The Warren Convention Center Authority (WCCA) is on the way out.
Amid no progress on the proposed downtown convention center, Warren Development Group saying that state grant funding is no longer needed and WDG, in a letter from Tim King to the WCCA in April, emphasizinging that private funding will be utilized for the project, a recommendation will be made to Warren City Council at its meeting on Monday that the authority become inactive.
A council subcommittee, comprised of John Lewis and Maurice Cashman, met with WCCA members on Thursday morning.
Lewis told the Times Observer on Friday that the recommendation will bring about the resignation of the authority's members at an undetermined date, rendering the authority inactive.
If a "development opportunity" would arise, according to Lewis, city council would have the right to appoint new members and declare the authority active.
Lewis said that there are no costs associated with the process.
Also discussed at the meeting was the fact that approximately $16,000 owed to the authority by the Warren Development Group, headed by King, has not been paid.
An attempt for comment from King was not returned.
While council has discussed dissolution of the authority at its May and June meetings, members of the WCCA at their July meeting indicated that they aren't willing to let go until the authority is paid by Warren Development Group.
"We're not going to let go of this" unless city council disbands the authority, Chairman Gary Baldensperger said at the July meeting. "We are here for one reason, to get funds. If city council has no legal authority to collect that revenue (and the authority is disbanded) the city will be out that revenue."
"We don't want to pull a GRO-Warren on you and leave you holding the bag," Vice Chairman Gregory Fraser said in July, referring to the now-defunct downtown revitalization organization that is at the center of an on-going controversy over a failed downtown development project.
The authority sent a letter to city council, dated June 19, "giving them our basic position on this committee," Baldensperger said. "The committee was formed over four years ago. The current and former members have put in a lot of time to get something started in a positive light."