Resident criticizes Coombs Center management and asks board to review allocation
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Summary
A long-time member told supervisors the Coombs Center has not returned to pre-pandemic standards, criticized staffing costs and questioned membership counts; he asked the board to evaluate whether public funding is yielding value.
Eddie Copenhaver, who said he had been associated with the Coombs Center since 2001, spoke during public comment to criticize the center’s management and question the town and county funding requests the center submitted to the board.
Copenhaver said the center’s operations declined after COVID-related shutdowns and management changes and that membership and staffing figures reported by the center appear inconsistent with public experience. He cited numbers in a letter (attributed to a Mr. Cochran) that the center listed 16,852 members and said the center’s salary line—reported by Copenhaver as approximately $730,000 or roughly 71% of the center’s budget—warranted closer review.
Copenhaver said he had stopped using the center because of staff interactions and suggested the board scrutinize the Coombs Center’s budget and programmatic outputs before approving additional public funds. Board members acknowledged the comment and noted staff will follow up through normal budget review channels.
Ending: The remarks were received during the public-comment portion of the meeting; no formal board action resulted from the comments reported here.
