City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and welcome to the June 16th meeting, the 26th meeting of the Manhattan City Commission. Chelsea, will you please call the roll?

Mayor Adamczak?

Here.

Commissioner McCullough? Tor. Commissioner Fox?

Here.

Commissioner Morrison?

Here.

Commissioner Von Lintel?

Hear.

Mayor, we have five commissioners present. The quorum of three is met.

Thank you. Will you please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I want to go on record as saying Commissioner McCullough and I have not switched allegiance to a different university. We are wearing official FIFA accessories tonight and they're very red and blue. Do we have any open public comments or public comments on any item not included on the agenda? Not on the agenda?

You'll correct me if it is. Or stop me, I should say. Which is fine. I don't think it is, because I don't think you're talking about this. Good evening, commissioners and staff and those members, citizens and others in the audience. My name is Gary Olds. As you know, I live at 3308 Frontier Circle. And I'm here to give you some good news. Of course, it's good news you already know about, I'm sure. about a year ago, or maybe two years ago, we were getting toward the end of TIF 5, which is the Hy-Vee and Blue Earth Plaza. Well, I'm happy to tell you, at least according to the letter that the city received from Rich Vargo, that the TIF is no longer on there, so it's been paid off. What does that mean to you all? And when I say you all, I really mean collectively our citizens, not just you all. That means there's about $15 million of assessed valuation that goes back on the tax rolls. The taxpayers in Manhattan have supported for 20 years the deferral of property taxes on those two TIFs, meaning they've paid for the services that they've been gotten, whether they're fire, police, ambulance, whatever the case may be. $15 million equates, and I'm rounding, so bear with me, is you're going to have just south, a little bit south, maybe a little bit more south, of a million dollars in additional revenue. And on top of that, you're going to have the valuation increased of residential and commercial property. Hopefully you're aware of that. I think it's significant. I guess depending on if you look at the big budget at 200 and whatever it was last year, it's not that big. But I point that out because I think it's really important that you consider, please, some type of property tax relief. This letter states that revenue neutral is 5.1056. Unfortunately, there's not a snowball's chance in you know what that this commission is going to vote for 51.6. Currently, the mill rate, as you know, is about 54.056 or something like that. So there's about three mills in there that you'd have to come down. I understand that's not going to happen. But as I've said time and time again, and I'm hoping and praying, that the property tax relief will actually happen with this commission. I know, I'm confident, you're not going to raise the mill. You all agreed that you at least wanted to keep it flat. I hope there's three of you that are bold enough to say, hey, why don't we help the taxpayers out and cut the mill by, I don't know, one, one and a half, one and a quarter, two? Thank you.

Thank you, Gary. Is there anyone else who would like to make a public comment? Seeing no one approach the podium, we will close public comments. Commissioners, what say ye?

Attended the watch party at Annenberg Park. Was pretty impressed with how it went. Good job, Aaron and crew. Also, good job with the trees. I see a lot of tree branches disappearing, so that's also a good thing. And hopefully we don't get more storms. So anyway.

Commissioner Morrison.

So I do want to thank the city crews that are out there picking up the trees. They were in our neighborhood today and all the trees are gone. They do leave quite a bit of debris that would behoove the adjoining property owners to help out with kind of sweeping up the streets because they do leave a lot of leaves behind and I don't think that's their responsibility to pick those up. So thanks a lot to

the city crews I would like to continue that praise for our city crews my street was picked up as well and to underscore Commissioner Fox's comment it is important to get those leaves off the ground such that they do not get swept into the storm sewers or blocking storm sewers We had a flag day ceremony here on Sunday afternoon attended by about 40 or 50 people. It was a very nice, respectful ceremony acknowledging the institution of the Stars and Stripes by the Second Continental Congress in 1777. Thank you to all who helped organize that. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Commissioner McCullough and her family for their support of a new sculpture that was just installed in front of the Discovery Center. It's a gorgeous statue locally Kansas carved, Kansas done, in limestone of a mother, a bison cow and calf. The title of the piece is Vigilance. It was a gift honoring a dear friend of the family, Jan Garten, who was extremely important in her work in conservation in Kansas. And so... Cheyenne bottoms. Specifically Cheyenne bottoms. And so I would like to extend a very sincere and heartfelt appreciation to the McCullough family for their support of that. Thank you. Finally, I would just recommend remind people that this weekend is Juneteenth City offices will be closed on Friday, which is June 19th there is a barbecue cook-off that night starting I believe at about five o'clock at City Park and there will be a Free concert at 730 Unity Walk begins at 10 o'clock on Yuma Street, beginning, I think, at Longs Park Pavilion. So there'll be vendors and tables and other events at the Douglas Center Annex, so please stop by there. All right, we will now move on to the business at hand. Commissioners, do I have a... Motion regarding the consent agenda.

I move we approve the consent agenda.

I'll second that. I just had a question. There's just one firework display permit. We have a lot more fireworks sellers. Do they come in later or do they have annual ones?

That's the one for the, this is for the country club. It's not for the vendors.

Oh, OK. So the vendors don't have to have. OK. Thank you. That's my question.

They do have to have permits. They just go through the fire department. They don't have to come through you all.

OK. Thank you.

But the displays do.

Do we have any public comment on the consent agenda? All right. We will close public comment. Commissioners, are there any items you wish to have withdrawn from the consent agenda? All right. Chelsea, will you please call the roll? We have a motion and a second.

Commissioner McCullough? Yes. Commissioner Fox?

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison?

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lintel?

Yes.

Mayor Adamczak?

Yes.

Motion carries 5 to 0.

Thank you. We will now move into a public hearing portion of our meeting. This is to consider approving ordinance number 7830 establishing a star bond district, and also approving ordinance number 7831, establishing a tax increment finance district for Champions Gate. I'd like to remind the public all we are considering this evening is the overlay map for these two districts. We are not approving any projects moving forward in these districts at this time.

Thank you, Mayor, Commissioners. This evening, we are at that public hearing stage for both the TIF and the Starbond districts that have been proposed. If you recall, May 5th, you set today as the date for the hearing for both of those items. The ordinances that are attached have maps associated with both of these districts. These districts have been noticed to the community, and they've been noticed to USD 383 and Riley County, in which both are occupied. Just as a reminder, too, from Mayor, your position in the commissions, two separate hearings. The first hearing we will have this evening will be on the Starbond District, and then we'll need action and move that item through, and then we will come back to the Tax and Income Finance District in Ordinance 7831. There is a presentation this evening from Kansas State University Foundation. I do believe they have a letter in front of each of you from the K-State family endorsing the project. Also in attendance this evening, Dominic Eck with Gilmore Bell, our bond council. In the event you have questions surrounding TIF or STAR district creation. Any questions for staff at this time?

