[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:18] Welcome to the, we're in September, Finance Committee meeting. And thank you all for being here. Would you like to go ahead and do a roll call? And we have some attendees online. We can start with those, those folks. Lisa Beck, I can't undo my video. I'm disabled from it. Okay, co host, there she can.
[0:45] It's probably better this way. You should be able to do video now.
[0:51] Thank you. Okay, thank you. Welcome, Lisa. Thank you for joining. Thank you.
[1:01] Bobby Price, city manager, Paul Kelly.
[1:06] And then we also have joining deputy city recorder, Neil Morpheus,
[1:12] and online we've got Waterlead Rick McClone,
[1:16] who will be doing a brief presentation for us a little later on in our agenda.
[1:21] Also in the audience is Mayor Birdie.
[1:26] So any announcements or correspondence to start the meeting up with?
[1:33] Well, citizens concerned.
[1:35] We have no citizens.
[1:39] Citizen slash public official.
[1:44] All right. Well, let's jump right into our.
[1:49] ongoing business. And we've got an urban renewal, this district discussion. Paul, I sent you a couple things that I had got back from from Elaine. Yeah. So where we're at with that.
[2:10] I've had a, now a couple discussions with Elaine Howard are representative and are our consultant,
[2:20] excuse me, that's been helping us through finding our maximum indebtedness and making the
[2:25] recommendations of how we should move forward with the urban renewal district. And a couple questions
[2:32] questions that Paul and I had when we first met were one can do when we do the urban renewal
[2:43] district.
[2:44] Do we use the same template that we have for our current urban renewal district for
[2:51] the special amendment?
[2:52] And she sent me an example of one that she had done recently.
[2:59] and we did include that on the agenda center today and we have a couple printed documents of it I believe because we knew you probably wouldn't bring a computer so we printed a document for you.
[3:14] And it is from Banks, Oregon and showed how they approached their urban renewal district special amendment, substantial amendment.
[3:27] and they just, they went through and they struck out and added new language.
[3:34] Very simple, very simple, struck, just go through and strike out and then add
[3:39] the new language. Another thing that we need to do is make sure that we do the
[3:48] urban renewal district in the same fashion it was done when it was put into
[3:54] into place. So we need to make sure we need to put together a public advisory group for
[4:03] this. So our urban renewal district, let's see, our urban renewal plan on the very front
[4:17] page has acknowledgments and it has members of the advisory committee. So I think
[4:24] I think our first best step is to put an advisory committee together since we have
[4:29] to follow suit of how we have established the first one.
[4:33] The advisory committee members consisted of a city council representative, two public
[4:42] works and streets committee representatives, a planning commission representative, somebody
[4:47] be for a nonprofit, a budget committee member, a citizen at large, two citizens at large,
[4:55] and then staff assistance to members of city staff to work on it with the group.
[5:01] So I think that would be even first step is putting that group together.
[5:05] And then having that group look through the current urban renewal and look at what our
[5:17] than our master plans and make suggestions of projects that we could complete with this.
[5:24] And if you, I know you've read it pretty closely, but if you read this, urban renewal district,
[5:30] it does not go too much in detail on the projects list.
[5:39] It does reference the comprehensive plan.
[5:42] It does talk about some specific things.
[5:45] For example, the stormwater drains, I mean, that's very broad, but it's specific that
[5:54] it wants to do that.
[5:55] It was meant to do the sidewalks, which had been done.
[6:01] It was designed to help build the south water reservoir and pump stations and water lines.
[6:12] So, there are some specific projects, so I think that we could take this and look at our
[6:18] upcoming projects, water, wastewater, street and storm drains, and even some of our community
[6:27] spaces, the greater commons, master plan projects, and things that maybe wouldn't be so easily
[6:35] funded by transient lodging dollars. We could find some of those projects for utilizing the urban
[6:44] renewal district. I did confirm that at one point we had talked about maybe just using this,
[6:49] we have $26 million for the water waste water projects. Let's do this for that. We need to
[6:58] You have it broken down percentage wise.
[7:03] We can't have 100% of all of our water and wastewater projects paid for by the Urban
[7:08] Renewal District because it serves much more than just the Urban Renewal District.
[7:13] So a percentage we can use.
[7:16] So it's interesting in your response and the opinion of salt is that you might take on it was
[7:27] that you can allocate the cost of those projects on a percentage basis to how much of the city is
[7:39] part of the urban renewal district. So we're at a number of about 20%. So 20% of our square
[7:48] eight grids in YAHOTS is in the urban renewal district. So 20% of the projects.
[7:57] Right. So if you're teaching, let's just pick a number. So if you pick 20 million,
[8:03] right, as the number, then only 4 million of that, right? So my math is right, is 20% of
[8:14] that 20 million could go to water or wait. Yeah. So it's it's got to be whatever that urban
[8:24] annual district is only 20% of those projects can be funded by the annual. Yeah. And I read
[8:36] that is how I read that was similar but not like not combining wastewater infrastructure
[8:43] as wide like 20% of water, 20% of waste water, 20% of streets and storm drains. So, you know,
[8:52] that can be for a, you know, you know, 20% for each section.
[8:57] No, if it's a project, it is in the, the boundaries, then it can be on.
[9:04] I guess that.
[9:05] Yep. But if it's a project, it is for the general good of the entire city.
[9:10] Now, she didn't say that you might want a legal opinion on this, right?
[9:17] So it sounds like there might be some wiggle room there, but as I read it, you know, as
[9:25] I read what her response was, it seemed to me that we could allocate based on the territory
[9:34] that we have designated the Urban Renewal District for these city-wide projects?
[9:40] Yes.
[9:44] One thing we had asked also was if we needed to do a report on projects that had
[9:56] been completed out of the Urban Renewal District with the the monies that we've received
[10:01] already and utilized already and we don't need to do a report but we should absolutely know what
[10:09] those projects are so when we're going through and we're striking lines we don't leave sidewalks
[10:17] for this portion of sidewalks that have been complete because we don't that's obviously not going
[10:21] to be a project that we'll use the funds for so striking at being able to strike out projects that
[10:26] have already been completed to add new projects, and it would be the most beneficial reason
[10:32] to know all of those projects that have been completed and so my thought is that we put
[10:49] to call out to each of the committees that we have and see if any member would like
[11:00] be participate as an advisory committee. So it looks like we could have a community
[11:05] spaces representative, a budget member representative, a finance member representative, I think
[11:14] I guess, planning public works, all of those, similar to what they had before, a counselor,
[11:20] and then bring in a few residents at large as well.
[11:24] And then what we could do is do an email to all of our current committee members and
[11:30] see who responds with interest, and then put something out to the public at large and
[11:36] see who responds with interest, and then start forming that group.
