The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2009-03-04 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes � � JOINT MEEfING OF THE BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE � AND THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON ARENA IMPLEMENTATION March 4, 2009, 5:00 pm Minutes , Councilors Present: Blanchette Bronson Gratwick Hawes, Nealle , Palmer, , , , Y � Stone, Wheeler Staff Present: City Manager Barrett, Director of C&ED Rod McKay, Asst. C.D Director Kaleena Nakowicz, City Engineer Jim Ring ! Others: Arena Implementation Committee (AIC) members Peter Baldacci, Susan )onason, Tammy Higgins and Brad Ryder. Kerrie Tripp, CVB and member ' of AIC; Norris Nickerson Principal of Bangor High School and member of the MPA; Candy Guerette President of Bangor Regional Chamber of Commerce; � 1. Review of Mission Statement for Arena/Meeting Facility City Manager Barrett reviewed the Mission Statement for the Arena/ Meeting Facility. Given the age and condition of the current auditorium it is no ilonger adequate to meet the challenges of providing a location for large community events. The mission of a new facility is that it should be capable of hosting a wide range of events; be creatively designed, developed and operated , to maximize flexibility while at the same time limiting construction and operating costs without sacrificing quality. The facility should be financed from sources other than the general properry tax and operated in a manner that reduces the , need for properry tax support for on-going operations. Peter Baldacci emphasized that the Arena project is very important to , eastern Maine and beyond the borders of Penobscot County and that this should be made known to any federal and state government people we may be dealing with. Susan ]onason stated that it does not look like other municipalities are � agreeable to financially assisting with the new arena, but if the arena serves their needs they'll be generating financial support by using the facility. We need to make sure our facility meets the needs of the surrounding towns and counties. iNorris Nickerson is very satisfied with the mission statement and supports Peter Baldacci's comments. He added that the basketball history that has surrounded Maine has found its home place in the Bangor Auditorium; he is also affiliated twith the Shrine organization that holds their annual circus event at the auditorium. � Candy Guerette stated that the Bangor Chamber of Commerce has been exploring a local option sales tax to fund the arena. She has spoken with 10 top Chambers in the state regarding this. They, along with the Innkeepers , Association and the Maine Merchants Association, have made it clear they will not give their support on this. Barrett added that there have been 4-5 separate attempts at various forms for local option sales tax— none have gotten out of ' . � � committee with a recommendation. The clasest we came was when we got 5 � members of the taxation committee to support a local aption sales tax that could be for no longer then 5 years for 1% for a capital project of regional significance. � That was very specifically addressed at the concept of a replacement f4r the auditorium. There currently is a bill being introduced — it may well be something we want`ta support ance again but I would be less then optimistic about the � legislature granting that authority particularly in a year when they're looking at two other referendums that are going ta have negative impacts on taxation in I the state. � � , Tammy Higgins alsa stated that the missian statement looks great; her only comment on the Task is that maybe we should add another charge to this, � that the consultants consider the stimulus funding and what areas we could fall into for that money. Barre�t replied that he has provided a summary of the stimulus package to the Cauncilors; there is nothing of a�y significance in the � stimulus package for governmental facilities such as this. There may be small possibilities throcagh EDA Rural Development—we qualify far some rural development, but not fior others. There may be future stimulus packages � depending.on which direction the econamy cantinues to move in. Brad Ryder respectively asked that in the future if communication between the City Council and the Arena implementatian Cammittee be impraved � with regard to notifying members of these meetings — only a handful af the Arena members knew of this meet�ng —there would have been more if they had been notified. Hawes replied that this would be done for future meetings. � Hawes asked if there were any suggestions to add or take away fr�m the Mission Statement. Branson suggested to add ta the Task (if the City Manager wants ta add at this time or whether to take it on as a City staff task) to ask ail � presumed potential donors how much they"re bringing; also make a definitive list of the types of events we think will take place in the arena. Barrett replied that � to ask everyone in central, norkhern and eastern Maine whether they're going to give Bangor money or not for this project, he'd have ta hire somebody to do this as it would also require an educational piece as well. If you want someone to � ask all af these other people, we need to include that in the consultant study because we don't have the time or staff to do it; it would be a fairly expens9ve undertaking. From our point of view, we need to proceed on the basis that it's ■ going to be the Ci�t�r of Bangor that