City Council - Regular Meeting

All right.

We've got one signed up for public comment. Mr. Sokolov. Welcome. Identify yourself. When you get to the microphone, you probably have to push the button. I don't see the red line. Thanks for being here.

But I did feel an obligation to come and at least make a couple of comments with regard to the issues before the council tonight. As you know, I've expressed opposition to the project in general. I don't think it's very well conceived, and I don't think that the council's gotten good advice with respect to the numbers. and projections uh i don't believe that this the revenue is going to support this thing but with respect to the the issues before the council tonight i do want to speak in opposition to the resolution a that is the expenditure of nearly $400,000 on a demonstration room and corridor. I just don't see any positive purpose to be gained by spending that kind of money on something like that. First of all, everybody knows what a hotel room looks like in general, and we are not going to see what the actual hotel rooms end up looking like, because those are going to be determined by whoever the franchise is. All these brands have different decoration different particular construction inside the way the classrooms are set up so we're not going to know what these things will actually look like i see no purpose in spending a half million dollars or nearly that just so people can look and see what a hotel room looks uh the other thing is i'm happy that the city has decided to have somebody else review the revenue projections uh i just think it's a little bit late in the game for that this is something actually should have been done when those revenue studies were originally presented by a carbon and have somebody else look at those. So I'm speaking in favor of that one. Although, as I said, I think it's a little bit late because if they say, well, those projections aren't gonna match up with what you've already gotten, I don't know what the statute of the city's gonna take back. But I appreciate you all considering these things. That's what I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you very much for being here. We don't have anyone else listed. Anyone else here for public comment? All right. We're going to go to item 4, 4A, 2026-015.

An ordinance of the City of Jefferson, Missouri authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to amend a lease agreement with New Singular Wireless, PCS, AT&T, LLC for a new cell tower located in Ellis Porter Park.

First and foremost, uh, mayor and council, thanks for getting this on the agenda for me this evening. Um, this bill, uh, would have proven amendments with new, similar wireless to allow a 2nd easements for the proposed cell tower project in Ellis Porter park. This would allow crews to bring in power from a different location with the easements. Representatives from JC Parks and the construction contractor met on site on June 15th to review the proposed location. There are no issues with it and it should not cause disruptions to park operations or park users. So I'd be happy to answer any questions.

I think folks would understand we've been working on this a while so it's not, should not be new to you but are there any questions? There is a request for a check mark. Would anybody want to move for suspension of the rules? Seconded. We have a suspension. Anybody opposed to that? Hearing none, we'll ask the clerk to read it again.

In ordinance of the City of Jefferson, Missouri, authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to amend the lease agreement with New Singular Wireless, PCS, AT&T, LLC, or a cell tower located in Ellis Porter Park.

Alright, we'll do one more round. Any questions or comments? Alright, seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote.

Powers? Aye. Allen? Aye. Holt? Aye. Hoselton? joe hi cam peter hi lester hi michael hi we'll take that as a night all right it was a long holiday weekend

Item five, conference center project update. There's a number of names listed here. Mr. Holtschneider, you want to kick it off? I guess you can pass it as pest baton as you think appropriate.

Excellent. Well, thank you, Mayor and Council. I appreciate everybody joining us on this Monday night post-July 4th. I guess first a question.

Where were you last Tuesday when you heard the news? That's one of those that has to be etched.