[11:39] and then giving everybody the the document and making sure everybody has access to the water
[11:47] projects list and the waste water projects list are the comments community space, sorry greater
[11:57] commons master plan and and then letting everybody do their homework on that meeting kind of
[12:06] explaining what their homework is, and then having everybody go off and do their homework
[12:11] for a million with those, and then come back and talk about the projects that we should
[12:15] incorporate into this. And then it looks like what they did was made a presentation. They
[12:23] all came to consensus saying that this is the project we want to, or plan we want to present
[12:31] to City Council and the Urban Renewal District, and then first it looks like we need to make
[12:39] sure we have the buy-on from the different agencies, the tax taxing agencies, so I know
[12:45] that Mayor Burdy has already started some conversations with the county and the school districts
[12:49] is going to be the other one we really need to talk to, so those two for this specific amendment,
[12:56] and then make a presentation to City Council that needs to be done through a public hearing.
[13:00] So, we'll notice it and make a presentation that the advisory group.
[13:07] So, what's the time?
[13:09] Yeah.
[13:09] What do we think with this needs to be?
[13:14] So, did you all receive the email that I sent last week that I think it was last week?
[13:20] It might have been the week before from Elaine.
[13:25] And I sent it to each of the planning committee members.
[13:29] and it was sharing that there was $500,000 additional $1,000 in our maximum indebtedist.
[13:39] So when she presented to us, we had two years left spending to $100,000 a year.
[13:45] But it looks like we've got an additional $500,000 in that.
[13:49] I would say we would want to, we could, we could take a year or on it. I guess I don't know if we really need to take a year on it.
[14:02] I didn't, it sounded like when they were giving us presentations that there might be value in waiting because of the property value. Do you remember that connection?
[14:12] if we waited just a little bit that it would have a higher value, we could get more.
[14:22] I think if we amend the current plan, I don't think it matters.
[14:25] Time frame.
[14:26] We let the old one expire and start a new one.
[14:28] That's what it matters.
[14:29] That's a big hit.
[14:33] I'd like to not fit on it.
[14:35] I'd like since we've got motion going, I'd like to be moving on it.
[14:40] Yes.
[14:40] Of course.
[14:41] On the 500K because I came up with 700K.
[14:45] Okay.
[14:46] There were seven transfers of 100,000.
[14:49] I saw on a chart.
[14:52] I just had a question.
[14:53] Yeah.
[14:54] Yeah.
[14:54] Yeah.
[14:56] Would we take the original 2006 URD plan and.
[15:00] Strike out in that and build from that, or would you build something new? If you see the plan that you have meal just gave you, that's an example of how banks did theirs, and they just went through and strike through on the original plan. We can do the similar thing. Also, Elaine Howard did say that their firm would be willing to help us with this.
[15:31] The original plan did have a consultant involved in it as well, so that would be following the method in how the original plan was put in place.
[15:42] So I would like to move forward with that. They're working on putting together an estimate for me of what that would budget would cost to include them in the project.
[15:52] I think it would be beneficial for us too.
[15:57] it would be good. So I assume she's showing us this bank's plan. Yeah. Because it's been approved
[16:03] and funded. Yeah. So it would be good to be able to build off of their expertise and their
[16:10] insight and their experience, right? Yeah. To make sure that we're putting a plan together that
[16:18] is likely to be embraced.
[16:24] I don't know what I'm talking as if I know what their consulting
[16:28] number would be. I don't know what that would be, but I think if it's reasonable, whatever
[16:34] reasonable means, it would be good to have them as a partner.
[16:40] I absolutely agree. They will be getting back to me with what that looks like
[16:48] and then we can get moving on establishing an advisory committee.
[16:54] If we are going to call it an advisory committee,
[16:57] it will need to be approved through City Council.
[17:02] And we can be an ad hoc advisory community committee.
[17:05] So a temporary committee.
[17:08] And we have that ad hoc provision in our charter for committees.
[17:14] And so he just made the agenda for this month.
[17:21] So maybe next month I have something on the council agenda for.
[17:32] From the tube, I think to sooner or the better.
[17:36] I'm nervous about public finance and where things are going and how much money is going to be available and how belts are going to be tightened and.
[17:45] I think the sooner we can pull the trigger or the better.
[17:52] I agree, Paul, especially continuity with Mayor Birdie and Councillors changing it, you
[17:59] know, with the upcoming election, having continuity with this would be great.
[18:06] I think, unfortunately, we're going to be way out of Mayor Birdie's town probably.
[18:10] I know trying to capitalize on those relationships
[18:14] that he currently has and you know where he lives.
[18:21] Well, at least we can get the resolution going
[18:25] for to create the advisory committee
[18:28] and get that ball moving while we've got
[18:31] Mayor Bertie and office still.
[18:34] And then that will at least really be
[18:37] and we can get that formed.
[18:39] and get moving from there.
[18:53] This is with a goal to start the advisory committee or ad hoc.
[19:07] So maybe start pulling it together in November if we could get it on the agenda in October.
[19:16] That sounds good. It's amazing how fast time flies.
[19:30] So
[19:44] as we go into this and we make the proposal, um, maybe we can brainstorm a little bit here on the, um, the approach, so if we look at all those projects, right, that we would look at that are in the three or four or five master plans that we'll
[20:03] look at.
[20:07] So do we look at projects within the borders of the URD and say, okay, that's 20% of the cost
[20:14] of those, you know, is going to be the value of what we apply for in our application, or we're
[20:23] just going to go for a big number. Well, I think we should be strategic because there are definitely
[20:34] water and storm drain, in wastewater projects, street projects that could take place in
[20:44] the urban renewal district that could be 100% paid for. So make sure, you know, find
[20:49] it kind of pulling those out as in as first and then taking the 20% off kind of the
[20:55] broader projects, potentially, and then adding
[21:05] in some of the
[21:09] common semester plans projects that wouldn't be a real clear cut transient lodging
[21:18] tax purchase. So I think just historically we have not applied this constraint.
[21:24] to run.
[21:30] And maybe there's an argument that we don't need to.
[21:34] You have the map pulled up there. Are the, is the highway in front, portion in front
[21:45] of, uh, owner restaurant? It looks like it's, yeah. I think that really should get
[21:52] it's a sidewalk. It's very unsafe right there and that's such a high volume traffic
[21:59] location as well.
[22:04] Yeah, yeah. And sidewalk that can be paid for as part of, and that will be identified
[22:12] across the walk there with the transportation management plan that we're doing. So being
[22:17] And that's going to cost. So being able to identify some of those costs ahead of time. No, we don't want, we won't know exactly what that's going to be, but.
[22:28] But that could be an outgrowth. I mean, the argument is that that's an outgrowth of the investment we made aboard walk. And now it's going to be more travel down there and make it more accessible in day and day.
[22:38] I see. It also be nice for that area in in front of a dream machine and Luna to have with
[22:47] our outdoor seating is to put a covering kind of like you know and open on the sides but
[22:53] have a cover over the top so it's a place to enjoy your lunch or dinner or drinks.
[23:02] I don't know. No, I'm not really seeing that. I'm dreaming.
[23:08] No, they have outdoor seating, which is kind of like they have been front of the side.
