City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, we're ready to get started. Today is Tuesday, March 10th, 2026. This is a city council's work session. I am calling this meeting to order and giving notice to the public and to the city council that at this work session, we may vote to go into executive session, which will not be open to the public for discussion and consultation with the city's attorneys for legal advice on any item listed on the following agenda. Can we have a roll call? Mayor Daget here. Vice Mayor here. Council member Alen. Council member Garcia present. Council member House.

I'm here. Thank you. Council member Matthews here. Council member Spence here. Vice Mayor, would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Would be my honor. Please stand if you're able. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nationy and justice for all. Council member Garcia, would you read our mission statement? The mission of the city of Flagstaff is to protect and enhance the quality of life for all.

And Council Member Matthews, would you read our land acknowledgement? My pleasure. The Flagstaff City Council humbly acknowledges the ancestral homelands of this area's indigenous nations and original stewards. These lands, still inhabited by native descendants, border mountain sacred to indigenous peoples. We honor them, their legacies, their traditions, and their continued contributions. We celebrate their past, present, and future generations who will forever know this place as home.

Thank you. Next up is open call to the public where the public can uh comment on anything that is not on today's agenda. And we have Dennis Given. Thanks a lot, Madame Mayor, Madame Vice Mayor, City Council, staff, and good citizens of Flagstaff. Hello. My name is Dennis Given. Some people call me the space cowboy. Some people call me the gangster of love. I'm here to speak about underpasses for the railroad tracks. Please speed up the downtown mile project. Lobby the federal or state for funding. It will be safer to cross the tracks. Last year we had 12 deaths and a few this year. People will feel safer to bike and walk and hopefully make the flow of traffic run smoothly. I also support the proposed sevenstory building next to city hall. A grocery store at the base level to help with more food security downtown. Parking levels to address our parking problem. residential levels to add more housing to the city's supply, hotel levels to eliminate the need for short-term rentals, and we could build a greenhouse, solar panels, and a social gathering spot on the rooftop. We can negotiate a deal with Clark's nutrition and natural foods market to go into the bottom level. More healthy food stores can create competition for lowering grocery prices in Flagstaff. A healthier pro, add healthier produce options in our community, create more sustainable jobs. We could design easy delivery access points for trucks, use the building for city employee, city employee housing as well. It will help retain quality employees. The zero miles travel will allow staff to save money and energy. It also aligns with our carbon neutrality plan and our regional plan for more density downtown to prevent urban sprawl. We could add a child care center for city employees in the building as well. Also, thanks for adding a snack machine upstairs for visitors. Let's get rid of the high

sugar sodas and place them with low calorie liquid depth flavored sparkling waters to eliminate brain fog, which is not optimal for work productivity. The poppy sodas are great prebiotic sodas, but let's also add some probiotic drinks as well. They are excellent for the gut. The gut is your second brain. It communicates with the brain via the varus nerve and microbiome influencing mood, immunity, and stress responses. Thank you. Have a healthy day. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have a review of our draft agenda for March 17th. Council, do you have any comments?

Anything?

Okay. So, we've reviewed it. All right. Next up, we have a presentation on the Mountain Rose and Mountain Arts Conservatory. Come on down. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. David McIntyre, community investment director. Um, you may recall that the arts and science and beautifification program did a study uh about a year and a half ago in which we received a lot of public impact. One of the main issues that was identified uh by the public fairly universally was a lack of affordable and available venue space. Um this has been something that as somebody who's been a part of the arts and science team I've been aware of uh on a very regular uh level as well. And here to speak about a community effort to address some of that gap is Don Tucker who's the director of vision and impact for Flagstaff Shakespeare's Festival. Don,