funds the arena. We should largely base our � planning on what we know we can come up with and, as included in the revised scope study, some language about any other funding sources that can � reasonably be expected. If we do get some maney from the federal, state or private sector, it would mean probably we could do mare then what we can on our own. Bronsan replied that he totally agrees with City Manager Barrett; that � he (Bronson) only wants either the consultant ar city stafF to go far enough to get 4 more councilors, in addition to him, to understand that Bangor is doing this by themselves, so that we can mave or�. , � � � , Peter Baldacci a rees that it wauld be un roductive to o throu h that 9 p 9 9 perFormance but daes not agree that other communities are non-supportive or � not good citizens. Need to remember it's the Racino revenue that is supporting this and that at least 75°l0 of that revenue comes from people outside this city - � sa the funding you're using is from a regional saurce. The surrounding towns are under the same budget restrictions—the City af Bangor through the support of the state and city vaters allowed the situation of Hollywaod Slots to generate , this revenue and support far the purpose that it would help build a new auditorium. So the community autside of Bangor is supporting with their revenue at Hollywaod 51ots; I want to make sure that we go into this without � feeling that they somehow failed in their civic duty. Gratwick asked if LEEDS �ts in on this project. Barre�t replied `no'—that wauld not apply as this is a contract for someone to tell us what our market is - ' this is not hiring a contractor to come in to design a building. Stane asked what's the expectation from the people who will be presenting proposals ta us regarding the 2"d step for designing it, or is this � typically as far as they ga Barrett — it depends an the firm; one of the firms that have proposed was a consult'rng firm that does business type analysis for � development prajects. With most of them we're looking to subcontract with an architecture firm ta do the costing portion in particular. Most of those firms that would be doing the costing would be people who are interested in doing �or � competing at least for) a contract to design the facility. But there's no necessity of going in that direct�an — that would have to be a separate process. At this point we dan't even know what process we're going to use for that—whether it � would be a traditionaf bid-build, a design-build or whether we're going to do a construction manager at risk. You wili be introduced to firms, some of wham would be interested in doing some of that work for us but there's no , commitment. Blanchette stated that Bangor is the service center of northern Maine and once the arena is begun/campleted we could still decide to lease this to a private , entity that knav,rs how to run an entertainment fac[lity. The Arena Implementation Committee could bring us in the expertise that we cannot see — there are people on that committee that represent other communities that know , what they need such as the basketball tournaments. Barrett stated �hat he wants to make sure that everyane understands � what the end product that we receive from the consultants is going to be. �It is not going to g�ve you architectural plansj it's not gaing to tell you where to build it, but it's going to be similar to the 2002 HOK study in terms of analyzing the � market and in terms af laoking at the alternatives that the City has including things such as: a whale new facility that does everything, a partial new facility reusing a portion of the ald fac�lity or a complete renovation ofi the existing � facility, and all combinations thereof. He reminded the Council that he's looking for a consensus on the scape af services they want in the RFP. , � � Palmer added that we do need input from the region because they are ' going to be important; need to be in a partnership. A motion was made and seconded to accept the Mission Statement as � presented. So voted. 2. Review of Revised Scope of Services for Market and Sizing Study � Barrett reviewed the revised scope of services that stafF has followed up on from the various discussions held by the committee and the council. A target construction date of 2011-2012 has been recommended by the committee. The ' purpose of the update is to determine if it's possible for the city to make an afFordable investment in a large event/meeting facility within an acceptable ' period of time that will allow us to serve an adequate portion of the market while operating at a manageable annual loss. He added that we're interested �n having somebody look at our projections and say that they are reasonable; here , are the factors that could influence them. Need to have a risk analysis done at the beginning of this process so that the council will know what the potential downside risks are as we move forward. It has also been expressed that we look � at other potential financing sources, for example the Downtown TIF. Nealley stated that he agrees we should move forward but that once we get the study back we need to be careful on determining the next stage; we , need to do it with accurate and current information with regard to funding so that we have the most thoughtFul and prudent deliberations moving forward. Stone asked if under"Issue"where it reads`�it appears that a facility in the range , of $60 million could be supported..." are the consultants going to be