That was still in my office at that time. Still hard at work on this project. A great moment in time and we'll reflect on that here in just a little bit. Again, really appreciate the opportunity to give an update on the conference center project where we stand today. Where it has been going over the past couple months. There's been a lot of additional activity, a lot of work on the the design the engineering as well you know as the mayor alluded to some advancements on the capital stack and you know additional confirmations on the the cost of construction so we'll take a walk through process that has been underway also joining us virtually we have mark grimm with gilmore and bell as well as martin with uh seafull that can help address the near questions as well so To kind of kickstart the conversation and give an update on where we stand and where the project stands from a programmatic standpoint, over the past couple months in working with the architect and the construction company as well as with Garfield Public Private, been looking at all different ways of approaching the development in ways to make potentially the site more efficient but achieve the same results. You know, everything from, you know, are there opportunities to move all the meeting space to one level of the facility? Is there a different way of orienting the garage on the site, a different way of structuring the hotel room? So really looking at all different alternative ways to approaching the development and see if there were any additional lessons learned. and so what that takes us to on the hotel side and through those lessons learned we had previously been looking at roughly 203 hotel rooms in the facility through the design work over the past couple months they've been able to identify an additional 12 rooms that would be able to be constructed within the same square footage so it's being able to utilize square foot space to a higher value in addition to hotel rooms but still being able to incorporate those additional functions that were previously in that space. So some of those were some back house or some storage space that's still being able to be incorporated on the site, but just not in the hotel tower portion of the development. Um, with that, we've also worked with, um, who performed the market study on the hotel and conference center. Um, and they looked in, um, justified the occupancy rate, the average daily rate. based on the increased hotel rooms of 215. And it stayed pretty consistent. There was a slight drop in the average daily rate. They're projecting an average daily rate of $177 the first year of opening, so that would be Starting June 1, 2028 through May 31st of 2029, they're projecting that first year at 177 average daily rate per room with an occupancy rate at opening at 64%. At full stabilization, they still anticipate 70% occupancy. total available rooms that does increase from previous projections just due to the increase of hotel rooms in the facility so the additional 12 hotel rooms on the amenities those stay pretty consistent i'm still looking at the ground level market lounge bar full service restaurant on the terrace level having a lounge outdoor patio fitness center and so really no change to those features you know one thing not to belabor the point but it does look like potentially the pool will no longer be located on the hotel site with this project just due to some you know obviously from the demand standpoint and then the cost standpoint so really from a amenity feature that's about the only change in the project on the parking side there's some some additional parking there you know that's where a lot of the design has been working on to is you know how to incorporate additional parking but still preserving the views from the hotel rooms not building the garage too tall the word obstructs you know the southern views from the hotel rooms but still being able to adequately and sufficiently park you know the hotel conference center downtown in the future leases into the garage so current garage stall counts so just the structured parking not the the lots that have been incorporated previously we're looking at 567 garage spaces with 52 surface lots also on the site so that brings it to 619. From the meeting and event space, it looks pretty similar to what it has before. Still having the conference center space broken out on the two stories. The second floor is being the grand ballroom. Still over 14,000 square feet. Junior ballroom on the main level with two additional boardrooms slash breakout rooms. Pretty substantial amount of pre-function space where a lot of exhibitors and reception kind of use space would be, as well as some additional flex event space. So those would be spaces that are not closed in specific for conference events, but they would be leaseable square footage. So terrace level patios and lounges that would be able to be leased and booked for different events. So roughly around 30,000 square feet there of leaseable space. So then when looking at an updated cost estimate on the project, and it kind of simplifies some of the cost components and cost categories from the pre-construction and design consultants with McGowan Gordon, as well as the hard cost construction, just short of $120 million in the all-in construction costs. Above and beyond that, with the owner, furniture, fixtures, supplies and equipment. So the little over 13Million. Our developer fee with public private about 8.3Million additional brand costs, 3rd party due diligence and consultants as well as an owner contingency round this to about 145.9Million dollars. 145Million. $921,000 to be specific. This is a current cost estimate. McCown Gordon is going through a bidding exercise currently and compiling a guaranteed maximum price contract. And so they have advised on these construction numbers, which are. You know, I think kind of firmed up and what we'll see moving forward through a, but to understand where we stand today on the. Construction costs when comparison to our capital stack, we want to make sure we were still in line. So. Mark anything to mention into that 1 yet.

Just that even though they're going through this process, we've had significant discussion to try and solidify some of these numbers. A lot of negotiations and review of what those documents are that they're getting back from the subs. So even though this number is still kind of being worked out and will be finalized here very soon, there's a significant amount of confidence that we're going to get that number.

And those are up to date numbers with reflective of what's going on in the world today on the cost and supply and demand for contractors with the amount of building product or projects that are going on around the state, especially in the Midwest that this kind of reflects the scenario we're at today. And so comparing that to where things are currently situated on the capital stack, you'll see, not even for a rounding purpose, but a near identical number on where we stand on the sources for the project. And so continuing to look at different series of revenue bonds, that would be some of the larger support for the overall project cost, the hotel and incentive revenue bond, along with a lodging tax bond and a parking revenue bond equate for our large three revenue series bonds in the project interest earnings. So the interest that would be earned on those bond dollars during the construction process. So that brings in about $106 million of the total project costs. In city funds, looking at the lodging tax contributions, so those are contributions to the lodging tax that have been collected since the lodging tax inception. Parking fund contributions, so those are excess funds that are available through the city from the parking fund that would go towards the cost of the project. And then $500,000 in city non-ARPA money. Previously, we have been holding $1,000,000 on that line item, but I do think that in further conversations, that number has been reduced to 500,000. In state funds, the 2,000,000 that was in the fiscal year 2025 appropriation primarily has been utilized in support of the demolition of the former Madison Street parking garage. As the mayor alluded to, exciting news last week and a critical piece to this overall project. In the state appropriation of 15Million dollars to assist in the parking garage and conference center projects. So extremely excited and enthusiastic about that support from the state of Missouri, which allows us to along with the Missouri made contributions. We had a total sources of around 149 or 145Million dollars to support this project.

