BANGOR – It was back to the drawing board Wednesday for a committee charged with plotting a course for a new Bangor Auditorium.

At the afternoon workshop, members of the City Council’s Special Committee on the Future of the Bangor Auditorium sat down with a lofty wish list, a willing architect – but no money.

“It needs to be the premier gathering facility for eastern, northern and central Maine, and all of Maine,” Bangor Mayor Michael Crowley said at the meeting designed to generate ideas for a new facility to replace the aging Bass Park complex.

At the brainstorming session – part of a $100,000 study by the Kansas City, Mo.-based HOK Sports Facilities Architects – it was clear that the current facility didn’t measure up to the expectations of many in attendance.

“As long as we’re going to do this, let’s do it right,” said Kathryn Hunt, a Bangor resident and University of Maine employee who cited the need for improved conference space to lure larger organizations to the city.

City officials say the HOK study, expected to be completed in October, is key to the success of the city’s thus far fruitless efforts to attract state, private and regional money to the

project, cost estimates for which approach $30 million.

State Sen. W. Tom Sawyer, one of about 20 people in attendance Wednesday, agreed that the study could help avoid a repeat of the last legislative session, when the city’s delegation split in its support of a $15 million bond for the project – thus ensuring its defeat.

“When you’re divided, the sharks can smell it in the water,” said Sawyer, who predicted a more favorable response to next session’s efforts to gain some state funding for the project. “Every time we wear the same color uniform, it helps us.”

City officials also are exploring the possibility of private-sector contributions to the project, which would likely replace the existing facility, built in

1955 for a mere $1.4 million.

Although no one lobbied to keep the distinctive – but, some say, impractical – V-shaped roof, there were plenty of other ideas diligently scratched onto poster-sized paper and taped to the walls of the City Council chambers.

Among the items on the wish list were a floor large enough for hockey, increased seating, a full-service kitchen, air conditioning and easier vehicle and pedestrian access to the facility.