Mayor Calls for Informational Meetings on Events Center

Admitting that perhaps concerns regarding the size and expense of the proposed new Owensboro Events Center had not been addressed, Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne called for a bit of a cooling off period today. "These concerns need to be addressed', said the Owensboro Mayor. "Therefore I am calling for three public meetings within the next 30  days. Two of the meetings will be held at the Sportscenter the other in the county possibly the Hines Center".

At the meetings the staff and consultants (which group was not identified) will lay out the following:

1. The reasoning behind the size and design of the facility.

2. The cost of the facility

3. where any additional funds would come from to complete the center

4. A reconciliation of the original Gateway Plan to where we are today.

The Mayor then called for several local groups to make a recommendation as to how to proceed. This would be followed by a joint meeting of the Steering Committee and IDA on August 31st to act upon the recommendations.

Developer Malcolm Bryant announced at the news conference that he has a signed agreement with the Hilton Corporation to put one of their flagship banners on the new Downtown Hotel.

We have both announcements posted here for you.