Dillsboro tables Monteith House discussion
Dillsboro board members tabled discussion on the Monteith House and its lease to the Appalachian Women’s Museum for six months at the Monday, Aug. 9, meeting. Buford Riddle made the motion, and it was approved by a unanimous vote.
“That’s a big thing for our town,” Riddle said later that week. “I do need to be sure that we make the right decision concerning the property.”
AWM’s board has proposed buying the property from the town through a request made by AWM director Emma Wertenberger at the July 12 Dillsboro board meeting. That discussion was also tabled.
“We’re very disappointed and a little confused,” Wertenberger said later.
At the previous meeting, board members had sounded optimistic about the project and said they had no other plans for that area, Wertenberger said.
To sell or lease the property to the AWM board are the two possible paths the board could follow, according to town clerk Kelly McKee.
“They feel like they want more time to look at the options and see what we can or can’t do to the property,” McKee said.
Mayor Mike Fitzgerald told The Herald later that week that the board won’t stop looking at options for the building and the property.
“The table was so they wouldn’t be distracted every month with having to vote,” Fitzgerald said.
He said the board wants time and space to be able to discuss the lease and AWM’s possible purchase of the land.
“I think everyone expected things to just fall into place,” Fitzgerald said of the August meeting. “My board is a deliberate board. They want time to think things through.”
Fitzgerald said board members want to make sure that what they decide regarding a sale or lease to the AWM board is legal.
“It may not be six months,” Fitzgerald said of the board’s decision to postpone action. “They don’t want this to drag on any longer than anyone else does.”
Fitzgerald also said he wants to protect taxpayers from any more loss of money due to the project.
Wertenberger said the restoration and upkeep of the park had been “very costly” for the town, but the structures are a different matter.
“I think that needs to be clarified, that the restoration of the historical structures has cost the town of Dillsboro very little,” Wertenberger said, adding that it had been paid for through matching grants, private donations and other sources, but not by Dillsboro taxpayers.
Wertenberger said the recent board action puts the AWM at a disadvantage in applying for grant applications for next year.
Now, the future of the AWM is unclear. If Wertenberger is correct about the museum’s benefits to the town, Dillsboro’s economic future is uncertain as well.
“Dillsboro’s only source of income is through tourism,” Wertenberger said, adding that the loss of the train could be abated by the presence of the AWM.
“Adding a tourism draw, an actual site you could visit, would help pick up some of that slack,” Wertenberger said. “You’d have to drive right through the middle of Dillsboro to get to the farmstead.”