[23:15] Um, you know, we do have in our.
[23:21] Plan is not in our greater comments master plan.
[23:25] It's more it's in the city council goals and in future future planning.
[23:31] I mean, for the city is the landmark property in phase two of the the walkway there that I would consider that property blight right now blight it it's it's under developed it's kind of it's rough, it's needs to be finished off and it's a main main focal point town so potentially we could use some of the urban renewal funding to clean up that and full follow that project.
[24:01] through and that looks like it's in the yeah that
[24:08] would be a perfect candidate project I think for
[24:11] urban renewal.
[24:21] Let's see. One thing I was looking through the reading through the plan again earlier
[24:28] today and property acquisition and blight and there's you know referenced housing in here
[24:38] And there's
[24:43] also reference to loans in here market rate or below market rate loans that can be done, you know, that I'd like to identify some of the properties and this also relates to the some of the city council goals as well.
[24:58] is underutilized properties, the blighted properties are vacated basically properties, homes that are not really being used to their full capacity.
[25:13] If they can, you know, an offer can be made to purchase them or a loan can be given to the homeowner to repair them and get them up to a rentable condition
[25:26] and within agreements that they rented at a percentage of the AMI to help achieve some of
[25:33] that mental housing goals that we've got. So, but it would be important to identify those properties
[25:42] and I think there is an opportunity for us to add a little bit to our map. If there are no
[25:49] already in there, our urban renewal map, but it has to be a contiguous line. It can just be like a
[25:54] block on a property, you know, like we're going to have this, it has to figure out how to
[26:00] like get it into the.
[26:04] I think if we're doing an amendment, I think we have to keep the same
[26:07] map. There was. There was. You can expand it. Yeah. As long as it's a state below whatever
[26:14] percentage it is. Yeah. It can be. It can be. Yeah.
[26:21] Because they expanded it in this bank
[26:22] one. They added a little bit of extra acreage in this model proposal that was shared with
[26:32] us in a small percentage. Pretty close to our maximum. We're very close to our maximum,
[26:38] so to the point that I'm not sure that we could jot it out enough to get some of those, but that
[26:45] That would be, what's our condemnation process, do we have one?
[26:55] No.
[26:57] We have connected with the Lincoln County Building Official on that and started the discussions.
[27:09] We have nuisance ordinances, and we have lack of building activity that we can follow up on.
[27:19] But condemnation has more to do with taxes not being paid, and we don't collect taxes on properties.
[27:28] So it'd be hard to, if they're paying the current on their property tax,
[27:33] for us to fully take their property, sees their property based on nuisance ordinances.
[27:39] But a lot of eminent domain is already put in there, isn't it?
[27:50] You know, you can also look at math and see if there's anything that has been developed.
[27:55] So it could be dropped from moving.
[27:57] I didn't see too many ads tapped on my head.
[28:03] Well, it does include.
[28:06] Yeah, the map pulled up there.
[28:09] It looks like it has all of the.
[28:15] Overleaf village.
[28:17] That's pretty much developed out.
[28:21] Maybe that's big.
[28:22] That's a pretty big section right there that could be removed and then.
[28:26] I think it kind of distorts right around the age of over the village there was that those houses are overly for a village
[28:32] I thought that that where it was
[28:34] All of those lots that go straight back and then that's not the overly from I might be back there
[28:39] But these smaller than that's the village, but then that's that's the teleproperties
[28:44] You got to coho
[28:49] Look where that was at
[28:54] Yeah, that covo
[28:55] with
[29:08] that
[29:09] that hurt us to remove the developed properties
[29:13] because we gain the tax increase value.
[29:21] And that's the point of putting in the underdeveloped,
[29:26] so when it develops, we get that increase
[29:27] and that tax revenue.
[29:31] If you make, you move with it.
[29:33] Somebody developed property.
[29:35] Yeah. All that whole elk mountain property is in there, which if it ever didn't get developed,
[29:43] it would be a benefit to us to keep it. But as we now know, it's going to take somebody special.
[29:51] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a being good project for the committee to
[30:00] Really, relevant, too.
[30:09] Yeah.
[30:20] I think Charles brought this up before, but the wastewater treatment plant is in the URD. So, any wastewater treatment plant projects that you paid for. Yeah,
[30:47] it was in the cemetery included.
[30:55] There's cool. There's not things. Another map alongside. It's going to for sure. It's
[31:20] just more of the king's truth there.
[31:24] It looks like it's out of it from my, is that little box?
[31:28] It's a chemistry.
[31:30] Right down south, right there.
[31:32] That's all it right there.
[31:33] That's all out of it.
[31:33] Yeah.
[31:34] Okay.
[31:49] I think this is going to be a fun project.
[31:52] So I'm looking forward to this.
[31:55] And it does refer to substantial amendments in our urban renewal.
[32:00] And how to go about that when you can add land.
[32:03] as long as it's not an excess of 1% of the existing plan area.
[32:16] That's interesting that it would seem like if you're going to apply for an extension or renewal.
[32:24] But they'd be happy to hear that some of the area has been developed and has now been removed.
[32:31] So that sounds like progress.
[32:36] That's where the money is.
[32:39] Okay.
[32:44] You said that's where the money is.
[32:46] So the base was before it was developed.
[32:49] Like how when you're getting all that incremental.
[32:54] Now.
[32:55] Because of the development.
[32:57] Right.
[32:58] That's that's my that comes flowing into the new.
[33:03] If we thought that there was opportunity other opportunities to see that.
[33:08] increase somewhere else, and yeah, we could consider dropping, so we can identify that.
[33:17] That's what I'm thinking is if you take ten offers, ten acres out because we've developed it.
[33:24] You can go look for ten acres that would be adjacent someplace else and add that.
[33:29] Yeah, it's the fact that it's to be built.
[33:35] Um, one thing that it talks about in here is.
[33:41] Fire fire safety and fire hydrant safety, I think that's, you know, even more than ever is something we really should try to make sure we continue moving forward and we've been putting a lot of effort into it in the last couple of years.
[33:55] we've put, we are working on adding fire hydrants in other areas but in the state rules have
[34:05] changed for where how far the fire hydrants need to be from houses for home permits to be approved
[34:15] and that's created some real hardships in the building and on the south end of town because there's
[34:24] lack of fire hydrants down there. So being able, so that would be an area that might just be out
[34:31] of the urban renewal district that would be beneficial to add to the urban renewal district
[34:36] and put more water safety, fire hydrant safety in that zone, and then that whole zone could be then
[34:42] developed more, which would add to the tax increment funding. So that would be a good strategy.
[34:52] Dave was reporting on that the other day at the public works meeting and talked about
[34:57] we have a long way to go on the fire hydrant conference, so there's a lot of work to do.
[35:01] Yeah, yeah.
[35:08] Then we put, I think we've been putting $30,000 towards fire hydrant safety in the last
[35:16] couple of years and we increased it this year because the increase of expense to fire hydrant
[35:23] applies.
