Tuesday's meeting never officially ended -- it is in recess.
Madison government is often criticized for moving too slowly, but when it comes to acting on the Overture Center, slow isn't an option: the Common Council has a deadline of the end of the year to resolve the $29 million debt.
The Common Council meeting that stretched into the wee hours of Wednesday morning ended with council members agreeing to meet representatives from 201 State, Overture's fundraising arm, as well as donors who were instrumental in coming up with a deal to erase the center's debt.
Council President Mark Clear said Thursday that four alders have agreed to join him in meeting with Overture officials: Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Michael Schumacher, and Lauren Cnare.
The alders will first meet among themselves 3 p.m. Friday to look at a proposal that blends elements of the four or five proposals for how to own, manage and operate Overture that have been pitched.
"We're going to try to put something together ourselves first and create some sort of fusion that was discussed Tuesday and Wednesday," Clear says. Neither the meeting between the five alders nor one with donors and 201 State will be open to the public.
Tuesday's meeting never officially ended -- it is in recess. But, Clear says, there aren't many dates available for it to reconvene. "At this point we're looking at the 9th as a potential date," he says. "Obviously we'll have to have something on the table."
If no proposals have been developed or the 9th doesn't work, the council will likely reconvene right before its Dec. 14th meeting, to end the Nov. 30 meeting and then begin the new one.
Asked whether he's confident a proposal can be developed and pass the council, Clear says: "Confident might not be the word I would use. Hopeful."
