Officials Suspended Over Concert Snafu

Maggie Valley town manager Tim Barth and festival director Audrey Hagar allegedly stepped in to save the day when a concert being promoted by a local businessman was jeopardized after its alcohol permit was denied.

Valley had already spent thousands advertising the show, which featured Matt Stillwell, and the pair decided it was in the town’s best interest to keep the concert going by taking over as promoter and using more than $15,000 in taxpayer money for upfront costs, the local Smoky Mountain News reported.

“We had already committed to expenses at that time, so the town would have lost money,” Hagar told the paper.

She added she was sorry the board wasn’t informed taxpayer money would be used but that she’d received implicit consent from her boss, Barth, to go ahead with the arrangement that businessman Charlie Meadows would pay the town back following the show.

But slow ticket sales left the show in the red, and Meadows has questioned the amount he’s being asked to reimburse the town, which reportedly amounts to nearly $11,000.

He told the Mountain News he didn’t realize he was handing the town a blank check to spend more than $8,000 on advertising for the show, and thought he’d be credited for alcohol sales revenue.

“I am not going to pay a dime until they get their ducks in a row and give me a bottom line,” Meadows said.

Barth and Hagar have been suspended for a week while the board decides whether to fire them, the paper said.

The board is also apparently reviewing existing policy that placed no limits on Barth’s discretionary spending and the town’s practice of fronting advertising funds for various events.