[35:28] Yeah, I think that's what we increased it to.
[35:30] was pretty.
[35:34] Part of the urban renewal district is this block right here.
[35:40] It's up Lake Shell Street. Marine Drive. It's all undeveloped, but I think a lot of that
[35:45] might be wetlands, but I mean there's a big opportunity there for if development could
[35:52] happen if they did. That's actually then partially developed. It's called the village.
[36:04] Yeah, yeah, it has a water line going down the middle of it and sewer comes out on driftwood.
[36:15] Yeah, it was going to be developed, but it went bankrupt.
[36:19] So what about that?
[36:20] There are a lot right there on 101.
[36:22] Does that have a sewer in water?
[36:25] Which one?
[36:25] That's a commercial lot.
[36:26] Yeah,
[36:31] it's got access.
[36:34] That one's just out of the urban rural district there. I think based on this map here, so that a lot the urban but you were just highlighting right there. That could be one that maybe the it would be a purchase by the city through the urban renewal district to do projects there like we have discussed in the past.
[36:57] Since that isn't there have been a renewal district something with services on the bottom and housing on top person feel like that.
[37:09] I also think that's R3 or R4.
[37:13] Is it
[37:16] that or commercial?
[37:19] Yeah.
[37:20] That's commercial.
[37:40] I don't want to one there.
[37:46] I wonder
[38:03] what kind of wetland mitigation project could, if something, if that was purchased
[38:10] with the Urban Renewal District,
[38:13] how he could build something there, kind of keep the
[38:19] wetland future?
[38:22] Well, it used to have a creek going down the middle of it that he redirected it.
[38:34] It is extremely flat and low there that he redirected the law, but
[38:51] still may qualify.
[38:55] We have not written our wetland rules.
[38:59] We have not.
[39:00] And maybe something to keep in mind that to allow sort of an artificial wetlands,
[39:10] if you will, sort of like our pie in the comments, to be offset the natural we can be real
[39:22] rigorous and say, nope, you can't mess with the natural wetlands or we can say we can create
[39:30] the ancient wetlands, more accessible. That's something we need to work with, the DLC and
[39:40] that. Let's see if it's people. Yes, I'll be careful. Well, what do you paint yourselves
[39:49] in a corner? The flatlands might be over the regular. Yeah.
[39:55] That's definitely on our
[39:56] L.W.I. map there. There's some stuff there. There's a process through the state for to
[40:03] in mitigation. Catherine knows about it. Yeah, future conversations. Yeah. So I think we've got
[40:11] a good couple next steps. We'll put it on the council agenda to create an ad hoc advisory committee
[40:19] for the Urban Renewal District and substantial amendment and we can start soliciting members from
[40:31] other city committees that might be interested in participating and and have a goal to have a ad hoc
[40:41] committee assembled in November and I'll continue conversations with Elaine Howard consulting to
[40:52] bring them on board to support the ad hoc committee and the amendments and we'll continue to
[41:01] report back to the Finance Committee on the progress and move forward from there.
[41:09] Next on our agenda is an audit update and I just wanted to share that we have everything
[41:17] that we need to get to the audit, to the company, to the company.
[41:23] It did take time to get all of the documents that they were requiring for us for the first
[41:30] one. It was quite an extensive workload added mostly to Diane and some meal in my plates,
[41:40] but also a lot of interviews with Lorraine and Becca as they are accounts receivable
[41:49] and processes and fixed assets lists and thank you to Tom and our past auditor that helps me
[41:58] We kind of build an update in the list to get to the auditor and now we await results
[42:08] from them, but we've been working on it a lot.
[42:15] And we look forward to getting back those results and then getting going immediately on
[42:21] or 2026 audit and anticipates that that will be a little speedier since we've built
[42:30] a lot of the files for the things that they're looking for now, so that was helpful for
[42:37] us.
[42:37] I think some of the work that we compile for them as, like, all our contracts list,
[42:51] all
[42:51] procurement processes and things a lot of that will come through in the processes that they
[42:59] might identify for us to improve upon. And I think we improved upon them as we were giving them
[43:06] to building some of the processes we were giving them information. So that'll be really interesting
[43:12] to see what comes back from them. So your sense is this time is more thorough, more rigorous than
[43:18] previously. Oh yeah. So good for you for making the change. That's what you want. Yeah, absolutely,
[43:24] absolutely. When we had our very first audits, I was taken back by the lack of engagement and
[43:36] documentation and information and also feedback we got from them. I've been involved in audits
[43:42] before. And they were extremely, extremely rigorous. And the advice that they brought back was,
[43:50] it was always very, very helpful. And you know, you can, you can get going in a, in a forward
[43:59] movement. And sometimes you're not seeing these things on the, the, the blind spots. And they are
[44:04] very helpful to point those out. And it's always, it's always to the benefit of the organization.
[44:09] And so I was used to that kind of feedback coming from an audit and when that did not come from this last audit
[44:15] I the two that I was involved in with our previous audit are I was
[44:21] It made me suspicious
[44:22] This is it I mean, I know we have room to improve too easy. It's just too easy
[44:29] There's room. There's definitely room to improve here. What and we're hired you to point that out for us so we can be
[44:36] doing everything at the top notch.
[44:41] So I experience a much more thorough gathering of documentation and just experience very professional, very timely.
[44:57] They're a very large team.
[45:03] Thank you for approving that, that higher for us. And then Rick, would you like to give us an update on the tiered race discussion? We've heard we've been hearing from Rick each month on his process and he's shared that he's been working, he's been having this conversation with the Public Works and Streets Committee.
[45:28] He's been having this conversation with us, and he's also sharing with Council this discussion that he's having, and he's taking a really slow and methodical approach to this, really engaging all of the different committees and the members of those committees.
[45:44] Also, not just going in with the, this is what we need to do, but really building the backstory on the why and a good opportunity to remind some of the folks that have been
[45:57] and involved with public works and infrastructure and financing for the city for many years, but also education for those that are just joining at the same time.
[46:08] So before just saying this is what we need to do, he's really, really, really going into the why this is what we need to do.
[46:16] So Rick, would you like to give us an update on your most recent conversations and where you're at in the progress process?
[46:24] Yeah, sure, Neil, can you turn on my camera?
[46:28] Oh, what if I did already?
[46:31] So yeah, have you set up his course?
[46:35] So you should be able to...
[46:37] I don't see
[46:40] anything.
[46:48] Did that change anything? I just took it away and gave it back.
[46:57] Well, we can move forward.
[47:00] I just go, oh, there it is.
[47:03] Okay. I'm a little slow on this stuff. Okay, Neil, if you can pull up the rate calculator.
[47:14] I have Neil do all this stuff. It's a lot easier to have him run the Zoom part there.
[47:23] okay so this is a sheet that we shared with public works and streets to start
[47:36] off in the beginning there is 900 and 65 accounts with varying degrees of
[47:44] usage and the little multi-colored square box on the top left
[47:52] is a breakdown of all the users. So like zero units, there's 55 people in town
[48:02] that didn't use a drop of water all year. And one unit, 200 and something.