uh... if not we can have the applicant run through their presentation thank you jason mayor and commissioners thank you very much for the opportunity tonight i hope everybody survived the storms that wreaked havoc on our community last couple of weeks uh... a lot of comments about the debris but uh... we certainly had a lot of staff that had adverse impacts so Manhattan's got a good wash, so hopefully we don't see that for some time to come. Again, as Jason alluded to before you, just to offer a brief recap on some items that we've gone over before. Tonight represents the fourth time that we've shared time together, either in open hearing or a workshop session, to really educate and continue to dialogue about the merits of Edge 3.0. So I think what we'd like to start with is a very simple overview of what it does and what it does not. Just as a reminder, Edge 3.0 absolutely is about job creation and opportunities for student learning. I think Commissioner McCullough brought up at previous hearings what's in it for the students, what's in it for the faculty. And the research, the student experience dynamic is alive and well in this district as proposed. Certainly corporate co-location facilities and services are one of the key elements of this. How do we initiate opportunities to attract and start new businesses and then help them thrive once they're established? It significantly advances the district. We talked about this being an evolution of of over a past decade's worth of work and this being the next critical stage to fully realize what this district can be in economic generation, attraction, visitation, and economic stimulation for the community. I mentioned the research capabilities being dramatically enhanced a little later in this deck. I'll highlight a number of the individual elements that absolutely give more research capability, capacity for partnering between faculty and companies, innovation, discovery, and expansion of business growth. And then last but not least, this absolutely converts untaxed property to date to produce significant tax revenue in the future. As you just heard from another citizen just a few minutes ago, a TIF evolving to now being a full-paying district. I think the interesting element of the TIF that we are proposing is there is no taxation coming off of that land at present. So I think it is a distinct, very, a difference is there's nothing lost because there's nothing there to date. So what Edge 3.0 does not do, I think it's just as important that we continue to dispel the myths, the rumors, and the misconceptions about this structure and what it does not do. It does not require additional investment by the city and infrastructure. Certainly through our previous discussions. It's been highlighted many times the city County the state other private individuals Participating in the streets and the other infrastructure that we've had there and we recognize that co-investment in that capability But it does not the last or the next thing I want to highlight is it does not include any tax abatement I think there's been confusion about through our engagement sessions and statements made that a tax abatement is at play here. I want to be really clear. This does not include, require, and we are not asking for a tax abatement. I want that to be clear on the record for every citizen and all of us here that that's not what this is. Every private business, every resident who resides in that district will write a check for their taxes, their property taxes to the authority that collects those. Can't reiterate that strongly enough money will come out of their bank account It will go to the jurisdiction how it's directed after that is different But I want to dispel this myth that citizens or businesses do not pay taxes through this they do And then last but not least it doesn't put the city at risk for any debt and it doesn't use any existing current budget funds of the city to make this work and This slide is just a reminder. I think staff highlighted just a minute ago the journey we've been on for May and what we're doing tonight. We've concluded that phase where the public has had their opportunity to offer comment on this and so you would just simply be forming the district map. You would not be finalizing a decision to proceed any further than that. I think it's also important just to reiterate some of the comprehensive nature of this district. I think we've mentioned multiple times that this is not a one dimension investment in this community. Multiple integrated assets in a very comprehensive way that has been considered the national exemplar for how you build a district that thrives and has multiple impacts in a community. for citizens, residents, businesses, existing businesses and new. And again, it's the most proven model for a high ROI return for co-investment. In particular, the destination assets on the upper part of the slide, we think these attraction elements that the university is unleashing to do great things for this community is another value add dimension here. This is Kansas State living up to the moniker of the next gen land grant mission. Not how do we build facilities that we exclusively benefit from, how do we use our facilities when they're not being used by our faculty for teaching or research to do economic generation for this community. The Bilbrey event center at the indoor track absolutely create that magnetism of new opportunity coming in. And then we also think that this public-private capital alignment is very balanced and very responsible. 84% of this is private, federal, state outside investment, very small portion locally. Again, this slide just reiterates, I think there's 10 different unique elements within this project plan, all adding very specialized and targeted value, working in a synergistic way to create the comprehensive outcome that we have. So I'm not going to reiterate and go all through those. I think they're bucketed in themes of research and innovation. Infrastructure abounds in this. The event and sports destinations that enhance athletics and enhance economic generation for our local businesses, absolutely a part of this. A technology and corporate innovation hub that allows Contract fees are partnering and contracting with the university but also business to business development utilizing those facilities and then the mixed-use Hospitality and development restaurants hotel other amenities that support the district and again add critical assets for the district in the future Mr. Williams, excuse me.

May I ask a question? Sure. So I We haven't heard too much about Edge Tech and High Bay. Can you just very briefly describe what those are, elements those are? Sure.

The High Bay facility, imagine a 30 to 40 foot large multi-bay garage where you could bring a really tall and massive equipment. I think that image on the screen, when you look at those large agriculture, equipment with the implements and the booms and the thing that they do. They can do testing, all kinds of innovative research discovery and partnering work in there. So the high bay is a facility that has tools and spaces for working on larger infrastructure and equipment and doing bigger testing. And then Edge Tech. Edge Tech, this is the newest image we have for them. TDI, another offshoot of the university, does a lot of partnering with businesses that are trying to do innovation around mechanical fabrication, prototyping, those kinds of things. So a facility that is multifunctional, tool shop, machine shop, electronic bays, others for developing new products. testing products, probably doing lab simulations, those kinds of things. So it's a multifaceted asset, and that image gives you a great visual of what's there. You're going to have a combination of office, computational space, and then some bay mechanical space with that. Thank you. And just a reminder on the funding structure, you know, as I mentioned earlier, predominantly externally funded. Private, federal, state resources, the lion's share of that, going back to that balanced and fiscally responsible approach. Targeted public tools, the STAR, the TIF, and the CID that are proposed, the percentages there are outlined. These are revenue-dependent financing tools, meaning if we don't produce the revenue, if these assets don't perform, we don't earn. And I think that's an important function of this. And then all of the risk is borne by the developer. We've been clear all along that none of these tools, none of these mechanisms put the city at risk. No bond debt, no risk that the city carries.

We do say that that will be public participation and go back to the under the fiscal risk. Well public participation is structured, limited and dependent. So there will be, people will be asking us for assistance bringing their thing to town basically.

I guess you're going to have to give me more clarification of what you're saying.

Well, when we have companies that come in and ask for assistance, we often go to our economic development tax and use that tax base to help them. And so I would imagine whatever group that's coming in here would also, you know, going back to Medifab days when we structured a whole committee to look at at bringing groups into town and there were some things that we insisted on like livable wage and that kind of thing.

Certainly any company who's choosing to come and co-locate within the district, establish a business, they may come to this commission looking for support in presenting their individual case. I would assume that to be the case ongoing throughout. any new business coming in. I think that's a separate issue, though.

Well, it does say public participation is structured. So just want to make sure that that's clear that there may be some tax dollars in the game.

I think we're alluding to the public participation. We're asking TV4 in Edge 3.0 is structured. Just a reminder on the star bonds, sales tax and net revenue. Again, a state-established tool. I think we've had a lot of work together on this, so I don't think there's much confusion. This is incremental-based financing on sales tax revenue above an existing base, so it's only on the increment above whatever base exists. And as a reminder, the state is the primary contributor. I'll show you that percentage in just a minute. And again, just again, no general obligation by the city in this tool. This is the district that was the map that was shared with commissioners previously and all of the micro detailed breakdown of the different revenue streams of the tax, what is not subject to capture and what is subject to capture. And again, the state is the big contributor with over 70% of this being their participation in this tool. And again, just a quick reminder on the TIF, it's incremental property tax, any existing tax and revenue within that jurisdiction would remain. All of those revenues are protected. It would just be any increment above the existing. It is performance based, which means that until these assets are built and exist in this district, there is nothing being generated and coming to us to develop this. So we have to go at risk, build the project before that revenue would come in to pay for it. And it is a pay as you go structure. meaning it's not going to be up front and front loaded. It's going to be received annually over time. Again, further enhancing that performance mechanism to receive the benefit, it's got to be viable, producing, and earning. And then this is just a reminder of the TIS district. The map indicates that this is just the land across from Bill Snyder Family Stadium that the foundation bought, a little over 15 plus acres. The TIF would be up to 20 years. And then there's a breakdown here of just the mills and the rate and what's subject and what's not subject to capture. And I think it's also important that we be reminded this is about impacting people. I think as citizens have talked about either property taxes or other things that they're interested in seeing relief on, I also hear continually that they want more job options, more improved job options. They want applied learning experiences for the students. small business support, entrepreneurship support, and then they want other entertainment and options and assets in this community for what they do in their work, live, play time after work. And so this is just a reminder that this is really a people-centered impact project. Another reminder just on these steps. I think it's what we've tried to highlight here is along the way there has been an appetite for more information and we have provided exactly what is available to us that we have at each step of the way. The step that you're being asked to make tonight is absolutely the next step to get the additional information you've been looking for all along. I think the best way for me to state that as your positive vote tonight doesn't commit you to anything, but it unlocks all that detailed information that you've been wanting for so long. It will give us a district that is clear and crisp and clean so that the numbers we present are accurate and the feasibility study and all the other elements will give you the details that help you make that final decision.