mayor i don't know if you're wanting to do questions and anything as we're going or just wait till the end i want you to do your presentation unless there's a burning we can always split back to these okay

Some additional detail onto the revenue bonds. We've shown this before, but the hotel and incentive revenue bond is supported from the operating revenues, net operating revenues of the hotel. Along with the incentive revenues that are generated from the special taxing districts that are established onto the project site. That being the port improvement district, the transportation development district in the community improvement district. So those 3 special taxing districts are only applicable to the project site. So. shopping downtown you would not see that tax it's only expenditures on the site itself so those combined with the hotel operating revenue would support the hotel and incentive revenue bond of that about 47 million dollars would go towards the cost of construction towards the project you can see the par amount of those bonds is about $58.6 million. So of those bond proceeds, not all of it goes towards the cost of construction. You can see other uses listed out below. Capitalized interest funds, so those are interest payments made on that bond during construction. There's a deposit to a debt service reserve fund. So that debt service reserve fund is sized at 10% of the par amount of those bonds. So those are bond proceeds that are then set aside and to support any shortfall and revenues in making debt service payments in future years once the facility is open. And that's just the debt service that is funded up front. There's additional debt service reserve funds that are funded through the operating revenues of the project as well. But these are just in the uses of the bond proceeds. There's also a cost of issuance of about $1.8 million. And with that hotel and incentive revenue bond, that is a non-city-backed bond, which as you can see from the coverage ratio and yield or the interest rate, it has a higher coverage ratio, so 1.75%. As well, it has a higher interest rate that we're paying on the money, so 7% interest. And that's due to giving bond buyers as steeples on the call. They can attest to this, but for the market ability and assurance to the bottom buyers of the repayment ability. Obviously, they require all the expert opinions and. advice into the project, but they want assurance through additional coverage that there's going to be sufficient funds for that service. So that's where those two coverage ratios and yields come into play. On the lodging tax and parking revenue bond, those are based off of historical collections and future projections of lodging tax collection revenues as well as parking revenue collections throughout the city. post construction of this project. And so there's a pretty good track record of what has come in previously and what is projected to come in after the completion of this project. So those do carry a better coverage as well as interest rate. And so kind of getting into the next, and this is not meant to be a really a readable timeline at this point, and the partners on the call and some others are working on a much more detailed project timeline as we speak. But, you know, the cost estimate in the bidding that McCown Horn is going through currently is anticipating a bond sale and bond closing to take place in early October. um in order to do so there's a lot of activity that has to happen and in securing those bonds and being able to initiate the construction in early october allows us to hold those construction numbers um escalation is a very real deal um you know we hear it every day um that you know every day that you know we go beyond our current timeline um costs you go up And so, you know, based on where we stand today and having a project where we've been able to identify cost estimate and sources that align together, we want to be moving forward in a way that allows us to achieve that because those costs will continue to go up if we do not continue to move forward. So tonight there will be a series of resolutions that would allow certain things to move forward, which we'll talk about next. But then at future and subsequent city council meetings, there is very likely to be action items that majority of those moving forward. And those will be outlined in a much more digestible but detailed document that will provide to all of council members so that you can see and see the accountability that will be in place to ensure that all partners are moving forward as necessary to achieve this. because every couple weeks that this would fall behind would substantially increase the cost of the project and you know and at that point it would become compromising some of the quality or features of the project in order to make it happen so we want to we want the best project i think we have a fantastic project One that we're extremely excited about the beauty is, I think the state will be and so, you know, but it takes a lot of work. This could take a lot of hours and a lot of different groups that are involved to see this through and to make this a reality. And so, you know. What we'll talk about next are those specific actionable next steps that would allow the project to begin moving forward. But we do anticipate and right now we're looking at the possibility of being able to have the bond documents produced and ready to go in the month of August. With with the ability to provide people who is the bond underwriter, who will go out and market and sell the bonds, the ability to go through their review process, the marketing exercise in the month of September, so that we would potentially be able to close on the 1st of October and issue a notice to proceed with the construction contract and move forward beginning of October. So. Yep. This is just meant to be a highlight to show you some of the key action steps of City Council, but there's going to be a very detailed timeline and schedule of events that are going to be moving forward as far as next steps are concerned. So that gets us to where we're at today, along with we'll go through some resolutions next, but happy to answer any questions along with all the partners we've got on the call here in the room. Questions?

