FAYETTEVILLE CITY COUNCIL BASEBALL COMMITTEE
LAFAYETTE ROOM
JULY 14, 2016
5:00 P.M.
Present:Mayor Nat Robertson
Council MembersKirk deViere (District 2);Mitchell Colvin, Jr. (District 3);Council Member Arp (District 9)
Absent:Council Members, Larry O. Wright (District 7);
Others Present:Douglas Hewett, Interim City Manager
Karen McDonald, City Attorney
Kristoff Bauer, Deputy City Manager
Rochelle Small-Toney, Deputy City Manager (via telephone 5:30 p.m.)
Jay Reinstein, Assistant City Manager
Cheryl Spivey, Chief Financial Officer
Tracey Broyles, Budget and Evaluation Director
Michael Gibson, Parks, Recreation and Maintenance Director
Rob Stone, Engineering and Infrastructure Director
Kevin Arata, Corporate Communications Director
Scott Shuford, Planning and Code Enforcement Director
Victor Sharpe, Community Development Director
Russ Rogerson, Economic Development Corporation Director
Jason Freier, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Hardball Capital (via telephone 5:30 p.m.)
Jane Starling, Deputy City Clerk
Members of the Press
1.0CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Pro Tem Colvin called the meeting to order.
2.0Approval of Agenda
MOTION:Council Member Arp moved to approve the agenda.
SECOND:Council Member deViere
VOTE:UNANIMOUS (4-0)
3.0Staff Committee Updates
- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Committee
Council Member Arp provided the update on the MOU Based on the committee’s request last week.Council Member Arp stated he contacted Mr. Jason Freier, of Hardball Capitalwho negotiated the deal between the City of Columbia, the development community and the baseball stadium in Columbia. Hardball Capital is the current operator of the facility in Columbia.
Council Member Arp further stated; he and Mr. Freier had a really good phone call Friday afternoon and talked about how Mr. Freier might assist the City in the preparation of the MOU, specifically what different components his participation would consist of. Mr. Freier believes he can help the City with not only the initial negotiation of the components of the MOU but also some subsequent pieces of development and design. Subsequent to that he sent the Committee a proposal of services with a scope of work and deliverables, which is something this committee, has been adamant about having before entering into any kind of agreement. After reviewing the proposal the committee instructed Mr. Hewett to go forward with negotiations with Mr. Freier who would represent the City in deliberations with the Houston Astros organization. Council Member Arp asked Ms. Karen McDonald, City Attorney, when press representatives could be allowed to see the contract; she stated that at this point even the draft is public record. Council Member Arp stated it would be made available to the press as the committee would like to maintain the highest level of transparency possible.
Mr. Douglas Hewett, Interim City Manager explained Mr. Freier’s proposal has been translated into a contract and been sent to him to be executed.
Council Member Arp stated Mr. Freier will join the conversation by phone at 5:30. Two deliverables he plans to provide the Cityin the next day are bullet points forthe Cityto consider in moving forward with the Astros, and a flow chart of how the process will work.
- Finance Committee
Council Member deViere provided an update for the finance committee. Council Member deViere stated the committee met this week to look at various funding sources and options based on the financial model. He stated that the committee has key decision points that they need to look at before presenting it to the Council. There are several different scenarios that need to be looked at before delivering them toCouncil.The committee needs to get everyone up to speed on the assumptions and look at some potential funding sources, and based on those make some decisions on how to move forward and with which sources. The finance committee has a good list of funding sources both internal and external and some core decision points for the baseball committee to make. At the end of this meeting the finance committee would like to move into executive session to be able to discuss those potential funding sources as part of the negotiations.
- Masterplan Committee
Mayor Pro Tem Colvin provided the update for the masterplan committee. Deputy City Manager, Mr. Kristoff Bauer, stated we finalized a contract with PCH today; it’s in the hand of HKS architecture to execute tomorrow. Council Member Arp stated; just for clarity, from an organizational standpoint you have the City of Fayetteville, you have PCH which will be doing the development piece, and we have Hardball Capital which is doing the baseball negotiations piece, and underneath PCH is HKS. Mr. Bauer clarified we will directly work with HKS for the stadium and PCH will contract directly with HKS for the masterplan of the entire site.
- Communications Committee
Mayor Pro Tem Colvin stated that Mr. Wright was unable to connect through the conference line. Mr. Kevin Arata, Corporate Communications Director, provided the update. He stated he has contacted Winston Salem who is a municipality that has done a baseball stadium and had a good conversation with them. They started with a website as we have done which provides information such as drawings, articles and other collaborative materials that are currently public knowledge to provide transparency. Corporate Communications is continuing to update the website with articles every day when something is seen in the local media outlets. Corporate Communications is asking the public for input as with the Market House and use Fayetteville Up Front very effectively. Corporate Communications has added a frequently asked questions segment to the website.
4.0Other Items of Business
Mayor Robertson asked if Chair Colvin had heard back from the County Commissioners. Mr. Colvin stated he has not received any calls from the Commission yet. Mr. Colvin stated that he would e-mail the entire board and include Ms. Cannon, County Manager.
Discussion ensued
5.0City Council and Baseball Committee Meeting Schedule
Chair Colvin asked the other members what is our schedule for taking the MOU to Council.
Mayor Robertson stated that this Committee can call a special meeting of the City Council to solely discuss baseball.
Interim City Manager,Mr. Douglas Hewett stated that once Mr. Freier sends the completed information for the MOU we will have an understanding of when that needs to be called. Council Member Arp recommended scheduling a series of meetings and then canceling them if they are not needed.
Mr. Jason Freier and Deputy City Manager Ms. Rochelle Small-Toney joined the meeting via conference call at this point.
Council Member Arp invited Mr. Freier to bring the committee up to speed on what his duties will entail. Mr. Freier stated that the first step is the MOU with the Houston Astros and after that a set of definitive and binding documents. In order to get to the MOU he will deliver tomorrow by noon a document to go through together, it has a dozen key topics where there is typically variation. He is not going to take time on things that must go in, but only where there is a decision required. The first thing to understand is “what does Fayetteville want out of this?” He will take those answers and with one or two of you have a conversation with Reed Ryan of the Astros. The City would lay out its position and attempt to negotiate a mutually acceptable MOU from there. The City would not begin building and financing the project until binding contracts and documents are in place.
Discussion ensued
MOTION:Council Member Arp moved to go into executive session to discussnegotiating strategies and economic development matters related to the proposed baseball stadium.
SECOND:Council Member deViere
VOTE:UNANIMOUS (4-0)
The regular session recessed at 5:52 p.m. The regular session reconvened at 7:20 p.m.
6.0Adjournment
There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
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JANE G. STARLINGMITCH COLVIN
Deputy City ClerkChair
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