So July 7th, we're gonna have everything that there is with this, all the information will be available July 7th, right? That's correct.

Before that date, so that we can. July 7th or August 18th?

Oh, you're right, we have to adopt. I'm sorry, I don't have my glasses on. You're good, yeah.

We had talked previously We believe a work session would be in order in the event this gets passed and moved on tonight. I think we need to understand the information that he's speaking of that the state of Kansas has. We need to understand their own approach financially to generate the information for you all to consider as part of that plan, those plans for both the TIF and the STAR. the budgets associated with those, and ultimately the development agreements that would be entered into. We don't have that data yet. You all need to see that data and provide us that feedback so we can go work with them on where it is you're comfortable with those plans and those agreements. So our suggestion was to come back with a work session as soon as they're ready and the state's ready to release that information.

So Jason, just to be clear, are you proposing that our work session on June 30th would include that or that this date might slip

This step two was an example back in May to give you all a feel for how things could transpire. If everything was available, it's not available. So this plan, this July 7th, August 18th, it's not going to transpire. We're talking about possibly a July, maybe even August work session, really dependent on the data generated by both the applicant and the state of Kansas. So you all are informed before we get into drafting those documents.

I do appreciate that. I was about to recommend delaying.

I think it's really important that we get some hard numbers because we have percentages now and you can say, you know, the city will pay 60%. Well, of what and how much and what does that include?

Yeah, there's a tremendous amount of data, details, analysis. The feasibility studies required for both TIF and STAR need to be developed, and all that needs to come before you all to get feedback on how to proceed with those agreements and those plans.

So I think through this whole conversation, we're all agreeing 100%. I agree, we want those details and that information. But the only way it's accurate is if we form the district so that those estimates and forecasts are finalized based on the catchment zones. And so this next step, again, to Jason's point, those dates may move a little bit depending on how you wanna do the work session. But what is provided precisely in that next step is the feasibility study, which is the projected visitation rates. These are outside impartial bodies developing this. This is not the foundation coming up with these numbers. The revenues and all the economic impact that comes from this, also the project plan, which is the description of each of these assets, all the capital that goes into them, and the public financing tools that flow into those. All the micro detail that you're going to be looking for comes in that step. And I'll just say thank you for your attention and for the opportunity for you to consider this.

I have a question. You say you're not asking for any tax abatement, but delaying any tax benefit for up to 20 years, is that not the equivalent? Most abatements have been 10 years. Does that not come up in the same theory? It's not delayed, not collected?

Well, the way this tool works, and these tools have been available to every developer out there, is this is how a community co-invests. an opportunity for the future. If you want to say that's how you characterize it, you're welcome to, but I think it's fair to say that some of that revenue is redirected to co-invest in that district. I think the most important thing we've tried to make clear is that nobody is abdicated from their responsibility to pay taxes. The businesses and the residents pay. It comes into the community, and then some of it is redirected into the tools. But that's not relief for the individuals in that district living or operating a business. They don't get a differential advantage.

Gentlemen, can you please refrain from distracting us?

The only additional comment I would provide, when you receive feasibility studies, the year in which tax increment finance districts go in place and those districts themselves start to generate revenue There's usually two to three year period before you see full value. Their construction schedule is going to play a big part in when revenues would be realized. That will be laid out in front of you and you will see that incremental period at which revenues are growing and then probably plateauing. It's just to take into consideration the number of years and how much you want to talk to them about in terms of eligible expenses and revenues to backfill those expenses over time. You're right on the abatement. It's 10 years. But under the structure of the IRB, you can wait to certify your cost when your project's complete so your 10-year abatement is of full value. Those developers usually time that to coordinate with when they're done with construction so they realize 10 years of full value. They will pay their taxes along the way before they reach that full value in that scenario. So we can provide you all a 20-year run of revenues and how those would go out towards expenses for the TIF, the STAR, and the CID.

Thank you, Jason.

Jason, could I ask you a question? Are utilities part of what the TIF will pay?

No. Will pay?

Or will come out of the?

As far as eligible expenses go, that's another evaluation and information you are due. We've been having a lot of conversations about what is eligible under all of these tools, and when they approach with those redevelopment plans, the CID, TIF, STAR, There's going to be an evaluation legally as to what's eligible, and then you correlate that with the revenues that will be generated. So as you adopt these plans, you'll have budgets. It'll call out what's eligible. It will not call out what is not eligible. Private utilities or public utilities typically are eligible expenses on private property or public. We'll have to dive into those details as they submit them. We'll have our bond council review those as well.

I think that's a very important thing. I'm also sort of surprised that the feasibility study is coming so late. It would seem to me that would be the first thing we'd do is a feasibility study.

And I would reiterate, we've done three TIFs in Manhattan, the mall, downtown, north and south, and Aggieville. All three of those districts were structured completely different. This fourth one, if we move forward, will also be different. What we did with the mall and how the TIF worked, the north and south end, not the same. Even in Aggieville. Aggieville, we have yet to enter into any agreements with a developer to realize TIF funds, zero. In downtown, we issued into development plans and agreements with Dial. With the mall, it was completely different. We own the land underneath the mall. You just have different structures. But when we have moved TIFs and STARS recently, the city is putting so much into those as part of that structure. We were a huge benefactor of those property taxes along the way and sales tax. We've already invested here. This is a result of someone coming in adjacent to an area we've already invested. We don't need, we're not really able to carve off the full 60 million we put on North Campus. It's not eligible. There are certain pieces that there are. But we started that seven, eight, nine years ago. And those wouldn't be eligible. We owe you that information.

Yeah, well, I think we're all owed quite a bit of information. And I kind of want to know, Also, how much skin in the game does the foundation have? I just received a report from you the other day, and it showed what you brought in this year in a pie chart, and it said 34% was other, and that was quite a, yeah, here's the blue triangle, and I'm sure that means staff, things like that, but that's, for a charity, that's, pretty high percent to have, you know, usually you expect 15% overhead or something like that. So I want to know what the foundation's putting up for this activity too.

think we are on record of the investment we made to acquire the land the other things we've done in the commercial buildings and we've been also clear that we're going to have to do some financing and things to get these projects initiated before the structures go that will come out in the information about what we're going to have to co-invest up front that will be recovered over time but that will be debt and other structures, not cash.

But you do realize the income from those other buildings, I mean, rents and things like that, so it's not... Once the notes are paid off, yes.

So many of those assets were built with full financing, and so cash flow is very minimal on those, so... Debt as part of those structures doesn't mean that we have net income on those yet.

Yeah, I also found that you said 84% is coming feds, state, private, and philanthropy, and I would kind of think philanthropy and private are the same two things, aren't they?

