A challenging assignment.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Rick Reno has worked as a manager of events and entertainment facilities throughout a career that began at the Monroe Civic Center in his home town of Monroe, La., in 1975. He's run arenas, theaters, convention centers and road operations for the Ringling Brothers Circus.

So Reno presumably knows what he's getting into as the new chief of the Lane Events Center. That an experienced manager would seek such a challenging position is a good sign; Reno may see opportunities at the Lane County fairgrounds site that others do not.

Some of the possibilities presented by the Lane Events Center are evident to anyone. As a piece of real estate, the 55-acre site near downtown Eugene has no equal. The center's facilities are heavily used year-round for trade shows, exhibitions and other events, such as the current Holiday Market, which would be hard-pressed to find comparable space elsewhere. The annual Lane County Fair is the center's main event, attracting tens of thousands of people and keeping century- old traditions alive.

But despite its importance to the cultural and commercial life of Lane County, the events center has some stubborn problems. As do most facilities of its type, the center requires a public subsidy - in Lane County's case, a share of the tax on hotel and motel rooms. Money from this source has not been adequate to keep up with repairs and maintenance, and in recent years the tax funds have been needed to support operations as well as capital costs.

The diversion of room tax money to operations causes the backlog of deferred maintenance to grow, eventually threatening the integrity of buildings and other facilities in ways that will reduce their revenue-generating capacity. That points the way toward a death spiral of rising costs and declining income. The center's aging buildings already need an estimated $13 million in repairs and upgrades, and no one knows where that amount of money would come from.

One possibility that remains under discussion is the idea of moving the fairgrounds to a site on the northwest fringe of Eugene. The price tag for a new fairgrounds is an estimated $145 million, far more than could be obtained from selling the current events center property. The likelihood of voters approving a bond issue to finance a new fairgrounds must be rated at close to zero. Yet a move remains a leading option for the events center, perhaps because there are so few others.

Reno also might have cause to wonder whether he'll be given a free hand in managing the events center. The Lane County Fair Board, which used to oversee the events center, is no more. Early last year, the fair board's members proposed a revenue- producing plan involving the conversion of the Livestock Pavilion to indoor soccer fields. The Board of County Commissioners didn't like the idea, and it refused to reappoint two fair board members who supported it. Two other fair board members resigned in protest, and the county hasn't had a fair board since.

A fair board can provide an events center manager with a degree of political insulation beyond that which can be provided by County Administrator Jeff Spartz, who hired Reno. Fair board members have tended to have histories of involvement with the events center and connections to various groups that use it, thereby offering a useful sounding board for a manager - particularly a new one. Reno won't have that, at least for a while.

Still, Reno, with a lifetime of experience, didn't walk away after taking a look at the Lane Events Center. Instead, he prevailed over five other finalists for the job. That's encouraging, but Reno will need the energy, ideas and good will of people throughout the county, including the Board of Commissioners. Without such support, a daunting challenge would become an impossible one.