Bangor council hears airport, arena budget requests

[0:18] Susan Deane: All right, we are live. Thank you. Is Council available? Is not on yet. He's not. Okay. [0:27] Susan Hawes: Well, if you stand pop up, we'll stop and check to make sure you can hear us. Good evening, welcome to the City Council budget workshop. It's Thursday, May 28th, 5 15th. We are in Council Chambers. Around the table we have Council Dean, Council Carson, Council Flume, Council Leonard, Council Rep, Councilor Fish, I almost said that's close to me, I'm Sue Boss, and we have also just been joined by so they don't, and we have one of the Council who is not available to speak. I'm assuming Council now will check in and we have City Manager Carollynn Lear here at the table. So, with that, there was no preamble, so you must get lost, John. Okay. [1:19] Unidentified airport director: So, Mrs. LaVey, writer for director, I, well, there's a couple different ways to do this. Would you like me to go, I believe you have the booklet, would you like me to just go over,... [1:37] Susan Hawes: Whatever you would like to review with us is fine. [1:41] Unidentified airport director: All right. So I think the org chart is pretty straightforward. There isn't a whole lot of changes in there yet. But if we go on to the second page, which covers the highlights, I think I want to spend just a tiny bit of time reviewing some of those items. I think for the last couple of years, I've made several presentations covering the different components things that were working on those areas. And I think that's pretty stable and set into what the airport's functions are. The accomplishments, I think some of the counselors joined us for the ribbon cutting ceremony that we hosted for the completion of the runway project, which is the largest single infrastructure project that the airport has undertaken in very long time. Along with that, obviously we restarted the connector project, which is a expanding the capabilities of the airport by connecting both terminals, a project that has been in the works for over two years just in construction but a lot of planning that went into that, and as a whole the air at the airport we've taken quite a bit of time in improving the passenger experience. And so that has come in a different number of ways, particularly in outreach to the community and different features that the passengers enjoy. So if you look at what 2027, the goals and the priorities, so that's, it's pretty straightforward. We continue to build a lot of infrastructure at the airport. And I think when you look later on into the capital budget for the airport, we will see that reflected in all of those projects that are either in the planning phases, design, or midway through construction. And so along with that, strengthening our business development, we've done that for quite some time, diversifying the over-reliance on our military traffic, which has been a is a great source of revenue and supporting our operations, but I think it's really important for us to find other ways that we can get a more well-rounded operation at the airport. And the last item to highlight on the goals going into 2027 is a focus on the workforce at all, right? Because that's the key of how do we continue to grow the airport, develop the infrastructure that we have in the capital plan. And most importantly, succession planning, which is a key component for many divisions. They are important as a very senior staff in many divisions. And so with that, although we certainly appreciate that, I think it's also just as important preparing for when those employers are ready to retire to have a workforce that's ready to take on the different needs of the cohort. Okay. [5:01] Susan Deane: Questions so far? Yes, sir. [5:03] Unidentified airport director: On your recent calendar that I see you launching the podcast, how's that been received? Very well received. So it has, it's a good opportunity for us to, a lot of people, I have in my office a big map of the airfield. And most people get to the airport, just down Union, Godfrey, and get to see a tiny little box, the terminal. But aside from that, it just, the footprint of the airport is so extensive. Sensing. And so this is a good opportunity for us to provide a behind the scenes type of view for the public at large that doesn't really get to visit with us and see what's happening day in and day out, or in our operations department or facilities, not just different components. It's been received very, well. Strong following on our social media as well. So it's good, a good effort. Well, thank you. I look forward to checking it out. Yeah. Yeah. [5:58] Susan Hawes: Other questions? Don't see any. [6:03] Unidentified airport director: Okay. At this moment, anyway. So let's dig a little bit into the numbers. So you have a chart here that does a little bit of a comparison between what we are seeing over the last few years, and the big picture. When we met with the city manager and reviewed this, the proposed project is that relatively speaking, when you look at the big picture, the airport as a enterprise fund in 2025, a proposed budget was around 25 million dollars. On to 2026, 25.5. On 27, the proposed budget is 28. About 1.3, 1.35 million is a change in operational needs that are really pass-through fees. And so in reality, the increase between 26 to 27 is closer to a 1.5, 1.6 million. When you look at the big picture of a $20, $25, $27, $28 million, it's a relatively flat budget, and not that order operation is stagnant by any means, but it's stable, and that's a good outlook to have. So I think that 's a big takeaway, and I'm not sure if anyone spent time looking into particular portions of the budget that you'd like me to take a little deeper into. But I think that, again, overarching, that's the message that you can reach from the 2027 [7:49] Carolyn Fish: budget. And that's reflected under the other contractual services that we see for 2027? You see the $2 million jump from 2026 to 2027, you think of other contractual services? [8:02] Unidentified airport director: It is reflected on the left side, sorry, the right side is the major net changes and I'm going to ask for that. [8:18] Carolyn Fish: I was just