Published: October 05, 2008 08:48 pm      

Barr: Downturn won't slow Tamarack transfer

BLUEFIELD — The national economic downturn won’t slow the long-planned transfer of Tamarack to the Department of Commerce, according to Turnpike Authority Manager Greg Barr.

While bonds financed by the West Virginia Parkways Economic Development and Tourism Authority have seen a significant spike since the onset of the financial crisis on Wall Street, the outstanding $7.2 million in Tamarack debt are fixed-rate bonds, Barr said.

Barr, who addressed the issue following a meeting of the authority board in Bluefield last week, said officials are still working to meet the two-year-old mandate of Gov. Joe Manchin to remove Tamarack from the Parkways Authority and to place it under the umbrella of the Department of Commerce.

Barr said the authority is still working to eliminate the $7.2 million in outstanding bond debt faced by Tamarack. At the same time, Barr said officials are working to develop a business plan that will allow Tamarack to continue to prosper as a showcase for artisans across the Mountain State.

“The next step is to develop a business plan to continue the mission of Tamarack to help support all of the arts across West Virginia,” Barr said. “I think even Kelly Goes (director of the Department of Commerce) has said she looks at each artisan as a single business entrepreneur.”

Manchin ordered the Parkways Authority two years ago to return to its original mission of upkeeping the 88-mile West Virginia Turnpike from Princeton to Charleston. At the time, Manchin argued the authority’s core and principal mission was the operation and maintenance of the turnpike. In addition to eliminating all economic development and tourism projects from among the authority’s activities, Manchin also mandated moving Tamarack from the Parkways Authority to the Department of Commerce.

The authority has already taken several steps to return to its core mission of upkeeping the 88-mile turnpike, including completing the sell of the authority’s 68 percent share of a large building on Kanawha Boulevard in Charleston occupied by Capital Area Services Co.

Recent legislative action in Charleston has also allowed the authority to suspend the $250,000 payments that had been made for several years to the Hatfield-McCoy Recreation Authority. Those payments ended on June 30 resulting in a financial savings to the Parkways Authority.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com