[48:19] And going
[48:21] 16 of those people, eight, nine, plus seven that are above a hundred, and the colors
[48:30] are the breakdowns of the tiers. This is just an initial starting point. The public
[48:40] works and streets committee. I got this introduced. Now we're discussing how many
[48:50] years and the price for each tier. So in this meeting we discussed four tiers which
[49:00] we may end up with five but zero to two. There's 4,868 units used by that's
[49:17] per year used by 457 people. So there's a lot of people in town that just don't use very much water.
[49:28] And the next year down zero to, I mean two to seven, that's another sweet spot that 424 people
[49:38] used. And then you must have multifamily housing here or big families or
[49:46] vacation rentals. There's only 68 people in that category and they use something
[49:55] like near the zero to two people as far as they don't use a lot of water just
[50:02] not bringing people. And then on the 20 plus that's a combined total of 16
[50:10] people are accounts that use 30,800 which is 51% of our water. And that's pretty high.
[50:29] So what
[50:29] we did was plug in rates. What we think about might be charging. You know, can you punch in 738
[50:39] and add 50 cents for the line and
[50:47] that's where we ended our meeting with those numbers and I
[50:53] got to say this was one of the best meetings that we've had in about water rates that I've
[51:00] attended at Public Works. It was a really good discussion. A lot of points were brought up and challenged
[51:11] which is great because especially as a presenter, I need to be challenged so I can answer questions and also talk more understandably to the people.
[51:29] One of the things I'll be adding in next month's report is the
[51:41] cost of water for a small
[51:43] house.
[51:45] So one of the things that I need to get across is the base cost plus the water used.
[51:53] that is your total water.
[52:00] If you were to do all the bases in town and the water
[52:08] they sold, they're bringing in about 70% of the revenue and the hotels are
[52:20] bringing in about 30% of our total revenue, even though they're behind half the water,
[52:27] when you count base fees, it changes the formula. So that's just the fact that we're going to
[52:39] work with, you know, there's talked about raising the base fees to get it closer to
[52:47] to $900,000, which is the total cost of operations and maintenance.
[52:57] And then if we did that, we'd be able to lower the water rates a little bit.
[53:02] But the idea is to conserve water.
[53:06] I don't want to burden small users.
[53:12] A lot of them are on fixed incomes.
[53:16] but we do need to conserve water and also make about $400,000 in capital costs on revenue, capital
[53:29] revenue. So change that back to $65,000. So right here, we're asking for $400,000 for capital
[53:41] of projects. With that right there, we're at 366 for capital. And that's not counting
[53:51] what I call the bolt-ons to the core water rates like we did with vacation rentals
[54:04] and businesses be charged a little extra,
[54:08] but what this model, there's no free water.
[54:14] So if you go up to the blue box, Neil, then show that a little bit.
[54:23] Okay, in this box, that's our current way we do our water rates is you can see when we
[54:32] give away two units of free water to all of our customers. That comes up to 22,000 units.
[54:40] And we're not collecting revenue on that. The only revenue we're making is
[54:50] off of the heavier users. And what I talked about earlier, there's a lot of small users in town.
[54:59] I struggle with trying to take away the two three units, but I think it may be
[55:05] whatever only paths, we do want people to conserve water, no matter how little or how much you use,
[55:12] try to shave some off.
[55:16] So that's where we ended the conversation.
[55:20] and send out some info, had Neil send out more info to the committee with the master list of 965 ounce that are, that was included in the packet.
[55:39] It's several pages long, but it's color coded too to show the tier break offs.
[55:45] Eric. Yeah. Why you've got that the rate calculator up with the free units. If we kept the base rate where it's at, but did not include any free units, would that get us up to a closer to a $900,000
[56:09] dollar O&M to like cover the operating materials. Neil just changed it and that brings us up to
[56:19] 305 for capital projects. The base rates still are 750,000 which is 150,000 shy of the 900.
[56:33] that is a rule of thumb but as the water guy has departments to run, I can't
[56:43] be too worried with the money coming from as long as it shows up and also
[56:48] promotes conservation.
[56:54] The base rates aren't going to be talked about in the
[56:57] the seniors. Yeah, all of the reading I've done on tiered water rates and enterprise funds is is really your base rate has to cover your O&M.
[57:14] Like you've got that's where you got to cover your base rate.
[57:18] And right now we're we're using our reserves to cover our base rates, which is not a good place to be in.
[57:28] No, no, it's not. I'm just trying to, I don't want to jump on that too fast, but it's going to have to happen, I believe.
[57:38] And in our next public works and streets meeting, we're going to address that and see how that, how the equity goes across all the users after we do that.
[57:52] that I'm going to break it up into percentages of total cost and make it educated.
[58:01] So we can make an educated decision to move forward.
[58:06] I think we have about one more meeting, maybe two, that will have something nailed down to
[58:14] start with lean on.
[58:19] And you'll be able to get them there, how was the read on the room when discussing base rates so far?
[58:33] Oh, yeah.
[58:35] We're going to get there.
[58:37] There was no real pushback on the base rates.
[58:40] It's just more of a concern, you know, because the hotels don't pay as much as the small
[58:52] users in the long run, it does shift more of the burden onto the home owners as far as
[59:01] our total revenue, but I don't think there's anything we can do about that because if we
[59:07] We want to meet our 900,000 and the group is very proactive.
[59:14] There was concerns and yeah but it really got smoothed out good and we're working together
[59:22] good as a team and I do see this coming together with a 900,000 base rate total and 400
[59:34] in capital.
[59:37] Yeah, there was concerns about charging the hotels $8.80 a unit. And that is going to
[59:48] be a little bit of a shocker, but it isn't crazy. It isn't an crazy increase, but a dollar and a half
[59:58] of unity.
[1:00:00] That does add up if you use two or three hundred units. But in the grand scheme of things, I
[1:00:08] do believe hotels have ways they can work around that and pass it on to the hotel renter
[1:00:17] person, and they'll still make their money that they need to make.
[1:00:25] So that's where we're
[1:00:27] Is really questions or yeah, but so we'll go back to that table again. You just play with some numbers a little bit here.
[1:00:39] So this represents no change in the fixed rate, right? So that's still at 65. So if you go to the, okay. So if you put that up to 6650 or something, I mean, it's a small change.
[1:00:57] Okay, so that gets us to 382, not quite the 400 we're looking for.
[1:01:02] I guess that the base rate total up a little bit closer to that raised it to 770.
[1:01:14] For the base rate and with the base rate is what we really want to make sure is covering
[1:01:22] Oh, and the 900 we got to get that.
[1:01:25] Almost have to meet up to 78 to get at that.
[1:01:28] That's right.
[1:01:28] Pretty big.
[1:01:29] That's a big jump.
[1:01:30] So I think incremental.
[1:01:31] We don't need to do it all at once.