wondering what the gentleman's... [8:28] Unidentified airport director: Judy, is that under contractual services, the credit card pathways? Okay, perfect. I'll get confirmation. Yes, it is the contractual services. And it's basically a change in the method in how we charge for fuel. We're not required to charge a transaction fee, but then it's an expense, but it's also collected on the sales of the fuel. [9:02] Susan Deane: So, yes. Are we revisiting your fuel cost? With the current rate of fuel? [9:10] Unidentified airport director: So the best way to explain how we fuel income is that we get a pass-through fee, right? So it's more of a, for every gallon of fuel we sell, we get a few cents off of it. And so we necessarily don't see the impact of the fuel, us as the airport, it's more providers, which we just delivered a fuel and then the customers. So in the big scheme of things, when we see things, so prior to the conflict in the Middle East, we were going through a relatively low period in activity. And so fuel cells were relatively lower, which meant that we were just not getting as much pass-through fees. The conflict in the Middle East, the increase of military traffic significantly to the point that we saw a significant amount of revenue increase that wasn't truly on the table, right? So it was an opportunity that helped make up for the difference that we were lacking with mine. So, well, in terms of the sales of fuel for aviation activity,, then we're kind of built into the prices, if you will, right? Other considerations when it comes to fuel in the operations, obviously with the increase in the cost of gas prices and those types of things, I think that's something that you probably notice across all of the budgets, a relatively increasing operation. So, I don't know which one you were… [11:04] Susan Deane: Well, no, you answered everything. Thank you. [11:14] Joseph Leonard: Not really so much a question. It's more so just the way that I… Your budget is very unique in that because you're an enterprise fund, it sort of requires us to look at your budget very differently. Lane but I don't have so much things I want to discuss with this particular session. One of the things I do want to address though, which is sort of a larger issue, is we, I think everyone on this council recognizes that we need to diversify the amount of funds that we receive besides from property tax at this point, and being one of the largest entities in the city, probably the largest actually, we need to collaborate in a way so that we can utilize the successes of the Bangor International Airport to figure out a way that we can legally collaborate with you guys in order to receive a more diversified amount of revenue income for us to help diversify the money that we spend. So what I would like to see at some point in the future, which I know we're going to be doing this at some point with hopefully a Banner meeting soon, but we definitely need to have a really good brainstorm of how we want to proceed in the future. Because I think this tax year is a wake-up call for all of us that we have to change the way that we operate as a city, and change is going to start with your department because your department is by far the most flexible one that we can work with that has the most resources to work with. So I don't want to use this as the session to brainstorm link because that's not really I think appropriate for right now, but I think it is important to recognize that is a topic that we do have to discuss at Some point in the future, but I just want to have that be a note for all of us to consider. I don't know if you have anything you want to add on top of that, Director Svejra. [13:25] Unidentified airport director: Yeah, absolutely. So there's a couple things that came to mind because I think that you're spot on the tremendous success that the airport has had. I think a few months back I presented a little bit more on the airport as a whole, of the structure and those type of discussions. And I think one of the key underlying messages that I brought with that conversation was just the role of the airport, right? Because I think that the airport as a whole has an outreach that is beyond the city of Bangor. And we know that by many metrics, right? 40% of passengers are Canadian. People travel here from central or Mr. May to fly out of here. And so I think that understanding that is the role that the airport has, right, it's an oversized role as an economic engine is really, important. I think the only other component that I would note is having a clear delineation in the role the airport can have and the partnerships that should be created just to avoid issues with federal obligations that the city has entered into when it comes to whether revenue diversion or use of airport resources for other non-airport related matters. And so that's the only thing that I would note, but I think there are certainly plenty of examples across the industry that point to very successful partnerships between an airport operation and on the economic role that it places the larger team. [15:14] Joseph Leonard: I think when we have that Banner meeting, if you can just make a note, that has to be a priority top three that we do have to discuss so that we can actually give you the green light to pursue things that you need to be more immediate in your response or immediate in your actions to actually give the airport the green light because sometimes, we all know this, government can be sometimes fully slow and we do need to recognize that you are in an industry that is very fast moving. So we do need to adjust our strategy in regards to that. But that's [15:55] Unidentified airport director: Only really have though, yeah, absolutely. And I think that, to your point, I think that's actually a very good transition when we look at what the next things are going to be in the request. Right, so one of the items that was noted in the last discussion that we had about the airport was to, generally speaking, the need for create additional bandwidth in developing being able to respond to a lot of the day-to-day operations of the airport group, but also looking at more capacity to be able to look at potential