Dayton city officials are moving forward on finding a contractor to occupy a building at Dayton Municipal Park, near the site of many successful fishing tournaments over the years.
But any contractor that locates there wouldn't be able to make a profit, because even though the city owns the building, the Tennessee Valley Authority owns the lot where it sits — and limits what can happen on its land.
"They've got our hands tied on what we can and can't do," Dayton Mayor Hurley Marsh said on a break during the City Council meeting Tuesday afternoon.
For about eight to ten months, Marsh said, the city has been trying to negotiate with TVA about relaxing the long-standing terms of the city's permanent access to the property without success. The 40-by-80-foot building, which formerly housed The Boat Dock tackle shop and restaurant, has been sitting empty for well over a year, he said, so the city decided to move forward even with the building's limited terms.
The council unanimously approved taking bids from contractors interested in running a business in the city's building. About half a dozen people attended the meeting.
David Shinn, city manager, told the council that the contractor wouldn't be able to make any improvements to the building and couldn't make a profit, according to the deal with TVA, but would receive a set fee and could also be given bonuses. The contractor would run the restaurant and collect fees from the 25 boat slips nearby.
Shinn said the city is still determining what the contractor would be paid, but the equipment in the restaurant now would not be left for the new contractor.
Susan Arnold, city attorney, said a few points of the agreement would have to be confirmed with TVA before the concession would be put out for bids.
Marsh said there's been a lull in the city's fishing tournaments at the site because the director of Rhea County Economic & Community Development, which books the tournaments, resigned.
Terri Hammer, who lives on Dayton Mountain, attended the meeting because she's seen a major drop-off in bookings at her vacation rentals. This was her first time to attend a City Council meeting, she said.
"We don't have any bookings," she said. "What happened to the boat tournaments?"
Hammer said she got her answer from listening to Marsh and was disappointed there was a lull in fishing tournaments. Between taxes from gas for boats and rentals like hers, she said the tournaments have a big effect on bringing money into the community.
A busy schedule of fishing tournaments is scheduled for the spring and fall, Brandy Anderson, executive assistant for Rhea County Economic & Community Development, said at Dayton's Welcome Center. Not all of the fishing tournaments scheduled have been added to the department's website, and she said the tournament organizers, contractually, are the ones to announce the tournament first.
Anderson said the council has chosen a new director, who will begin working in the next few months.
She said she didn't have current statistics on the fishing tournaments' economic effect, but they are important for the community's hotels and vacation rentals.
Phillip Williams, owner of Real Deal Tackle, said his business outgrew the city's building in the park. He found a bigger building on Highway 27 about a mile away, not selling food now and only selling bait and tackle.
He said having to deal with both the city and TVA restrictions might be the reason it's taken a while to fill the space, but the issue has been blown out of proportion.
"I guess they just haven't found the right tenant to lease it out," Williams said in a phone call.
He said he expects to see another restaurant start up at their former site. Business is still good at the new location, he said, because the store is located next to a hotel now, and the choice to relocate may make parking easier for the tournaments at the park.
Bobby Thompson, a resident of Athens, said he comes to fish the waters near the Dayton Municipal Park almost once a week.
While taking a break from fishing, he said he'd like to see more parking for fishers at the park. Thompson also said he enjoyed eating at the restaurant as part of his regular fishing trips and would like to see a restaurant return to the location.
He said he doesn't have a problem with the fishing tournaments because they're not held every weekend, but he would like to see the tournaments spread around to take pressure off that location.
Before launching his boat to go fishing near Dayton Municipal Park, Jeff Burnette, a resident of Dayton, said he would like to see a boat repair shop at the building — because there aren't many in the area.
Ethan Travis, a resident of the Garrison area of Rhea County, said he would like to see a mom-and-pop restaurant at the building. He said there aren't many non-chain restaurants in the city.
"And maybe even let them put a little stage out there and let local people come and play live music," Travis said in a phone call. "I think that would really be good."
The biggest issue with the park near the boat ramps, he said, is that locals are crowded out when tournaments are being held. The tournaments are only making the rich richer, Travis said, and are overfishing all the good spots in the lake.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.