With the Georgia World Congress Center Authority in Atlanta set to take over the majority of management duties for the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center in April, the trade center’s executive board and its attorney are preparing the final contract documents to be approved by the full board at a special called meeting later this month.
In the meantime the board, including chairman Mark Smith, saw the bottom line transition costs for the first time at its regular meeting Wednesday.
In his comments on the center’s February financials, trade center director of finance Stephen Hall said the forecast for the fiscal year ending June 30 was expected to be more than $220,000 better than budget projections, adding that forecast “includes an estimated $250,000 for transitions costs related to the management change.”
When one board member asked what the $250,000 covered, Smith said, “I don’t know, I’ve just seen this number.”
Smith and several board members planned to meet with trade center attorney Tom Grey, of Savannah’s Grey Pannell and Woodward, and GWCCA executive director Frank Poe to go over contract details, he said.
“We hope to have a final version in the board’s hands later this week,” Smith said.
While board members were waiting for a breakdown of the stated transitions costs, they voted to approve a $200,000 technology upgrade that trade center executive director Bob Coffey said was necessary “to facilitate connectivity between Savannah and Atlanta and accommodate additional demands the World Congress Center will place on the system.”
The trade center’s telecom system — phone, wireless, internet and closed-circuit TV — is about 15 years old and showing its age, Coffey said, adding that some of the planned upgrades were already in the pipeline before the center considered a management change.
The upgrade will be funded through a one-time transfer from the authority’s general fund to its capital fund, Coffey said.
The next meeting of the trade center board will be a special called session — scheduled for 9 a.m. March 25 — to go over and approve the management contract.
