Director of Aviation - Regular Meeting

My name is Kevin O'Neill. I'm the chair, first district at large.

Colleagues? Good morning, Melissa Robinson, vice chair, third district.

Eric Brunch, fourth district. John the Duck in sixth district. They are working.

They are. Lindsay French, second district at large.

You got everybody? All right. Okay. We do have some holds, so I'm going to read those out. We will be holding... 260711 for one week, 260733 we're going to hold off docket, and 260739 we're going to hold for one week. So I would go for the... Can I ask 260733?

733? We're holding off docket? That's what it says, yes.

Mayor Rose on Friday, so I just want to make sure. Okay. Mr. Chair, you're still going to read 260-711, no? No. Say that again? You're still going to read 260711 and allow testimony? Oh, yes, yes.

I didn't mean to hold that till the end, so yes. Okay, so I think we'll start with 260711? Yes.

Oh, okay. No, I think these are on a different one. Yes, Peyton Smith is going to talk, wants to speak on this.

Sorry, I appreciate that. Wait, two minute limit. We need to put that up. Alright.

So I don't want to miss anything. Okay. All right. Well, we just want to make sure everybody has a chance.

You just nodded at me. Make sure you let me know. Christian Rock. Didn't know your name was Christian.

Thank you, Chris. I'm sorry. We have a two-minute limit. Thank you. That was fast.

If there's no other testimony, I don't see anybody with their hand up or anything. So I would go to our floor and talk about this with us here. Anybody have any comments?

I had a comment for our colleague. I know that you had, Councilman Duncan, sponsored a resolution to support the organizing of the LAS workers. Can you give us an update on where we are with that?

Yeah, I mean, I think we heard from two organizers from SEIU just now that they're continuing to try to organize. What I would like to see is that we allow, we encourage SEIU and LAS to have a joint meeting before we pass anything out.

Do we have a timeline? I do. Okay, thank you.

My goal here is to make sure, apparently there is no process in place. They haven't talked, I mean they're not talking, they haven't set up an organizing process. I was told by Laz that their people don't want to organize. Okay, so I'm going to give them the opportunity to work together with the SEIU to create a vote, and if that vote, in a fair manner, and I want them, I want SEIU and LAS to get together, figure out a process, And then we'll hold this off until they come back and tell us that they have arranged for a process that's fair and just so. I think right now we hold it off docket or

WE HAVE NEXT WEEK, AND THEN WE'RE OFF, RIGHT? OR IS IT... RIGHT. SO THAT MEANS IT'LL BE THE 29th. THE 29th. DO WE WANT TO GIVE THEM A WEEK TO CREATE THE PROCESS SO THAT THEY CAN HAVE A VOTE, OR DO WE WANT TO GIVE THEM A FULL THREE WEEKS TO... THREE WEEKS. I THINK THREE WEEKS. EVERYBODY GOOD WITH THAT? ALL RIGHT. LET'S... YES, SIR. CHRISTOPHER. OH. I'M TALKING TO YOU.

Well, you can come up and you got another two minutes.

Okay. I take the chair's prerogative and we're going to hold this for...

One last thing. Mr. Chris, can you just please email us what those issues are? Can you email those to the council? Because I believe that's what Councilman Rhea was asking.

Absolutely. Okay, thanks. Okay, fair enough. So we're going to hold this for three weeks, and that'll be on the 29th of September that we come back, and we'll ask you all to come back for that. All right. Done. Next ordinance.

You're doing 733 off docket. 739 is one week. And we're on to 718, and it's a committee sub. And at this point, we have not gotten the actual committee sub, have we?

We have two, I think. I think it's an updated version.

Companion or? Sure, I've had that before. Who's the second one?

Which one is I think I don't know the mayor had one and a councilman Duncan had one Is yours the directing the cinema and it's your complete design work This is a new one

We need a little confirmation here. Andrew, can you tell us? Sure. This one that starts off with $51 million on the top is the mayor's? No. The committee substitutes that.

