Centralia City Council creates committee to explore Fox Theater funding

The City of Centralia will convene a work group with the members of the Fox Theatre Board to explore possible funding avenues for restoration efforts moving forward.

The Centralia City Council approved a proposal from Deputy Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston during its business meeting Tuesday evening to convene a new short-term committee chaired by Councilor Tucker Voetberg to explore all possible steps forward for the historic Fox Theatre.

"I think it's in the best interest of our community to see projects fulfilled," Smith Johnston said during the meeting. "We're about to have a wonderful example, kitty-corner from here, with the (United Learning Center)."

Smith Johnston suggested during the meeting that the committee could include members of both the Centralia City Council and the Fox Theater Board along with other community members with valuable experience. The final motion simply formed the committee and appointed Voetberg as chair, leaving it to him to assemble the committee.

Addressing a need to expedite the process for addressing the theatre, Mayor Chris Brewer said he expected Voetberg to report on the committee two weeks later during the council's next business meeting on Tuesday, April 21. The report is expected to include the founding members of the committee, meeting times and meeting frequency.

"Our next regular meeting here at council is in two weeks," Brewer said. "I think that gives enough people enough time to reach out to people who may be interested and come up with some dates and times."

Voetberg, who is a certified public accountant and owns a local accounting firm, said he was happy to serve as chair of the committee. The freshman councilor added that he saw the potential payout in revenue from the venue as worth the investment and included that his family has been openly supportive of the theater for many years.

"I do believe it's worth the cost of investment," Voetberg said. "I'd be happy to join in any capacity that the board wants me in at the Fox board and also the council, too."

Fox Theater Board President Joe Clark made an appearance during the meeting and spoke during public comment. In speaking, Clark expressed some frustration by the board in its relationship with City Manager Michael Thomas and requested that the council appoint a council member to come to board meetings. That request was seemingly fulfilled by the creation of the new committee chaired by Voetberg.

Clark also requested that the council expedite whatever decision they make as quickly as possible and give serious consideration to using bond funding for the money needed to complete the theater.

Council members expressed outward support for seeing the project reach completion but stopped short of committing the necessary $1.5 million in requested funding to the restoration efforts. They did discuss bonding as an option but ultimately halted discussion on the details of the funding, opting to leave it to the newly created committee.

During discussion, Voetberg proposed narrowing the scope of the committee to completion of the theater and figuring out funding to do so. Smith Johnston pushed back, advocating for the committee to explore all possible outcomes for the theater to strengthen the case for using bonds to fund its restoration.

"A bonding process shouldn't be taken lightly, and we need to be able to go to our community with any decision of yes or no and say we've carefully considered our options," Smith Johnston said.

The deputy mayor said she would like to see the committee figure out what would happen if the city didn't continue funding the restoration effort, including even its possible sale.

Partway through discussion, the council also made time for public comment. Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope and former Centralia Councilors Rebecca Staebler and Max Vogt weighed in briefly during public comment, expressing support for the completion of the community venue.

Consideration of continuing to fund the Fox Theatre in downtown Centralia on South Tower Avenue has been a hot-button issue since the Fox Theater Board revealed it needed additional city funding for work necessary to begin occupying the building at the end of February.

During a tour of the facility, The Chronicle reported that the Fox Theater Board would seek renewed funding from the city in the form of a bond.

The city previously invested approximately $1 million of bond funding in the project in 2018. For previous reporting on the details of the funding shortage, visit https://tinyurl.com/5aftzc7b.

During a previous Centralia City Council meeting, city staff told council members that they did not believe the city could afford to close the funding gap for the project.

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