In a city council meeting that took place Monday, June 21, the council decided to begin accepting bids on an operating lease for the historic Washita Theatre.
During the meeting, council members discussed multiple options on how to go about a reopening for the theater and whether it was ready to be leased or not.
Some council members, including mayor Jerry Beech, showed concern for the current cleanliness.
Last week, a cleaning crew from Clinton was hired to do a cleanup service for the theater, however, council members discussed the theater still not being fully cleaned up.
Now, after some discussion from council members and Cordell Chamber of Commerce members Sarah Lau and Heather Flores during the council meeting, the council has decided to begin accepting bids.
The Chamber has expressed interest in leasing the theater for around four months now and members have been to multiple city council meetings to discuss that possibility.
“We hope that we get it, just because we’ve been trying since February,” Chamber Secretary Sarah Lau said. “But we really just want it back up and open, because it’s something that the community has asked for, and [the chamber’s] capable of being able to do it.”
Councilmember Sheri Parsons was one member who spoke passionately about getting the theater opened up again and pushed for lease bids to begin being accepted.
Parsons, who has a history with the theater as her parents cleaned it when she was young, said she is excited to hopefully see it opened up again this summer.
“We have a really nice theater when it’s clean and run properly, and it’s just a real asset to our community I feel like,” Parsons said. “We don’t have anything to do in our community for the evenings. Once a month we have the cruise which brings families out, but it’s summertime and at night there’s just nothing.”
Other upsides that Parson saw in opening up the theater were the ability to drive or walk a short distance to be able to see a movie as well as the ability to give kids in the community something to do during their summer break.
While Parsons along with some other council members expressed delight and eagerness at getting the theater back open, others shared concerns over financial details and inability to run the theater.
“It’s not a profitable play. I mean, it’s not a place that’s going to make a big profit that can support a salary,” council member Steve McLaughlin said. “I’ve seen the past history. I’ve been here long enough to know that it barely takes care of its utilities.”
McLaughlin also expressed the idea that people do not realize the profitability, or lack thereof, that the theater provides and that running the theater brings with it “a lot of baggage”.
“I want it open just as much as anybody else does, but I don’t want it to go in the hole and I don’t want it to sink something either… I don’t think anybody realizes that it doesn’t make a lot of money,” McLaughlin said.
As it stands, the theater building and equipment are taken care of by the city, and all other things such as movie licenses, utilities, employee pay and benefits, and food are handled by those who take on the lease.
At the moment, the Chamber of Commerce is the only entity to have submitted a bid.
“We are ready to help out the community and bring things into the community. So we thought if we were to open up the theater, that would help out,” Lau said. “Then we have lots of plans for it as well, just being nice and it’ll be open for birthday parties and different things like that.”
The city will be accepting bids from now until July 6 at 1 p.m, and interested individuals can contact city hall for submission or for more information.