Kingsport's MeadowView Task Force holds first meeting

KINGSPORT — Kingsport's newly formed MeadowView Task Force held its first meeting Thursday night. The meeting was held at the MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center, where task force members were joined by MeadowView staff and city leaders. Rick Toomey, who previously worked for Eastman Chemical Co., gave an overview of the task force's role and discussed how the group will evaluate MeadowView's operations and future. The task force was approved last month by the Kingsport Board of Mayor and Aldermen and is tasked with reevaluating MeadowView's operations and long-term financial sustainability. The group is expected to present recommendations to the board in the second quarter of 2026, ahead of the city's renegotiation of MeadowView's management agreement in 2027. Paul Montgomery told the task force the group was created to bring community input into decisions about MeadowView's future. "This began as a community-based initiative," Montgomery said. "So that's why you've been asked to participate in this working group." Montgomery outlined five key areas the task force has been asked to review, including the historical and current use of the facility, its financial and operational performance, barriers to community access and local use and the mission of the city-owned portion of MeadowView. He said members will use a SWOT analysis to help identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, while also looking at barriers that limit community access. "I will conclude by saying thank you again, and I look forward to hearing your recommendations," Montgomery said. The focus on MeadowView comes as the cost to operate the facility continues to rise. Each year, Kingsport pays a subsidy to cover MeadowView's operating losses. While the operating model has always required some level of subsidy, those costs have increased in recent years. Toomey explained how the task force's work will be structured in the coming months. "For the next four meetings, there will be presenters, and it will be related to information about the center, including financial information and other things," Toomey said. "As the presenters are sharing, you'll generate ideas." Those ideas will be submitted at the end of each meeting and compiled for review. Toomey said the goal is to narrow a wide range of feedback into key findings. "We're going to throw a lot of information out there, get it down to the critical ideas, and then we'll pass those on," he said. "The opportunities and threats are really things outside. It's saying what's going on external to the conference center that we could capitalize on, or threats that we need to plan to address." Later meetings will focus on refining the SWOT analysis, identifying barriers to local use and creating a proposed mission statement for MeadowView. Assistant City Manager Michael Borders said he was not aware of any formal mission statement ever being established for the facility. "If you go back and read news articles from the early '90s, there are some original intentions of the property," Borders said. "But I'm not aware of any specific mission." Toomey said the task force will work to develop a mission statement and plans to present it at the group's seventh meeting. That proposal will then be sent to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for review. The city owns the 81,000-square-foot convention center and the Cattails Golf Course, while Eastman owns the 300-room hotel and Meadows Restaurant. Under a 2012 Qualified Management Agreement, Marriott International manages the entire property. That agreement is set to expire in 2027. Under the agreement, Marriott oversees day-to-day operations of the conference center, including staffing, marketing events, setting prices, maintaining the property and handling finances. MeadowView General Manager Ramona Jackson led those in attendance on a tour of the facility following the meeting. Several MeadowView staff members attended the meeting, including Jackson, Human Resources Director Dawn Clark, Finance Director Nicki Biddix and Director of Hotel Sales Ashley Bishop. The task force includes Larry Estepp, Brett Sago, Julie Bennett, Jessica Poore, Lafe Cook, Ken Maness, CeeGee McCord, Jamie Joaquin, Linda Calvert, Calvin Clifton and Wes Combs. Also sitting in on the meetings are City Manager Chris McCartt, Assistant City Manager Michael Borders, Deidre Lloyd of Eastman, Lara Potter and Frank Lett of Visit Kingsport and Toomey. More information can be found in the web version of this story at timesnews.net.