COLLINSVILLE — The Miner's Theater will be offered back to its nonprofit foundation, as Collinsville Area Recreation District is giving it up.

Andrew Carruthers, new president of the CARD board, said members voted 4-1 to offer the Miner's Theater back to the Miner's Institute Foundation, which owned the theater for many years before giving the deed to CARD in 2009 for $1.

The terms of that deal required that if CARD no longer wanted the theater, it had to offer the building back to the foundation before considering any other disposition, Carruthers said.

"If they do not accept the property, we can sell it or give it to another governmental entity," Carruthers said.

CARD has struggled with paying for the massive restoration and renovation project of the Miner's Institute for the past few years, while it also grapples with debt and high levels of criticism from members of public. Carruthers estimated about $1.5 million has been spent on infrastructure repairs at the theater, of which about $300,000 came from the city of Collinsville.

"We need to focus on our debt and the success of our existing enterprises, like the water park and golf course," Carruthers said. "It's a historic part of Collinsville, and it's time for it to enter a new chapter."

Carruthers said everyone wants to see the Miner's Theater restored and put back in operation. "But we shouldn't use taxpayer money or go further into debt with it," he said.

The sole no vote was from former board president Mary Ann Bitzer. "I thought it was premature," she said. "It's not that I don't think it's the way it should go eventually, but I felt the Miner's deserved a smoother transition."

Bitzer agreed that taxpayer money was never supposed to be the sole source of money for the Miner's, but she wanted to assist the foundation with developing an advisory board and get them help with grant-writing and fundraising before abandoning the project.

Foundation board president Michael Romanich said while he can't speak for the rest of the board, he thinks tthe group should take the theater back.

"I think we have no choice in the matter," he said. "There should be no wavering about it. If we allow CARD to sell the building, we are bowing out on what we promised to do."

Romanich said the foundation remained in place as the fundraising arm for the project, and always had a good working relationship with CARD even as there were "bumps in the road."

While the foundation board will not make its decision until July 11, Romanich hopes they will soon come up with a strategy for grants, charitable donations and other fundraising efforts to revive the Miner's.

Carruthers said he still thinks the Miner's Theater is a viable project, and said architects have told them there are at least three alternative plans for renovations that would cost much less than the $10 million plan originally pursued by CARD.

"Sometimes you take on too much, and I think that's what happened," Carruthers said. "Everyone has a memory of the Miner's, a first date or a dance ... but they also feel it needs the leadership of a private company or a foundation."

The official letter to the Miner's Institute Foundation will be sent this week, Carruthers said.

Contact reporter Elizabeth Donald at edonald@bnd.com or 239-2501.

Contact reporter Elizabeth Donald at edonald@bnd.com or 239-2501.