And the mayor's office is just that one tweak. That's the city manager's office. It's the mayor's version of one tweak. That's the city manager's. But didn't you have a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Martin, ACM Martin, thank you. I want to provide a critique in this presentation, specifically regarding, you know, I expect Ms. Holliday to lobby this body about the project. What I expect from staff is to understand what are the nuts and bolts of this project, what are our risks and liabilities, and what are the assets that we are assuming in this project, and how is that going to affect our budget long term? We talked previously regarding some of the assets that we could assume regarding retaining walls and how those retaining walls are ending their near life and h

What are our immediate needs for the Convention Center and how does this impact our ability to address those? What are our immediate needs for the Convention Center and how does saying yes to this project impact our ability to address those?

Thank you. And just to also build on some of what my colleague just talked about, looking at the Convention and Sports and Complex Fund, we will be having in the third district an empty sports complex soon. And this takes away revenue to be able to address some of those needs as well. This presentation, was this emailed to us? It's not? docketed, and that's concerning.

Okay. Can you get that posted to the item by the end of the day?

Okay. Because I think it's important for the public to have this information in real time. I continue to have questions about access, right, to this facility. And so with these agreements and with the great work that you all have done in raising $40 million, congratulations. We ask that you raise private capital. You went out and did that. I do want to track who will be having access to this facility if this does pass, and the commitment to the donors, the private donors, what commitment regarding access have we offered to them in comparison to the public.

Does our parks department have any authority with this agreement to be able to program the space?

The Parks Department is our connection to public access. That's how we're organized to make sure our community has access to these spaces. So I would like to see a prominent role that they're playing as it relates to ensuring public access. So I'll work on that as this moves forward. The financials, if you could go back to the... and I'm gonna build upon what my colleague talked about, and that's the whole. So if we decide to move forward on this project, our member from our finance team stated that you will be coming back to us, asking us to fill that hole. How big is the hole? This is one pr

Yes, I'm questioning... for this project, but are there other projects that you will, what's the total amount of the whole for the corporation? And so Brenton is.

I just don't want to make this decision in isolation. So again, building upon what Councilman Duncan talked about, we need to see the full picture of what that looks like for our special obligation bonds. And that's what I'm requesting. Okay. Okay, so you're going to provide that?

Okay. And then you talked about the deadline for September 30th. When were we made aware of the September 30th deadline with the feds?

So let me get this straight. June of 2026. Correct. The federal government told us we had until September 30th to spend our money.

Okay. And so this is the problem. Because, you know, you want this advanced. We knew in 2024 that this was coming. We start talking about it in June and now we're kind of like, rush, rush, rush, we need you to do this because we don't want to lose the money. And so that creates feelings of, gaymanship and it creates a sense of do we have our staff and our team that's giving the council the information that we need in a timely fashion to make a judicious decision. And so there's questions that arise there as well.

It would just be great. This is our second bite at this funding, the $65 million. When you came originally, it was, okay, go out and raise this $50 million or how much ever the number was and come back to us because we have a September 30th deadline that we have to reach. And I think that that will help all of us to be on the same page, to understand our commitments. The challenge, you know, is we, you know, we told you to go raise the money. You wouldn't raise 80% of it. Now you're coming back for that 80%. So I'll just stop there.

Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. I just want to thank you for all the work that you've put into this, the years of work that has gone into this. And then looking at this realistically and looking at the funding, and seeing what we can really bite off, what we can really build, what we can really do. And the majority of that most expensive portion is the tunnel. And a lot of that funding, the federal and state funding, Missouri Department funding, the DED funding, is really going towards that tunnel and building the tunnel. And so I just want to make that very clear and that the mone

I have a few questions, statements. First off, I want to go back to the private funding. When you came to us the first time and you asked, you had, I can't remember, was it $21 or $29 million already raised, and now we're at $40 million. But my understanding, I'm assuming you're counting $5 million of that which came from the Malouf family for the... And then you said there was a donation for two years of maintenance costs, and I'm assuming you counted those in there. So you're taking $7 million of the $9 million you raised that's not going towards the construction of this project. And it both

So the $1.2 million on the bottom and the $1.2 million basically on the top. No, I mean, but the downtown council is going to pay the $1.2 million or find ways to pay the $1.2 million. Is that correct? For the maintenance of the parks.

