Ready to renovate

Ready to renovate

WM A& P set to upgrade Civic Center

news@theeveningtimes.com

West Memphis Advertising and Promotions Commission moved forward with remodeling plans at the Eugene Woods Civic Center. Commissioners unsatisfied with the number of days the center or River-PAC draw a crowd to the city, decided on placing a pair of requests for qualifications to continue upgrades in the meeting rooms. Funding and a contract to upgrade audio visual and sound components had previously been awarded.

“They can start as early as the end of this month,” said RiverPAC Executive Director Joe Beasley.

But, commissioners said whoa, not wanting to get the cart before the horse and considered painting and re-carpeting before the new acoustical wall panels are installed. Beasley passed around paint chips for opinions on new colors, Commissioners opted for some experts in design and A&P

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decor.

We were talking about painting, do we need painting prior to hanging the panels?” asked Commissioner Ramona Taylor.

“Let’s get the renovations done, and discuss options,” said Commissioner Troy Keeping. “Why don’t we paint the walls first.”

Looking at soft green hues, Taylor said, “It would be fairly easy to get a contractor to paint the walls and work from this eucalyptus color.”

“What about the floor?”

asked Keeping. “Do we need to replace the carpet?” After kitchen and bathroom upgrades were added to the to-do list, the commission decided that the City Engineer Phillip Sorrell draft a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) aimed at organizing the project.

Effective publicity for the remodeled facility to increase meetings booked in West Memphis started to take shape as well. Putting a marketing firm in place was discussed too. A separate request for qualified firms (RFQ) is in the works.

“How will anyone know they can rent this space?”

asked Commissioner Ramona Taylor.

“The plan on the RFQ proposal is to run an add in both the Memphis and Little Rock newspapers.,” said West Memphis Tourism Director Jim Jackson. “Obviously it will have to be bid. There is already some interest. This is specifically marketing the civic complex and not marketing the City of West Memphis.”

By John Rech