Bar-S books Frisco Center for 11 months

Clinton will be hosting a major gathering of Bar-S Foods and Sigma Alimentos personnel from locations in the United States, Mexico and possibly other countries for much of 2018.
The combined company will be using all six of the smaller meeting rooms at the Frisco Center, said Julie Burden, president of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce which manages the center for the City of Clinton. She said as she understands it, they’ll be developing a software program for Bar-S and Sigma which merged in 2010.
Ms. Burden said all six meeting rooms have been booked from Jan. 8 through the end of March. While details haven’t been finalized, she said the company also wants space at the Frisco Center from April through November with negotiations to determine needs after that.
She did not know how many people would be attending but said, “There’ll be heads and beds in hotel rooms and people eating here. It’s a great booking for the Frisco Center.”
Sigma Alimentos is an international food company operating in 18 countries, according to its website. The webpage said it has 211 distribution centers and 69 production plants, so it’s possible people could be coming here from many nations.
City Manager Mark Skiles, who was out of town recently because of his father’s death and funeral at Winfield, Kan., said in an email sent to The Edge Church – which has held services in the Frisco Center for approximately four years – that the Bar-S and Alimentos bookings will spur a change in the center’s advance reservation policy. Basically, for the immediate future, advance reservations must be made at least 60 days ahead of when space will be needed. That became effective Dec. 1 and will continue for one year. Then on Dec. 1, 2018, the 60-day “dead period” for reservations will be decreased to 30 days.
“This change is part of a new scheduling procedure that will be applied to all users of the facility, and nothing in this policy shall affect reservations which The Edge Church has currently booked (i.e., the Saturdays and Sundays in July and August that have been reserved),” Skiles said in the email.
Because of Bar-S’s needs beginning in January, Skiles said The Edge Church will be required to clean and vacate the premises by 7 p.m. each Sunday. Also, he said it may not set up for weekend activities prior to 5 p.m. on Fridays.
“The Chamber of Commerce operates the Frisco Center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday,” he wrote. “Interaction with the public and other business-type activities occurs during this time. For this reason, The Edge Church will not commence setup prior to 5 p.m.”
Skiles also said the church’s rental fees are being evaluated and added, “Designated Edge Church representatives will be made aware of, if any, said changes.”
“Nothing starts till January, when the Bar-S contract begins,” said Mayor David Berrong, who emphasized that he was not part of the decision-making regarding schedule changes. “Edge will be allowed to have their Sunday service which they have had for the last four years. That will be continued. The only caveat, which is a change, is that in this next year the Frisco Center will give them a minimum 60-days notice if an event is being scheduled that would affect their Sundays, so they can inform their people and find an alternate location.”
Berrong said the church’s normal reservation for movie nights on Wednesdays in July and August is unaffected.
He also said the church’s rental rate is based on frequency of use and its nonprofit status.
“I think there is potential of rental rate adjustments in the coming year for all users,” he said.
The change with The Edge Church, he said, is that instead of being able to reserve the facility for a full 12 months, if someone else has an event that needs to be scheduled on a Sunday, it will be allowed provided the church is given two months advance notice.
As Berrong understands it, that way somebody could have a wedding and reception or other event at the center on a Sunday if sufficient advance notice were given.
“That policy is being installed because we have a unique situation,” he said, in that the Frisco Center is a public facility and there have been events that would have been held there in the past but couldn’t be. He indicated this will enable them to be in the future.
“The intent is not to be controversial, it’s to be reasonable,” he said.