CSHLRA shares about Chapel committee mission

Gil Pound, The Union-Recorder, Milledgeville, Ga.
·2 min read

Mar. 27—It will be "business as usual" at the Chapel of All Faiths while an appointed committee examines operations surrounding the southside event-hosting venue.

Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority (CSHLRA) chairman Johnny Grant said as much during the board's regular monthly meeting last Wednesday.

"We're continuing to rent out the Chapel of All Faiths both upstairs for funerals, weddings, and whatever other occasions as well as the reception hall downstairs," Grant said. "Those things will continue to go on."

The Chapel and adjacent pecan grove have been marketed by the Authority as events spaces for the last six years or so after extensive cleanup of the exterior and renovations to the reception hall were completed. Referred to jointly as the Grove Events Center, the venue has been operating at a financial loss. In January the possibility of placing the building on the market was raised.

The CSHLRA board assembled what became a seven-member committee to examine the existing rental procedures, including rental prices, to make losses more palatable since the body operates on rental revenues and real estate sales of the country's former largest mental institution.

The Chapel committee is made up of a mix of individuals from within the CSHLRA organization and community members interested in the building's future. Representing the redevelopment authority are Dr. Joy Nelson, Dr. Nolan Stephens, and new CSHLRA executive director Mary Demian, who's been on the job a little over a month now. Jessica Whitehead, Ken Garland, Shondra Giles and Dr. Deborah Boyd make up the rest of the committee.

According to Nelson, the group is specifically charged with "the development of a comprehensive plan to address the adequacy of rental policies, procedures, documentation, liability waivers and fees for [CSHLRA's] event venue."

At last week's CSHLRA meeting, Nelson gave an update, saying an online repository of documents such as current procedures and other pertinent information is being shared among committee members. They had yet to meet in person at that time but will be doing so soon.

"I look forward to meeting with the committee within the next week or two for our first meeting," Nelson said.

Chairman Grant asked that the committee prioritize looking over existing policies and rental rates so that if any changes can be made, they can be done "as quickly as possible."

Nelson responded by saying those two things are among the first orders of business.

Some meetings will be open to the public so the community's input can be gathered.

"We also want to listen to solutions and what they have to say," said Nelson. "That's going to be a very important part of this process, to understand what the community feels."