partnerships, growth opportunities, development. And I think that is, as I noted earlier in the priorities of going on to 2027, that's reflected in the program requests that we have for goals. One of them is adding additional, one additional position, a technician in or fueling facility, and that is just right sizing that staff that is needed to sustain the level of activity that we have in that operation. The second one is looking a little bit at expanding that bandwidth at the management and leadership capacity, and I think this is a part of a much larger effort to adjust the organizational structure of the airport to be able to lean into those opportunities that you speak of, and particularly by having a designated assistant airport director that focuses on the finance component and business development. And I think that is a sort of a missing piece. I've been at several different airports in which sort of the adjusting of the organization has lagged a little bit behind. And I think this is one of those where we're adjusting for what is needed to be able to right-size the leadership structure to take advantage of those opportunities. There's a question on the assistant airport director. Would you say not doing that position has an opportunity cost? In other words, okay, yes. I think that 's as I was thinking about what the best way to frame it is that a position like this allows for more the [Wayne Mallar: ability] to undertake some of the things that are either not getting the attention that it deserves by not having the right bandwidth at the leadership level, and so I think that having a more robust look at our financials and looking at trend analysis and doing deep market research that it's possibilities, but without the right resources, in this case staffing, it's things that we otherwise we wouldn't be able to do. I [19:03] Susan Hawes: just want to check and make sure, councilman, can you hear us? Yes, I can hear you. But do you have any questions so far? Not yet. Okay, I'll watch for your hand. All righty, thank you. [19:23] Unidentified airport director: Thank you for mercy. So now let's just talk a little bit more about capital and I was [19:32] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): Before coming down here, we were discussing our capital needs of the [19:37] Unidentified airport director: Prior reporting and just looking at this big picture of what makes it worth for the paper and what doesn't. And so I think when we look at this number for the next five years, we're at the far right in terms of capital development. We have a 139 million dollars over the next five years. In reality, the actual needs of the airport are probably twice, three times that number. But again, this is what is at the top, very top tier of the needs of the airport. And I think that when we look at that number, it's kind of daunting to look at that much capital development. But I think that to your point of opportunities, right? I think that the airport in and of itself lends itself to attract private investment, lends itself to leverage the land that it's owned by the airport to provide an opportunity which you, with the proper incentives and proper structures, attracting aircraft manufacturing possibilities, exploring cargo operations,, looking at some of those things that again, we haven't had the chance to look at long-term and that would in turn not only just provide additional activity at the airport, but having The ability to attract a large commercial operation in and of itself, it would bring that outsized economic activity and wages and jobs and all those types of things that would benefit, that its benefits would extend far beyond the airport, but looking at the greater bank or community. So that's under capital improvement. A lot of it, as I mentioned in the past, a good section of it comes funded by federal grants. We continue to keep an eye for competitive grant opportunities to look at alternate ways to finance some of these projects. And at the end of the day, once we have our planning discussions on what really makes it to being funded, then that continues to narrow itself further, right? And so when we look at the bottom portion of the next page, we are looking at the actual requests of capital that are not getting funded, but that were submitted and made the final put off in this year. And so that number right there, it's $3.2 million. Just as with capital buildings, this side on the equipment side, it's also a very, long list. And again, the priorities could be a lot longer than that. [22:44] Susan Hawes: There seems to be a lot of equipment vehicles that did not get funding. Are these on a plan that every so many years you replace so many so they just drop off this [23:01] Unidentified airport director: year but stay on for another year or they do depending on the needs i think that 's an important distinction right because over time things happen and then the needs of the airport of all you know for example in the increase in military traffic then all of a sudden there was a tremendous increase in a particular fueling type of cart that we had. And so this is where things like having the much greater flexibility on some of our equipment to be able to pivot and either bring in a different unit or in some instances, there's another piece of equipment that can be either retrofitted to fit the needs of those. It really depends. And we work very closely with our different division managers who reassess things along the way. [Susan Deane: But in] the grand scheme of things, over the last five years, 10 years, the airport has spent a significant amount in replacing some of that legacy equipment. Because even though some of these trucks are relatively old, they were a lot older. There was a lot of 1960s and 1970s pieces of equipment still around the airport just a handful of years, so it's it's been a work in progress and we'll continue to focus on that. Okay, yeah. [24:31] Susan Faloon: Oh, did you have a question over here? I was just looking at the years on here and I was already [24:38] Unidentified airport director: thinking wow, those are old and you said that. Yes, absolutely. And to the credit of the airport staff, We have a tremendous staff that they're