Center to undergo minor name change
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on February 28, 2016 1:45 AM
In the last five minutes of the annual Goldsboro City Council retreat Thursday afternoon, City Manager Scott Stevens informed the council there was a desire to change the name of the very center they were meeting in from the Goldsboro Events Center to the Goldsboro Event Center -- nearly the same, just minus one letter.
Stevens told the council some city staff had expressed a wish to drop the letter "s" from the name, and asked if anybody opposed the idea, and no one did.
"What's happened is Sherry (Archibald, Paramount Theatre Director) has gotten involved, and as we are getting closer to marketing the center, it made sense to her and others on our staff, to drop the 's' and just make it the Goldsboro Event Center," Stevens said.
There was no vote from the council on Thursday on the issue of renaming the center located at 1501 S. Slocumb St., which was formerly the Goldsboro Country Club.
Stevens said the vote to officially approve the name change will come later, potentially at a council meeting in March or April.
"What we will do in terms of a vote is (city clerk) Melissa (Corser) and I, mainly Melissa, will put together a list of retreat decisions for the council that will list all the decisions they made and any changes to anything, like the name of the center, and the council will vote on it at one of their future meetings either in March or in April, depending on when Melissa can get it ready" Stevens said. "Then the council will vote to approve that list of decisions, and the vote will happen that way (on officially changing the name of the center)."
District 3 council member Mark Stevens was not at either day of the annual City Council retreat.
"I talked to him last night, and unfortunately he had some issues that kept him away from the retreat, and he hated he wasn't there," Stevens said. "I did talk to him and he said he would like to meet in about a week or so to fill him in on everything that happened during the retreat, which he won't get as much detail on everything, but we will still tell him what happened, and he will get to give his input on everything that way."
The Goldsboro City Council initially approved naming the center the Goldsboro Events Center at its first meeting in September of 2015, but the presiding council members have changed since the November 2015 general election.
"The council had initially approved naming it the Goldsboro Events Center, and that's how we had it in the minutes of that meeting, so we didn't want to change the name without involving the council," Stevens said.
The city purchased what was formerly known as the Goldsboro Country Club in February 2015, and began renovations on the property later that same year. In total, the purchase and renovation of the building is expected to cost $1.2 million.
The center is expected to open its doors within the next month.