IS IT TRUE that the following three pages of the September 23, 2013 minutes of the City Council reveals that select members of City Council (John Friend, Â Dr. Dan Adams, Conor O’Daniel, Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley, Al Lindsey and Connie Robinson) were all correct in their recent assumptions that the County was responsible for $3 1/2 million dollars of the $20 million bonds for the new Downtown Hotel?
IS IT TRUE we encourage you to read the attached minutes of the City Council meeting dated September 23, 2013 and see if you draw the same conclusions?
IS IT TRUE it looks like City Council should have approved $16 1/2 million dollars for the Hotel bond instead of $20 million dollars?
IS IT TRUE we are amazed that the Mayor, his Legal Counsel, ERC and the City Controller kept insisting that the City share to help finance the Hotel was $20 million instead of $16 1/2 million dollars? …if our assumptions are correct, all we can say is “shame on you Mayor Winnecke and staff” for making a $3 1/2 Â million mistake on behalf of the taxpayers of this great city?
IS IT TRUE we would like to congratulate City Council members John Friend, Dr. Dan Adams, Conor O’Daniels, Â Al Lindsey and Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley for reexamining the exact terms for the bonding of the Hotel project? Â …we are disappointed that the remaining members of City Council ( Mosby, Weaver and Dan McGinn) just rubber stamped everything the Mayor requested without question?
IS IT TRUE it was spot on when ERC Commissioner Musgrave, Councilman Brinkerhoff-Riley and Dr. Dan Adams earlier this week requested that the ERC Â board to table any action on the Hotel for a week? Â …instead the majority of the ERC board followed 2nd Ward City Councilwoman Missy Mosby’s suggestion to approve the project without delay? Â …it looks like Ms. Mosby suggestion to the ERC Board may have cost the taxpayers an extra $3 1/2 million for this project? Â …we hope Ms. Mosby primary competitor will make this a campaign issue starting tomorrow?
IS IY TRUE we also would like to know what Mayor Winnnecke has spent on legal, engineering, costs of acquiring land, bond costs, project drawings, consulting fees and other related expenses on this the Hotel project since day one? Â …we are told that the taxpayers of this city would be stunned to hear the overall costs of this project beginning day one?
IS IT TRUE its time that City Council resend the city $20 million dollar commitment for the downtown Hotel back to $16 1/2 million dollar loan level?
SEPTEMBER 23, 2013 City Council Minutes.
These minutes are not intended to be a verbatim transcript. Audiotapes of this meeting are on file in the City Clerk’s Office.
ORDINANCE G-2013-14
Ordinance G-2013-14 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â FINANCE Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â FRIEND
An Ordinance of the Evansville Common Council authorizing the City of Evansville, Indiana, to issue one or more series of its “Economic Development Revenue Bonds, Series 2013 (Downtown Convention Hotel Project)”, in an agreement principal amount not to exceed $38,500,000, and approving and authorizing other actions in respect thereto
Chairman Friend: Okay, we are gonna move into Ordinance G-2013-14. This is the issuance of revenue bonds Series 2013, specifically the downtown hotel. We we’re going…l’m gonna open it
up and there’s been amendments in place of my committee and what I would like to do is I’d like for our Mayor to come forward and I think you’d like to make some comments and we welcome
you and Mayor Lloyd, thank you for coming out tonight.
Applause
Mayor Winnecke:
Chairman Friend: Mayor Winnecke:
Chairman Friend: Mayor Winnecke:
Chairman Friend:
Thank you.
Mayor, Mayor, let me, before we get started…
Sure.
Obviously we’re gonna allow you to do your statements as long you like but… It’s about 60 minutes, that’s alright.
That’ll be fine, that’ll be fine. You know you’ll be Hennity tonight, I’ll tell
you that. What…what we gonna do, once we get by your…we’re gonna do this, hold this to three minutes for everybody so when we get into it, I’ll hold up a…l’ll hold up my finger, two fingers, that means one minute, two minutes gone by; you got a minute to go. Try to keep this speeding this along, if that’s okay. But with you Mayor, you have all the time in the world.
Mayor Winnecke: Thank you. It’s great to be the Mayor.
Laughter
Mr. Chairman, Madam President, fellow members of the Council, thank you for allowing us to come back to you to present our latest proposal on the downtown convention hotel.
Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley: But there would be a return on their investment if the hotel was successful.
HCW CEO Huffman: There would be.
Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley: And if the hotel were sold in five years, they would be reimbursed to whatever their percentage of ownership was off of the sale price?
HCW CEO Huffman: I don’t know that but it depends on what it would sell for.
Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley: But my point is that they would get a return in a sale based on whatever percentage of ownership they had and…
HCW CEO Huffman: We would hope so but it’s highly likely they could not also.
Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley: No, no, I understand. I mean it’s an investment that there is risk for. I was just curious of in the event it was sold at a profit that they would get a return on their investment that way. Okay.
Chairman Friend: Mr. Huffman, do you see this being an owner of common stock or is it gonna be convertible debentures? Have you…l mean, do we know what the structure of that will be?
HCW CEO Huffman: We don’t at this time.
Councilman O’DanieI: If I could ask, it may be for Ted or the Mayor, the part of the 20 million includes two million dollars that’s been pledged from the Convention and Visitors Bureau as well
as a million and a half from the County government. Is their portion going toward infrastructure or going towards that 7 1/2 million of subsidizing the hotel?
Mayor Winnecke: It has always been contemplated that the County’s portion of 3 1/2 million dollars, of which we included the CVB piece, would go toward the ancillary projects and part of
that is some improvements the County owed Centre, to which they have the ability to approve whatever improvements they’d want to make there.
Councilman O’Daniel: Okay so the citizens of Evansville are actually then subsidizing the entire amount in that not having the ownership of the ancillary projects to that extent. Well…
Mayor Winnecke: Rephrase that.
Councilman O’Daniel: Well it’s maybe semantics but it’s who has skin in the game, correct? So the…ifthe County puts 3.5 in it…
Mayor Winnecke: May I…may I…
Councilman O’Daniel:…that’s going to things that actually improve something as opposed to maybe putting in a million and a half, we pick up the other half and they put two towards the hotel subsidy and we pick up 5 1/2.
Mayor Winnecke: It’s always, again it’s always been contemplated that the County’s 3 1/2 million dollars would go toward the ancillary projects and right now that figure stands about 12 h million dollars…
Councilman O’Daniel: Correct.
Mayor Winnecke:…so if that holds true then the City’s piece would be nine million on the ancillary; the County’s 3%.
Councilman O’DanieI: And is…has that been reduced to any sort of agreement?
Mayor Winnecke: No but based on conversations from the weekend, we’ll ask the County to do that and I doubt that there would be any problem.
Councilman O’DanieI: I know a lot of things have happened in the last 72 hours, correct?
Mayor Winnecke: Well I think that’s a pretty ask.
Councilman O’DanieI: Yes.
Mayor Winnecke: In fact I could vwite it out right now. I’m sure somebody would happy to sign
it.
Councilman Adams: (Off Mic) There is one constant that all of my constituents are (Inaudible) (Mic On) There is one constant that all of my constituents are both City and County residents.
Mayor Winnecke: Excuse me?
Councilman Adams: That the money that the County’s giving is coming from my constituents and the money that we’re giving in some way is a revenue stream that should be used for my constituents.
Mayor Winnecke: Well I’m not exactly sure how I am supposed to answer that but let me try it this way. We’ve asked the County to be financial partners with up in this…
Councilman Adams: Uh-hem.
Mayor Winnecke:…and so as a result of the structure of County government, they’re revenue sources come from County-wide.
Councilman Adams: That’s correct.
Mayor Winnecke: So they have identified two million dollars of the 3 1,4 million dollars to come from the innkeeper’s tax. They’ve identified a little over a million dollars, I think a million two
or three, that would come as a result of refinancing bonds at the Centre so their other two or three, whatever that balance is, would come from whatever sources they have access to. Does that help?
Councilman O’Daniel: What is the repayment time and what are the terms of that as it relates to our bond. If we were to approve a 20 million dollar bond, how are they repaying that?
Mayor Winnecke: The County?
Councilman (YDanieI: Uh-hem.
Mayor Winnecke: In terms of the CVB commitment, it’s been…like the commitment was $200,000 for two years, we, you know, we can arrange, I’m sure however the County wants to figure out the other 1.5 million dollars they can, if they’re willing and able, they already have bond refinancing money in hand so they could probably do, again it’s up to them, the entire 3.5 over ten years if they so choose.
Councilman O’Daniel: Or they could pay it all up front, right?
Mayor Winnecke: That’d be their option.
Councilman O’Daniel: Why is it their option? But…l’mjust…l’m asking.
Mayor Winnecke: I don’t know I’m just…
Councilman O’DanieI: I mean if they’ve got the money…
Mayor Winnecke: I’m not trying to be argumentative.
Councilman (YDanieI: No, no.
Mayor Winnecke: I don’t know.
Councilman O’DanieI: Well I think these are things, and it gets to the later point, but because there’s been a lot of moving parts and we don’t really some of those answers, that additional time may be necessary to look into these things.
Positive and Negative Comments from Audience
But, you know, I mean this a major commitment on the part of the citizens of Evansville and from my standpoint, you know, there were a lot of folks that were ready to, my word, give away as much as 37 1/2 million dollars for this development and in 72 hours that was pared in half and, you know, I think that while great movement has been made, that I think we need a little bit of time to digest all this to see whether or not it makes some sense.