Okay, but it's about $1.2 million a year.

And that includes making the park a lot of programming and stuff, right? Correct. That's what it costs. A lot of that costs. Correct. What would be the basic cost if nothing was done up there? Or maintenance? Maintenance.

Well, I mean, OK. I'm just concerned because I don't think the fundraising has gone real well. And if it doesn't go well there, the city's going to be the backstop, right? I mean, if you can't pay it, then we have to fill the gap. And that's where my concern lies.

Oh, I'm sorry. I guess my other problem is the restaurant fund. I know I've talked to the Restaurant Association and I've talked to Visit KC, and this $60 million is going to come out of a fund that pays for the convention facilities, all the maintenance that's needed. And I think Councilwoman French mentioned the great program that Populous is putting together over at the convention facilities. And I agree with her. That's a great program. It's a $400 million program to be the front door of the convention facilities. I get that. Where are we going to get that money? Because we're taking money

So I guess... You know, and I've talked to staff, and I mean, you guys know as well as I do, we're facing shortages at City Hall. Our revenues are down. We're gonna have budget cuts next year. The revenue's not coming in like we anticipated. So we're doing all of these things, and this particular project, It's an amenity. It's not a need. And that's what I get nervous on. I love the project. I think everybody likes it. But it's like, when do we tell ourselves we've had enough and where do we come up with the money to pay for it? You can always come up with money to pay for something. But somet

Question for Ms. Holliday. You said congratulations on raising $40 million. How did that meet your projection to where you wanted to be today?

Thank you. ACM Martin, back to the retaining walls. So I was confused. The retaining walls are about 60 years old currently?

And is that replacement part of the overall cost of this project, or will it have to come out of somewhere else?

Thank you. The $3 million a year was a different number than I'd heard before. Does this include the staffing and technology that is going to be required to monitor and operate this? You're talking about a command center. Is that also included in this?

Thank you. I'm going to stick with the numbers that we got, just since we don't understand what maybe it could be $1 million, maybe $3 million, $1.2 for the under operations. We're looking at $4.2. And is the maintenance and agreement finalized? And to Chairman O'Neill's point, if this If we're unable to raise these funds, the city is backing that $4 million, is that correct?

So we're going to build something without an operation and maintenance agreement?

Go ahead. That's all I have. Just go ahead.

I just have a question for the $1.2 million that is potentially to maintain the tunnel. I've been told before that, like, that the state helps provide Jackson County funds for maintaining the stadiums and then falls off. Is there an opportunity to work with the state to then look at providing some of those funds for the tunnel itself for yearly maintenance?

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your comments. I do have one committee substitute in case, just as this matriculates through, and that goes back to my point of access, ensuring that our Parks Department has at least 10% 30 days of programming at minimum whichever one is greater so I would like that to be in the agreement in terms of programming as you do the in the management contract because I've already stated that the Parks Department is our only way that our residents, that's our lane in terms of access to the public. I am concerned about access to the public. As someone who was a you

Secondarily, you know, we need to have a residents first mindset. I'm concerned just to, not to, you know, pile on with what my colleagues have shared, but we have, I believe it's over $400 million of parks deferred maintenance. And so when we think about our residents and our master plan for our parks, those should be assets for our visitors as well, but we are putting all of these resources in one particular area of our community while other areas suffer. So I'm curious as to how we're going to address those, the deficits as we're choosing, you know, winners and losers. We're saying that, he

I just wanted a clarification when you said access, meaning I didn't mean transportation access or access to the park. So that was the clarification.

