by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“Can you hear me now?”
When that question is asked at the City’s six sports and entertainment facilities – Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Veterans Memorial Arena, the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, Times-Union Center, the Osborn Center and the Equestrian Center – the answer is “so far so good” but it’s coming more into question as time goes by due to an aging remote phone system. The system links the facilities managed by SMG on the City’s behalf.
The City Council Finance and Recreation & Community Development committees are considering a bill (2007-1264) that would approve the expenditure of $475,000 to replace the existing communications system that was installed when the old Gator Bowl was renovated. The funds were generated by the 2 percent Convention Development Tax Funds and are part of the Osborn Center’s fund balance. The money was originally appropriated in FY 2006-07, but lapsed because the City had not awarded a contract for the new system at the end of the fiscal year.
The telephone system, said Paul Crawford, deputy executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission — the agency that oversees the sports and entertainment facilities — is “part of the physical plant, so we (the City) have to maintain it.”
He also said the system will be completely replaced including circuits, wiring, control boards and instruments.
Bob Downey, SMG general manager, said the system was state-of-the art when it was purchased in 1994, but is nearing the end of its usable life and telephone technology has improved exponentially in the past 13 years.
“It hasn’t been a huge problem so far, but my technicians have told me they sometimes have to look for parts to repair the system on e-Bay,” he added.
Downey also said the funds don’t represent any new appropriation, but are part of the $1.2 million designated for the Osborn Center from the 2 Percent Convention Development Tax Fund, commonly referred to as the “bed tax.”
Some line items in the facility’s operations budget were redirected in order to perform required maintenance and replace the remote telephone system. The decisions were based on the uncertain future of the Osborn Center as the City-owned convention venue.
“We worked a couple of projects in different ways. We had planned to replace the portable bleachers, but we only use them for a few events a year like the cheerleading convention. We decided to refurbish them instead and saved about $500,000,” said Downey.
“We also had a complete roof replacement over the Main Exhibit Hall in the budget, but after it was inspected we determined it could be extensively repaired and then covered by a five-year warranty.”
He also said, when installed, the new remote telephone system will bring the facilities up to a new generation of technology that won’t become obsolete for 10-15 years.
“We’re looking ahead. It’s time to replace it before we have a catastrophic failure,” said Downey. “We would hate for the whole thing to go down just before a Monday Night Football game.”