aware of this. Barrett replied that we will be sharing with them the financial projections � that Finance Director Debbie Cyr has put together based, in part at least, on what has been provided to her by Hollywood Slots. Stone - will they prioritize their expectations for expenses? Barrett - we can make sure that this is ' something that is built into it—for example do we want to have ice or not at the Arena. What we are likely to get in terms of an estimate of costs is going to be a fairly conservative number from a consultant's point of view. They're not going ' to say you can build something for $20 million and then have us go out and take bids in 2 years and have it come in at $40 million. I will indicate that the Issue says it appears we can afford $60 million in a building but if we do that we have ' no money to help subsidize operations and we have no money to maintain the building other then properry taxes. When we sit down with the consultants we can point out the concerns we want addressed. � Candy asked Ed to put together a bullet-point list that would be clear and concise so that people can understand the outcomes that are expected from the ' RFP. She also expressed concern that she thought this was an Arena Implementation Committee meeting not a City Council meeting. She was under the impression that the Arena Committee would vet the Mission Statement and � then make a recommendation to the Council who then would have their opportunity to vet it. Instead the Arena Committee members are not getting the ' � ' , o ortuni to m�ke their discussion h t h ' h ri f r pp ty t a t ey will t en b ng orwa d to the Council. Is this not the process? Hawes replied that was the design process, � `yes'. Barrett added -just to comment on that, what happened was the recommendation fram the Committee came forth to the Council —the Council � said '�no", and so we had to come back to the Council and revisit it. T will apologize if T misunderstood this but I thought the important thing was to get the Council to , thraw i�s appraval at this ta allaw the Cammittee to have input an whether they had any specific concerns with the changes that were made, so that we can begin moving forward based on the most recent discussion that we had with the � Council. Even as it stands now, if everything is okay and we don't have to do anymore work on this, it will be awhile before we get this regeared up as we will have to send out the revised scape of services to the firms that we have been � speaking with; asic them if they`re stiil interested and if they need to change their praposals. At the moment we are probably looking at, if the schedules work out, trying to get people in for interviews by the end of this month and the beginning � of ne�ct month. Candy to Ed — my apologies then, I wasn't clear that it was a jaint meeting. ' Members of the Arena Implementatian Commit�ee were in agreement with the Size and Market Matrix and are looking forward to being advised of what City Council would like to task them with so that they can proceed. Candy added that ' the Chamber has made its positian clear to move forward on this and Ed's dacument wi!! help accomplish that. A mation was made to authorize City Manager Barrett to proceed with � putting out the RFP that has been reviewed by both City Council and by The Arena Committee. Seconded. So voted. Ed Barrett stated that the interested praposers will be contacted right � away; he'll provide them with the informatian and give them time to update their proposals. Interview dates will be set up as soon as possible; they will be conducted by the Market and Sizing subcommittee of The Arena Committ�e. � Council is also encouraged �o be involved in the process of interviewing the consultants as well. Hawes added that a new list of current Arena Cammittee , members will be sent out. Bronson asked if the Arena Committee cau(d produce a written report sa that the consultants wEl1 have the benefit before they report back. Barrett repl�ed , that one of fihe things in the previous RFP was that the consultants would be meeting early in the process both wEth the Committee and the Council. 1Ne wiil also provide to the selected consultanfis all of the background information which � includes reports that have already been done an the Arena (i.e. HOK repart; Arena Renovation report; the CS&L report and all of the minutes of the meetings that have been held}. 4ne of the reasons some of the newer council members ■ may not be as aware af what's going on is that the Cammitkee has largely been ■ meeting in subcomm�ttees starting over the summer into the fall. There were 2 committees set up that were meeting separately, so this may have been one of i 1 ' the reasons some of that information didn't'get as easily disseminated among , people. Hawes added that we have only had as a full committee, the one that . you heard of. Bronson stated that whether a report came from the Committee in ' sections, subcommittee by subcommittee and each made their report or whether there was one whole, I'd like to know what they think and I would think, the consultants would want to know what they think; and i fear that if it's simply a ' meeting of anecdotal references I don't know the consultants will get much from it. Barrett replied that the last meeting pretty much summarizes the work of the 2 committees and those minutes are pretty detailed. He will see that copies are ' provided to everyone involved. Meeting adjourned. ' , � ' ' ' ' . ' ' , . ' ' ' ' ,