thank you. quote, "Flag Staff needs a new and more useful center for the performing arts. Compared to cities of similar size, Flag Staff lags behind. This is a cultural issue, a quality of life issue, and an economic issue." Hello, Mayor, council members, and city staff. Thank you so much for your time today. What you just heard is a quote from the 2018 feasibility study for a center for the performing arts in Flagstaff, Arizona, conducted by Arts Market. My name is Don Tucker. I'm the director of vision and impact at Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival and I grew up right here in this beautiful mountain town. I'm here today to share an exciting vision for the future of the performing arts in Flagstaff. One that speaks directly to this community's values. our love for this place, our commitment to sustainability, our desire to be a city where people choose to visit, choose to stay, choose, and can afford to live. At the heart of this vision is a commitment to enriching Flagstaff through creativity and collaboration and creating for the first time a permanent home for the performing arts in Flagstaff. Today, I'll take you on a journey. We'll begin with a little bit about Flag Shakes, who we are, and why we're leading this effort. Then I'll walk you through data showing the need and impact around a performing arts center here in Flagstaff. Next, I'll introduce you to the Mountain Rose Theater that sparked the larger vision. And finally, we'll spend most of our time focused on the main part of today's presentation, the Mountain Arts Conservatory. By the time we're done, I hope you'll understand why this project, as the mountain arts, as the arts market study puts it, is not just a cultural issue, but a quality of life issue and an economic issue for the future of Flagstaff. Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival, Flag Shakes, is the only year-round

professional theater company in Northern Arizona. We were founded in 2015. And while Shakespeare is at the heart of what we perform, what's really at this heart of this company is my love for the town I grew up in and the amazing people who call it home. From day one, Flag Shakes has been built on collaboration and community impact above everything else. And it's that same spirit that led us to spearhead a project much bigger than ourselves, a performing arts center for all of Flagstaff. Over more than a decade, Flag Shakes has built a track record of financial stability and grown into a cornerstone of Flagstaff's cultural landscape. We are proud to integrate live music into our productions. We run workshops, matineese, theater for young audiences shows, and we are now in the fourth year of our everexpanding theater for aging audiences programming. We've been recognized with viola awards in the performing arts and community impact. And at Flag Shakes, we've always prioritized paying our artists and responding to real community needs. But our work and the work of every arts organization in this city is constrained by the spaces available to us. In 2018, a comprehensive feasibility study of the state of the performing arts venues in Flagstaff found sorry was conducted and its findings were unambiguous. Flagstaff lacks sufficient performing arts venues. The study found that existing venues will continue to bustle with programming, but significantly more space is needed. Arts organizations increase face increasing barriers to scheduling, affordability, and access. Demand far exceeds current capacity for arts education and participatory programming. Education and participatory programming is in high demand across our community and organizations like theatrics find themselves turning away children who want to participate purely

because they lack the space. Existing venues are overextended, technically limited or unavailable due to competing priorities. Limitations like not having green rooms or state-of-the-art accessibility features, including assistive listening systems and fully integrated wheelchair access for both patrons and performers, prevent arts organizations from creating the kind of highc caliber and accessible work they are capable of creating. And critically, arts and culture engagement plays a significant role in economic vitality, health, education, and social connection. Arts Market Research projected 5 to7 million in annual economic impact from this facility along with 88 new full-time jobs. Returns that compare favorably to any infrastructure investment the city might consider. Arts attendees spend between 31 to 38 per person beyond admission fees on drinking, shopping, parking, lodging. Over 80% of that spending happens offsite, flowing directly into Flagstaff's businesses. Cultural tourists spend on average $623 per trip and stay two nights longer. This is an economic engine that a destination arts facility creates and it has no shoulder season. Discover Flag Staff estimates that the slowest tourist months in order beginning slowest with the slowest to be January, February, November, December, and March. Yet, these months are full of artistic programming from some of our most prolific performing arts organizations and are also prime months for the touring in of Broadway caliber shows already on the road through ASU Gamage that could be brought to

Flagstaff to increase visitation if we had the facilities to support them. The moment is right, and delay means continued loss of artists, audiences, and economic opportunity. This isn't just about tourism. Skilled workers increasingly choose communities based on quality of life and cultural amenities. The Knight Foundation found that emotional attachment to a place driven by art and culture offerings predicts long-term economic performance more strongly than job availability alone. And community attachment depends less on who people are than on their perceptions of the community. As the study states, this gives community leaders a powerful tool to influence residents attachments, no matter who they are. The ripple effects are measurable. Adults who attend arts events are 2.6 times more likely to volunteer. Arts participation is linked to higher civic engagement, longer residency, and stronger workforce stability. Artists with access to professional workspaces earn more locally, diversify their income, and are far less likely to leave for larger cities. Communities with dedicated arts facilities retain creative professionals at dramatically higher rates. This facility means higher income for artists and a home for artists right here in Flagstaff. And because, as Robin Waller reminds us, all flourishing is mutual. These benefits extend beyond local businesses, artists, tourists, and established residents. A shared use facility changes everything about access. Shared infrastructure means lower operating costs from each organization, which leads directly to more affordable ticket prices and extend