I can kind of play off of that. I can understand what you're saying completely. We had the Northland Soccer Park, and the Parks Department decided not to be involved in that. So we hired a company to come in, and they managed it. But they also, we have issues with participation in the Northland because they let teams in. And I get how that works. But this is a process we have to deal with in our districts. And so it is important that access is. You make a great point.

So do we have a community benefits agreement in the works or anything around?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really do appreciate this conversation, and I hope that we bring the same level of scrutiny and questions around financing, investment, and return on investment when we talk about our upcoming Royals financing. You know, I'm going to withdraw my committee sub. I'm comfortable with the one that the city manager provided. I think on this project, that we really, I will challenge Ms. Holliday and the assistant city manager to continue to look at what are these agreements? How do we ensure that we're protecting the city? How do we ensure that we're providing access? I want

And that is the full revenue. Like, we do need to know. My previous colleague talks about the maintenance costs, which you guys don't have yet. But we do need to know more of the ROI information. And that's the programming, how much revenue you are projecting. as it relates to the programming, the rentals, things of that nature. One of the things that we're often saddled with on the council is it's our asset. And so when things go wrong, we have to fix it. And we always come back to say, yes, we have an operating agreement, but it's our asset. So just one quick example was $10 million of sidew

I would just last comment from myself to Councilman Ray's point. I will say in 2022, and I was on the council when we first, as was my colleague, when we first passed this through, it was in a different environment. There was more money in the, you know, we had millions of dollars in AR money, American recovery money. Things changed. And I'm looking at this from a standpoint of, Can we afford it? Four years ago, we probably thought we could. Changes over yearly. I will close this debate with my colleagues and have the great Ms. Helzberg come up and speak to us. She would like to comment on the

Thank you, Shirley. I'm sorry, but thank you so much for speaking.

I was just going to say thank you, Mrs. Helzberg. Two of my sons go to UA, so thank you so much for your contribution to the community.

So my only suggestion would be that we pass this out as with no Yeah, my recommendation is to pass it out with no, what do you call it? Pass it out with an advance and no recommendation. Advance and no recommendation, and then I think you'd get a full vote.

That's the one just with the one pass-through?

I think it's just the first one, right? Because you went through yours. Okay. Okay.

All right, Mr. Chair, I've moved. Councilman Robinson, if I may, please.

Oh, I did want to make one more comment. We did get letters of support. We got 14 in favor of the project and one against. Is there online? Somebody wants to speak? Do we have any online testimony? You don't see any? Yes, there's one, Bill Beatrich. Who's he? Yeah.

Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. With that said, I would entertain any other public comments. You don't have to, Jerry. Anybody.

I will say I heard yesterday or today that 72% of the people in the United States now favor unions, which 11 years ago was under 50%.

You can and will make a difference in this life. That's right.

Thank you. Mr. Chair, I move that committee substitute for ordinance number 260718 be reported out of committee with recommendation of advance without a recommendation.

All those opposed? Ordinance passes. Thank you guys very much. We do have a few more issues here.

I'll just say... This is Nathan and I, the first district councilman, agreed that we're going to take a percentage of the monies we had over on Schult Creek and move it over here because it has more need over there and we weren't going to be able to do stuff. But I will go ahead, Jeff.

YES, COUNCILMAN. EXCUSE ME. IS IT ALL FIRST DISTRICT PIAC FUNDS? YES. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU.

ALL RIGHT. ANY QUESTIONS? I WOULD ACCEPT A MOTION.

Mr. Chair, I move that ordinance number 260747 be reported out to the committee with recommendation of advance and do pass.

All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ordinance passes. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Any questions? You want to give us a brief overview of it?

Sorry. Blue Valley, is that over there by 18th and in front?

Gotcha. Awesome. That's where Powell is, isn't it? No.

Just stop while you're ahead. I got it. I knew what that was. 16th Street. Okay, go ahead.