Councilman Liefeld and then Councilwoman Young.

Thank you. Thank you Mayor.

A couple, in question, a couple comments. First, I appreciate you taking a look at the project where it stands now, where you can tweak some things to make it better because any of us that have built anything or owned anything wished we had X instead of Y or vice versa. So I think it's good to look at that at this point to make those adjustments early on. And this may be a question that I'll be able to answer today.

And I think I've probably asked it before.

I just don't have my note here handy. This may be one to come back to. Any idea or estimate? the likely business growth in and around the conference center as a result of a conference center? Any idea, any guess at this point? If you don't want to take a guess, maybe we can circle back to another meeting and address that question.

It's harder to forecast and project the specific businesses in the downtown. We did commission an impact study, an economic impact study through the University of Missouri to analyze the impacts to Cole County and then overall state of Missouri from the project. So it was able to look at the direct jobs that would be created because of the facility, the indirect and induced jobs that would also be created. So that's suppliers, maintenance companies that will be working or employing additional staff just because of this facility. your food and alcohol distributors, your laundry companies, and things that would be suppliers and service companies to the facility. What it did not take into account and begin to calculate, as well then the economic impact that flows beyond that. So the multiplier of, well then that's more people, more people shopping, grocery stores, banks, hospitals. So the flow of funds that are generated from it What I can tell you from the downtown is more anecdotal that there seems to be, there's already a lot of progress that's taking place, especially along Capitol Avenue. But the demand for additional facilities in the downtown continues to go up that this facility once in place will drive opportunities just on the pure nature of additional visitors being in the community and located in the downtown. for additional small businesses to establish themselves, to service the people that are there on a daily basis. But we don't have a specific economic outcome of just the downtown at this point.

Understood. I think it's fair to say that most reasonable people as it relates to economic development would say that there will be a spike of activity as a result of this conference. And I guess that's, without a specific member attached to it, that's my broad point on that. And then lastly, explain the need Uh, or the value of the mock up for the rooms. So, so everybody kind of understands that.

So, just 1st and foremost, this is a requirement of the brand. We cannot proceed without doing this mock up. This is something that they require. This is part of their approval process, because they want to basically be able to see what's on the paper as a design and in rendering is actually going to be able to be achievable in the field. And so. For full service hotels, as opposed to limited service or select service hotels, this is an absolute requirement for every single project by every single brand that we deal with on these projects. So, unfortunately, it's something that it's just a check mark. We have to proceed down that path in order to get approval to move on to the next step. The value is really everything that is in this room just about is custom made. So there is no just going and buying things off the shelf. And so in order for us to basically get the product, the end result, you know, 215 times exactly right, we want to basically have this mock up, see it in person, make any corrections that come up as a result of this custom made product and have those manufacturing partners basically correct that and do it right and get their things ready for that replication over and over and over again. So that that's the major reason Costs have gone up over the course of many years and especially here with economic times that have unfortunately driven that model room cost Which is a one-off thing. You're not getting the economy of scales and that that kind of purchase Unfortunately, that's part of the challenge with that when we go into the real project those costs and getting that economy scales on a unit per unit basis, you get a little bit better buy out of it. But for this one purchase, it becomes a little bit more of a challenge. We do everything we can to try and drive those prices down and ask, you know, like on the FF&E side, we get many of our vendors to give us that production cost as opposed to the model room cost. We're very successful at that because we have partnerships with those groups. Unfortunately, on the construction side, we don't always have those same connections, and we rely on our partners to get that. But with a lot of work in construction going on right now, they're not hungry at the moment. And so that's also part of the challenge in the market. So we have to go through this process in order for us to move on to that next full project step. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Young.

Thank you again. I want to start by saying thank you all for all the work we've done to bring us even to this point to be able to discuss. The different options that we're going to have, I'm excited myself about what's to be, but I do have a few questions about the model. I think we discussed it about a year ago about the digital versus the physical model room and there were some advantages and disadvantages to that. Can you help me remember why we decided on the physical.

