MPAC operation under review
By Liz Rep
lizi@mekinneytoday.net
MeKINNEY ~ On June 15,
the elty council and depart
ment of parks and recre-
ation will eontinue to discuss
the future of the McKinney
Performing Arts Center, a
topic that includes a pro-
posed transition to third
party management,
‘The issue comes at a time
when budgets for the 2010-
2011 fiscal year are tight —
and the city wants to see
MPAC make money.
“Were lookingat a number
of different ways to manage
MPAC from a cost-efficient
standpoint,” McKinney Mayor
Brian Loughmiller said. “The
department of parks and
recreation brought forward
recommendations about what
it would be like to ran with a
third party and ways to in-
crease the quality of pro
gramming”
‘The department of parks
and recreation will initially
decide whether or not to
AUS Par ee Tel Rental: 972-547-2650
Un Geet nate ten
File photo
fire directors of MPAC.
According to the MeKin-
ney Department of Finance
reports, the McKinney Com-
‘munity Development Corpo-
ration budgets $500,000 each
for MPAC.
PAC continued on 84
outsource _ management.
From there, the city council
must approve the depart-
ment'’s proposal to hire orMPAC continued from page 1A
However, MPAC does not
usually spend the entire
amount, only using
$465,000 in 2007-2008 and
$448,000 in 2008-2009.
‘MPAC also brings in rev-
enue from other sources
like sponsorships and
ticket sales - that amount
totaling $358,858 in 2007-
2008 and $467,998 in 2008.
2009,
‘The revenue funds daily
operation, staff salaries
and benefits, programming
and other needs, according
to city spokesperson Anna
Folmnsbee. None of the
funding comes out of the
general fund.
Loughmiller said that
the city wants to see
MPAC's profits increase by
cutting unnecessary costs
and boosting potential
sponsorship and ticket
sales.
Currently, the depart-
ment and city council have
conducted two peer review
studies and three public
meetings about MPAC’s
management and must
weigh the pros and cons of
all options,
“A lot of comments have
been that people like what
MPAC has to offer, statisti-
cal comments, marketing
and how they could better
get the word out about
their programs,” Lough-
miller said, “We are also
looking at other facilities,
how they manage, what
their target market is like
and how they're running
from a cost standpoint.”
MPAC wouldn't be’ the
first outsourced manage-
ment group in McKinney
Loughmiiller said the Oak
Hollow Golf Course has a
contact with an outside
party and still hires city
employees to operate the
municipal golf course.
Loughmiller also said
the council and depart-
ment of parks and recre-
ation is in no hurry to
make a decision because
the fiscal year budget is set
until September 30. They
are hoping to resolve the
issue by the end of the
summer,
“The reality is that we
aren't going to make this
decision next week,”
Loughmiller said. “We
need to continue to ana
Iyze the data we have from
the peer review studies
and public meetings. The
‘current staff also needs to
have input. The end result
could be change or no
change, it all depends.”
David Taylor, director of
MPAG, said they are cur:
rently in a holding pattern
until the city council meet:
ing next week. For now, the
directors will continue to
evaluate different requests
and proposals with the de-
partment of parks and
recreation and city council,
“We don’t have a choice
Dut to wait it out,” Taylor
said,
At the last city couneil
meeting, MPAC's future
was brought up during the
citizen's comments portion
~ all speakers pleading for
the council to reconsider
outsourcing MPAC’s cur:
rent management.
But until next week’s city
council meeting, the sup:
porters and directors of
MPAC can only wait to
hear the department of
parks of reereation’s pro:
osals and continue to find
alternative methods for
MPAC to suec
“You've analyzed this for
year now. The proposal
that’s on the table gives a
third party two whole
weeks to get their act to:
gether,” “said Jeremy
Rosenthal, a local attorney
‘and husband of MPAC AS-
sistant. Director Amy
Rosenthal, during the
council meeting. “And
members of the council,
that is a fabulous way to
fail. I'm going to leave you
with the carpenter's rule
on MPAC: you measure
twiee, you cut once.”