expanded public programming. Reduced ticket prices is especially important in Flagstaff because while median and mean household income is higher than Arizona statewide comparisons, the percent of households living at poverty is high. Programming becomes less expensive when arts organization share overhead and access to high threshold foundations like Flynn and Holly Foundation increase as budgets increase. We can double our audience numbers because cost lowers and the most basic barriers to entry are removed. In this, I like to use the metaphor of the grocery store. So, I would like you all to imagine for a moment that you need groceries. Where are you going? Are you going to the first grocery store you see? Are you going to the grocery store closest to your home? Or are you going to the grocery store where you always get your groceries? The answer is almost assuredly three. And maybe number two is also number three. It's the one closest to home. But it's because you're familiar with it. And even for humans with no accessibility issues, familiarity is imperative. But now imagine you're in a wheelchair or you have another physical disability. You're definitely going to that grocery store you know the best because you'll know if the door will open for you. You'll know which aisle everything you need is in. You'll know how to check out. If you have sensory issues, it's going to be important to know which cashier is friendly and you've already seen before, which aisles are too loud, that kind of thing. And the same thing is true for a performing arts center. And that's how these audience numbers double. And research on young people is striking. Students engaged in ongoing arts education at dedicated facilities are four times more likely to be recognized for their academic achievement. Three times more likely to get a bachelor's degree. And we see increased

measurably increased critical thinking, social emotional learning, and problem solving skills. An arts facility is an investment in the health, education, and future of every resident of this community. In the 2018 arts, sorry, the 2018 arts market study united the performing arts organizations in Flagstaff around this shared vision. But leadership changes brought the work to a halt. From 2019 through the pandemic, these organizations kept collaborating and holding on to the vision even as the project went into a natural hiatus. In spring of 2015, we reformed stronger and more committed before than before. With the support of PWMA authentic architecture and Kenny Construction, we have honed and refined our vision for a shared home and the support we've se re received far exceeds 2018 levels. This community is ready. Flagstaff's most established and beloved arts organizations are all coming to the table as collaborators. Each partner plays a vital role in the shared vision in performing arts. Stargazer Collaborative Theater, Momentum Aerial, Theatric House Theater Company, uh Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival, Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, Master Corral of Flagstaff, Ballet Folklorico Deores, Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival, and Flagstaff Foundry. and in community and education, Southside Community Association, Theatric Kids, and Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, Unimplace and Environment, PWMA Architecture, Kenny Construction, and the Dark Skies Coalition. What emerged from this collaboration is what I'm about to show you, a facility designed by artists and community members. Um, and in your little packet that you got from me, don't look at it now, keep listening, but in your little packet, there's a

handout that talks more about all the incredible things that all of these organizations do, and you'll just be floored. Um, our vision for this particular facility began with a simple dream, an open air timber framed mini globe nestled in our ponderosa pines. The mountain rose is modeled after Shakespeare's own globe with its round seating and open top. But this flag version will be truly Flagstaffian with open walls as well like watching Shakespeare or the symphony in a treehouse with lighting designed by the Flagstaff Dark Sky Coalition. This unique in the world outdoor venue will be the only place where you can see the actors on stage and look up and see the Milky Way. The Mountain Rose will inspire lasting joy across generations through art that thrives in harmony with the natural world. As the first and largest Oops, I went one slide too far. Uh, as the first and largest designated dark sky in the world, Flagstaff is the perfect place for this open air globe. And this environmentally focused place-based venue is just the first part of a greater vision for the Flagstaff community. Enter the Mountain Arts Conservatory. The Mountain Arts Conservatory will be Northern Arizona's premier hub for creativity, collaboration, and cultural exchange. Inside, you'll find a playhouse, a blackbox, classrooms, aerial dance space, and a main rehearsal hall mirroring the stage. Outside you'll find the mountain rose and aerial harness dance wall with amphitheater and aka reserved for use by Native American performers and wisdom carriers. This is not just a building. This is a permanent home for performing arts in Flagstaff. The facility not only meets the needs of Flagstaff's performing arts organizations and patrons, it has a broader community impact. The arts