Just reiterating, it's not necessarily something that we would want to pursue if we could afford to not do it. The brand is requiring that of us. And so we are forced to do the physical model, not only for their approval, but also for our success of the project. Because what also happens is the subcontractors that build the model room, There's only a limited amount of those individuals that actually get to do that when they start going full bore on the project. You bring a lot more new people onto the project and it becomes something that they can go physically see in person. All the detailing at a close scale so that they can replicate it. And if there is something in error in the field, when they get to the hotel. The general contractor can bring that subcontractor and show them what it needs to look like versus what they did in person. So, in a digital form, there's, there's many technological advances. I hope that at some point in the future, we actually get to that point. So that, you know, to to the, you know. the gentleman's statement, this is a cost that we would love to be able to save. It's just unfortunately part of the process at this point, part of achieving the end goal of having a great project and a hotel that is backed by and managed by the hotel brand.

Thank you. Where would the physical models be? Where would they take, would they be on site?

Unfortunately, our site is a little bit too restrictive for us to put it on site. We didn't consider it. I think that from a logistic standpoint, McGowan Gordon just wasn't able to make that work. We have basically just a couple blocks away from our site, there is a property that we're intending to lease in order to build that into that space. And hopefully, if we gain approval tonight, we will be able to initiate that lease and begin work on the project.

And one last question was about the 1.45 million that we now haven't projected to be. What happens if we exceed that? Someone just mentioned about how things kind of switch out as you go along. Will the other contingency funds or will they fall on the city? How will that work?

There are contingency funds, the owner, we have an owner's contingency that was highlighted here in the document of 1.4Million. So that is for owner's use. If ever there was anything to come up, we have that available to accommodate for that. The design build agreement that we, that the city has executed with Gordon. only allows very explicit and limited ways in which that they can increase the cost. One of them, for instance, is owner-added scope. So we do everything we can not to add that scope by just having these random requests along the way. We're gonna stick to a very strict script. Everything that we basically are working towards in developing this guaranteed maximum price, we're gonna try and ensure that it stays within that scope. The contractor can only really increase the project in the event of owner added scope, force majeure events such as tariffs and things like that that exceed things. But we have contingencies in there, not only from the owner's side, there's also a design contingency on the contractor's side. Contractor will also have their construction contingency. So if they have scope gaps on their side, they have their own contingencies in order to account for that. and they are going to basically be scrutinized for any time they come with a change order as to whether or not we feel that it meets the obligations of the contract and in order to basically accept a change order and increase to the project cost. So we will do all of our due diligence we are going to try and hold this to the price that it is at the gmp but no project is is 100 you know perfect right so there there will be costs that will occur and that's what we develop these contingencies for in order to mitigate those those events thank you so much

Thank you. I may be asking this earlier, so if you want me to ask this again later, I can. But part of the resolutions tonight, we're authorizing the legal engagement for bond counsel. But then after that, we're doing like the bond market analysis. Would it be in our best interest to do the analysis first and then enter into that agreement?

I'll ask the experts to weigh in on that.

So the first resolution, as you said, is for the legal services, which put all the documents together for this transaction. The PGAV bond revenue study is basically an independent third party review of all the documents that have been done to date. So it's not new work, it's just third party independent verification of the work that's already been done.

Mark Graham, I don't know if there's anything additional on that.

From my standpoint, doesn't matter which order the resolutions are are considered by the Council. If that was if that was the question, certainly. You know, from my standpoint, Council can consider these resolutions in any order it wishes.

yeah i'm just wondering if the results of the study might change how we feel about any of these bonds moving forward before we commit ourselves to you know if nothing went forward we owe each party 150 000 so oh i understand and so and really i'll kick it back over to luke from a timing perspective and so um you know we know how much time it's going to take

once the council authorizes us to proceed, how much time it will take us to get the documents ready for steeple to market, et cetera. And that's basically, you know, from now until October 1 is a, you know, so it's a, you know, three month, three month period. And so whenever you all say go, you know, we'll need three months to do everything to, prepare the documents, get those ready for council approval, see if we'll market the bonds, then close the transaction. So I think it's a question of when are you ready for us to proceed knowing that with delay comes added costs versus to your point, double and triple checking the anticipated revenue streams.

