Residents Stand Up for The Regent

Proponents outnumbered detractors of The Regent at the first quarterly public meeting to discuss the civic building Thursday night.

About 20 people attended the meeting to hear the Brandon Community Advantage Center board members explain how The Regent was constructed, its purpose and the efforts it's making to open up the building to community groups and nonprofits.

The board's attorney, Marsh Rainey, kicked off the meeting, giving a history of how The Regent came to be.

He explained that the building was originally proposed by former state Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, and former state Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Tampa, to provide an event venue for the Brandon area.

"There was nowhere to go for big events in Brandon. If you wanted to go somewhere nice for a function, you had to go to Tampa or Lakeland," said Rainey. "So it was Tom Lee's idea to build a civic center in Brandon to host big events."

Rainey defended the use of premium building materials and embellishments for the building on Watson Road, saying those details were necessary to create a building that would be suitable for formal functions.

"There's been a lot of talk about this being posh," he said. "I'm not here to apologize and say it's too posh for Brandon."

As to the location, Rainey said the all-volunteer Brandon Community Advantage Center board looked at various locations around the Brandon area before John Sullivan, developer of Winthrop Town Centre, approached the board with the current Regent site in 2007.

Once the board acquired the site, the county agreed to kick in $2.5 million in Community Investment Tax funds to help build the center.

"We were ecstatic," said Rainey. "We were thinking $1 million at best, but they came back with $2.5 million."

With funding secured, the board held a week of public meetings in 2008 in which people from throughout Brandon gave input into the design of the building, he said.

"The focus was always on creating a multipurpose building," he said.

From there, the board drew up a comprehensive business plan explaining how the center would operate and what activities would take place there. He noted that The Regent's financial records have passed three state audits.

Construction started at the end of 2009 and The Regent opened in January 2011 under the ownership of HCC, which paid $750,000 for the property. In return, it holds classes in the building and is responsible for all its maintenance. The BCAC, which rents the facility from HCC for $10 a year and pays $1,600 a month in utilities, oversees the upstairs banquet hall and downstairs meeting room.

"The great thing about the partnership with HCC is the building is constantly in use with college students coming and going," said Rainey. "The building isn't sitting empty when there are no events going on."

Regent Executive Director Kristen Kerr, one of two full-time staff members at The Regent, noted that The Regent has bookings through the end of the year. The facility has hosted or will host 25 community events at a 25 percent or more discount, she said, listing some of the nonprofit events that have taken place at The Regent.

"We've never told a group they can't come here," said Rainey. "But we have to have private events. That's what pays for this place."

He added that there's nothing unusual about using tax funds to build a cultural center. The Regent was constructed for $6.7 million using county, state and federal money. He noted that the Trinkle Center in Plant City and the Carrollwood Cultural Center were similarly constructed with public dollars, and both rent out their facilities for private events.

"It's time Brandon got a piece of the pie," he said.

BCAC board member Antonio Amadeo said he's working to ensure that the Brandon arts community plays a role in The Regent. He's established a task force and will meet with community art representatives in July to explore ways The Regent can accommodate artwork, art exhibits, plays, dance recitals and art classes.

"There've been a lot of questions and rumore that kind of bother me," said David Lemar Jr., an accountant and member of the BCAC board since 2007. "We brought in an independent CPA to do a full audit of our financials to date, and they said we've done exactly what we were supposed to do."

Currently, The Regent is breaking even financially, he said. During the first four months of operation, revenues averaged $15,000 a month. The payroll is $7,000 to $8,000 a month. Utilities run about $2,000 a month and The Regent pays out $5,000 to $6,000 for setup and breakdown crews, insurance, marketing supplies and other variable expenses, he said.

BCAC Mary Boor serves as the liaison with emergency management officials in regard to The Regent's role as a storm shelter. Due to renovations taking place at the Sun Dome at the University of South Florida, which previously served as the county's shelter for special-needs residents, The Regent has been designated the hurricane shelter for residents with medical conditions that require oxygen, dialysis and transfusions.

Except for the addition of another generator and a refrigerator to stock medications, she said The Regent is prepared to serve the county's special-needs residents should a hurricane threaten Tampa Bay.