market study found that at full operation, the study will be home, the sorry, the center will be home to between 8 to 10 resident organizations, will serve as an incubator for as many as four additional organizations, and will provide as many as 32 performance events a year, and it will serve as much as 190,000 people a year. This estimate did not include the outdoor venue which would provide at least another 174 performances a year and it also doesn't include theatricos and theatric kids programming. So even this astonishing number is an underestimation of the profound impact and need in the community. The architecture of the Mountain Arts Conservatory is designed to feel organic as it is gently emerged from the landscape itself. In the 2018 public meetings for the feasibility study, our community asked for a space whose very design embodies warmth, color, and cultural diversity. This was echoed by the cultural partners who now form the coalition on this project. At every scale, the design prioritizes a gentle tempo, calm, and inclusivity, including triilingual signage in English, Spanish, and Navajo. Your experience begins before you even step outside. You begin outdoors and then gradually transition inward as if entering a canyon. Walls rise slowly around you. Suddenly, the space envelops you as you emerge into a lobby inspired by the high desert sky. Inside the lobby, you'll find a grand piano, cocktail tables, comfortable seating for a pre-show gathering, a box office, concessions, patron restrooms, and a coat check. Sorry. On the campus of the conservatory, the

Mountain Rose Theater itself is inspired by the Ponderosa Pine. Resilient, communal, expansive. The stage of the Mountain Rose is 1500 square f feet fully covered, 400 covered heated seats in the audience with room for 200 more standing. The Mountain Rose will be home to flag shakes and provide a venue for so many others. Musicians, dancers, and even acrobats will perform here through the summer season. In contrast to the warmth of the forest, the black box draws from basalts, lava flows, and volcanic caves. the deep geological forces beneath Flagstaff's surface. The Blackbox holds a flexible performance space of up to 150 seats. The Blackbox will be home to smaller shows by all our theater organizations and improv dance, the Flagstaff Foundry, and the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival. The aerial studio is shaped by the element of air, inspired by fresh wind, open skies, and the flowing qualities of Aquarius. Inside three primary training spaces for silks, lera and hammock, a dance studio, trappies training space, a pole training studio, and a studio for private lessons and open practice. The aerial studio will be home to momentum aerial circus education and a whole range of new dance programming from Mommy and Me to Silver Sneakers. The Playhouse celebrates elevation and perspective where earth meets sky. Audience areas are grounded in greens and browns reflecting the forest soil. The stage transitions to white and blue, lifting the eye upward. The color story mirrors our geological stratification, creating a sense of emotional ascent while the performance unfolds. This is a home for any artist who needs a world-class

fullscale venue in Northern Arizona. Now, let me show you how we intend to get there. Nope, too far. What's inside? Uh, the playhouse features a 1600 square foot stage with fly system, wings, and full lighting truss. 500 seats on the main floor and 300 in the balcony. an orchestra pit or optional thrust stage configuration. All designed with state-of-the-art accessibility, including assistive listening systems, captioning capability, audio description, and fully integrated wheelchair access for both patrons and performers. This is the professional-grade venue that Flagstaff nonprofit arts community has been dreaming of for decades. The Peaks Playhouse will allow Star Gazer Collaborative Theater and Theatric Hosts and Theatric Kids to fully realized musicals and plays that make you feel like you're stepping into the West End. It will be home to Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, Master Corral of Flagstaff, and have the space we need for largecale collaborations that we all love. Can you imagine Alice in Wonderland featuring featuring highc caliber singers, aerialists flying in teacups, and an orchestra playing the score?

