BELLINGHAM-WHATCOM PUBLIC FACILITIES DISTRICT 210 Lottie Street Bellingham, Washington 98225

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1 BELLINGHAM-WHATCOM PUBLIC FACILITIES DISTRICT 210 Lottie Street Bellingham, Washington MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC MEETING OF THE BELLINGHAM-WHATCOM PUBLIC FACILITIES DISTRICT WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2003 CALL TO ORDER Dunham Gooding, President, called the meeting to order at 11:05 a.m. ROLL CALL Board members present were Jerry Chambers, Dunham Gooding, Phil Sharpe, Manca Valum and David Warren. Robin Halliday joined the meeting at 11:45 a.m. Charles Self joined the meeting by telephone at 12 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES David Warren MOVED TO ADOPT THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 22, 2003 BOARD MEETING. Jerry Chambers seconded. Motion carried 5-0. Charles Self and Robin Halliday were not available to vote. Jerry Chambers MOVED TO ADOPT THE MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 4, 2003 SPECIAL BOARD MEETING. David Warren seconded. Motion carried 4-0. Philip Sharpe abstained. Charles Self and Robin Halliday were not available to vote. BUSINESS New Business: 1. Consideration of a Resolution Regarding Reimbursement. Finance Director Therese Holm explained that the PFD authorized the purchase of real estate property on December 31, 2002, and the City authorized an interfund loan for this purchase until such time as the PFD had received enough revenue to pay for it. The resolution will allow the PFD to preserve the option to reimburse itself from future proceeds for any expenses made up to sixty (60) days prior to the approval of the resolution. The land purchase would qualify. As the issuer of bonds could be either the City of Bellingham or the PFD, the City Council passed a similar resolution at its meeting of February 24, David Warren asked if the language among other things could also be construed to mean not be limited to. Therese Holm said that it could. However, to be in conformance with the PFD s Resolution passed on December 18, 2002, Phil Sharpe MOVED TO APPROVE THE RESOLUTION REGARDING REIMBURSEMENT, AMENDING THE WORDS AMONG OTHER THINGS TO BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO. David Warren seconded. PFD/2-26 Minutes - 1 -

2 Motion carried 5-0. Charles Self and Robin Halliday were not available to vote. 2. Staff Presentation on uses of Public Facilities District funding and response to questions raised about a Civic Field Project. Attorney Hugh Spitzer was present to give his opinion on this subject. Don Keenan said the meeting packet included a request from the public that PFD funds be used for the Civic Field complex, raising the question of whether a PFD project could be partly in downtown and partly outside of downtown. City staff checked this out with Hugh Spitzer who is knowledgeable about this at the state level and counsels Public Facilities District throughout the state. According to Hugh Spitzer s response, a regional center has to be within one geographical center and the same theme. Hugh Spitzer said he did not write the PFD legislation, but has worked on some changes to the legislation. However, the solid consensus among the lawyers who work with Public Facilities Districts in the state is that a regional center is that it needs to be centered. You can have more than one regional center if you have sufficient money to have two of them at $10 million total each, but you cannot have a regional center that is in two places doing two different things. For example, Snohomish County has three separate regional centers: an ice hockey and multi-purpose arena in Everett, a conference center in Lynnwood, and an arts center in Edmonds. The total cost of each of those, both construction and interest costs, is $10 million. Hugh Spitzer stressed that PFD funding is not a source of general revenue for communities. Tony Larson stated his wish for the PFD to fund the renovation of the Civic Field Complex. He represents Supporters of Community Kids a group of business and community people. He requested that a public community hearing be held. One of Tony Larson s concerns was that there had been a lack of public input. Dunham Gooding explained that on the contrary there had been a great deal of public input more than ten years, including the work of the Capital Improvements Committee. John McGarrity explained the process of that committee. Phil Sharpe said that buying the Sportsplex makes no sense, as we already have it. Unfortunately, the public perception is that this project needs other funding. The PFD portion must be a standalone project. He said that the parking facility is an essential element. Whatcom County Deputy Administrator Dewey Desler said that at its meeting last night, the County Council unanimously passed a motion recommending to the PFD Board to put a priority on developing a parking facility in the Public Facilities District plan. He said the County views a parking structure as a revenue stream. Manca Valum commented that the Sportsplex has value, especially for children s needs, but so does culture. Tony Larson said he wanted a chance to explain what his group is doing and to hear what the PFD is doing. 3. How to structure input from the public to the Public Facilities District Board and Board response. Dunham Gooding said the Board has already received some letters. The Board needs to have a process set up whereby it acknowledges receipt of those letters. An open public comment period is another possibility. Also people can give comments in writing, some people would prefer to speak, and then there is the concept of a public meeting. Robin Halliday mentioned there was one more possibility web access. That way, the PFD could provide a great deal of information. PFD/2-26 Minutes - 2 -

