Davis gets funding to expand center

The Davis County Board of Commissioners now has the money to begin expansion of the Davis Conference Center.

Earlier this month, commissioners approved the sale of $9.96 million in sales-tax revenue bonds to New York-based UBS Securities. Those bonds closed Tuesday, and the money is ready to be used.

The county also received a $500,000 grant from the Utah Division of Housing and Community Development. That money also was made available Tuesday.

Kent Sulser, the county's manager of economic development, said the county likely will spend all of the grant money by November.

The next step is to finish a site design with GSBS-PC, the architectural firm that designed the existing conference center. The county then will develop a bid package and have a contractor selected by mid-November.

Sulser said there could be footings and foundations in the ground before the coldest part of winter sets in.

The 40,000-square-foot expansion could be open by October 2007.