very good at their job and some of that equipment that even though it was very, old equipment, they still kept it functioning and working properly. But I think that at some point there's that time when it's even though you could continue to keep it in service, it's much better to switch into something that is newer and updated and can track a lot of its use much better. [25:18] Susan Hawes: I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, I won't ask it anyway. For projects that come through that you are mandated to do by the FAA, I would assume there are follow-up inspections over the term of whatever that project is. Are those included in here anywhere or do you just have a separate no that you have to do because it's the FAA projects or? [25:45] Unidentified airport director: So we don't rate them specifically for purposes of this budget. We do track a separate type of on a yearly basis. We have a we meet with the FAA very regularly. But once a year we have a big discussion on everything that is capital and funded by the FAA. And so we moved this year we've done in Portland with the FAA and the main department of locations that also contribute to it and fill over the next five years worth of capital. And so we do that on a yearly basis to look at those projects. But that is primarily projects that are funded through some of our impoundment funds or any well with the bipartisan infrastructure law there was additional funding for that. So we do meet with them on a regular basis and a lot of them, even though they're not identified, they're in this, let's say, airport department capital. Traditionally, those are taxiways. Those are the two that are on the top, the Taxiway Alpha, Taxiway Mike, those are federally funded projects. projects then we have the checkpoint it's not federally funded but it is federally approved and so that is funded with passenger facilities for this which are assessed on airplane fares and so that's collected by the airlines approved by the FAA airport manage questions [27:30] Susan Hawes: but I [27:33] Daniel Carson: thank you I appreciate all of this and certainly appreciate seeing your request for an assistant airport director thinking about that structure but along those lines right to the points of what that assistant airport director will help us begin I would so very much appreciate seeing if you could design an airport Commission a perfect airport Commission what that would look like and what would be components of that would very much appreciate seeing I think that, along with what Councillor Leonard was saying, they all think sort of fit together. [28:13] Unidentified airport director: So I think that we probably, what I would suggest is that as a follow-up to the previous conversation that we had on policy-related matters, I think the city manager and I can potentially discuss options and kind of do a follow-up on structure if you will and provide additional context a commission or whatever that might be [28:53] Carollynn Lear: And I would add, and I'm sitting over here because I'm not feeling very well and I don't want to get you all sick. What we will start tackling modeling really quickly is some of the easier things that we can do to make Jose's life easier that will concurrently make all the department's lives easier. And you'll actually see one of those items on gov ops on Monday relative to grants and the approval process for grants. So we're going to start picking away of at those low hanging fruit immediately. [29:22] Unidentified airport director: Yeah, I think to your point on some of those easier tasks that can be done with us, I think the last committee meeting that the Finance Committee had, I think we have to bring in two items for approval that in previous times, they probably wouldn't have to get to the through committee, right? And that is an example of that. Even just to get to committee, it might seem mundane in nature of bringing something through the committee process, but there's a lot of planning that goes behind it. Stephanie needs to have it by a certain date before it makes it to Stephanie. My fat hats gather a lot, but just the processing that it takes, it's time that it's being allocated into procedural steps rather than on some of the other larger priorities for the airport. [30:27] Susan Faloon: Has there been an assistant airport director in the past? [30:32] Unidentified airport director: So yes, so we currently have the way the structure is right now is we have a assistant airport director of operations. It used to be an assistant airport director period now it would be splitting it into two one that focuses more on the operations of the airport the more of running the keeping the airport operational on a regular basis then one looking more at the administrative side of things i think the instructor right now it's very if you go back to the organizational chart assistant the assistant airport director of operations reports to me and so does the marketing manager and so does the finance manager. And so we made an adjustment with the facilities and infrastructure because it's now reporting back to the assistant airport director but it was the organizational the chart is not really in line with what a current or the appropriate standard that i would probably prefer for optimizing both my time and the management time the management team's efforts so yeah. [31:55] Daniel Carson: Okay anything. [32:04] Susan Hawes: Else. [32:12] Unidentified airport director: Feel free to send it to the city manager for myself and we'll get you back. [32:17] Susan Hawes: Any additional details, probably we'll be having a follow-up conversation after budget season anyway on some of the other things that were left, that committee. Perfect, all right, thank you, thank you, thank you. Have you, need to remind us, we do have a hard stop tonight at 6:30, and that's so the school committee can come in and get set up and get going with everything. So next on our, done with the rules, fast park and trust insurance on it and [32:58] Susan Deane: He's honestly, I'm sorry, I'm going to [33:00] Carollynn Lear: continue to abandon you all by yourself at the table. [33:10] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): I'm