By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
HIVE Director Kim Brandt has stirred so much activity at Decatur’s downtown cultural arts center that it has brought about mostly unanticipated problems for the director.

Brandt and Community Coordinator Jamie Gephart (left and right, respectively, in photo), who works closely with Brandt, bought the problems before city council at its latest meeting.
Basically, the city’s public arts commission would like to set up a non-reverting fund in which all revenues from the HIVE would be placed.
When a piece of art is sold at the HIV, 80% of the purchase goes to the artist and 20% to the HIVE. The money goes into the city’s general fund.
But to pay the artist, the money is taken from the commission’s budget, which can drain it rather rapidly.
And when Brandt needs supplies, she has to ask for an appropriation.
The establishment of a non-reverting fund would have all revenue from the HIVE go into it, and then be used to pay artists, purchase supplies, etc.
“The way it’s done, it’s complicated,” Gephart said. “It’s growing pains.”
“I never would have imagined it (the HIVE) would be rented out as much as it is now; it’s been great,” Councilman Matt Dyer said, praising Brandt’s work at the center.
There has been so much activity that the HIVE seems to be moving more quickly to becoming self-sustaining than anyone expected.
After a lengthy discussion, no final decisions were reached, but the matter will be revisited soon.