Can I add one thing on to that in terms of the potential cost? Luke had talked about escalation or inflation. We are right now basically within the three month period that we need in order to hit the dates that the contractor is going to promise to hold the pricing to. If, for instance, we end up having to delay any of these decisions to move forward, and we can't hold that construction pricing. Escalation right now is about 1.35% per quarter. Now, that's a national average. It does differ locally. It has proven to potentially be worse here locally. Just given the way that the sub-trades are not as available as they would be in Kansas City or St. Louis, for instance, right? 1.35% or greater over $100 million project adds up really quickly. So we just want to caution that you guys just consider that as you think through whether or not to Basically segment the approvals that is being before you today. It could have significant impacts and we can't guarantee what those impacts will be. But what we can try and guarantee is that we're working towards the values and the plan that we are presenting before you guys today. And we have been given good authority from the contractor that there are some contractors will hold the pricing that we're looking towards. based on certain dates of getting approval on the GMP, July 20th, which is on that calendar date, and then basically having a notice to proceed which is after the bond closing occurs and the project is funded. And I noticed the receipt needs to happen by the middle of October, October 15th. So if we can't hit those dates, the contractors aren't necessarily gonna honor and be able to hold those for that pricing. Because every day that they've already escalated out to those dates that we've given them, right? And so when material increases come up, they're going to pass them back into the project. So we just want to make sure that that is clear and transparent for everybody, that it is, we're kind of at that point where it's a critical point. And we just want you to know that we want your support. We want to answer every question that we can possibly give you answers to today, but there are impacts to decisions if it causes delay.

Other questions?

Thank you 1st of all, thank you for all your work. Thank you. Thanks for all your work. I really appreciate the work that you're doing in the hard work. We're doing for our city and our residents. For talking about the actual market study and the verification that our projections are correct, what you're saying is they're essentially looking at what has already been done by the experts to make sure that those are in line and that they agree and that no adjustments need to be made. Is that correct?

Yes. And Martin, if you want to.

Yeah.

Hey, everybody. I'm sorry. Could you ask that question one more time? I apologize.

The study that we're doing as far as the projections is really taking what's already been done by an independent expert company. And it's basically looking at that again, one other independent person to make sure that our projections are good, solid and firm. Is that correct?

Yeah, that's correct as a broad brush. They're basically going to review the figures and kind of look at the market as a whole and see where those revenues and where those assumptions land in terms of the market. So, yes, it will be another review of those figures that are included.

And just I know I don't speak for Councilman Lester, but I know he and I spent quite a bit of time on the market studying projections. We're not experts, but we have spent quite a bit of time looking at those. So. This is something that we planned all along. This is not something new. It's been in the project schedule. We always were planning on doing this. It's a requirement before the bond companies will even issue the bonds. Is that not correct? Okay, so I just didn't want anyone to think that we were like all of a sudden deciding to do this. This is part of the process. And then it sounds like that we will have the review done and that we will have our fixed price in place before we do an approval to move forward. Correct. Okay. That's correct. And I know these are sort of technical questions, but do we, you talked about the contingency funds and I know I've looked at those and really was impressed with the different levels of contingency funds that you have in place. Those haven't been decreased in any way, have they? We can still feel comfortable that they're still at the levels that originally were presented to us. Yes, ma'am. Okay. I just really appreciate your time and I also appreciate the fact that this room I know that it's been reported evidently I've had some context too because evidently it's been reported in the press that it was some you know I don't know optional thing and that we were just maybe some people took it that we were being frivolous with money and so I just want to appreciate your your explanation of it. And I want to say that I think in the end it will save us money because what you will be able to do is you'll be able to use that model room and say, no, that's exactly the way you should have built that. And there won't be any gray area once that model room is set and everyone agrees that that's exactly how it should be. So I just want everyone to realize I don't consider it unfortunate, really. I think it's An important part of doing business when you're doing such a large project like this. So, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you.

That's good. Just a comment on the study. My understanding is kind of look at look at everything that's been put together, but it started out to incorporate these new additional things to rooms and. thinking out the pool, and also how things have inflated, and look at all that in the current environment, and update it, and just as an individual study, totally look at the whole project.

Yes, thank you. I'm sorry. I have one last question about the hotel rooms. The number of hotel rooms. Did that change from what we originally discussed?

Yes, it went from 203 to 215. Increase that's what I thought.

Okay.

Yeah, so, you know, kind of looking at the space and there were some areas in which being able to kind of repurpose some area and add in some additional hotel rooms and I think the CBRE and the kind of market analysis, you know, determined that there was sufficient demand for additional hotel rooms. So that was something that we were able to incorporate into the project.

Thank you.

Councilman Lester. And I believe the other thing is collecting additional parking spaces from what we were talking about before.

Yes, I don't have the previous number with me, but 80 or 95 additional parking stalls in the garage were added in this last iteration as well.

Yeah.

