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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Public Facilities Distict Board - 10/29/2015 (3) P K�NT XENt� wncHirrc.ox Public Facilities District Board Special Meeting Minutes October 29, 2015 4:00 p.m. City of Kent City Hall Campus Centennial Building, Room 402 Boardmembers present: Lew Sellers, Randall Smith, and Jeff Piecewicz Others present: ShoWare Center General Manager Tim Higgins, ShoWare Center Director of Corporate Partnerships Jason Thomsen, ShoWare Finance Director, Arletta Voter, City of Kent Finance Director (Board Treasurer) Aaron BeMiller, City of Kent Economic and Community Development Director Ben Wolters, City of Kent City Clerk (Board Secretary) Ronald F. Moore, Reporter for the Kent Reporter, Steve Hunter, and Cass Prindle I. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order by Acting Chair Lew Sellers at 4:00 p.m. a. Motion to approve the special meeting minutes of April 30, 2015. Jeff Piecewicz moved to approve the minutes of July 30, 2015, seconded by Randall Smith. Motion carried 3-0. II. Financial Reports. a. City of Kent. Aaron BeMiller, Finance Director (Treasurer) discussed the Public Facilities District (PFD) Fund. He noted that sales tax is doing well with an $850,000 estimate, $51,000 better than last year. He added that there will be a debt service payment coming out. He added that the sales tax to date variance between 2014 and 2015 has been added to the report to include a year to date field. He stated that the sales tax received is about 8 percent higher than last year. This, he stated that the fund is about $33,000 better than compared to last year and reviewed the Operating Fund, noting that the ending balance is $313,614. Piecewicz verified that the $500,000 transfer to the Operating Fund normally takes place between September through November. Smith confirmed that there is a ten year loan in the contract for the ShoWare to draw on for capital projects. Piecewicz noted that it is similar to a line of credit. Higgins added that there was a non-interest bearing loan that hasn't been drawn upon which has been forgiven. Public Facilities District Board Special Meeting Minutes October 29, 2015 Sellers verified the passage of the Eyeman initiative would restrict future sales tax increases except through a supermajority of the legislation. Sellers mentioned that he thought it would reduce the sales tax from 6.5 to 5.5 percent and BeMiller stated he was unsure. b. ShoWare Center. Arletta Voter, ShoWare Director of Finance communicated that it has been a good year and the adjusted gross income is over budget by $120,000, She stated that expenses are under by $23,000 and the overall estimate is that the PFD Fund is $313,000 under budget. Voter replied to Piecewicz and stated that the more events the facility has the higher the staffing costs are. Higgins explained that staffing includes ushers, riggers, security, and vending personnel. He confirmed that attendance of 6,000 is considered a sold out show and expenses are high for staffing when there is a sellout. Higgins added that the amount of staffing depends on the show and the event. Smith confirmed that the ShoWare isn't self-insured and Voter confirmed that the insurance claims are lower than in previous years. Smith inquired about joining a consortium to reduce rates and Voter replied that the ShoWare is a member of the SMG Group which operates about 70 venues. BeMiller confirmed that the Eyeman legislation would reduce the sales tax rate from 6.5 to 5.5 percent if the measure is approved by the voters. III. Operations Update. a. General Manager/Marketing Update. Tim Higgins, General Manager communicated that there have been 70,000 people attending events in the ShoWare Center this month and there should be over 400,000 this year. He noted that November 6 the Tacoma Stars Indoor Soccer team will begin their season and the Tacoma Rainiers will be using the front office to sell baseball tickets this year. Additionally, the Seattle Thunderbirds are providing assistance to them. He communicated that the Scorpions was a great show and the building was sold out with 6,300 in attendance with this being last show in the United States before going to Europe. Higgins communicated that he attended a conference the next day and other venue owners were noting how well the show went. He noted that Godsmack will be at the ShoWare and the Disney on Ice "Frozen" show will sell over 50,000 tickets. He added that the Seattle Mist won the Championship and there were four extra games at the facility due to their success. He stated that the WOLF "Hometown" Holiday show was expanded to 3,500 tickets and will be a sold out event. He noted that the Chamber Expo was at the event and that the Frankie Beverly and Maze show went very well. The Harlem Globetrotters will be at the facility on February 12 and 15. He mentioned the "Peppa Pig Live" event and basketball with Seattle University will occur in March. He discussed the ShoWare Shootout High School Basketball event on December 19 and the Martin Luther King Showcase High School Basketball event on January 18. Finally, the Washington FIRST Robotics State Championship event is on January 30. Higgins also noted that the facility will be working with a Kent 2 i Public Facilities District Board Special Meeting Minutes October 29, 2015 company to convert and install LED lights and digital menu boards in the concession stands within six weeks. Sellers confirmed that this is a capital expense and it will utilize the funds that are available from SMG. b. City Update — Ben Wolters said the City is working to communicate the success the ShoWare has had this year. He noted that the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee has some funds to do a broadened marketing campaign for the facility and that the ShoWare is one of the ways the City markets itself. He discussed a claim and the issues with the hot water heaters and dehumidifier. He explained that the claim was settled on the dehumidifier and there is a new three year warranty that has been put in place. He also noted that the hot water heater has also been settled in the amount of around $29,000. He communicated that the issues on the zambonis has been addressed for another year and they will be replaced next year. He added that Law and Risk Management will be going into mediation tomorrow on another claim. Finally, he communicated that there may be a solution to the failing lights in the plaza. He said SMG was asked about installing LED lighting there and they have been testing them. He stated they have been working out well so far. Additionally, he communicated that the cost to install all the puck lights in the plaza would be less than $10,000. Higgins noted that the work would be done in-house and paid for through the SMG contract. C. Seattle Thunderbirds Update. Jason Thomsen stated that this has been a very good hockey season thusfar. He noted that there were 5,000 at the facility last Tuesday night for the game and ticket sales have been strong. He added that Heritage Bank has been a great sponsor and they have established "The Heritage Club" in the upstairs of the facility. He noted that Heritage Bank is very excited about doing more with the facility. He stated that the Muckleshoot partnership is continuing with a possible three year extension. He stated that "Pink the Rink" was a success with a strong crowd raising over $24,000 for Valley Medical Center (VMC). He communicated that VMC is opening up negotiations again to become a stronger partner. Wolters stated that in the past few years the team has done well in obtaining more interest from other cities and inquired how the team is doing with their advertising. Thomsen replied that the partnership with Oberto is going well and there has been some success. However, they are still looking for more Kent businesses to become involved. He added that the building sells itself and once business owners are here, businesses want to get involved. He stated that getting the initial call into the business owner is the biggest challenge, but again, once they come in, they want to be here. Wolters added that now is the time to build these business opportunities and broaden the ShoWare Center's reach. 3 f Public Facilities District Board Special Meeting Minutes October 29, 2015 Sellers confirmed that individual game suite sales are doing very well and there is limited inventory through the month of November. He noted that there are still full season suite packages for sale. Meeting adjourned at 4:52 p.m. Ronald F. ore, C Board S retary4 I 4