Let's do it. The vision has been estimated by Kenny Construction at approximately $31 million. We're approaching it intelligently in phases that allow us to break ground as funding becomes available rather than waiting until every dollar is raised. Phase one, the Mountain Rose Theater, lobby, and parking. We can break ground when we've raised 3 million. Phase two, the aerial studio complete. Uh we can begin construction when we reach 9 million raised. Phase three, complete construction and finalized landscaping. This requires $26 million raised and an additional seven million pledged or borrowed to compete complete the full vision. This phased approach means we can start building as soon as the community is ready. And each phase we complete brings jobs activity and momentum that makes the next phase easier to fund. The construction cost is only part of a complete campaign. Furnitureures, fixtures, and equipment add 5.5 to 6.7 million. An endowment adds a prudent 4.65 million. And a conservative con conservative contingency and escalation fund is another 6.25 million. That brings the full fundraising goal to 48 million. a complete responsible vision that includes not just construction but proper equipment and long-term stewardship built in from day one on the Y. Now, now let me show you how we intend to get there. Fundraising is already underway. In just a few months of active fundraising, we have raised over 550,000 in campaign underwriting. We have assembled a team of dedicated professionals with the experience and

relationships to see this through. Lisa Actor brings four decades of development experience and eight successful capital campaigns, including leading the campaign for the five for the $53.4 million astronomy discovery center and $4.7 million Giovali Open Duck at LOL Observatory. She knows this donor community and this community knows her. Anne Shefflin brings decades of capital endowment campaign experience at museums serving national audience and deep expertise in major and planned giving board development and transformational gift stewardship. Elizabeth Wallace, sorry I'm embarrassing her, provides essential administrative support with over a decade of administrative experience and a lifetime in Flagstaff. I lead the project's strategy, partnerships, and philanthropic cultivation, drawing on 10 years of Flag Shakes leadership and the relationships that we've built across this community. Our fundraising strategy is built on three pillars. First, cultivating trusting relationships with local philanthropists. Second, building grassroots support. And third, building an endowment for repairs, maintenance, and emergency funds, ensuring the facility is not just built, but cared for. Beyond private philanthropy, we're actively exploring the full landscape of funding potential. New market tax credits, depending on location, public bond mechanisms, local, state, and federal grants, foundation contributions, and corporate naming rights. We're building a coalition of investments as broad and as deep as the coalition of artists behind this vision. We've studied comparable midsize performing arts centers across the country, facilities with similar capacity serving similarsized communities. And what you're seeing is

an annual operating budget of just over 6 million. We are building a facility that generates significant positive cash flow while reinvesting in reserves, programming, and community assets. Research from SMU data arts found that performing arts centers have the highest percentage of expenses covered by earned operating revenue among arts disciplines with earned revenue representing about 61% of budgets. Private contributions are the second largest portion and government funding is the smallest of the three revenue categories. This is a project that Flag that Flag Staff can be proud of, not just for what it will create culturally, but because of how responsibly it has been planned financially. Now, before we say goodbye to the Mountain Arts Conservatory for today, I'm going to ask you all to do something very teeter. Would you close your eyes? Oh, you can't close your eyes.

Okay. A school bus pulls up, the doors open, and students pour out, all dressed in their finest, bubbling with excitement to see a show that they've been humming the soundtrack to for a month. As they walk towards the campus, they pass the harness dance wall. Suddenly, they stop. An aerialist is dancing off the side of the building, suspended in air, moving like a bird in flight. The students stand transfixed. When their teacher calls, they reluctantly turn away and continue into the lobby. Walking past tables exquisitely decorated for a special event, the culmination of the flag shake summer season. King Lear and Much to do About Nothing have just graced the stage of the mountain rose. Storms raged with the mad king. Birds twittered along with the silly antics of lovers in the garden. When the students step into the Peak's Playhouse, they hear piano filling the space with light, energetic music that matches their mood perfectly. As they take their seats, the velvety blue curtain rustles. A hush falls over the room. Everyone strains to see feet on the stage or hear actors stepping into place. And then the curtain rises. For the next two hours, they are swept into a story that is somehow both about them and about a world they have never known. They all laugh. A few cry. When the lights come up, it takes just a moment for them to remember where they are. As they walk back to the bus, they pass a silver sneakers dance class heading to the studio and improv actors heading to the blackbox. Everyone shares a deep smile. This moment, this place has changed them. Thank you for bearing with me.

