By a narrow vote, Sloan Convention Center board members agreed Monday afternoon to back a two-part study on a small expansion of the city-owned center.

C.H. Johnson Consulting won the $40,500 contract to evaluate whether there’s a market for expanding the convention center and, if there is, then studying the feasibility of adding a small ballroom onto the existing building’s back. Some other bids were more than twice as high, convention center CEO Mike Grubbs said.

Almost all members of the board, which consists of city commission members and Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon, had questions about the study. Commissioner Joe Denning was absent.

Mayor Elaine Walker said they’d need the study to make an informed vote on the idea, but Commissioner Brian Strow – who chairs the center board – said he wouldn’t support an expansion anyway, so saw no need to study it.

On hearing that the market study would probably be valid for about two years, Commissioner Brian “Slim” Nash said he couldn’t see any expansion taking place within that time, so doing the study now would be superfluous.

Commissioner Bruce Wilkerson asked how any expansion would be paid for. Grubbs replied that it would come from the Hartland taxing district and the 1 percent local tax on Holiday Inn University Plaza rooms. That money now goes to a fund for special tourism projects.

Vicki Fitch, executive director of the Bowling Green Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, said redirecting that money would bite into the promotion of this area.

“It would make a big difference,” she said.

Wilkerson asked which would be better in the long run: promoting tourism or expanding the center.

Fitch acknowledged it was a tough call, but said tourism project money probably has a bigger impact than a larger convention center would.

Walker and Buchanon voted for the study, while Strow and Nash opposed it, leaving it up to Wilkerson. After a brief silence, he voted to study the idea.

Vacant lot

During a closed session, board members heard rival proposals for use of a vacant lot the center owns. The lot, bought years ago for $875,000, is adjacent to CrossWinds Golf Course and is used for overflow parking. The center board has discussed paving it, or having it developed in some way that would let the center use its parking, too.

Neither of the presentations – one for a hotel and one for a restaurant – resulted in any decision when board members emerged.

Electronic sign

A new electronic sign is a possible addition to the center, but board members indicated they’d only support the idea if it goes at the corner of Wilkinson Trace and Scottsville Road.

Walker said she’d only back adding such a sign if it’s monochromatic; the multi-colored signs some local businesses have installed are too garish, she said.

“I don’t like the ‘Las Vegas’ look,” Walker said.