3 Don Keenan confirmed that staff is working on a website and it should be available within two days. David Warren MOVED THAT THE PFD BOARD SET ASIDE A MINIMUM OF FIFTEEN MINUTES AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH MEETING TO PROVIDE FOR CITIZEN INPUT, NO MATTER WHAT THAT MAY BE. Manca Valum and Robin Halliday seconded. David Warren stressed the importance of public comment to the Board. Manca Valum suggested that there be an on-record acknowledgement of the Board s receipt of items submitted in writing. Dunham suggested that there be a limit of three minutes per person for public comment. David Warren suggested there be a sign-up sheet be available for people who would like to address the Board. Phil Sharpe asked that all communications be routed through Alison Henshaw. David Warren AMENDED HIS MOTION AND MOVED THAT THE PFD BOARD SET ASIDE A MINIMUM OF FIFTEEN MINUTES AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH MEETING, WITH A LIMIT OF THREE MINUTES PER PERSON, TO PROVIDE FOR CITIZEN INPUT, NO MATTER WHAT THAT MAY BE. Robin Halliday seconded. Manca Valum asked that if in establishing a fifteen-minute period with a three-minute period per person, would the board then not have the opportunity of a question and answer period? Joan Hoisington said it could be disruptive to have the back and forth dialogue, which can be argumentative. Sometimes there is no time available for this. Joan says that if 20 people or so wanted to speak about an issue to City Council, obviously 15 minutes wouldn t cover it, and a public hearing would be scheduled. Manca Valum MOVED THAT THE BOARD LIMIT PUBLIC COMMENT TO THE FIFTEEN-MINUTE PERIOD, NOT TO EXCLUDE THE BOARD S ABILITY TO CALL ON MEMBERS GATHERED FOR CLARIFICATION. David Warren seconded. There was more discussion about public input. Dunham Gooding suggested the Board should have an educational forum followed by an opportunity for public comment. Joan Hoisington suggested that Whatcom County staff should also be notified and invited. David Warren suggested that the meeting be held in the evening. Dunham Gooding suggested it be held at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Jerry Chambers and Manca Valum agreed that it would be unfair to give false hope to anyone with an alternative project in mind. Any public input needs to be taken within the parameters of the regional center project that has already been presented by the PFD. Robin Halliday asked for materials to be available for the public at the meeting. Don Keenan will work on selecting some dates and will inform Board members by . David Warren MOVED THAT THE BOARD ESTABLISH AND HAVE A PUBLIC MEETING FOR THE PURPOSES OF INPUT, INFORMATION SHARING, AND PFD/2-26 Minutes - 3 -

4 EDUCATION OF THE OPERATION OF THE PUBLIC FACILITIES DISTRICT BOARD. Robin Halliday seconded. Motion carried 6-0. Charles Self abstained, as he was participating telephonically and was not able to hear the motion and discussion. Some materials were handed out: The final report from Zimmer Gunsul Frasca on the Centennial Project, Frequently Asked Questions prepared by staff, and a handout from Mauri Ingram listing some other PFD websites and an article about Racine, Wisconsin. The Zimmer Gunsual Frasca report prompted discussion by the board members about the overall project development and construction costs. Robin Halliday asked that we extract some information from the report and publish it for the public but not submit the entire report. Charles Self MOVED THAT THE BOARD SUBMIT THE EDITORIAL TO THE HERALD BARRING THE VETO FROM TWO BOARD MEMBERS DURING THE NEXT WEEK. David Warren seconded. Manca Valum requested a copy of the draft editorial before it goes out. 4. Sequencing of Elements for the Regional Center. Don Keenan mentioned that the Board has already taken steps with sequencing because of the January 1, 2004 deadline. A Request for Qualifications has been sent out for Mount Baker Theatre. There will be interviews and a finalist will be selected. The finalist will prepare a scope of work with pricing and suggestions for what can be done in sequence. A Request for Qualifications has also been sent out for the Museum in terms of HVAC systems, fire suppression and structural integrity. Also, the Board has put out a Request for Proposals that will come back on March 10 for the fundraising feasibility. When the results of the fundraising feasibility study are available perhaps in five months the Board will know what the consultants believe could be raised locally by private dollars, foundations, federal or state sources because of historical buildings, etc. Then the Board will have more of an idea of which pieces of the project it would like to do. Phil Sharpe explained that we re in the feasibility analysis stage for the parking. The geotechnical study results will be available before the March Board meeting. 5. Staff Report. Don Keenan reported that RFQs had gone out for the Mount Baker Theatre, Museum, Fundraising Feasibility Study, and Special Counsel. The Unity Group is expected to give a new quote for the Directors and Officers liability insurance. 6. Report of Executive Session. The Board discussed three separate items: the acquisition of three properties, potential litigation, and a personnel matter. The board was ready to take action on two of those items. PFD/2-26 Minutes - 4 -

5 Phil Sharpe MOVED APPROVAL OF THE REAL ESTATE PURCHASE AND SALE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE BELLINGHAM-WHATCOM PUBLIC FACILITIES DISTRICT AS BUYER AND DONALD S. RUBENACK AND JANET A. RUBENACK FAMILY LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY 1 AS SELLER FOR THE SALE OF UNIT 4 OF MOUNT BAKER CONDOMINIUM FOR THE PURCHASE PRICE OF $340,000 AND APPROVAL OF THE REAL ESTATE PURCHASE AND SALE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE BELLINGHAM-WHATCOM PUBLIC FACILITIES DISTRICT AS BUYER AND DONALD S. RUBENACK, JR. AND CATHY A. RUBENACK AS SELLERS FOR THE SALE OF UNIT 8 OF MOUNT BAKER CONDOMINIUM FOR THE PURCHASE PRICE OF $90,000, WITH THE PROVISO THAT THE BELLINGHAM-WHATCOM PUBLIC FACILITIES DISTRICT BOARD DOES NOT INCUR ADDITIONAL EXPENSES DUE TO THE 1031 EXCHANGE. David Warren seconded. Robin Halliday MOVED THAT HEATHER WOLF BE RETAINED AS SPECIAL COUNSEL FOR THE BELLINGHAM-WHATCOM PUBLIC FACILITIES DISTRICT Jerry Chambers seconded. Motion carried 6-0. Phil Sharpe abstained. ADJOURNMENT Dunham Gooding adjourned the meeting at 2:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Alison M. Henshaw, Administrative Assistant PFD/2-26 Minutes - 5 -

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