Councilman Manalo. I just want to say, I do think the market study, you're right, Councilman Lester, it is important and totally support it and support that independence. I know that's something we've planned all along. And the $15 million for the, is it solely for the parking garage? Can you all answer that? Because I've had a few questions about that and how that overall helps us. So can you give me like an ABC answer to that?

the way it's written i believe is for planning design construction of a parking garage and conference center all right seeing no other questions we will move to item 6 resolution 6a resolution 2026-10

The resolution authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute amendments to the design-build agreement and general conditions between owner and design-builder with account in court. Councilman Allen.

Mayor Fislar, thank you. I'd like to move this resolution before the whole council for a vote. Second. All right, we have a motion.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, you have resolution 2026-10 in front of you.

like me to do a quick synopsis of uh what's in the resolution yes sir okay um so this is a uh amendment to the design build agreement with mccown gordon construction uh there's two parts to it uh design uh build amendment agreement amendment number two is the model room discussion about. Amendment number three is for a hotel branding study which goes through McCown Gorge Construction but a firm called RSM Design will actually be doing the work on that. They are a firm that specializes in branding and marketing and developing those types of types of documents for these types of hotel properties. Basically what they will do is help us to develop a unique brand identity for all the components within the project. So the hotel itself, the conference center, the restaurant, lobby bars, cafes, lounges, all of these things will be branded. in such a way that it really represents Jefferson City. This is not a cookie cutter type project. We really want this to be of Jefferson City and when you go into it, we want you to know that you're in the capital city of Missouri. So this firm will help us to develop that branding story and branding identity. It's kind of a three phase process. The first phase of that starts off with the brand discovery. They do a lot of market research, looking at the people, places, history, and culture of Jefferson City, and looking for opportunities to really be able to sell this property as being out of Jefferson City. The next piece of that goes into the platforming and naming, where they will pick out, out of that research, they'll pick out themes and various naming strategies for all those parts of the project. And then ultimately what this winds up with is logos, fonts, graphics, and a brand standard manual that the hotel operator will use for all these facilities. So again, this will be done through the design work with McCown Gordon Construction and the fee for that study is $185,000. Questions? Councilman Lester.

So my understanding is this will be brought back to us and we'll have some options within that.

Well, I think what we will do is work with that design firm and various stakeholders. And I think as we get into the process, they will help us bring those stakeholders to the table and be able to offer them some comment. and kind of guide the entire design team towards you know what they feel is the proper branding for all these parts of the facility I wanted to make sure this is coming out of the CBB fund balance that's correct okay And as well as the model room, yes, all the, all the fees that we're on all 4 of these resolutions are coming out of the conference center fund.

Hospital and councilman.

Just for clarification, this is just finalizing pricing with regards to the terms already consistent with the design-build agreement, correct? Is there a mock-up room discussed within the design-build agreement? I'm just making sure that this is just finalizing the pricing as previously agreed to under that agreement.

Yes, all these fees are included in that total project cost that Luke went through earlier. These are the actual contracts with the actual dollar amounts for all this work, correct?

Thank you.

Just one question before I know that councilwoman job asked about where this money is coming from. I get this so frequently about not using this money for other things like our city streets or sewers or whatever. So I just want to make clear that this is money specifically the voters have approved for. Conference center, our garage fees are parking fees are can only be used for parking. In other words, we cannot take and support this money for other our everyday use in the city. Is that correct?

Correct. Yeah. The conference center fund is all be is all 100% funded through collections of the lodging tax.

That would be really great for the public to know a little bit more about as we all as we as we visit.

Thanks. I just have a statement before we take the vote. I think everyone is aware of my sentiments towards this project, so I won't rehash that. However, knowing the situation that we are in with things moving forward, while I'm certainly not a fan, as I'm sure most of us in this room are not, of any brand to a CRR of $285,000 for a mock-up, I understand that if we're gonna do this the best way for our community, that that is the price. So since this is moving forward, I am interested in doing things most responsibly, obviously. So I'll be supporting these measures, though in general, my sentiments towards the project have not changed.

Any other comments? Right. You have resolution 2026-10 in front of you for the law call vote.

Allen? Aye. Holt? Aye. Osleson?

Aye.

Joe?

Aye. Tamher?

Aye. Lutzer? Aye. Michael? Aye. Young? Aye. Pollard? Aye. Resolution is adopted.

Right. Item 6B, resolution 2026-11.

A resolution authorizing the Mayor and City Clerk to execute an amendment to the Master Development Agreement with Barfield Public Private.

Councilman Alderman. Thank you, Mayor Fitzwater. I'd like to move this resolution to the Bullcats for a vote, please.

All right, you have a motion to move 2026-11 to council for action. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, you have 2026-11 in front of you.