All right. Any other questions for my colleagues? If not, I would entertain a motion. No public testimony. Oh, public testimony.

Mr. Chair, I move that ordinance number 260749 be reported out of committee with the recommendation of advance and do pass.

All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? Ordinance passes. Next ordinance.

I would ask the Councilwoman to maybe give us another brief overview.

Is the American Jazz Museum, are they involved in this at all?

Okay, yeah. I want to make sure that since they're the ones who actually operate the gym theater, we want to make sure that they're included in the renovations.

Just a quick question. On the Jazz Museum and the Baseball Museum, What is the plan for the museum when the baseball moves? Does anybody have any idea?

Yeah, I think American Jazz Museum is wanting to expand their collections. They have a tremendous amount of jazz artifacts that need to be restored that's in their cellar that they could quite easily use up the space. Um, Councilman Duncan.

Oh, sorry. I was just curious on how the Wu Tang Clan is going to be involved in this.

I don't think we like these private shows. I've heard of them. I'm just not sure how they work.

How they work. Okay. Play music. Whatever they do. All right.

I just had one last question about this one. The... The study that the American Jazz Museum has done, did it include the gym theater at all?

Okay. Just with the design, have we already selected a company?

Okay. And so I just would like, and maybe there's a friendly committee substitute that we can talk about before Thursday. But to make sure that we're reviewing the study that we've already done, if the gym theater is contemplated in that. I don't know if it's contemplated at all. And then secondarily that we cement the American Jazz Museum's role in this because they are the ones who primarily use the space so that they would know what people are asking for that we maybe don't have. So in addition to The expansion of the seats, some of the things that I've heard is the green room and the stagi

Thank you. Mayor's starting to give me that Andrew look like we've taken too long.

Yeah, he's well made a 10 minute speech.

Any public testimony entertain a motion?

I'm sorry. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I move that ordinance number 260750 be reported out of committee with a recommendation of advance and do pass.

All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All those opposed? The ordinance passes. Last one.

Thank you guys for sitting around for two and a half hours waiting for your ordinance. Go ahead.

Yes, Ms. Keeley, thank you, and Mr. Savastino. Say again, why would we approve something that would allow additional renewals without any council approval or oversight?

Okay, so we are not aware of that. We were not told.

I'm shorting this conversation. We don't like to give non-approval. So please.

I mean, our policy has been in the last three years that we renew those every year. We would like to see that renewed every year. So if you could change that, amend that to say with city council approval every year.

No problem. The other thing that we're going to have to be more diligent about with these contracts are inclusion. So can you talk about any subcontracts that are a part of this million-dollar span with Tetra Tech?

Okay, so tell us. You're going to have to tell us what other subcontractors.

before Thursday yes we can provide that to you I do not have that with me today well and we really shouldn't be advancing ordinances that we don't have the information for business inclusion is it on the it is attached to the actual ordinance okay but I don't have that as part of the presentation okay that's something we're also accustomed to yeah

We have a new program in place right now. And so that information we do want to know, but it's not a minority and women-owned business goals, but there is contract inclusion. So if it's connected, I'll just read it. If it's already on the ordinance, is it?

So if you could please send us the contract inclusion components, that would be great. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. No problem.

I believe you've heard the demand. Is that going to occur? This authorizes that work to begin.

Do we know what the exceeding cost will be?

Okay, so the $600,000 is the extra over the million.

And I just, you know, thank you for your leadership on this. I definitely want to move forward with advancing. But when we do these contracts and we're extending the amounts, we do need to be looking at their subcontractors. to make sure that that business inclusion is addressed. So you can send that to us. And with that, Mr. Chair, if you're ready for a motion.

I would accept a motion. So that does include further council approvals just to ensure that that's included.

Mr. Chair, I move that committee substitute for ordinance number 260602 be reported out of committee with a recommendation of advance and due pass.

All those in favor. We do have a 20 minute presentation. Thank you.