County takes next step on Expo Center

Tommy Neyland pointed out that the youth livestock show has totally outgrown their current facilities. The Leon County Commissioners held a special called meeting on August 18 to discuss the Expo Center project. A good-sized gallery of interested residents was in attendance.

Judge Byron Ryder opened the session giving a little history on the project. The county has purchased the land off Highway 75 between Buffalo and Centerville, earmarked for an expo-style center which several committees have tried to get started. The commissioners, both individually and collectively, have recently been visiting a number of multi-purpose centers in other counties and are, apparently ready for the next step. They described their intentions to have some plans drawn up so that entities like the county’s various economic development corporations can know exactly how much the project will cost and can begin to commit funds to see it come to fruition.

Describing the Expo Center as a positive thing for Leon County, Judge Ryder cautioned, “Every project we do is paid for as we go. We don’t want to leave (the next generation) a blank OR a debt.” He also insisted that they want a professional over the project, and to see it done through an engineer and an architect. When guests at the meeting pressed for the court to describe how they plan to pay for the center, Judge Ryder suggested that this project would qualify for hotel/motel taxes, which are limited use funds. “We have no plan to use general (tax) funds,” Ryder insisted.

Each commissioner contributed to the discussion. Commissioner David Ferguson emphasized, “We want to make sure our plan is the proper one for the people to invest in the future of the community, future growth, and more importantly the future of our youth. That’s one of the reasons the county wanted to take this step and get involved -- to see it done properly.... Not just a concept, but something that’s a hard, fast fact to deciminate in the county.”

Joey Sullivan concurred. “We need a plan for the future -- for sewer, water, drainage. We don’t want to get ten years down the road and see we needed, say, a bigger sewer system.”

Leon County Ag Extention Agent Tommy Neyland has high hopes for the project. He pointed out that the youth livestock show has totally outgrown their current facilities and suggested moving forward in phases, but cautioned, “Don’t make it a patchwork facility. Do what you can with the money you have to make it first rate. Do it right the first time.”

Architect Mark Thacker, who has designed seven or eight different projects for the county, was present at the court’s invitation. Thacker suggested that the first step would be to get a topographyic survey to take advantage of the lay of the land. He also offered to contribute his labor if the county would pay for his mileage and reimbursements (presentation boards, drawings, printing company charges.)

The commissioners authorized Thacker to work something up for their next regular meeting on August 27, giving the county what Judge Ryder called “a master plan to take to the hotels -- a first step to show them that we’re really serious about what we want to do.”