City Manager Joseph Scherer said following this evening's council meeting Bank of America gave no indication on whether the debt could be restructured. “They're looking for proposals from us.”

Mayor Emery Doughtie said he thought the two-and-a-half hour meeting was time well spent. “It was a good starting point. The gentlemen were willing to listen to what we had to say. We got a feeling it was something we could build on.”

Discussion of the theater also came up during the meeting as Scherer told council he will present a budget proposal that would draw the $50,000 in HSV Entertainment's escrow to use for maintenance and upkeep of the theater.

The money was put in the account if HSV decided to buy the theater, which didn't happen as last month the city and company parted ways. The decision was tied to an agreement the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina in which it would close its criminal investigation of HSV, conditioned upon the company's agreement it would no longer have any involvement with sweepstakes in North Carolina involving an entertaining display.

Scherer said the public works department has done an outstanding job cleaning up the theater and believed the money in the escrow account could be used for any future maintenance needed on the building.