Gainesville’s City Council discussed ways to revamp the recently disbanded Main Street Gainesville organization at a council meeting Thursday.

Assistant City Manager Angela Sheppard presented a rough draft of a resolution to establish a new Main Street Gainesville advisory board.

The City Council voted earlier this week to pull its funding for Main Street Gainesville, a Chamber of Commerce-like organization that promotes the downtown square, and instead start its own Main Street program.

In the past, Main Street Gainesville has sponsored events such as the Blue Sky concert series, Trick or Treat on the Square and Downtown by Candlelight and was funded primarily through the city’s hotel/motel tax revenues.

Coordination of the city’s downtown events will now be performed by a city employee in the revamped Communications and Tourism office to give the City Council direct oversight and to bring a new direction to the agency.

Sheppard proposed a seven-member board of directors and one City Council member to serve ex officio.

"We’re still working on the bylaws but we have a draft," Sheppard said.

Mayor Pro Tem Ruth Bruner expressed concern that a seven-member board could be too small.

"We need a smaller board of directors to guide the program," Sheppard said. "People can still join so they’d have a broad membership to pull ideas from."

City Council members would appoint the seven people to the board of directors.

"It should include representatives from downtown merchants and downtown property owners but it’s not limited to that," Sheppard said.

Main Street Gainesville will retain its existing committees, but they will be headed by the new board of directors.

"If you’re a member you’d become part of a committee," Sheppard said. "A member could be anyone interested in the purpose of Main Street Gainesville."

The city’s Human Resources department soon will post the opening for director of Main Street Gainesville.

Gainesville City Council members also reviewed a dim comprehensive annual financial report at Thursday’s meeting.

Auditors Rochester and Co. compiled a report on the city’s financial standing, highlighting that while funds are considerably lower, the city is in a relatively good position.

"Y’all have just gone to furlough days," said Chris Hollifield with Rochester and Co. "You’ve been able to make it much later than other governments."

Gainesville instituted mandatory one-day-a-month furloughs in November, a year after the Hall County Board of Commissioners voted to do the same for county employees as a way to cut costs.

Total city revenue decreased by 15 percent, or $16.4 million, and general fund revenue was down 7.5 percent, or $1.8 million.

"We’ve had challenges for sure," Hollifield said. "But we’ve been very fortunate in where we are."