[1:01:33] But I think this would be a missed opportunity.
[1:01:35] If we didn't do something.
[1:01:37] Yeah, right.
[1:01:39] And I think it's been set up.
[1:01:40] Rick, you've been talking about.
[1:01:42] And Dave has been talking about.
[1:01:44] And the mayor has been talking about communicating with.
[1:01:54] That rose up.
[1:01:55] uh no you guys can hear me but i can't hear you yeah these you can't hear nobody you
[1:02:17] yeah that's a yeah yeah okay all right
[1:02:24] they're also in there we have a index to uh
[1:02:28] section pass already so okay now it goes up 3% automatically and then we're talking
[1:02:38] Okay, so this 65, 12 represents 3% already?
[1:02:43] I, you know, for a year or a half, right?
[1:02:51] Every year, yeah, it's the construction index.
[1:02:56] Right, so what is this 65 represent that we're looking at?
[1:03:00] Is that the last year's rate record current?
[1:03:03] Current rate.
[1:03:04] No, that's current.
[1:03:06] Not to over complicate things, but that is the base rate for a five-eighths regular residential
[1:03:15] consumer. We have a whole plethora of different base rates, so it would be really complicated
[1:03:23] to try to represent that on a spreadsheet here, but most people have a five-eighths.
[1:03:29] We're within a couple percent of the absolute number and by the time it hits council, I do believe that we'll have it within the pennies, you know, because I want it to be able to be bulletproof challenged internet proof.
[1:03:52] So if it's currently 65 and let's just say it's July 1st or whatever the date is that
[1:04:00] we implement the new rates, we're not talking about 65 again, right?
[1:04:05] We're talking about 65 plus whatever this, yeah, we have a CPI index that goes up each
[1:04:16] year, this year, it was 3% last year, it was 1%, so that's dependent on the consumer
[1:04:25] price index.
[1:04:26] Okay, but I think it's a pretty safe bet, that's going to be another 3%, or more.
[1:04:31] So, this 65, all of a sudden, will become 67, next July.
[1:04:36] Yeah,
[1:04:40] so yeah, my goal was to have our new rates, this is going to suck for people
[1:04:46] that have our new rates set up and then when our next CPI comes along that it bumps it up again.
[1:04:55] So it's in rhythm. Yeah. So have the new rates in place first and then
[1:05:01] yeah. July, I want it. That's the only way our numbers stay true. Yeah. Yeah.
[1:05:11] And so tell me how that's going to work.
[1:05:15] So there being increased before the July and then another increase.
[1:05:22] Okay.
[1:05:24] And if we don't make it before July, we'll have to add that CPI to our current presentation
[1:05:33] of how we're doing two things.
[1:05:36] So if you go back to that template, you know, and let's just assume
[1:05:41] inflation three percent on that base rate. So that number will become 6707.
[1:06:01] I mean that's yeah
[1:06:03] we're close to be at 400,000. Yeah but we're right here we're looking at the 900,000.
[1:06:10] Oh yeah we're trying to get our base rates to come up. When we're talking, when we're talking
[1:06:18] we're talking capital projects which is the 400 goals. So there's the 400 goal for capital projects and 900 goal for operating in material.
[1:06:28] Right.
[1:06:31] So how far sure are we in 900 and 770 so that sounds like 120 and 900 so that's we're still we're still to get there.
[1:06:42] Yeah,
[1:06:46] well, we're going to work this out in next public works and streets meeting and be really interesting to see this.
[1:06:59] You know, it does complicate things, but those larger users are also paying higher base rates. So what's that equal out to?
[1:07:08] So, you know, like, yeah, that's another thing I'm going to do.
[1:07:14] It doesn't have an important piece of the puzzle because they are contributing in that way.
[1:07:20] Yeah, but there's only like 16 of them.
[1:07:24] But that is, I'm going to break it up into two separate calculators.
[1:07:29] And how much are we bringing in with the added vacation rental increase?
[1:07:38] that we did with those bolt-ons how much are have we made up that initial gap with the bolt-ons?
[1:07:49] We need to be considering what those are also because that's just the base base basic rate
[1:07:56] that we're looking at is the 766,000 or 754,000 as the base rate for the small connections,
[1:08:07] But that's not all we need.
[1:08:09] I'll need to get with the utility clerk and nearly.
[1:08:13] Okay.
[1:08:14] To iron that out because that's information I really don't know.
[1:08:18] Okay, yeah, I think that would be a good.
[1:08:20] Just to take the paint the picture bigger next time.
[1:08:25] I think we've just been doing little little bits each time.
[1:08:28] That's like the next level of.
[1:08:31] At added information.
[1:08:33] But I think giving it and bite size chunks each time is.
[1:08:36] what helps it become more digestible, helps it become information that sinks in deeper and
[1:08:46] each person gets a greater understanding and more time for community members to hear about it
[1:08:53] and understand it. So I think next time if we can kind of see and we can have our utilities
[1:08:59] least person work on it. Utility Billing work on it is looking at the higher level based rates
[1:09:06] as well as the, I don't know, she has a good presentation on the add-ons that we have done
[1:09:13] in the last year or so with that include vacation rate increase and vacation rental rates increase,
[1:09:23] which brings it like that.
[1:09:26] How many days that is?
[1:09:28] We are ready for that.
[1:09:29] Yeah.
[1:09:32] What's that?
[1:09:33] Well, I'm looking at the chart.
[1:09:36] Can I see lots of base rates?
[1:09:38] I'm wondering.
[1:09:40] What we're done if we can consolidate the tiers of the base rates.
[1:09:45] So that you've got, you know, if you're.
[1:09:46] I've got a size that.
[1:09:49] If we wanted one and a half or one,
[1:09:50] one to two is that it's the same as the tiered rate versus having so many unique base rates.
[1:10:04] That's a lot of different base rates. Yeah. Yeah, I will say I'd be more than happy to do that.
[1:10:12] I had it set up that way at our last rate increase that Tom talked to the council into doing this.
[1:10:24] So I'm happy to condense it.
[1:10:33] I have a question. We want to hit the 900,000 for the O&M raising the 900 base for the 900 and some people.
[1:10:42] Well, then we'll see the shortfall between that number and the 900,000 couldn't that be given to the 16 big users because they just passed the cost on to their guests.
[1:10:56] Yeah.
[1:10:57] And they're paying 99% on the rental.
[1:11:00] I mean, the PRT maybe.
[1:11:04] Around the other areas of 12%. So they can look right there.
[1:11:07] Yeah, and a lot of these are made up like dub water outside the city limits. We have 11 accounts that are outside the city limits and they get charged more.
[1:11:22] So that's why there's some extras there, but the two-inch meters do have a couple of different
[1:11:30] bees.
[1:11:32] And I would really like to standardize that, and a two-inch meter is this much money.
[1:11:47] That way when we're figuring we can, you know, it's a two-inch meter, a two-inch meter.
[1:11:56] But we have been getting by this way.
