gary Cordell wants to see if the City of Manchester would take on the center. Question is, who makes the decision to sell?
According to the agreement signed in November of 2000 between Coffee County and Manchester the two parties agreed to fund on an equal basis the construction and operation of the conference center. According to the contract, upon completion of the construction, “legal title to the real property, improvements located thereon, and the personal property located within the conference center shall be transferred to and vest to the Public Building Authority.” The 2018 audit report on the PBA, completed by the Winchester accounting firm of Bean, Rhoten & Kelly, PLLC, also states “the PBA owns and operates” the center.
If the city did buy out the county’s portion, Manchester would take on all debt and that did not go over well with some city leaders.
One alderman stated that the city should sell to the county. One said schools are more important because of the growth inside the city.
Mayor Cordell has said that he believes Manchester, in time, would have more opportunity to make money on the center than the county ever would.
Some other county officials say Manchester benefits from the MCCCC because of the hotel-motel tax collections. The county does not have a hotel-motel tax in place at this time. The county is attempting to implement such a tax, but it would be on hotel and motels outside the city limits of Manchester and Tullahoma.
WMSR News will continue to update you on the ever-growing saga of the MCCCC.