Well, again, private investment by outside partners who build a hotel, a restaurant, philanthropy, you know, when we talk about the Bilbrey Arena, the asset that's already there, when we talk about the Agronomy Innovation and Research Center that we raised money for that's in that district. So that's where philanthropy is at play, making those assets come to life so that they're available for those corporate partnering businesses, research, et cetera.

I think it's kind of important to, I know we've kind of went over it a couple times, but what is the STAR bond supposed to pay for? I mean, I guess the barns and the indoor track and... Yeah, I think it's a good question, Commissioner.

I think traditionally the way Star Bonds have been structured, and when we look at the couple of those occasions where we've done it in this community, the Art and Light Museum and the Discovery Center are the two prime examples that were one element, visitation attraction elements. As we worked with the state, it was agreed that an expanded scope of what the attraction is has emerged here, and that's so you have multiple elements that are qualifying elements for the Starbon district. That was validated through the Lieutenant Governor and the Department of Commerce in their letter of support back to the city that these multiple elements in this plan qualifies.

And then anything about the what was or what is the what are the plans for the TIF dollars? Like what what what what are eligible expenses?

Yeah, there's too many for me to list. I saw a slide that had about 17 to 18 individual items. We owe you that. There's a lot of different costs. Jason would be better or bond counsel would be better. informed to give you a list and articulate those tonight than I can. All I know is that enough of those expenses are embedded in those projects that it helps us achieve that. We'll have to go through that in detail with the city staff and the outside partners to crosswalk those and present what is qualified and verified by outside parties on that. I wish I had more information on those along lists, but I just don't know that off the top of my head.

Since we've got bond council here Would be good to know if there's any impact but go ahead and answer that question first

Yeah, no, I was just going to say I would absolutely welcome our bond council to come up and talk through what eligible expenses are. The only thing I was going to reiterate is that as part of that pending work session that we are planning on scheduling is when we would get into the exact eligible expenses of these two project plans that will be coming forward. But yes, welcome, Dominic.

Yeah, I really wanted to know the impact of, you know, these tip bonds and things like that.

Thank you. Dominic Eck with Gilmore and Bell, Cities Bond Council. So generally speaking, on a TIF project, your eligible expenses can be broadly categorized as acquisition costs and horizontal infrastructure. So that generally is what is limited to eligible expenses under the TIF Act. Star bond becomes more broad to allow for some construction of the various attraction facilities. There's another governor there, of course Which is they also have to be approved by the Department of Commerce and Department of Commerce has to sign off on those eligible Expenses as well and has as has been mentioned, you know That is all going to be information that is available as step two of the process which is those project plans the project plans for both TIF and star bonds are required to have much greater levels of detail and as far as uses of funds and identify, you know, kind of categories. Again, through the development agreement, we typically have a budget that's set out there and say, here's our total cost and here's the amount that's eligible and here you can go across, you know, through the line items and see, okay, this is where this would be going and this is where that would be going. But generally speaking on TIF, you want just kind of a rule of thumb. You're looking at acquisition and horizontal infrastructure, nothing vertical. when it's owned by a developer. Thank you. Yes.

So does it have an impact on our general indebtedness, the TIF and the star bonds?

So generally, the bonds that are being discussed here are what we refer to as special obligation bonds. So a general obligation bonds are those bonds that are backed by the full faith and credit of the city, saying whatever happens, we will levy property tax mill levies in order to make this debt service. On a special obligation bond, the documents say, you're only entitled to the revenue that's generated from these specific sources. So from star bonds, you're talking about incremental sales tax revenues. On a TIF bond, you'd be talking about incremental property tax revenues. Now, in this case, they're not proposing a TIF bond structure. They're proposing pay as you go, which means they front all the money up front to make the construction. And then over time, as TIF increment is realized, then they can get reimbursed. star bonds would be a bond issuance, and in order to ensure that there will be sufficient revenues to pay that debt service, the bond underwriter is also going to do a rigorous study to make sure that, yes, we are going to have plenty of revenues coming in, they're going to provide a coverage factor to make sure, because their job is to go sell those bonds to investors, and they certainly don't want to sell a bond that has a low probability of being paid back. They want a high probability so that the next time they have a bond issue, those same purchasers would come back again. So that is all taken into account, but those bonds will not have a general obligation backing of the city. So if there were a circumstance where there's a shortfall in incremental revenues for those star bonds, There is not a mechanism for those bondholders to come back and say, hey, city, you have to make up this shortfall. We're short. You need to make us whole. That's not how those bond documents are structured. They would basically kind of keep rolling, and hopefully the district would perform it out years. But it's the bondholder's risk. And so typically speaking, a star bond is going to have a higher interest rate than a general obligation bond because it is a riskier investment proposition. Thank you. Yes.

Thank you, Dominic.

Thank you.

Commissioners, may I open public comment? All right. As Jason indicated, we will be hearing public comment two separate times. So at this moment, I am asking if anyone would like to make a comment regarding Ordinance 7830, which specifically refers to the Star Bond District. All right, seeing no comment, we will, seeing no one approach, we will close public comment. Commissioners, do you have any additional questions?

So I, from my perspective, I think this is a great opportunity that's before us. Certainly, I have a whole spreadsheet of information that I wanna see. I wanna see the lists of all the various projects, the costs, and who's paying what. On the right hand column is all the sources of revenue from the star bonds to donations that have already been made to the foundation investment to the eligible expenses in the TIF district. Certainly want to see all of those. As we've been told time and again, we're not going to get all of that information unless and until we approve these two maps to move forward so that the state will unleash the information that we're all wanting. We're not going to get it until So if we want this to move forward, I think I'm certainly in favor of approving these two maps tonight so that we can move forward. If we don't approve them, then we've just lost a great opportunity. So I'm certainly in favor of approving both of these maps as presented.

Mr. Williams, would you please just come back to your presentation and pull up the Starbond map? So we're looking basically at an overlay of the K-State campus. I think the carve out in the upper right quadrant must be the NBATH. That is correct. Facility. That is correct.

This is basically the university and then the foundation land that we own across from Kimball are the only two what I'll call property owners, if you will, captured in this plan. No other parts of the community or citizens are captured in this.

Thank you. My only comment is I'm not convinced, but it seems silly that we don't approve them to find out what the facts are. And I'm not sure I'm going to be convinced, but I think we have to take this step to even find out if it's feasible and where it goes.

I'm sorry, Tim. I didn't mean to cut you off.

I've been yet convinced that this is a good deal for the city. It may be ultimately for the community if whatever they predict works. And that's an if.

So may I have a motion to approve ordinance 7830?

I would move that we approve ordinance number 7830. Second.

Thank you. Chelsea, would you call the roll, please?

Commissioner Fox?

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison?

Yes.

Commissioner von Lentl?

Yes.

Mayor Adam Czajk? Yes. Commissioner McCulloch? Yes. Motion carries 5 to 0.

Great. Thank you. With this action, we will close the public hearing on approving this ordinance. And I will now open public hearing and receive public comment on ordinance number 7831, which is establishing a TIF district, tax increment finance district. Greg, would you mind changing your map?

Thank you.

So here we see the primarily vacant land, which is on the northeast corner of Kimbell and College. Any questions? Is there anyone from the public who would like to make a comment on this? If so, please approach.

This is kind of a big issue and it has a lot of factors.

Can you please state your name and address for the record, please?

Joe Knopp, 104 Oakwood Circle, Manhattan, Kansas. I'd respectfully request more than three minutes to address these comments.

I'm sorry. No, those are rules.

The rules said that unless the commission grants additional time upon request, as the way I read the ordinance as you passed it several weeks ago. But if you're going to keep the three minutes, I'll

Gladly do that. I would move to allow five minutes with brevity. Second. Chelsea.