[1:11:59] I know there was a reason for why Tom wanted to do that, but I can't remember why. I think there was a mistake made several years ago, and this was a way to balance it or something.
[1:12:12] Yeah, that's what I remember too. It was like a makeup for just past injustices.
[1:12:22] Yeah,
[1:12:23] which is fine. And I asked Tom, this will never sunset. Yeah, he said it went on so
[1:12:31] long that there's probably another sunset.
[1:12:35] So you see the, the while we were looking at
[1:12:38] the base rate of being 65 for the calculation there, the hotel has, you know, 200, 300,
[1:12:52] 173 varying base rate prices that can really add to that.
[1:13:01] Yeah,
[1:13:06] I'd like to understand more about the in the mistakes in the past. So I can, because the whole whoever has the pay in the bill, they know the mistakes.
[1:13:21] And I'd hate to mess with them and that go site, you decided not to work with them.
[1:13:30] So anyway, I think Neil has a pretty good understanding.
[1:13:36] What was your name, Neil?
[1:13:37] That gave you the break down spreadsheet.
[1:13:40] Oh, Becca?
[1:13:42] No, the previous finance person, that was Tom.
[1:13:52] Yeah,
[1:14:00] we could take a look at those.
[1:14:04] Yeah, but yeah, let's get into the brass stacks, you know.
[1:14:08] And that way it's a closer to being adopted.
[1:14:12] And true.
[1:14:14] True.
[1:14:14] That we could actually talk out loud about.
[1:14:17] I think we add in some of those hotel buildings.
[1:14:19] base rates there, and we get ourselves closer to that 900.
[1:14:30] It's very few.
[1:14:31] Yeah.
[1:14:32] Yeah.
[1:14:34] But it will be, you know, we are within a few percent right now.
[1:14:40] But to go public, we should really be tight.
[1:14:45] Yeah.
[1:14:46] Yeah.
[1:14:46] When it starts getting talked about by the public.
[1:14:49] Yeah.
[1:14:49] I think the reality is in this next step we're going to be shorter than 900 I mean that's
[1:14:54] that's an awfully big jump, right? And my view is
[1:15:00] That's successful. I know philosophically, that's what we want to work towards. But if you can jack up the youth entry revenue that comes from consumption. Yeah. And, you know, it allows us almost gets us that almost 400,000, you know, to be committed to capital projects. I mean, I mean, yeah, we were saying self funded. Right. So,
[1:15:29] So this is a way to get there, also helps encourage conservation too, which is one of those.
[1:15:38] And it aligns us with the drinking water protection plans that we've had created for
[1:15:47] us and it puts us in line with plans that we've produced.
[1:15:53] And also it helps with grants to Neil knows more than I do about that but he's been asked
[1:16:02] a few times what are we doing for conservation and we really haven't been doing.
[1:16:13] I like the
[1:16:13] mayor knows I like cell water.
[1:16:19] Well thanks Rick. I do think you're taking a great
[1:16:23] approach to this project and slow and steady.
[1:16:27] A couple more comments here, Rick, for you.
[1:16:33] So I appreciate your patience in this process. Sometimes I sit in the back of the room and I'm
[1:16:38] ready to tear my hair out. And you're not, right? So you've tried to be inclusive
[1:16:48] and get members on the committee to participate.
[1:16:53] And I think you've done a wonderful job of that.
[1:16:55] Sometimes I think you're too open to that.
[1:16:59] I mean, you're the guy that knows, right?
[1:17:02] So you've been this business for 30 years or whatever the number is.
[1:17:06] And sometimes I feel like I should look to you for expert advice, right?
[1:17:12] Because you've done this and you've been there.
[1:17:14] And sometimes I sit there and think, come on, Rick, grab the bull by the horns and provide some guidance and direction as people are kind of going off to La La land and some of their arguments, right?
[1:17:29] They come back to find line.
[1:17:31] Yeah, I know I want to keep information. Believe me, I have several things on the tip of my tongue that you know, I want them to keep talking and the one that was, you know, making people folder her out. He came around.
[1:17:55] Yeah, eventually did he gave off by thank you anyway. Thank you for the comments next on our agenda. We've got just a revised update on where our transient lodging tax revenue and food beverage revenue was and we did give an update during our last meeting where we hadn't had our final numbers compiled yet.
[1:18:24] this is these are our final numbers for transient lodging tax and we're pleased that our numbers have
[1:18:31] were consistently up each quarter and and and a good percentage up over what we had originally
[1:18:41] budgeted we had originally budgeted to bring in one million three hundred and fifty thousand dollars
[1:18:49] and we brought in $1,500, and almost $86,000.
[1:18:56] So that's really positive.
[1:19:00] And I think we all saw a good increase in the community
[1:19:05] for tourism throughout the year.
[1:19:08] And it's nice to see it not just in the summer months.
[1:19:11] I like that we see it in our winter and spring months as well.
[1:19:16] Um, you know, how much of this is additional people to inflation because we do receive
[1:19:25] our revenue based on a percentage. So if they're charging higher, we're receiving higher.
[1:19:30] But I do think it was probably a combination of rates being up just a little bit,
[1:19:36] ex-food rates. Sorry, I guess we're looking at transient lodging. But I do, I felt that there
[1:19:42] was more people here as well. Do we ever get the group in the occupancy rate for these places?
[1:19:51] So we know if they're have more growth available or other? I did not, but I can.
[1:20:03] The chamber has some members on them. They do. They do. They collect them. So I want to ask.
[1:20:12] The other thing we get dug is traffic reports. So we know how many cars are entering and
[1:20:18] leaving in the city, so that's another, maybe, indicator.
[1:20:26] Not all the hotels, but some of the more sophisticated hotels
[1:20:31] use yield management software.
[1:20:34] So the price is very in order to keep the room rates
[1:20:38] at a certain level.
[1:20:39] So for us, it doesn't really, I don't think
[1:20:43] the wash itself is there as they reduce their rates
[1:20:49] to keep more people in the room.
[1:20:51] we still benefit from that, and if they raise the rates, we benefit from that also.
[1:20:59] I don't know how many of the hotels you've sealed management.
[1:21:03] I know that the biggest hotel does, and I'm assuming at least one is not two of the other ones.
[1:21:12] And I do know quite a bit of the vacation rentals.
[1:21:16] They also really do a lot of dynamic pricing as well,
[1:21:19] when they're all constantly watching the pricing to try to keep their their spaces sold. Yeah,
[1:21:26] but our highest year yet, which you know, we had pretty banner years in 22 and 23 and then
[1:21:35] here we go in 2025 and 26 up
[1:21:42] and over. Good things. What did we budget for this year?
[1:21:47] 1.5 for this coming year? Yes, 1.5 million. And then into food and beverage, we also are increased.
