Visit Hot Springs outlines reasons for request

Jeremy Mackey, Director of Education, holds a demonstration on pressure with liquid nitrogen during the 6th annual Tinkerfest at the Mid-America Science Museum on Saturday, June 16, 2018. (The Sentinel-Record/Rebekah Hedges)
Jeremy Mackey, Director of Education, holds a demonstration on pressure with liquid nitrogen during the 6th annual Tinkerfest at the Mid-America Science Museum on Saturday, June 16, 2018. (The Sentinel-Record/Rebekah Hedges)

The Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission earlier this week outlined its reasons for requesting an election in September on a proposed bond issue to construct a new exhibit area at Mid-America Science Museum.

The Hot Springs Board of Directors on Tuesday will consider the ad commission's request to call a citywide special election for Sept. 11 on a $2 million bond issue to fund construction of the new exhibit area at the museum.

The bond issue would be repaid using revenues from the existing 3-percent advertising and promotion tax already being levied on motels, hotels, restaurants and like businesses in the city.

During the board of directors' agenda meeting last Tuesday, Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison gave what he termed a "quick response" to a question from Director Karen Garcia as to why the commission was requesting a special election in September.

Arrison followed up with a letter to the board, which was included in Tuesday's agenda packet, to ensure that Garcia and other members of the board were "clear on my answer."

Arrison's letter outlined the following points as to why the request for a special election was made:

• "Time is of the essence," Arrison said. "Every month we wait, and we are not sure of construction time until the project is approved and a contractor selected, is another month that the new facility will not be open and generating revenue and visitors to the Mid-America Science Museum."

The bond proceeds would be used to construct the 7,000-square-foot addition to the museum on the west side of the museum's main building. Diane LaFollette, the museum's executive director, told the commission in May that it would create about 5,000 square feet of exhibit space, and would make the museum the largest science exhibit center in the state of Arkansas.

• Arrison said the museum would need to start booking exhibits "immediately" for the new facility once an opening timeline is established.

"The quality of the exhibits that the museum is targeting book years out and it is imperative that we get them scheduled," he said.

LaFollette last month gave the ad commission examples of several exhibits, including "Star Wars and the Power of Costume," "Hall of Heroes," "Animation Academy," and "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit," that could be booked into the new area. The latter exhibit requires temperature and humidity control to protect and safely display artifacts from the exhibit site that the existing museum building cannot provide. LaFollette told the commission the new space would have a separate HVAC system from the rest of the museum, which would allow it to display artifacts it cannot currently because of humidity issues.

• Arrison said scheduling the election was also a matter of timing.

"We had hoped to go earlier but we did not have our plan together in time," he said. "As you know the legal timelines to get on a ballot are very specific and you have to start the process quite early. We possibly could have requested a July or August election but we did not think it was fair to hold an election while most of our citizens were on summer vacation. The September date is after everyone is back and school is in session. Seemed the fair thing to do."

• The cost for the special election will be paid by the ad commission.

"We felt that the museum could possibly lose much more revenue than the cost of the election if we waited even a month or two," Arrison said.

Pending voter approval, LaFollette told the commission last month she hopes to have the project completed by 2019 in time for the museum's 40th anniversary.

Local on 06/17/2018

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