Commissioner Morrison?

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lentol? Yes. Mayor Adamczak?

Yes.

Commissioner McCullough? Yes. Commissioner Fox? Yes. Motion carries five to zero.

Thank you very much for your respect and consideration. This particular area of piece of land is very important to the entire concept of what we were promised 20 years ago when we started this whole project. This is the western focal point of the corridor between Columbia, Missouri and Manhattan, Kansas that was supposed to create a great economic impact for Manhattan. We have invested $1.2 billion. We being the taxpayers of this world of this state of this nation, $1.2 billion in in bath to take a piece of pasture ground and make it close to a major research facility. I've heard that we've spent $60 million on improving this district to date. I've tried to get those numbers. I'm surprised they're that high. And they're going to go up more. The future cost expected by the city are $46 million. We're projecting that we're going to spend $10 million from the sales tax funds. We're going to spend, we have spent all this money. So we have put a lot of money into the infrastructure. So when the foundation says we're not going to ask for any more money for infrastructure, I want to say, well, thank you very much. After we put all of this money into infrastructure, I'm glad you don't need any more. although the tax increment says that maybe they do need more. We were promised jobs, good jobs, jobs that would move this community to 80,000 people in a short period of time. Now, John Weefald's not here anymore. Bob Krause is not here anymore. All these people make good faith promises. But the building is now just open. The research facility is now open. Now is not the time to commit a key part of that corridor to a hotel, a restaurant, and a bar. And I think you need to kind of think about doing that right now. I'm looking to see whether Merck, and I was looking for the top 10 research pharmaceutical companies in the world, that's a prime place where they could put a five-story research place and be a landmark for next to NBATH. Very visible, not back in the pasture on the northwest Kimball, but right there. That's why the hotel, the restaurant, and the bar want to be there. We need to reserve that land for the next 10 years to give Jason Smith a chance to attract these people. That MBATH is not even up and running yet. We don't know what it can do. And we can't meet its promise if we commit it to an entertainment district. I'm concerned that once you allow a bar, a restaurant, and a hotel to go in there, Somebody's going to want to go right next to it on College Avenue and put in another one and another one. And then suddenly we've got a new entertainment district that is competing with the inter-death entertainment district we've already invested millions of dollars in in Aggieville or in the city. That's our entertainment district. This is our research park. And we're not here looking for jobs that are $8 an hour and tips. in a bar or a brewery. We're not looking for jobs that are housekeeping in a hotel. And we're not looking for a new residential apartment building when we've got places right elsewhere in the community. I don't know when we're going to have the opportunity to talk about zoning and planning. But that's a key instrument, key here. Is that the right place for these kind of things? And now is the time to express your opinion on that before it gets too far down the road. I have a fraternity brother, I think, who's very involved in this. And I didn't realize that. But I'm still standing up for what I think is right for our community and our future. We were promised a research park, not a bar, a restaurant, and a hotel. Those are the things that we ought to hold out for. We ought to be optimistic. We ought to be visionary and think that that's going to be what can happen and not settle for low-hanging fruit. We have turned a pasture that the university bought at a certain price. The foundation brought a $1.7 billion holding company, bought for investment. And we've made it into something much more valuable with very little cost on their part. And every other developer in town hasn't got a TIF. Well, I guess a couple people have down there at Hartford. But not every developer gets a TIF. Not every developer gets all these breaks. Everybody else in town has done it on themselves. And any investor who says, I can't afford something because of the property taxes, I wouldn't loan them any money as a banker. I would invest in it as a investor if they couldn't make it because of that much margin. Thank you for your extra time.

Mr. Knopp, would you please sign the registry? Certainly.

Mayor Adam Chack and commissioners, I would recommend that we allow all future speakers during this public hearing to have five minutes.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to approach and make public comment?

Do you want me to introduce myself again?

Gary Oles, I live at 3308 Frontier Circle. I probably won't take five minutes. This is so much for a citizen to absorb, let alone you all in the position that you're in, to even process the limited information that you've been given. I guess a couple of seeds that I'd like to plant is Are there breaks on this project? And I'm not meaning B-R-E-A-K-S, I'm meaning breaks like stop, we're not doing this. I don't know if there are or aren't. Maybe once you get through the process, and you get all this information, I hope you're able to say, nah, we're going to pass. I don't know. That's good. I think I understand the concept of the TIF and the concept of the gentleman who explained that the TIF is for horizontal, meaning earthwork, utilities, those type of thing, and not horizontal. not the construction of a condominium or whatever. And that makes sense. But he also mentioned acquisition costs. So I'm a little confused because it's already been acquired by the foundation. Does that mean it's going to be sold to somebody else? I don't know that that matters. It's just a question that popped into my mind. And as I understand it, 100% of the property in the TIF is not paying any taxes right now. but receiving all city services that they're eligible for, you know, ambulance, fire, police, you know, whatever, whatever, that are being paid for by all the taxpaying entities, which is true of the entire university, which that's just the way it is, I understand. But how is this TIF district, maybe this is a question you can ask if it's important to you, is how is this TIF district going to be different from the Hy-Vee or the Blue Earth Plaza. They're similar entertainment retail type things that just came off. And the way I see it is that really benefited the general public, or at least a larger percentage of the general public, for lack of a better way to describe it, who are here locally and who come to visit, depending on which side of the mall you're on. How is this TIF different if it's going to be an entertainment difference? It seems to me that there's a class of people, and by class of people I mean income, that are going to be able to enjoy that to purchase the condominium. I'm not a buyer for the condominium because, as I tell my wife, I'm on the back side of the bell curve. So if you approve this for 20 years, I'm not going to be here in 20 years to tell you it's paid off, just by the way. Well, I don't know that much for fact, but the probability is good based on life expectancy. So I just thank you for running for office and taking on this challenge. It's going to be a hard one. I can't say that I supported or object to it. Obviously, politically, who would want to object to the university? That would be political suicide. I think that you've got a lot of questions to ask on behalf of the citizens, and I appreciate the fact that you're going to be there for us to ask those questions to try to figure out, is this good for the community? Because now you have to figure out, is it good for the community, and is it good for the city, which aren't always the same thing, and I've said that before. Hey, I saved a minute.

Thank you. I know we are not... Yes, Greg.

I already signed it.

No, this is Greg. You're Gary.

Greg McKinley, 3028 Geneva. A couple of things. They say they're going to pay taxes. They're paying property taxes. They're paying them to the county, and then county turns around and gives them back the money, or gives the foundation the money. They aren't paying city and county not getting money for 20 years. If you do a residence improvement or development, the horizontal construction is the specials. So what these people are going to have on there, they're paying the specials but not property taxes. So we're giving them a tax break. And I'm guessing they're probably going to want police protection. If there's a fire there, I expect that they'll want the fire department there. If there's a problem, they're going to want ambulance service. And I just think giving away that is not worth it. The other thing, and this is not personal, but someone who's been a 23-year employee of the foundation and was probably involved in phases one and two should recuse themselves from voting on this one. There's a conflict of interest there. Thank you.

Can I just say thank you, Commissioner, for joining us tonight. I would hope that we could probably have more discussion with our county commissioners.

I'm not a county commissioner and a resident. I'm not here representing the county. I'm here representing me. Don't twist that.

Okay, sorry. But I still would like to have more discussion.