"This is the largest available space that meets the updated standards for 190 mph winds," she said. Symmes Elementary, next door to The Regent, was constructed to withstand 160 mph winds.

As for ensuring the public component of the civic building, former BCAC chairman George May apologized if it seemed the board wasn't responsive to the public's needs.

"We might have been a little bit slow," he said. "Forgive us. We're volunteers."

Seffner civic activist Elizabeth Belcher wanted to know why The Regent limited the number of caterers it used to eight.

Rainey noted that it's not unusual for a public facility to choose specific private caterers. Raymond James Stadium, for instance, chooses who will serve hotdogs to fans.

He conceded, however, this is an issue the board may want to review.

"We weren't given a blueprint on how to run it," he said.

Brandon resident Byron Dean wanted to know how Burley Construction was chosen to build The Regent.

May said the project went out for competitive bidding. "I don't know what the total number of bids we received was but we narrowed it down to five bids."

Dean also wanted to know if the county commission had oversight of the project.

"We sent the county detailed reports of every dime we spent," replied May.

Dover resident George Niemann asked if the board would be willing to rent out the building to the community at cost.

Rainey said, with the exception of HCC's classroom space, all of the building is available for public use and noted there's an online sponsorship applications for nonprofits that need to use the building free of charge.

Niemann also wanted to know how many events at The Regent are private versus community events.

"If it's mostly private parties, that would be a concern of mine," he said.

Rainey said all of the events are listed on The Regent's online calendar, and there's a mix of the two.

Neimann then asked why The Regent's operational records aren't open to the public.

Rainey said, as a private, not-for-profit entity, The Regent isn't subject to the state Sunshine Law, which would make them available for public review.

"There's plenty of case law," said Rainey. "Just because we received public funding doesn't make us subject to the Sunshine Law."

Belcher said that attitude raises suspicions.

"When you tell us you're not going to tell us what you're doing with your money, it makes me think somebody's hiding something," she said.

Belcher asked why The Regent's arts policy requires artists to pay to display their works at The Regent.

Amadeo said there is a cost associated with installation and insurance of artwork. He said there is no fee to display art at The Regent, however.

Lemar added that there is no subterfuge involved in the construction and operation of The Regent.

"Some of the people on this board have donated over 1,000 hours to make this a community center," he said. "This place is fantastic. I graduated from Bloomingdale High School and we had to go to the Egypt Temple Shrine in Tampa for my senior prom. The chamber had to go to the Embassy Suites at USF for its annual dinners."

He said it would be impossible to open The Regent up to public events without the private events that cover the operational costs of the building.

"We're trying our absolute best to put this all together and pay the bills," he said. "We're just trying to cover our overhead. We'd like this building to be more profitable so we can build more parking. I'm very proud of this board, this community and everybody who made this happen."

The board got a vote of approval from Bloomingdale resident Randy Kehrmeyer.

"I fully support private events to fund this facility and allow it to be available to the community at cost," he said.

"It's a beautiful place and I'm glad we have it," agreed Bloomingdale resident Jan Coppi.

Jeff Campbell, who has agreed to sit on a task force for The Regent, said the Brandon community deserves a beautiful venue for its events.

"We're a huge revenue source to this county," he said. "And we never get a dime. We finally get something, and the people that put in hours of work to see it happen are getting slammed."

"It's just a bad PR problem," said Tampa resident Mark Nash. "I hope we can get past this hump."

"The impression that this is some kind of private business is our fault. That's why we have to have the community involved. We need feedback and we need people involved," said Rainey.

Brandon civic activist Vivian Bacca said she participated in the planning meetings for The Regent.

"It looks pretty much like the drawings we came up with," she said. "The building plan was not a mystery."

However, she said she was under the impression that the lower floor would have a removable stage for theater productions. She also wanted to know why there was no private funding for the building.

May said the board approached six companies, including Mosaic and Tampa Electric Co., about naming rights for the building.

"They didn't have the money," he said. "And we were up against a deadline to get this done."

"The economy tanked and people just weren't giving money," said Amadeo, noting that it was astounding that the building was constructed during the country's worst recession. "It wasn't for lack of trying."

The next quarterly public meeting will be held in September. In the meantime, the BCAC is seeking residents willing to serve on the board as well as take part in a task force to increase community involvement.

For information, call 813-571-2494.