Jake Burke with Across Insurance Center. Lucky enough, been up here for the past couple of weeks. It's good to see you again. I got a call on, I got Chad Caldwell in the back, he's our director of finance, so I might call on him for a few questions if I need some help, but we're going to get started. Kind of just talk about what I do, what we do at the Cross-Insurance Center, the overall management of the whole venue, the arena, the convention center. So we handle event bookings, event coordination, convention center sales, food and beverage operations, just about anything and everything that goes into the Cross-Insurance Center is handled by myself and my staff. Some kind of highlights of the venue on an annual basis. We have our Bangor State Fair, which is an annual event coming up here at the end of July and August. That's always a fun one. That takes place in the parking lots. So it's across from Jason. It takes place in the parking lots and inside the venue. So we have that event. We have our MPA State basketball tournament for two weeks in February. Happens every year. It's a very fun event. Highlight from the previous ones, we actually had an increase in attendance. So we had over 40,000 patrons in the building across two-week periods, which is about a 25% increase. And then PBR professional bull riding. That's another highlight for the Cross Insurance and center for everyone here in Bangor. This year, this past year, was the first time in a couple years it's actually been in January. It's always generally in March and we've found it to be more successful in March. It was very good, actually well attended this year as well, but we're actually gonna move back to have it in March to kind of draw up more attendance and just kind of be more on that same schedule every year. That's a lot of our annual mainstays in the arena. We have a lot of events that take place in the Convention Center that are never really talked about because there are private events. We have graduations, we have banquets. I'm trying to think of other highlighted events in the Convention Center. Chad, anything you want to add on to that as far as event wise? is convention center we had the fair conference this year which was a big one in january they were in the convention center and it was a weekend long event taking place that was about all players in the state not just the bankroll state fair it was really a big event other events that were kind of highlights that were i don't say unexpected but ones i was been trying to hopefully capitalize on we had the mercy me concert that we marked christian rock concert and that was a sellout with over 5 500 folks in the building for one concert and that was an awesome night i don't know the last time we've had christian rock concerts but the thought is that we did so well that one that would draw more attention for that genre and in the event industry the booking industry a lot of it is you have to get an event in you have to prove that you can have a successful event and knowing where we are it's it's the country it's classic rock the family shows all do well so adding another genre like Christian rock to that kind of list will make it just kind of a better place to attract more events so and a successful event is always a good event but also gives us the opportunity to bring in more events down the road and then kind of things we'll accomplish for next year priorities so let's get kind of i think changes and see how we can operate better if we always want to do fmb food and beverage is always the highlight it's the it's our highest revenue generator from arena side and convention center side whether it's catering whether it's concessions so just trying to get creative and how we can really increase our point of sale. We'll get new concessions. The old school concession is kind of going out of the way and the new phase is what's called grab-and-go. So if you think about it, you go into Gap Station or just kind of anywhere, any convenience store, you go and you grab something, you do a manual, you check out. It's very quick, very painless. It's not standing in line, you're not ordering a concession stand it's more of a grab-and-go and it kind of speeds up the lines so we're gonna try to look at ways to just get creative with the space that we have [Carolyn Fish: functions] Accomplishments, goals, one thing I do want to highlight, the staff behind me, certainly not me, it's only me and Chad. We have, I would say, I believe it's 16 full-time staff, right around there, and then hundreds of part-time staff, event staff, security, concession workers, operations. It is absolutely a full team effort, whether it's a meeting for 20 people or, excuse me, Guam Fair. It's a, it's a huge team that make up across insurance center and last around this time last year they some of the staff were dealt with a tough situation and a unique situation and it's that a lot of them come through it for the better and really learned a lot. So it's really just when I started here about a year ago I was very impressed with the staff that have gotten through the tough times and really have impressed me. So it seems good to see young folks that folks have been around for a little bit to really kind of get through it with that [39:14] Susan Hawes: with a tough situation they handle very well. I do have a question, how's the relationship going and are there additional things that we could do with the harness racing? It's a great question. [39:28] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): So Chad actually handled a lot of that coordination with the race draft and kind of the harness racing, but in my point of view I think the relationship, we have a very good relationship with Harness Racing directly. When we need something from them we can call them and they and other and vice versa. So we started Harness Racing two weeks ago now and there it's about once, at least once a week, sometimes twice a week, pretty much from April through October, and during the fair there'll be more Harness Racing. We're going to make an effort to have harness racing during the fair. I don't think anything to add onto that generally would be [40:13] Unidentified fairgrounds/raceway