Good evening, commissioners. I'm Grant Hill, deputy chief of staff at Kansas State University. I live at 1604 Green Valley Circle, and I'm here on behalf of K-State to show support for Edge 3.0 and to ask the commission's support in advancing tonight's ordinance to allow us to go through the next phase of review. You should have received your letter, and I'm sorry that we didn't get it to you soon enough, but we have a lot of individuals that we have to approve everything. But it just shows the coordinated sign off that all of our entities are very passionate about this and want to make sure that we're taking this partnership seriously. As we've established tonight throughout the presentation, it doesn't tie our community to approved approved finished product, but rather let's figure out what the next analysis will say so that you can make a fully informed decision over the next few months. But why continue to spend time on this? The EDGE initiative reflects years of steady progress in Manhattan and EDGE 3.0 takes our community in the next step forward. but what makes it different is that it connects us together our students research athletics commercial space residential hospitality entertainment in one district this vision creates a district that can be used all year round besides just a few weekends out of the year and so that's what matters for manhattan the visitors for local businesses and the long-term tax base as well as creating an avenue for future growth of businesses Recently, the university went to North Carolina, the Raleigh-Durham area. The Kansas Department of Commerce took us out there with Wichita State and KU to identify, all right, what is that research triangle park and how can we bottle it and bring it back? That is a model that we want to be someday. However, they are looking at how do we do something like Edge 3.0, making it a live, play, work environment instead of just I go work and I leave. How do I work, stay, and eat and enjoy my community? And so that is what this Edge 3.0 will be doing. Like stated, the KSU Foundation is carrying the risk, the debt, and the tenants and businesses will pay taxes to reinvest into the district to benefit all of Manhattan. The component here is the share of the future tax increment revenue growth that doesn't exist today and wouldn't exist without this project. And our current tax base is not touched. The city is not being asked to issue bonds or draw down economic development funds. These tools will stay available for other critical needs and priorities. The project is private capital and state partnership doing the heavy work for Manhattan and Manhattan will be positioned to benefit with what follows. And tonight's decision as well as the meetings over the coming months will allow this commission to make a decision that future commissions will look back as one that kept Manhattan moving forward on a great trajectory. So please approve the next phase of this analysis to see more so that you can make a better and more informed decision moving forward. We believe the numbers will hold up once they're available, and we just are hoping to have that chance to prove it and talk through and allow you to do your due diligence. So thank you for your time tonight.

Is there anyone else who would like to make a comment?

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Commission. I'm Trey Kuhlman, external, not executive, external director for the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce, 1601 Woodcrest Drive. I'm here on behalf of the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce. You should have all received a letter from our President and CEO, Jason Smith, not too long ago, about a week ago or so. And my comments tonight will be reflecting that letter. and the manhattan area chamber of commerce remains committed to supporting initiatives that will positively strengthen the community's long-term economic health we believe the edge project to be an opportunity towards that end support for this project and setting the boundaries is only setting the boundaries and it does not impact the financial obligations of the city or any taxing institution and that is already being covered plenty tonight but we want to emphasize that as part of the reason why the chamber remains supportive of moving this forward we recognize that this requires further details this requires further planning and analysis and this is simply a step to move that further along so that everyone in the community including the chamber members and the public at large to see what this project really entails and what it can provide for Manhattan as a whole. This is further moving the needle forward so that all Manhattan can understand it and see its full potential. We do believe that the planned investment towards the Bilberry Family Event Center and Cliff Rivelto Indoor Track will significantly increase tourism and that has great interest for supporting the economic health for Manhattan. And so we encourage you all to consider moving this forward so that the project and its impact can be fully evaluated. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak this evening on this item? All right. Then we'll now close public comment on this part of the hearing. Sorry. Oh.

Vern Hendricks, 3508 Podesta Drive, Manhattan. And I was enjoying your park and rec services tonight with my three-year-old granddaughter. And I was thinking, like, would it be great if you guys could enjoy being together as much as those three-year-old girls did? So I had no intention of getting here tonight to speak. I just kind of wanted to listen to the dialogue. And it's amazing to me how we have made such opinions before we get all the facts. And I do believe that all of you there, I know all of you personally, just keep going until you get the facts. If you want to vote no, vote no at the end. But at this point in time, have the information. I mean, I know there's a lot of people that have done a lot of research, and there's a lot of facts and figures around there. You know, it's not reality, but you've got to deal with perception before you can get to reality. I just ask you, you know, you've got a big project. I went to Greenville, South Carolina on the city to city visit and saw a lot of things there change because the community got behind some things. I can guarantee you not everybody agreed on it. And all I'm asking for you guys here, everybody here for that matter, not only you up here that are making the decisions, let's get the facts and give us some real numbers that we can make a judgment on. Let's give our staff an opportunity to put those numbers together And sure, we may eat up some hours here in this whole process, but I would really hate to be the person up there or anywhere that denies an opportunity that can make a difference in this community because we are constantly talking about trying to do things to make this community a better place. So give yourself a chance for the facts. I don't want to deny the fact that there might be some naysayers out here, but just give yourself a chance to see the facts give these guys a chance, provide more information to you, and then let's make a good informed decision when we got that stuff. So, appreciate you all. Thank you for the pep talk.

Madam Mayor, can I ask, is this going to go before planning and rezoning this Champions Gate?

I am not aware, maybe. It already has. It has. And they have moved it forward.

Okay.

Is there anyone else who would like to make public comment? All right. I will close public comment on this part of the hearing. I would like to just use the mayor's prerogative to make a couple of comments. Mr. Knopf, the Hartford project is not the recipient or not participating in a TIF. Just a correction to your comment. I worked for 17 years for more than that as a freelance consultant, but for the last 17 years I commuted between here and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Believe me, as someone working in that environment, I very much appreciated having a hotel and a restaurant nearby that I could go to at the end of the day and not have to go into downtown Durham or Raleigh. Um, I think that having those amenities nearby is part of the planned future of this, uh, planned, you know, it is underway now there, there is construction taking place in this area right now. Uh, so I think we need to look at this as part of the entire package. It's not just an amenity hanging out there. And furthermore, if we are successful in indeed implementing 30 plus events at the Bilbrey Center every year, as well as regional and the track meets at the track center, we will be having far more people than will be able to be accommodated in a single hotel in that region, in that part of town, there will be spillover effect for our other restaurants and hotels. The last point I would like to make is that the city would be eligible to recoup some costs from this TIF district as well. And that is something that is being explored with bond council as was mentioned. And so some of the, uh, what has already been spent on that infrastructure, uh, in the edge district may be recouped by our city and those funds can be used for other purposes. I just wanted to make that clear to anyone in this room or who may be watching from the comfort of their own homes. Is there anyone else who would like to make a statement or questions?

So I feel like I owe a response to Mr. McKinley's assertion that I should recuse myself from this decision. I would point out that I was a 24-year employee of the KSU Foundation as its director of real estate. So I am well aware of the foundation's efforts in developing real estate for the benefit of the university and its students. But I would also point out I retired over two years ago. I have no family members that are foundation representatives, no family members that are employees of the university. I am a 53-year resident of Manhattan, and so my allegiance today is to the city of Manhattan. I have a child living here and her family. I have two grandsons living here. They own a home here. I don't want to see them taxed out of their home any more than the rest of you want to be taxed out of yours. So I can assure you that My perspective is to try to keep the taxes as low as possible and to do developments in this community that benefit everybody. I, more than anybody up here, know the motivations of the foundation and what they're trying to do to grow this university and to benefit this community. As I said before, I have a whole spreadsheet of information I'm looking for on these projects and what they're gonna cost and who's gonna pay the cost. I'm particularly concerned with the TIF district and what exactly all that's gonna pay for and how much tax are we gonna use to pay for all of that. So should I recuse myself? In my opinion, no, I should not, thank you.

