City council hopes to know something next week on Lafayette Gatling’s February and March payments for the Roanoke Rapids Theatre.

The theatre issue and late payments by the Chicago businessman leasing the venue from the city has been a consuming one, council members agreed during a retreat today.

“The theater has impacted everything we do,” Mayor Emery Doughtie said. “It’s on everybody’s mind, every action we take. If we didn’t have it on there we’d be OK.”

Council member Greg Lawson said the struggling venue casts uncertainty over the city. “Uncertainty of what tomorrow brings, how do you you prepare to compensate for that loss, how you think it really impacts our decisions today, tomorrow, a month from now. You don’t know where to start.”

Councilman Ernest Bobbitt said the city hopes to know something next week on the status of Gatling’s more than $196,000 debt to the city. “If that doesn’t transpire we’ve got to meet to decide what to do.”

Council member Carl Ferebee said, however, the city has never had a backup plan. “It goes back before Mr. Gatling on what would happen. The city didn’t have a backup plan. We went with a company, a management company that didn’t work out. The city had no choice but to manage it themselves. The city doesn’t want to be in the entertainment business.”

The theater was never supposed to be the sole moneymaker, Ferebee said, instead it was supposed to be a catalyst for development in Carolina Crossroads. “The theater was built as an anchor. It wasn’t designed as a real moneymaker.”

Greg Goddard, executive director of the Upper Coastal Plain Development Corporation, who served as facilitator of the retreat, said the project was probably “a little bit ambitious” but believed if the economy hadn’t soured the out parcels of Carolina Crossroads would have developed.

While Ferebee said he believed things would eventually work out with Gatling, he admitted. “We do need a backup plan.”

Goddard said he believed it was “rather premature to talk about other options.”

Lawson said at some point there would have to be a discussion of other options. “In three months time we’ve got to have a budget. What do you cut to make up shortfalls? That’s the challenge. You hope for a positive outcome. You have to be realistic. We have to make some tough decisions. I think the community needs to understand how significant this is. When you start laying playing cards on the table you see how it will impact us.”

City Manager Paul Sabiston said the city may be a week away from having a meeting to discuss the theater issue. “We’re getting very close to that. I would not feel comfortable waiting another two weeks if something doesn’t happen.”