representative: just this year we've done, do you [40:22] Susan Hawes: want to come up because what you just said I'm sure was not totally clear across the players, this chair over here. [40:38] Unidentified fairgrounds/raceway representative: So the last couple of years during the fair we've done one night of harness racing in coordination with Hollywood. This year we're adding a second one. We are moving the demo derby off the track and into the infield as soon as we get approval from the board so that we can accommodate that second thing, hoping in future years we'll be able to do more than just, you know, monetary things. Commission is grateful for what we do with it, they would like to see more. [41:15] Susan Hawes: Just because they like, they like the track. It's good to hear that the relationship is better. Two to three years ago, it was a little bit tough between the association and the cross center, so. [41:31] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): It's, it's good to come back brand new. I can say from personal point of view, was it two weeks, last week we held the funeral of the gay morning and we had made so that was unfortunate, but we had to make arrangements for parking utilizing the track, utilizing infield, and we called, I gave time and call right away, and there was no issue. They were very much willing to be flexible to. [41:54] Susan Hawes: That they didn't work so moving to the infield will it present on that particular stage we lose. [42:05] Unidentified fairgrounds/raceway representative: Probably 30 spots at most, but we don't usually build the entire infield with parking on those. [42:12] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): Nights, so it shouldn't, shouldn't affect it much. Council Carson, we appreciate seeing all of the. [42:18] Daniel Carson: Recent accomplishments, it's very exciting to join, of course, and I'm on a mission with this question. So I hope we come back to it, but I'm wondering if you have a sense, a number of missed opportunities. You know, I hear often we don't have enough hotel space. There's other pieces of our economy over. [42:39] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): There, share a little bit about what we're missing. Yeah, I think you nailed it on the head right there. Not having another hotel or missing a hotel opportunity. I don't have the number, but I can tell you there's a fair share of conventions that we don't get, that we lose strictly because of the lack of hotels. And so I don't have the exact number of the event is, but we do see a lot of outside events that folks are traveling in or staying at the hotels, but need more hotel space, more opportunity for hotels. So I think that would go a long way to help the convention center business, specifically for us. [43:16] Daniel Carson: Yeah, I'd certainly be interested in hearing a little bit more about when you have the opportunity to hear more about some of those missed opportunities. I just think fearing about what we're missing might be a great way for us to think about how to build in a way that attracts the things that we are missing. [43:36] Susan Hawes: And once a conversation several years ago now before you got here and about having a hotel up in that one of those parking areas, and then it kind of just went. I think it was talked about set aside, I don't think it's gone forever, but yes, I mean just on that, yeah, but. [43:59] Joseph Leonard: There hasn't been any updates on that yet, and I mean, maybe that might be a discussion we want to have for BD or the city for executive session to see if there's any updates on that. I, when we shop there, isn't like much to report on, but obviously the more information we have, the more clienteles for hotels coming to the city the better. But yeah, I'd probably maybe hold on that conversations right now specifically, but I know to your point we do [44:32] Unidentified fairgrounds/raceway representative: need to pursue more hotels on the table. Absolutely, we have ways of, we have little holes in our [44:41] Susan Hawes: finish it. Yes. [44:45] Susan Faloon: I forget how old the arena is now, so what is the general condition? Are we at a point where like, I mean, obviously there's like, you know, routine maintenance, but are we at a point where now we're 14 years in, there's like more maintenance that needs to be done? [45:06] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): I'm glad, I will say generally speaking, I think it's a personal point of view, so I was here back in 2014, so a few months after the building opened, and I walked in almost a year ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see the condition an imposter generally speaking, but yes, there's definitely some, you get into the nuts and bolts of it, need some upgrades, and that's actually affected into our capital. The biggest, I would say two priorities that we do need to look at repairing is the convention center carpet. It is now 14 years old and has his wearing parent, it rips and holes. I will say not as bad as I thought it would be after 14 years, that's a good sign, but it definitely needs replacement, and the second biggest thing is going to be the domestic water boiler. So that's 14 years old, and it is on its close to final leg. It's unrepairable at this point. And that goes to your point of the equipment that just kind of added the not broken for upper because of a broken because it's it's old. Yeah. [46:26] Susan Faloon: Is carpeting like the industry standard for a place like that, or is there like something that's like a harder surface? [46:36] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): Yeah, only because it's softer on the feet. The arena is concrete, so the arena is a slab of concrete, and that's typical for a convention center. I would say carpet is going to be your standard, whether it's one long carpet or carpet squares. squares, as opposed to like a rubber floor, just because the convention center does have the nicer feel for hosting more banquets than sporting events. So yeah, I would recommend [Susan Hawes: carpet. Questions? Okay.] Let's talk a little bit about the change in expenses. I will highlight the largest this budgeted increased. I would say