Shakespeare wrote, "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves." The Mountain Arts Conservatory is not a distant wish. It is a plan, a coalition, a community ready to act. And it's a responsibility because every year we wait is another year a young person in Flagstaff doesn't have access to arts education in a space designed for them. Every year we wait is another artist who leaves because we couldn't offer them what they needed to stay. Flag Staff is ready and the community is aligned. The data is clear and the funding strategy is underway. Together we can establish Flagstaff as the performing arts epicenter of the Southwest. Mayor, council members, city staff, thank you so much for your time today. I know how valuable it is. I am happy to take questions and I would love to continue this conversation with you individually as well. Fantastic. That was fantastic. And like magic, you had us close our eyes and Joanne wasn't here and then when we opened them, she was there.

She is magical. council. Do you uh council member House?

Thank you, Mayor. Uh Don, David, thank you so much for this. Um Don, this is absolutely exhilarating to see and I'm I'm just so thrilled to see you and your team bringing this to our community. um the thoughtfulness that's gone into the process and um the potential of of what this could be for Flag Staff and our region. Um, I was thinking as you were taking us through that exercise with eyes closed. Um just remembering back in uh 1999 it when I was still uh living and going to school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and they opened the uh science center there in downtown Harrisburg and the very things that you were expressing about how exciting an opportunity like this is for a community is exactly what we experienced. Not only was it um bringing the performing arts in a new way to our community there, but it also was providing employment opportunities. My one of my first jobs was there. Um getting into the arts in in new and um very fun ways. um combining that with a love of science and just seeing all the pathways that that created for our community back east. It's just absolutely amazing to think of the potential that this could be for our community here and something that I know so many people have been wanting uh and longing for for so long to see it actually visibly presented to us and um imaginatively I guess presented and and shared is just

absolutely thrilling. So, thank you so much for bringing this forward, um, sharing this presentation with us, inviting us into the process, and I would love to set up additional time to talk with you about what this looks like and how, uh, we can be involved. Thank you so much. My pleasure, and that sounds great, Vice Mayor.

Thank you. And thank you for the presentation. I can see that you put a lot of work into this and it pays off and it was beautiful. So, thank you. Um, I love the partnerships and I know in the handout you talked a lot about what they do in our community and I think that's great and I think we have an opportunity to maybe even expand that. Yes. So, my mind went to um we there's been some discussions surrounding the Oreium and the indigenous and I might get this wrong indigenous community and cultural center.

Yes. And this is now a third leg of that discussion. And I think that what I would like to see happen is to meet with you more one-on-one to know this program better. But as a council and um in future discussions really talk about um funding figuring out a funding source that might tackle all of those three. And maybe there's others out there um that are kind of what I think we're all working together with the same mission. You have a vision. Um the ORUM has a vision. The ICC has a vision and how do we make this all happen um in our community and and work together. So I just wanted to bring that up. I might have questions as we go down the road tonight, but thank you again and I really do appreciate all your intent and thought into this presentation. It's beautiful. Thank you, Council Member Garcia.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Don, thank you for being the torchbearer of this um wonderful project. You are quite the lighthouse. Um I I am a firm believer that placemaking is equally as important as public art. And what you've done here is created a a a interactive space in this ever evolving climate of creativity, culture, and environment. And you're thinking about that intentionally for the future, which means that um you know, we're not just putting these ideas out there, we're putting some action behind them. At first you mentioned, you know, your impressive few months of of garnering um over a half a million dollars and my head went straight to analytics and I was like, "Okay, well, if that was in four months, she only has 32 more years before she can get the 50 to whatever the dollar amount is." But when you broke it down and let um and let the let the public know that the governmental portion of this was the kind of the sliver of the pie, it it gave me um a breath of fresh air that you understand the constraints of our budget

and um because that was my biggest concern when this first came on the agenda. You've already thought of that. Um, so with your um continued motivation and inspiration for the community, I'm very optimistic. Um, I do have some questions about um, you know, share, I guess, availability of space and the difference between promoting other spaces and adding a new venue space. All the typical stuff you probably expect from us. I'd love to take those offline so we don't u dilute this portion of the fun that we're having here um with such a great presentation but I just wanted to make sure that that you understood that I am very much behind this and um I am very interested in assisting with the progression of this idea and it's overwhelming overwhelmingly evident that you have done an Olympian amount of heavy lifting on this monumental concept and it's a tribute to you and your team that is here today. I recognize them as well. Um, thank you for bringing this forward and I guess for our personal meetings. Um, some of my questions would be um that of what I already asked and

