Fulton County did not receive a request for proposal from the state for moving the Georgia Music Hall of Fame from Macon until it was too late to respond, commissioner Robb Pitts said Monday. Pitts added that he continues to be interested in Fulton being part of relocation discussions.
The Georgia Music Hall of Fame Authority held an information-gathering meeting at the hall on Oct. 15 that it considered mandatory for parties interested in taking over the attraction, which the state opened in Macon in 1996. Four cities interested in relocating the museum -- Athens, Dahlonega, Dunwoody and Woodstock -- attended, as did a group determined to keep it in Macon.
Fulton County did not receive the e-mail notification of the meeting until Oct. 18, Pitts said.
"We could not have attended a meeting if we didn't know anything about it," Pitts said. "I'm really upset about that. My position hasn't changed one bit about the need for it to be in Atlanta-Fulton County -- either as a city effort or county effort or city and county jointly or by a private entity."
The Hall of Fame asked the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia to send e-mails to their members seeking requests for proposals, and those e-mails went out on Sept. 30, according to spokeswoman Beth Brown.
"As far as we can tell from our end, they were all on that distribution list," said Brown, of the Fulton commissioners.
Pitts said Tuesday he would ask for Fulton County to be added to the five other groups that are mulling a bid. The state has until Nov. 5 to respond to questions made by the groups. Community proposals are due Dec. 10.
"For [the hall] to meet the minimum attendance requirements is sort of a no-brainer here in Atlanta, with the number of visitors and conventioneers we have," Pitts said, "and it's a great treasure."
In fact, Pitts said, he's also interested in exploring moving Macon's Georgia Sports Hall of Fame to Fulton County. The state similarly seeks to trim the sports hall from its budget and has begun a request for proposals process.
-- Staff writer Bo Emerson contributed to this article.
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