the utilities, you can see we budgeted close to a million dollars for utilities going to next year, and that's just to reflect what we're seeing this year. We bought, we steepened 25 to 26, we increased it quite a bit, and it just wasn't, it's even higher than we expected. So that's the current budget for FY 27 is just to reflect what we've seen this past year and what we expect the number to keep on increasing too, and that's industry standard unfortunately, it's the way we're dealing with, and then the other increase is going to be our contractual services. So that kind of runs the gamut of our new last year, our walk-through metal detectors, super security, so when you enter the building you go through a magnetometer. That was not budgeted last, that's included in this budget, was not included. It's also an increase in our, you know, make this product to prevent [48:32] Unidentified fairgrounds/raceway representative: the building itself and [48:37] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): then the, I think the other, I wanted to highlight the personnel, which actually decreasing from a budget standpoint. We've, we made some strategic changes is kind of halfway through this past year going into next year about where we can, so we've lost two budgeted positions from last year into going into this, so that's the reason for the decrease in the personnel. Yeah, are [49:14] Carolyn Fish: they personnel losses as a result of restructuring, or are they positions you plan to rehire? Restructuring more so, yeah. [49:33] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): Pretty quiet at the moment. I guess the last thing I can touch upon what I briefly mentioned was is the capital. So except the carpet replaces something, the biggest number one priority, the highest financial amount, number two being the water boiler replacement, which to me those are things that we are necessary, but nothing we want to wait on, it gets worse. Other things in this budget, the capital I team secured and kind of go hand in hand, so that would be adding cameras just to help us security reasons. We have decent coverage right now, we can always get better coverage inside the actual Reno in a bowl. We've spoken with IT and security about how we can get cameras that can really hydrate sure that one can exceed rather than just give you a general overview. Forks in the way where we, the times that we're in, it's pretty necessary. So you can single in on something that's happened. Chad, anything to add to the capital? [50:58] Carolyn Fish: Any questions? Just [51:01] Susan Hawes: On one of your goals, you talked about naming rights to the center. Yes. So that I assume also with your boxes, do you still have boxes available? Absolutely. [51:14] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): So we have the key to their corporate partnership managers, which functionally sell sponsorships everywhere throughout the building. So yes, the Cross Insurance Center is the name of the whole venue. One of our goals next year, and I've spoken with them already, is to sell specifically to the convention center. So it would be an addition, it would still be the Cross Insurance Center, but it would be at the blah, convention center. And we have a very good relationship with Cross Insurance. Anytime we change any sponsorship or signage, we always kind of talk to them first to make to make sure we get their blessing, so to speak. But then in suite, all of our suites are sold at the moment. We just sold the last one. So from a suite standpoint, we're in a very good spot there. As far as other sponsorship, convention center is gonna be the biggest one. That's kind of a low hanging fruit that we can kind of tackle next year. [52:15] Susan Hawes: And your suites tend to have a lot of repeat people that come back. Yep. [52:20] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): I believe they're on three-year contracts and any time they expire then we start reaching out to renew so and they're all kind of on different they're not all the same year but they must [52:40] Susan Hawes: be happy with what they're getting adding more content yeah on that questions and you have an advisory committee yes we do still [53:01] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): going strong so that was that was kind of created when the arena got built kind of our back to support us and we're still meeting with them so yeah very good group yes [53:22] Susan Hawes: questions did you see the lights on absolutely we're trying we have a concert tomorrow that's sort of been a key issue right from the start we wanted the building to be active we want it to be used as much as possible community asset particular events absolutely now your fair event has changed days yes that [53:49] Unidentified fairgrounds/raceway representative: been a benefit or getting mixed reviews well the last couple years we went just to weekends this year we're extending it for the full one days so we're going to see how that how that [54:03] Jake Burke (public presenter, Cross Insurance Center): works out this year I'm looking forward to it they might give me a hard time that's what it would have been 12 years ago it was the 10 days during the week the crowd is a little is definitely sparse with no weekends but we are going to add to the attractions to try to draw people in for [54:23] Susan Hawes: The weekend nights as well, so the animal's still going to be in the bowl. Yes, yeah, that was cute, very happy with that. I can get out of the pot. Yes, get the kids down there. It's definitely more [54:37] Unidentified fairgrounds/raceway representative: comfortable space. Before we came here, we talked to our ag super intended and he told me that he, it has animals coming from as far away as Pennsylvania. Awesome, same person, yes, yeah. [54:51] Susan Hawes: He did a great job, yeah, lining those all up. Well, it's great, you seem to be on top of it. Well, thank you, thank you all, yeah. You don't have any other questions, so [55:08] Susan Deane: all right, is there anything else that you wanted to discuss? Yeah, I'll just, so I think really [55:17] Carollynn Lear: all we have is one more department head meeting or one night of department