[1:22:03] And there was a moment where we were a little concerned. But I think that was from a couple
[1:22:12] restaurants not getting paid but then sell sales and getting paid up and you know getting
[1:22:20] hot up on that. So where we were at one point lacking it was I think from restaurants being
[1:22:26] behind not that in paying us not that we were behind in revenue period but us getting the revenue
[1:22:34] from the hotel years. So we are catching up. It looks like that July through September
[1:22:44] quarter, quarter one in this 26 fiscal year was actually a little bit behind, but we've caught
[1:22:54] up on the subsequent quarters that April through June was was a good one for this year.
[1:23:07] So, the quarter one, we were down roughly $6,000, but then each subsequent, we were up.
[1:23:20] So, $544,265 was what we brought in and the budget, I believe, was about $480, I think,
[1:23:34] because what we had budgeted to bring it in for food and beverage.
[1:23:38] I know we budgeted for 500 this year and last year we were a little bit more conservative.
[1:23:45] You'll bring that up.
[1:23:59] Concerned something.
[1:24:02] Drift and be offline for week.
[1:24:07] Labor day and weekend, it's kind of like I just got hurt them big time.
[1:24:12] But then it also impacts us.
[1:24:14] Absolutely.
[1:24:16] I think we will. Yeah,
[1:24:22] so we budgeted $500,000 last year. We've also budgeted $500,000
[1:24:27] that we can this year. So 44,000 over what we had budgeted last year. So if we continue
[1:24:34] on this track, we will be again over budget, but both on the transient lodging tax and in
[1:24:42] the food and beverage, we approached the budgeting, you know, giving more room than we had
[1:24:51] the previous year, but still being a little conservative based off this year, did not
[1:24:56] to just bank on it being more every year, so just being a little bit conservative there.
[1:25:03] So that's where we're at with that. Any questions or thoughts or comments?
[1:25:17] They're having a soft opening on the 16th the next week on Thursday and then it sounds
[1:25:27] like they're opening on the 17th for kind of a they haven't really promoted it but they'll
[1:25:34] start opening their doors slowly and then a grand opening on the 25th of September where they'll
[1:25:41] be doing a ribbon cutting ceremony and stuff before they have their first food service
[1:25:46] that day we're evening. I think that'll be a big boost to our food and beverage and hopefully
[1:25:59] make up for the loss that we had over Labor Day weekend and some.
[1:26:04] I mean, can I just get, we did report it in the control of finding workers, they're not.
[1:26:13] In fact, I would say just for my observation, they have had quite the opposite.
[1:26:22] It looks like they have a plethora of staff that they have hired.
[1:26:27] They've been very active the last several days over the last week holding orientations
[1:26:34] in room eight, full room, and full parking lot. And they have been doing trainings each day
[1:26:43] over at the building. And there's a large volume of what appeared to be employees.
[1:26:53] Well, so I think that hiring fair. I'm seeing what I've heard is the wages they're talking about
[1:27:03] for like $28 an hour, which gets to poaching. So I mean, that could have a big impact on the
[1:27:12] other businesses. So don't quote me in the 28, but I think that that's they're saying
[1:27:18] that's what I heard is that for servers, the hourly rate plus tips, I think will be $28 an hour.
[1:27:31] I haven't heard any of those details yet, but I know that they have had a day we had
[1:27:38] a meeting and here they were having a job fair, and there was quite a few people who went
[1:27:42] back there.
[1:27:42] So they've been putting a lot of effort into it.
[1:27:44] I do not know if there's been deliberate poaching involved, but I honestly haven't seen any
[1:27:55] familiar faces.
[1:27:56] in their employees that have been on our city campus. Have you noticed anybody that looked
[1:28:04] like from another restaurant too? I haven't, but oh.
[1:28:11] What did I recognize anyway?
[1:28:13] Yeah, yeah. So I imagine it will have an impact on our other restaurants in one way or another.
[1:28:23] Hopefully, it helps alleviate some of the pain felt on some of the restaurants during the summer months when there is families in lines for 45 minutes at each location, and there now is another option.
[1:28:40] So hopefully, it more helps distribute the places for visitors to eat rather than being too much of a burden on any of our local establishments.
[1:28:52] anything from the committee or staff.
[1:29:01] One thing from me I will report is that I've had
[1:29:08] a couple conversations with the community spaces committee during one of our chairs meeting
[1:29:16] that we have each month and then again just shortly after their regular meeting and they
[1:29:25] They are putting together kind of a one sheet talking points on what the benefit would
[1:29:33] be to raising transient lodging tax and going to start having some conversations with hotel
[1:29:42] years just to gauge their support or lack of support on the endeavor and really highlighting
[1:29:50] the increase amount that 3% additional would be all earmarked.
[1:30:00] For greater commons, projects, not only the state regulated promotion part, but the general
[1:30:16] fund side as well, being really earmarked for funds that would go to completing projects
[1:30:24] that benefit the community spaces, the commons, trails, parks, things like that.
[1:30:32] So they're starting to dip their toes in the water there and have conversations and their
[1:30:39] chair and we met and we printed out the master plan in which role of the projects and kind
[1:30:50] of identified which projects that I felt could be maybe a split between what would be reserved on
[1:31:01] the general fund side of that collection and the visitor amenities side of that collection and
[1:31:07] how kind of those splits could happen to fund varying different projects if it was more on the
[1:31:11] something that we could clear cut and do out of the visitor amenities restricted account or the one
[1:31:18] that would be more flexible from the general fund accounts and going to went through those
[1:31:24] so that he didn't just go to the hoteliers and say, all of these are clearly
[1:31:30] and discriminating. He's just trying to give some parameters and some guidelines and like,
[1:31:35] you know, talked a lot about how, so like the Commons building, yes, it does have a lot of
[1:31:41] visitor promotion, but it also has a lot of resident use and benefit too. So it is not fully funded
[1:31:48] by our visitor amenities, but we do a percentage, 70-30 percentage because really weekends are the
[1:31:55] time where visitors use it. In weekdays are the time that it's really resident heavy. So that that
[1:32:01] based on that kind of percentage split that we use for this building and looking at kind of the
[1:32:06] the usages of the different proposed projects and kind of looking at weighing it out percentage
[1:32:12] I think it's going to be $47,000 for some time.
[1:32:18] What was that?
[1:32:19] 3% based on the latest figures, again, of the $47,500.
[1:32:24] $47,500.
[1:32:26] Yes.
[1:32:27] Reaching the next 5%.
[1:32:29] 3%.
[1:32:31] So we continue to have large accruals on the amenities side
[1:32:40] of things, right?
[1:32:41] But we are doing a much better job of sending them in.
[1:32:48] Yes, then we have in the past.
[1:32:50] Okay.
[1:32:50] Yep.
[1:32:52] So it's not quite as heavy as it used to be.
[1:32:55] But it is being used as it should be and being invested in ways that in return, promote
[1:33:03] tourism.
[1:33:07] So that's my additional little announcement that wasn't on the agenda, but wanted to share
[1:33:13] with everybody and if we have nothing else from the committee, I'll go ahead and I join the meeting
[1:33:21] and thank you all for attending today. Thank you.