Quilters Guild counters Palisades board proposal

Blount County Quilters Cottage: peaceful setting belies ongoing rent controversy. The Blount County Quilters Guild last week presented a proposal for monthly rent to be paid to the Palisades Park board for the Quilters Cottage, originally built to house the club at the county park. In a letter to the board, read by new president Lynda Hannon, the guild proposed a 50-percent increase in rent to $150 per month.

The rent on the cottage became a matter of controversy when the park board last summer proposed tripling the $100 monthly rent paid for many years by the local charitable group.

The park board’s own proposal was read by board member Ramey Peters.

The three-year open-ended agreement specified the amount of rent to be paid as follows: Jan. 1, 2010, to Dec. 31, 2010: $200 per month; Jan. 1, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2011: $250 per month; Jan. 1, 2012, to Jan. 31, 2012: $300 per month.

The park board did not discuss or vote on the Quilters Guild’s proposal. Board chairman Bob Turley asked members to consider the proposal carefully in order to make a decision later.

Turley emphasized that the board was not trying to cause trouble for the guild. “We’re not against you or trying to run you off,” he said.

He said the board feels strongly that it needs a written agreement with the guild in order to be able to answer complaints from other organizations that object to what they see as preferential treatment toward the Quilters Guild.

Guild president Hannon agreed that a written agreement was needed, noting that the Guild brings additional advantages to the park, both monetary and non-monetary, beyond the monthly rent payment.

Club member Carol Reid, who helped organize the club, said the organization had been an integral part of the park since its founding and that a verbal agreement had existed from the time the Quilters Cottage was originally constructed specifically for the organization to occupy. The other parties to that agreement have since died, she said. She suggested the verbal agreement should be “grandfathered” as a part of the ongoing arrangement between the guild, the park board, and the county. The $100 per month paid for a number of years by the guild was acknowledged in writing during his term by former Commission Chairman Royce King.

The next meeting of the Palisades Park board is Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. in the D.S. Loyd building in the park.