An idea to have the city turn over operational control of its historic Belle Mehus City Auditorium to the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony, which would run it with the help of a recently promised monetary gift, has changed.

Now symphony representatives are suggesting that the Belle remain under city management, while the symphony focuses its donation money on hiring a promotions person who would try to market the Belle better and increase its usage. Donation money also would be used to maybe underwrite performances or subsidize groups who now can't afford to play there.

The promotions-person idea was brought up at a Tuesday meeting by Al Wolf, symphony board vice president, when, after almost two hours, no movement in positions seemed to have been made between the symphony board members and those concerned about a symphony-run Belle. Representatives of a couple of arts groups were concerned about several things - the symphony's financial ability, with its about $60,000 a year donation, to replace all of the services now provided by the city and the wisdom of using donations funds to pay for management costs already being paid for by the city.

Since a recent symphony announcement that an anonymous donor was willing to donate a revenue-generating commercial property that would provide $60,000 to $70,000 per year to manage the Belle, spokespeople from various local arts groups have expressed concerns - at a recent city commission meeting and in interviews. Monday night, symphony representatives and several arts groups met and aired concerns and then formed a 14-member steering committee, representing the symphony and other groups such as Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra, Northern Plains Ballet and Great Plains Jazz Society.

The new steering committee was the group having difficulty on Tuesday.

As the meeting stretched toward two hours, Wolf commented that the meeting was going nowhere. And both sides know the deadline. Dec. 16 is when the Bismarck City Commission expects a specific plan before voting on whether to turn over management control of the historic Belle Mehus.

So Wolf threw out an option.

And things started moving.

Wolf suggested that for two years the city could continue to manage the Belle. Meanwhile, with the gift money, a promotions person could be hired. A governing board, probably controlled by the symphony but with other representation, would supervise the new promotions person and direct any decisions about using gift money for underwriting or subsidizing groups.

Currently, the Belle is used about 18 percent of the time available. Wolf and other board members hope to someday increase that to 50 percent.

Wolf said after the meeting, he expects the promotions person would take on some mangerial duties, too. He said after a two-year period, the changes put in place would be reviewed and depending on if things went badly or well, there's still the possibility that at that point, the city might decide to bow out of the Belle's management.

But Wolf says the proposed changes - to let the city manage while the symphony hires and supervises a promotions person - still have to be approved by the donor. And the donor is out of town on a family matter, symphony treasurer Dick Weber said Friday.

Wolf has maintained the position that the anonymous person offering to donate a substantial financial gift for the betterment of the Belle Mehus City Auditorium stipulated that the symphony take over management of the Belle from the city of Bismarck.

Another issue at the meeting was the Belle's usage - whether it really could be increased substantially, regardless of who runs it.

Also at Tuesday's meeting was Craig Schweitzer, music director at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, who also is a guitar teacher and concert promoter. He questioned how much of an increase really could be made in the number of events at the Belle because of the difficulty of making money with the limited seating - about 800 seats. He said he knows of 10 bands - jazz, blues groups and others - that bypassed the Belle because of that. He said that an opportunity to bring in legend B.B. King, who would cost at least $50,000 to host, couldn't work because to attempt to break-even Schweitzer would have had to sell out the house and charge $60 to $75 a ticket.

Others commented that chamber groups don't want to perform there because they attract small audiences, maybe 50 to 100 people, and it would be embarrassing to have so many empty seats.

And as far as the hope of bringing in more schoolchildren audiences, Scott Prebys, chairman of University of Mary's music department, said at Tuesday's meeting that schools often want him to perform at the school so they don't have to worry about insurance, getting a school bus and so on.

But Weber said there are groups such as cloggers, Sons of Norway and others who would perform there if they could afford it.

And Cindy Haider, executive director of the Dakota West Arts Council, Wednesday talked about expanding the use beyond performance groups - such as opening the Belle to people attending conferences at the nearby Radisson Hotel who could use it for power point presentations.

If after two years, a symphony-controlled governing board did take over the rest of the Belle's management, that would mean more financial responsibilities.

Dick Peterson, who oversees the Bismarck Civic Center and the Belle, said the city budgets $60,000 annually for the Belle's operation. Last year's expenses totaled $39,798, according to a revenue and expenditure summary provided by the city.

But that doesn't include staff costs, Peterson said. Civic Center employees are used and their time at the Belle isn't included in the budget. But Peterson estimates that staff time, in terms of salary, probably is in the neighborhood of about $30,000 a year. That estimate doesn't include employee benefits, he said.

Offsetting some of the expense were the Belle's 2002 revenues of about $45,000.

The donor's gift is a revenue-generating property. However, the donor, for tax purposes, is only donating 75 percent of the property, Wolf explained. The symphony would be responsible for buying the other 25 percent over a period of five to 10 years using revenue from the building - or there's the possibility there are additional donors who will give money for the payments, Wolf said. During the pay-off period, the building's revenues to the symphony would be about $60,000 a year.

When the building is paid off, annual revenues would jump annually to about $75,000, Wolf said Wednesday.