CITY BEAT: SALE OF DECATUR CONFERENCE CENTER AND HOTEL STIRS MEMORIES OF TOUGH CITY COUNCIL MEETING

     LAST WEEK, it was announced that The Decatur Conference Center and Hotel has a new owner.
Steve Horve, who owned the facility for the past 18 years, actually made the announcement, with his wife, Odette, on the company’s Facebook page.
“The new owners, the Pelia family, will need your support to continue… Please remember them when making plans for events. They are very excited! Steve and I wish them well and much success.”

     THE SALE of the facility stirred memories of one of the toughest, and most controversial, decisions I made during my years as Decatur’s mayor.
I knew there was a strong possibility the facility was going to be sold to a non-profit that would not be using it as a hotel.
There would be no tax revenue generated for the City of Decatur and all of the organizations, conventions and meetings that were held there would have to look elsewhere, probably to Champaign or Springfield to find the kind of facility that could accommodate them.

     I FELT very strongly that, in order to prevent losing that facility, which was so important to our economic structure, that the City of Decatur should buy it!
I, along with City Manager Steve Garman, examined the facility’s financials and consulted with some highly respected financial experts and came away with the feeling that we could not afford to lose this facility.
That led to the toughest city council meeting and vote that I presided over during my years in office — and the most negative reaction from the move of the city that I experienced while mayor.

     THE PRESSURE at the city council meeting on the night we were going to vote on buying the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel seemed about the same as the level inside of a pressure cooker!
Before the meeting and vote I was threatened that my career as an editor and mayor would be over if I voted to buy the facility.
Then, the city clerk called for the vote of the six council members and the mayor. (The mayor always votes last and breaks any 3-3 tie.)
The order in which the six city council members vote is rotated each council meeting so the same council members are not voting first, or last, each meeting.

     THREE of the councilmen voted against buying the facility.
     I really can’t blame them for their vote. The idea of the city buying that facility was pretty far out there. (A few of the cities that had tried it did not have good results.)
     Two other council members, Mike McElroy and Betsy Stockard, voted for buying it, as I expected them to do.
     The sixth vote on council belonged to Councilman Pat Laegeler, who I could usually count on for a positive vote but he was understandably struggling with this one and it was taking some time.
     The pressure on him was enormous because he knew that I was going to vote for it — which made his vote critical.

     THEN, I did something that I had never done before. I went ahead and cast my vote which increased the pressure on Pat — because, with my vote there was a tie — 3 for and 3 against.
     I appreciate the fact that Pat, despite the enormous pressure and after struggling with the reality that he was going to vote to buy the hotel, cast his vote in favor of moving ahead with the purchase.
     I was later told the pressure of that vote left a few people in tears outside of the council chambers.

     I TOOK a lot of flak wherever I went in the community after we purchased that facility.
One attorney stopped me and asked: “Have you lost your mind?”
     I got about the same treatment wherever I went but I believed we saved an important resource for the city.
     A few times when I was going to speak as mayor, I was introduced as the “new innkeeper” at the hotel.
     I would sometimes end my public speeches by saying that I had to leave and get back to the hotel because we had guests coming and I had to make sure the beds were made and everything was in order.
     It usually got a good laugh from the audience.

     ALTHOUGH I did not know that Steve Horve was interested in buying the facility until we hired his firm to manage the facility, it was only a matter of weeks before he made an offer to purchase it from the City.
Steve owned other successful hotels and we knew we couldn’t have found a better buyer.
Steve told me that our bold move to save the facility inspired him to take the bold move to purchase it.
So, we sold the facility to Steve, got all of our money back plus interest we paid on the loan, and Steve did an amazing job of remodeling the facility.

     CONSIDERING all the flak I took by spearheading the purchase of that hotel, there is no doubt that it was the right move. I think of all of the tax money that has been generated for the city by that facility in the 18 years since we purchased it and then sold it to Steve Horve and that tax flow will continue.
It is also a place where many events are held during the year that probably would be held in another city if the facility no longer existed.
I’ve always believed that we need to be creative in our thinking about the future of a business, or a community, and sometimes the toughest decisions we have to make — result in the greatest rewards.
I’m thankful that Steve Horve stepped in, when the City took the plunge, and was inspired to buy the facility.

     I THINK we need to realize that decisions made today by public bodies, such as the city council, have a long term impact and that is certainly the case in looking at the last 18 years of the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel.
By the way, not one of all of those people who said I was crazy for pushing to buy that facility, ever told me later that it was the right      decision.
     That’s okay. The proof that it was the right decision stands in full view every time I drive by the place.

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   • I JOIN Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co. every Thursday morning at 7:00. I always enjoy our conversations about what’s impacting Decatur.

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