maybe some feedback of what you've heard from the other major players in the artist community um or if there's any synergy there or even if there's um some push back. Uh those are the type of things that I want to learn more about in digging deep into the details. Um but not today. Today is a day of celebration for everything that you guys have brought forward to this point. Good job. Thank you. Yeah, and I'd be happy to have that meeting. Cool. Any other questions? Council member Matthews.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Don. Great presentation. Um, we've been talking about uh needing u more of an art culture in town and more space. So, I appreciate it. Um, have you identified a location? you you were very detailed in your vision and description, but um has that been identified? I think so. I'd love to say more of that off the record. Yeah, you don't have to share where it is. I was just curious if you identified it. So, yes.

Um and do you have and I I could have missed it, but you know, you're off and running raising some great money. That's wonderful. Um, do you have a time frame on when you think you could get shovels to the ground?

Uh, if we phase things and and this is to council member Garcia's point and just learning from Lisa Actor and working with Lisa Actor, the first million is actually the very hardest to raise. Um, so we're getting we're getting closer. Uh but she thinks that you know uh feasibly on the the outdoor theater which is very low tech and very low cost um we could look at you know two and a half years and then she would hope five years on the full project. Um and then can you go back to the slide where you had the pie on where the funding

Okay. Thank you. And I did want to clarify because council member Garcia, this is actually funding sources for once it's operational. Yeah. So I I wanted to point that out. This is the anticipated operating income sources. Did you have a similar pie chart for your fundraising?

I do not. And and I just and I don't want to be the Debbie Downer here, but I was happy to to see that you are diverse in your thinking of fundraising and where money sources are going to come from because, you know, we've we've been heavily taxed and bonded lately and we've got a pretty heavy lift with our public safety conversations. And so I don't, you know, I I think that the community will embrace this concept. Uh but not maybe in the first, you know, part of it. I could be totally wrong. It's not up to me. But um just wanted to throw that out there that there's a lot of um you know, people are burdened with tax and and bond stuff now. So I'm glad that you're looking at grants and just you know, private foundations and stuff. So that gives me um a big smile to see that you're not just so oh and can you guys just write a check tomorrow?

So uh this would be great. We definitely need something and I like what Vice Mayor Suite um mentioned about, you know, we've talked about the ICC and the Oreium and maybe now it takes on a whole different look so we can all pull together and be on the same page and and pull something that's really spectacular for our town. So, thank you for your detailed effort. Um, you've really got it down to probably the color of the carpet and the flooring. So, I I think I did mention the color. Yeah. Yeah, I think you did. So, thank you, Don, for your presentation and the information. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you for this presentation and all the work that all of you have put into um bringing it to here. And as I've said to you and to others before, I have no doubt that you can bring this to Flag Staff and um I for one support you all the way and um as time allows um would love to help with what you're doing. I think that it's way past time that we have something like this in Flagstaff and I have every confidence that um it will happen. So people don't let the price tag freak you out. Um I I really do believe that this is doable.

Yeah. Thank you. All right. I don't see any other questions or comments. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was just going to say my contact information is in the back of and the front and back and probably somewhere in between of all of those packets. So, if you want to have another meeting, which a couple of you mentioned, please just text me, call me, email me, whatever is easiest for you. Mayor, can I make a comment? Go ahead.

And Don, feel free to use that council flagstaffaz.gov. Send us updates because we'd all like to get updates and see the progression and and read about it. So, just shoot us an email. I'd love to hear that as well. Great. We'll do. Thank you. All right. Our second round of open call to the public and I don't see anyone. Informationational items to from mayor, council, and city manager and future agenda item requests. Let's start with council member Spence. Nothing this evening. Thank you. Council member House,

nothing for me tonight. Thank you, Mayor. Vice Mayor, nothing tonight. Thank you. Council member Garcia, thank you, Madam Mayor. Nothing tonight. Council member Matthews, nothing tonight. Thank you, Mayor. Nothing for me. Uh, city manager, nothing from me. Whoop!