MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Tenn (CLARKSVILLENOW) – At their November 12 meeting, the Montgomery County Commission voted in favor of a resolution to borrow $130 million for the construction of a new Multi-Purpose Event Center in Downtown Clarksville.

The plan to build the Event Center comprised two resolutions: 19-11-5 and 19-11-6. The final vote was the same for both resolutions with 17 votes yes and 4 no. Those voting in opposition included Commissioners Arnold Hodges, Brandon Butts, Joshua Beal and Rickey Ray.

All Commissioners were present for last night’s meeting.

Commissioner Joshua Beal put forth an amendment on 19-11-5 to convert the resolution into an election resolution, also known as a referendum. According to County Attorney Tim Harvey, such an amendment would move the resolution to the State Election Commission, who would decide whether to place it on an existing ballot or to hold a special election. The resolution failed to pass with six votes yes, 14 no and one abstention (Commissioner Knight).

“I truly, honestly believe that allowing everybody to vote on this was the right way to go with this,” said Beal. “Simply because with this being a very large ticket item and the potential for taxpayers to be on the hook for this should funding not be as expected, or should operational cost exceed revenues. Because of that, I really feel like the taxpayers should have been the one to decide if this actually happened.”

Commissioner Gannon put forth a amendment on 19-11-6 adding a stipulation stating that before funding is issued, contracts must be signed with the Nashville Predators as managers of the site and with Austin Peay State University as the primary tenants. Failure to sign contracts would result in bonds not being issued. The measure had been announced as part of the initial proposal, and passed 19-2.

The Commission voted to approve the purchase of land in Downtown Clarksville for the proposed Event Center in May, 2019. The resolution was hotly debated for months before being passed 16-4.

Since that vote, local groups have advocated for or against putting the resolution to referendum. Signs reading “I support the event center-vote yes” and “Let the people vote,” have become a common site in Clarksville-Montgomery County.

Stephen Currie of the Residents for Effective Government, one group advocating for a referendum, said that the Event Center resolution, “is non-essential spending, It’s entertainment. We think the citizens should vote on this.”

“I think when you see 17 commissioners vote in favor of it, really that’s almost a super-majority of the commission,” said County Mayor Jim Durrett. “We’ve really tried to be transparent to lay out everything about the Multi-Purpose Event Center, how we’re going to pay for it, and I think the commissioners see it. I think they see the vision and the impact that it will have on our community, so yeah, I’m excited about last night’s vote.