By WILL PERKINS
Glasgow News 1
The Glasgow-Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission approved a $1,500 contribution to the Barren County Fiscal Court for a feasibility and impact study on a potential regional sports complex that would be located on the Cleveland Avenue property in Glasgow near Red Cross Elementary.
“It’ll be a good use of that property,” Glasgow Mayor Henry Royse said to commissioners during Tuesday’s tourism meeting. He said the feasibility study is “very essential to getting money out of legislators” since they are more likely to fund projects “that have some organization to it.”
The Barren County Fiscal Court had previously approved a $25,000 contract with Sports Facilities Company to conduct the study, and Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd has asked several area entities to help with the cost since the project should benefit the region. The Barren County Economic Authority approved a $5,000 contribution at its meeting last Friday.
MacLean Lessenberry, executive director of the commission, said Byrd reached out to the tourism commission asking for a $5,000 donation to the study, which would allow the project to be eligible for additional funding and grants from the state. Byrd also told Lessenberry that there is a hotel interested in coming to the area if this project happens.
Glasgow-Barren tourism commissioners agreed that a sports complex would be great for area tourism, though they were unsure of how contributing the full $5,000 for the study would impact their newly approved budget.
Lessenberry said she will submit this contribution to the state since it might be eligible to receive extra funding for research purposes “under our matching funds program.”
“I don’t know if they would or not,” Lessenberry said. “But that might be worth looking into.”
After approving the $1,500 contribution to the study, tourism commissioners agreed to revisit this topic in September when they might contribute more to the study, especially if they can receive matching funds from the state.
In other business, over $46,000 was collected in June for tourism by the City of Glasgow, according to Tina Wood, director of administrative services for the commission.
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