ARLINGTON — Brett Sarver has been named director of the Byrnes Performing Arts Center by the superintendent of Arlington School District, Dr. Kristine McDuffy.

McDuffy explained the new management strategy at a recent BPAC Commission meeting and she presented the plan to both the Arlington City Council and the Arlington School District Board of Directors at a joint meeting Monday, April 13.

The announcement coincides with the end of an interlocal agreement between the city and the school district regarding management of the BPAC, which the city helped build as a community facility by contributing $500,000 toward its completion. The BPAC cost more than $4 million, the bulk of which was paid by the school district, with another million plus raised by the community under the leadership of the Arlington Education Foundation.

“The fee structure created by the BPAC Commission is working,” McDuffy said to the volunteer board March 25.

The commission was responsible for creating bylaws and a fee structure based on the premise that users of the facility must pay all the costs, from power and water to the sound system to cleaning after the event.

“Brett Sarver will have an office inside the BPAC and Bob Nydegger will continue as technical director,” McDuffy said, adding that she selected Sarver from the high school staff for his people skills.

“I met with many of the commission members individually and after considering all the input, we selected Sarver to manage the BPAC. He’s very excited about it,” she said.

A member of the commission, Connie McKinley said that Sarver is a good choice.

“He’s a very good listener,” McKinley said.

As part of that two-year interlocal agreement established just before the BPAC opened in spring of 2007, the city’s role was to hire a promotions manager, while the school district hired the technical director, Bob Nydegger.

The city’s promotions manager, Cindy Huleatt resigned from her employment with the city in July 2008.

Since then, no one has been hired to do promotions and booking of the theater was taken care of by district staff in charge of booking any district-owned facility.

With McDuffy’s announcement, the district public information officer, Misti Gilman will be assistant to Sarver.

“We haven’t shaken out everything yet,” Gilman said, adding she has learned that Sarver’s philosophy centers on customer service and will focus on giving the best possible service to both internal school district clients as well as external customers.

“I’m excited to do what I can to assist him in organization and communication,” Gilman said.

Gilman will join two other school district employees, Vickie Johnson and Kelly Libby, who will act as house managers for events in the BPAC.