10/28/2019
From the DPA:
There are a new set of operational guidelines in place governing the Gem Theater in Etowah.
Despite some controversy, new guidelines have been put into place regarding the operation of the Gem Theater in Etowah.
After a pair of contentious meetings between citizens and the Etowah City Commission, new operational guidelines were passed unanimously by the commissioners on Oct. 16. According to Commissioner Max Miller, the idea of creating new guidelines came about on Sept. 4.
“There weren’t any in place,” Miller said. “It was not to ruffle any feathers, but to set operational guidelines in place as any organization would. It was simply to get something in place we could go by.”
Mayor Burke Garwood said that there were concerns about the upkeep of the theater, which the city owns.
He claimed that the house manager of the theater wasn’t being as accommodating to other groups as he and other commissioners would like. The house manager was contacted for comment by The Daily Post-Athenian, but declined.
“We had been hearing when other groups were trying to use it that she was not very helpful in cleaning the stage off, cleaning up their stuff and securing it out of the way for these other people to have people in the Gem,” he said. “You were expected to just work around it. You keep hearing those things and hearing those things and, after a while, you start to think I’ve got a problem here that I need to look into.”
Miller agreed with Garwood that this was the beginning of the desire for new guidelines.
“The more people we talked to the more was uncovered that was not really known to any of us,” he said.
Miller added that the commissioners hoped to make things more standard across the board moving forward.
“It was more of a ‘he said we could do this, she said we couldn’t do that,’ type of deal,” he said. “We needed something to level the playing field and cut out the confusion when somebody rents it.”
That led to the operational guidelines, which include reservations being required to be made through the Etowah Community Center and, at that point, keys will be given out as needed to the group renting the theater.
According to the operational guidelines, keys to the Gem Theater will be given to the Merchants and Friends of Etowah and the Etowah Arts Commission “the day prior to their scheduled event.” They will be given to the Gem Players “based on their reservation schedule” and “special arrangements can be made for the Gem Players to have keys for city events such as Murders on Main Street, 4th of July, etc.”
The original proposed guidelines did not differentiate between organizations’ ability to possess keys but, due to arguments made during the first meeting over the operational guidelines on Sept. 25, changes were made that allowed the Gem Players to have the keys for longer periods prior to their event.
“This was not an intentional act to remove the Gem Players,” City Manager Tina Tuggle said. “That was never the intent nor the want of the city for them to stop using the Gem or to leave altogether. I don’t think there’s anybody on the commission who would ever say they want them gone.”
“They weren’t the subject,” Garwood added.
“The building was the subject,” Tuggle continued.
“No one in any form or fashion was banned,” Miller added.
Tuggle noted that the Gem Players have been given keys to the theater in order to prepare for and perform Murders on Main Street and have had them continuously for about three weeks.
She also said she does not plan to make it difficult for the Gem Players to get the key to prepare for events.
“If they came to me on a Friday and said, ‘Tina, I have to get in there and work on costumes and I’ll be there all weekend, can we arrange that,’ what would I do? I’d give a key and say ‘here you go,’” Tuggle said.