I just think it's really important that we all realize what we're doing is pushing this forward to hear more. Nobody's saying yes or no tonight. Nobody's suggesting we do this or that. We just need more numbers, need more discussion, and see where we get.

Well, in response to Vern's pep talk, I appreciate it. All five of us agreed to go forward. Some of us are a little skeptical. But look at the chart up there and if you see what's subject to capture, city of Manhattan 100%, Raleigh County 100%, school district a little over 50%. That is money we aren't gonna see for 20 years. Just keep it in perspective of what we are getting or not getting and what the payoff has to be either in sales tax or new employment I hate to mention it, student enrollment, Mr. Foundation.

Any motion?

I'm just ready after four public meetings to actually get information about this project.

Commissioners, do we have a motion on approving ordinance number 7831, establishing a tax increment finance district?

I move that we approve ordinance 7831 Second Can I ask a question we're not really establishing the tax increment finance district You are establishing the district you are not approving a project plan Thank you Thank you Chelsea will you call the roll please Commissioner von Lentol Yes

Mayor Adamtschak?

Yes.

Commissioner McCulloch? Yes. Commissioner Fox?

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison?

Yes.

Motion carries five to zero.

Thank you. With this vote to establish these two districts, we will now close the public hearing part of this meeting. And we will move to our general agenda. Our first item is to consider approving phase two design build agreement with McCown Gordon Construction and a project funding agreement with the Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation for the Flint Hills Discovery Center outdoor classroom renovation project. And we will hear from Director Bridenstine.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, Stephen Bridenstine, Director of Flint Hills Discovery Center. I appreciate this opportunity to bring this project before you. Before I go any further, I do want to point out I have two other individuals here who are available if you have questions. Brian Femmler with Macau Gordon Construction is here tonight, as well as Leslie White, the Director of the Flint Hills Discovery Center Foundation. So they're both here available if you have any questions. So... I will jump right into things. So the goal tonight is to review the 70% design documents to give you that preview of this project. And then of course, we are seeking your approval to move forward with the phase two, which is the construction portion of this project. I did want to start and just give you that orientation so you're aware of what we're talking about and where we're talking about for this project. So everything in part of this project is located inside that yellow line there. So this is the southeast corner of our property. They're downtown The primary focus and the largest part will be inside that red circle That is the what we're calling the outdoor classroom proper. That is the the built space as part of this project and To give you the quick review of this project timeline, so this goes way back to 2019. We actually received a grant through our foundation to build a small seating bench out there and fund a series of nature programs out there for families. Those programs were very successful. They became self-supporting, revenue-generating programs. And so we've decided to see what more could we do with this space. Two years ago in 2024, our foundation applied for and received community tax credits from the Department of Commerce. That was a huge next step in the funding mechanism to make this project possible. So that was two years ago. last august we brought this before the commission and received approval to publish the rfp for this project uh... in october phase one design services were approved with a funding agreement with our foundation and since october we've been busy designing and so what we've brought for you tonight is what we've developed for this project so with your approval tonight we would move forward with construction break ground in September, and we would finish construction in January, and then we would launch the new programs in this space in March of next year when the weather warms up. This gives you an idea of what has been in this space since 2019. That stone seating bench has served us well, but we are looking to do more, more programming, more opportunities for the community. As I said before, the programs have been very well received out there, and so our goal with this project, one of the big goals, of course, is to further that impact. in terms of the project goals like everything we do at the discovery center it goes back to our mission inspiring people to celebrate explore and care for the flint hills in terms of the specific project the first goal is that capacity for this space uh... we've already proven that programs do well out there and so by Further developing the space, we can offer more programs on more days to a wider audience. These are revenue-generating fee-based programs for youth, family, school groups, tour groups, etc. The second part of the goal is to better integrate this space in the outdoor area of the Discovery Center. It is what we now term the Prairie Garden Terrace and Trail. so that is for guests and visitors to the discovery center but this is an outdoor space that will be open sun up to sundown and available to anyone in downtown manhattan in the south end district we also think that there are potentially opportunities for it to be a rental venue not unlike other parts in city park like a park shelter or something else so there's possibly other revenue opportunities there as well.

Stephen, may I ask, does this, the prairie trail, does that overlay or coincide with the sculpture trail that is envisioned going around the Discovery Center?

Yes, so about eight years ago now, we installed those 15 interpretive panels on the outdoor section of the Discovery Center on our existing property. That's when we really started to think about the outdoor space as an exhibit at the Discovery Center. And so the sculpture trail would be an additional element in that same area. That trail around the building is a multi-use trail that is a wonderful asset for us and so this again takes advantage of our property and the opportunity there.

Can I just add that the trail, thanks to the Carolyn Pine Foundation, The markers are very, very interesting, and they talk about a number of things besides the prairie. They talk about the Indian encampment that was across the river and that kind of thing. You should walk up it and see it. Or you can walk down it, too.

Thank you. In terms of what we're doing with this project... The largest element is the shade structure. So this outdoor seating bench, that stone bench you saw, that would remain in place. And so the shade structure is what makes this a much more protected environment. It makes it one that is much more comfortable for programming. Right now it's exposed to the elements, to sun, to rain, and we are designing a space that can accommodate a full classroom, so about 25 students with teachers and adults alongside them, so that we can have that focused educational space. The second part of it is a new boardwalk, which would directly connect the outdoor classroom with that trail by going over that bioswale. That is that low point in our property filled with the native prairie grasses. The other thing about both of these elements, they are fully ADA accessible. And for a lot of folks, being able to get out into the prairie is a difficult thing. And so I kind of pride ourselves, I refer to it as a prairie oasis in downtown Manhattan. And so everything about this project is about making sure all audiences can access it. The third element, of course, is landscaping changes, removing the red cedars that are there, as well as adding new native landscape elements in their place. So again, the native landscape element in that corner of the property. I want to jump in to show you what we're proposing here with this project. You can see, looking west with the Discovery Center behind it, these conceptual drawings show that shade structure, where that stone seating bench is located, and then you can see the boardwalk crossing over the bioswale, and really making sure that this new structure that we're building is open and inviting to everyday guests who go out onto our property. This southwest view really focuses on that boardwalk. Again, ADA accessible design for our audience so that they can access this space and get into that bioswale environment. What's really interesting about it is that this really doesn't show it, but the grasses and the wildflowers in that space will grow up to and likely above the railing of that boardwalk. In a good year, they will get that tall. And so again, being able to really get into that, what is otherwise an inaccessible part of our property. This view looks into the classroom space. Again, something that is being designed to accommodate a classroom's worth of students and families for programs. And it has this beautiful vista that looks out onto that native landscaping. This gives you another view of the classroom space. Lastly, I will point out that we are doing lighting in this space so that we can have it available for programming at nighttime. We've successfully done astronomy-based programming in the past. We would love to see how else we can offer additional programs at nighttime. And again, that potential of it being a rental space. A lot of the rentals are after hours, and having this space be accessible and be lit expands our opportunities to do more in this space. It's also a safety and security consideration as well. We know that this space is out of the way in the corner of our property, and so having it be well lit is another consideration for maintaining the integrity of this space. Lastly, looking at it from the back side of the classroom, this is as if you were across the street from the main entrance of the Discovery Center looking northeast. I really wanted to spend a moment to talk about what we're planning to do with that back wall, those panels that are part of this project. The sculpture trail concept was brought up earlier, and one of the things that we've always wanted to do with this project from the get-go was have a public art element within it. Where we've landed with this is the back wall of the outdoor classroom structure, having these five vertical panels, they're weathered steel, and as you can see from the example images there, the concept is to cut that design into those panels, something that really complements what we're trying to do with this space in terms of that prairie imagery, the prairie themes. These panels are not structural elements. They are not weight supporting. One of the benefits we have in this project is that they're going to be one of the last elements to get added onto this structure. So that gives us a little bit more time to work on the design and really come up with something that we think will really wow people and give people another reason to go visit this space and make it all the more attractive to program attendees and to visitors as well. So like I said, design work is ongoing with those. In terms of the dollars and cents, phase one services were previously approved last year at 71,000. The phase two construction portion of the GMP is 496,000. And then there's an additional owner's contingency. These are funds that would be held by the city for the purpose of Any additional services required, some minor testing services, as well as any furnishings and anything additional that might come up in this project as well. that all together and that gets to the total project cost at $600,000. I will remind you and everyone that this is being covered by our foundation. I cannot speak enough about the hard work they've been putting into this. This has been over three years now since we started the tax credit process. And having our foundation be a partner on this project is a wonderful thing. So 100% of the cost of this project being covered through the private donations, foundation support, through our Discovery Center Foundation. With that, I stand for any questions you have about the project.