Mr. Stamps. So this resolution simply amends some of the pre-construction project development deadlines that were in the original master development agreement with Garfield Public Private. It was originally approved back in October of last year and set out the project agreement deadline and a project funding deadline. It's taken a little bit longer than initially anticipated to put this entire deal together, but here we are and so this just asked to amend those deadlines.

I did not see a fiscal note for this, so there's no charge for changing these?

No cost change.

All right, seeing no other questions, you have resolution 2026 dash 11 in front of you.

Hi, Joe. Hi, Peter. Hi, Lester. Hi, Michael. Hi. Yeah. Hi. Hi. Hi. Resolution is adopted.

I don't see resolution 2026 dash 12.

a resolution authorizing the city of Jefferson, Missouri, to execute legal engagement letters in connection with the proposed financing of a proposed hotel, comfort center, and parking facility.

Mr. Rinaldo? Thank you, Mayor Pritzker. I'd like to move this resolution to the full council for a vote. Second.

All right, there's a motion to move 20.6-12 in front of council. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right, so this resolution would authorize, uh, the mayor and or city administrator to sign to legal engagement letters. Uh, 1 with the Gilmore and bell and the other with corals and Brady Gilmore and bell will be the council to the city of Jefferson for this transaction. They will prepare and or review all the legal documents that are required to put all the pieces in place for this. They will also provide a bond opinion for each of the series of bonds, as well as coordinate all the closing transactions. Their fee for service is $500,000 estimated for this work. That money will come out of the bond proceeds, and that's included in some of those closing costs that Luke talked about on each of the bond series. There is a stipulation that if the transaction does not close and the project falls through, that they are able to recoup some of their work for putting all the legal documents up to a maximum of $150,000. Quarles and Brady, they are the underwriters council, so they are counsel for Stiefel Nicholas. They will prepare the preliminary and final official statements of the bond transactions and assist Stiefel with doing all of the due diligence required to put those documents together. Their fee for services, similar to the proposal that Gilmore and Bell has put forward, $500,000 for their services paid out of bond proceeds and repayment of up to $150,000 should the transaction not close.

All right, seeing none. You have Resolution 2026-12 in front of you for roll call vote.

Opposite?

Aye.

Joe? Aye. Camp Peter?

Aye.

Lester? Aye. Michael? Aye. Young? Aye. Callers? Aye. Allen? Aye. Holt? Aye. Resolution is adopted.

All right, thank you. And then item D, resolution 2026-13.

A resolution authorizing the City of Jefferson, Missouri to execute an engagement letter with PGAV planners for market and revenue analysis services in connection with the downtown conference center project.

Councilman Alvarez. Thank you, Mayor Fitzwater. I'd like to move this resolution before the whole council for a vote.

Second. All right, there's been a motion to second to move resolution 2026-13 in front of council for action. All in favor? Aye.

Mr. Sampson. So this resolution is for an engagement letter with BGAB planners. We've had a little bit of discussion about that. Basically, this is the independent third party review analysis of all the work that's been completed for, you know, both by CBRE and by Stifel today, looking at the operational revenues, lodging tax revenues, revenues from the taxing districts and parking revenues, making sure that all the projections that have been done are accurate. I will note that Councilman Jobe's questions, this work is done kind of on the front end of this process over the next three months. So the work here will be done simultaneously with a lot of other legal documents so should something kind of riot it'll show up here fairly early fee for this part of the project is $35,000 coming from the conference center fund questions all right so then you have resolution 2026-13 in front of you for roll call vote

joe hi hi cam peter hi lester hi michael hi young hi others hi alan hi holt hi hi resolution is adopted all right that's that is the agenda i appreciate the work of council i appreciate this special meeting i appreciate the work that has been done by

Many people in this room, this has been a long process to get us to this point. We have sent notice that we will be sending a more official notice to Governor Kehoe, the legislature, our local contingency, and the lobbying firm that you agreed to about a year ago. They did an amazing job of When he approached me on our final gasp said I've got a Hail Mary for you and. Yes, Senator Burns get her quarterbacks. I feel pretty good about our Hail Mary. It was. A lot of people. Did a lot of work. This is correct. He did an amazing job of working with us and. Just thank you to everybody that's gotten us to this point. I mean the team online. an interesting two and a half years but here we sit and we're on the cusp of a very exciting project project for our cities so again thank you governor kehoe and and people that believed in the capital city and we're going to prove them right in their faith in us so thank you with that dr young do you have a motion i do i will let this meeting be adjourned second All in favor.