head meetings. It'll be wastewater and then a discussion of the tiff appropriations from the downtown tiff district. And then there'll be a first reading of the city manager's proposed budget. And then we have two budget workshops scheduled to start making decisions. And so I'll put together sort of an agenda of what I understand to be the critical decisions that we need a council input and vote on, of course, including new positions and the major capital appropriations. But if there's anything that you know you want to talk about and discuss as a council for discussion and vote that you would like added to that agenda, you're welcome to reach out to me and I'll make sure it gets scheduled on those two days. [56:10] Susan Hawes: One of the things that I heard from a couple of different counselors is at the beginning what we had laid out for wants, needs and desires, maybe. And if we can just kind of touch on that before we start the actual going in a deep dive for [56:29] Carollynn Lear: sure and see where we're at. Yes, and I'll also, there have been a number of small changes that we have discussed. For example, I think Tracy mentioned maybe some additional revenue. I think the school board had a slight adjustment to some of their revenue as well. I'll go through and do a revised tax rate calculator so you can see sort of what the end mill rate is, and then what I'm also going to do is I have a few suggestions of decisions about unassigned fund balance and some other mechanisms by which we can sort of reduce the impact on the budget. And so I'm going to bring that as an example for you to look at, because I don't think it makes make sense to start having the hard conversations about cutting until we sort of have a true final picture of our starting point, right? Okay. [57:31] Susan Deane: What was the date that we are presenting your budget to? Oh, the first reading is June 8th. Is there any way to get word out to the public that this is first reading, I guess the proposed budget but not the adopted budget? I think we keep hearing yes, what the increase understood to be, that yes. I don't think any of us want that this is the ideal budget, but we're going to work on it, right? People could know that this is not we've adopted. I think it would be better for everyone. Absolutely, we can do our [58:06] Carollynn Lear: best to highlight that through the channels that we have. You know, our messages don't always get to the people that we want to hear them, but we'll do some specific social media on it and a press release as well, just to get the message out, and maybe it can get picked up by the paper, which [58:23] Susan Deane: would be the best way to get the message out. Right, are these specific dates on the website already of what we're doing and where we're at? I believe they are, yes, I believe that David Warren put [58:40] Carollynn Lear: to put them all on once this is final. [58:43] Susan Hawes: I think he's in the front of the book. As have I. If that book goes away, I'm lost. Any other comments? I have a question. [58:53] Wayne Mallar: Oh, there you are. Go ahead. I'm hiding, but I'm here. The question I have is, it's my understanding, and I could be way off in left field. Thank you. The valuation we're using to determine the taxes is last year's valuation. Is that correct? [59:15] Carollynn Lear: That's correct. It's last year's valuation, I believe, with some statistical updates that Phil has done. But it does not include any updates to values from the revaluation that is ongoing. [59:29] Wayne Mallar: going. I think the public needs to be aware of the fact that the revaluation does not affect the tax rate for this year or the taxes for this year. The increase, if there is one, and I'm not saying there is, going to be next year. And I don't think that's been fairly stated anywhere. [59:53] Carollynn Lear: So I think there's some nuance there. I just want to offer clarification specification that we are using the existing values to calculate the tax rate for purposes of these budget discussions. But if the revaluation is complete prior to the issuance of tax bills, they would be incorporated into that billing that typically happens in July or August. If they are not complete, then certainly they won't be incorporated, but I think it's also important to understand that were values to change, they are likely to increase, which would effectuate a reduction to the tax rate. We would need to raise less money per $1,000 of value if values were to increase because we wouldn't be adjusting our budget upwards to match that increase in value. [1:00:56] Unidentified airport director: you well [1:00:58] Wayne Mallar: i understand that to a point but i need specific reassurance that i don't see how when the state requires the valuation to be as of april 1st that you can use anything on the new program that's going on the new reval for this year's taxes i think we need i want a legal opinion on it because I think we're misleading people if we're telling them that the current taxes are based on the revaluation or they're based on last year's. I think we have to be very [1:01:35] Carollynn Lear: specific with that. And the revaluation is valuing properties as of April 1st, 2026. [1:01:45] Wayne Mallar: which is not what we use the tax our taxes are based on april 1st 2025 [1:01:54] Carollynn Lear: for the upcoming billing it will that's correct april 1st 2026 no that's not true [1:02:01] Wayne Mallar: it's not what they the auditor says in his report that's why i asked for clarification in the audit report i looked at they were using if it was a 2025 audit or well that's not a good one to use because we never finished that it was a 2023 audit they were using the tax valuation based on the re the valuation as of 2022. that's why i'm confused i need to know this specifically [1:02:29] Carollynn Lear: okay well phil will be i'm sorry him is phil our city assessor phil drew will be here on Monday during the finance meeting to give an update on the status of the assessment or the reassessment that's taking place and I will preview for him your interest in understanding the relation of tax year and this valuation okay thank you 're welcome anything [1:03:01] Susan Hawes: else okay