It looks as if you were very articulate and gave a very clear and informative presentation. I'm not seeing a whole lot of, well, let me withdraw that.

I'm so happy about the cedars going away.

So are we.

I threatened to come over and chop them down myself at one point. So are you going to burn the prairie?

Only if the fire chief allows, but I'm not counting on it.

Commissioner Morrison.

Well, part of the Great Prairie of Kansas anymore, cedar trees, so I kill them whenever I can, but I hate to see them go for historic reasons.

Commissioner Fox. All right. Thank you, Stephen. Commissioners, if there's no comments from you all, I will ask for public comment. Do you have something? Karen, are you? No, I'm gonna approve the motion. Is there anyone who would like to make public comment? Seeing no one, we will close public comment.

I move we approve the agreement for phase two services and a project funding agreement.

Second.

Yay.

Thank you. Chelsea, would you call the roll, please?

Mayor Adamczak?

Yes.

Commissioner McCullough?

Yes.

Sorry. Commissioner Fox? Yes. Commissioner Morrison?

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lintel? Yes. Motion carries 5 to 0. Thank you.

I would also remark, Stephen, that I heard from a prior commissioner, and he was very enthusiastic that the foundation was supporting this type of activity for the Discovery Center.

The other thing, Mayor, that I was just going to add is that the Discovery Center welcomed their one millionth visitor last week, so that's as if the entire population of Manhattan has walked through the doors 18 times.

Thank you. Next item on the general agenda is for us to consider accepting the selection committee's recommendation and authorize city administration to negotiate scope and fee for professional services with the consultant team led by Alfred Benish Corporation for the Campus Creek Watershed Study, SW2602.

Thank you, Mayor, Commissioners, Brian Johnson, Director of Public Works, City Engineer, Real quick, so Campus Creek, obviously we all know the flooding challenge that we have along there. It's a bigger part of the watershed for downtown east. Again, I'm gonna reiterate that Kansas State University does not have to abide by our detention regulations. They are a state entity. They have come to us to be a good neighbor and a good partner and asked us to partner with them on this Downtown East-West Master Plan and look at possibly doing some sort of detention or projects upstream in order to help us downstream. If you recall, we have a significant downstream flooding event around or area around Third and Fourth, Kearney, TCB in that area. So again, here's our opportunity as K-State went through their master plan, their next-gen master plan. They had looked at some areas along Campus Creek where they think that they can get that more inclusive and connected, help with some multimodal transportation from the northwest to the southeast part of the campus, as well as potentially adding some areas for some open space and some detention. Together, if we work as a team on this, we believe between our expertise in urban runoff and downtown detention and their expertise in landscaping and architecture, we think we've got a pretty good team that we can put together to do some pretty good improvements in the downtown watershed. The outline of the project, explore opportunities where we can work together for detention and watershed within the Campus Creek and just within the downtown east watershed itself. This does benefit both on campus and downstream residents, specifically east of Juliette in the Kearney, Thurston areas, but also around Aggieville and around that area. area of North Manhattan, Bluemont and Anderson, where we do have a pretty significant flooding issue at that intersection. And as it travels east, we've all seen the video of hotels in that area putting sandbags in front of their doors. It's not a good look for us. We are proposing, eventually at some point, after a discussion and a scope and fee, we will bring back a cost share agreement between the city and the university. That will detail who's paying what for the cost share of the study. We are recommending a 50-50. So the selection process, we issued April 1st a request for qualifications. No, it wasn't a joke. It was a serious RFQ. Five responses were received by the deadline May 7th. We did set as a selection committee. There was about a half dozen of us on there, including our commissioner. two members from Kansas State University and two members from the city. We did shortlist then and get down to three interview teams, which we interviewed them a couple weeks ago. And the selection committee voted unanimously for the Binnish team, which includes , which is a planning and designing firm that specializes in campuses. In fact, they're doing quite a bit of work at North Carolina State, North Carolina, which came up earlier in the discussion tonight. And then also this hydro digital advanced technology modeling team and then New Boston for public engagement. Again, the goal is to have a watershed that not only can live and breathe and grow, have it to be interactive, have it to be a place where people want to go and experience, but also be able to handle water flows during those high flow events that happen. So the proposed timeline, if you agree with the selection committee's recommendation tonight, we will begin scope and fee with Banish. We anticipate coming back sometime around the first part of August with that contract and funding agreements. Then this fall we begin phase one of the three phase works. Then the spring and fall of 2027. We get with stakeholders, refine our options, narrow it down to one, and then February of 2028 is when we think we can be completed with recommendations and then come back before you at that time and talk about potential projects if the modeling and the scope or if the modeling and the studies say that projects are warranted. With that, I will stand for questions.

This was coming out of the stormwater fund?

Correct, yeah, it was budgeted last, this year, it was budgeted last year on the CIP. That's correct.

I would point out that I did sit on the committee that selected this group, and we had really five great groups to choose from. Three of them kind of were floated to the top to interview, and it was a really tough choice between two of them, but this group has a lot of experience with our current stormwater efforts and projects. They're also involved with Highway 24 and McCall Road over here, and the new Boston group. They being a local company that could do all of our outreach for us with various citizens groups and meetings and that sort of thing. And then one of the members of the group was, as Brian said, very involved with other university campuses, design work of this type. So we felt like this was a great team to help us out.

We did have five very good proposals. We did, after quite a bit of discussion, we did weed it down to three, and then we interviewed those three, and they all did very well in the interview process that we debated for several hours.

Thank you, Commissioner.

It sounds good, and it's needed to avoid sticker shock. Any guess of what we're looking at for the design engineering concept?

We've budgeted $600,000. I think we're going to be around $400,000. We'd split that twice for $200,000 each. We typically don't make that public before we negotiate, but that's kind of the number. I think I threw it out there a month ago when we were talking about this. So I think that that's probably where you're going to have to be to get a good study and to really look at ways to reduce flows. Okay. Well, if I need a negotiator, I'll call.

Thank you. Let me ask if there's any public comment. Seeing none, we will close public comment. Commissioners, do we have a motion?

So I move we accept the selection committee's recommendation and authorize city administration to negotiate a scope and fee for professional services with the consultant team led by Alfred Banesh Company for the Campus Creek Watershed Study.

Second. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Chelsea, will you please call the roll?

Commissioner McCullough? Yes. Commissioner Fox?

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison?

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lintel?

Yes.

Mayor Adamczak?

Yes.

Motion carries 5-0.

Thank you, commissioners, for your work this evening. Do we have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

We are adjourned.