Clarksville will have a marina operator. Finally! (keeping fingers crossed)
The Clarksville City Council approved two lease agreements this week to FINALLY get a marina operator to get the marina up and running by spring 2012. The agreement is between the city of Clarksville, and Campbell Telico Marina LLC, to operate a marina and restaurant at the former fairgrounds property. Once completed, it will be one of the finest facilities anywhere. The vote didn’t come without the typical political “posturing”.
Several city councilmen complained about the timing of the special called session, after only receiving the final lease agreement the night before they were to vote on it.
While understandable, the lease is very similar to the one negotiated with Greg Batts, the former marina operator who was released of his lease after financial problems. The mayor is a lawyer, and along with city attorney Lance Baker, they negotiated the lease in the best interests of Clarksville.
We had no problem with businessman Johnny Piper making decisions he had expertise in, so I don’t see what the problem is with Kim McMillan wanting to get this “deal done” as soon as possible. She’s said all along that the marina was a priority for her, and for all the complaining about her administration “not doing” anything, I would think this would come as good news to some. Apparently not.
This is the age old problem of politics in this town. I can’t remember the last time we had a smooth running city council. Oh, we’ve had great people on the council, but some things remain the same. The mayor only has to count to six.
The marina is a good thing for Clarksville. We need good things to continue to happen here. Not everything works the way we want it to, on the schedule we expect. Sometimes you have to “lean into it”, pick and choose your battles.
Clarksville needed to get this deal done. It’s long overdue.
Welcome, Darby Campbell and company. We look forward to seeing how you measure up.
