05-16-2023 RAPZ Committee Meeting

K. Ready? Yep. Okay. Well, good morning, everyone. I'm gonna call to order this meeting of the wraps and restaurant tax committee, and just wanna thank all of our committee members for gathering again today. I I was telling a couple of you, I think we might have to double your pay, and if you tell them that, two times zero is still zero. So we really appreciate your service to start with and and, especially this year, getting together again. And I remember how hard it was to find a date for us to meet initially, and somehow we've been able to find a date much easier this time. So thank you all for being flexible with your schedules and making sure we could be here. I think there might be some who need to leave earlier than what we're scheduled for. We we did schedule this for two hours, but by no means do we have to use that full two hours. If we're done if we're done in less than an hour, I don't think any of us would complain. And we we do have a number of things to review today. So I'll just go through briefly kind of where we are and re recap maybe what happened last time. We had a database error last time. Alma was putting the numbers into the database, and we saw the chart up on the screen, and and we thought we had spent more money than we actually did, and finished our recommendation, sent it to the council. But as you've heard, Alma later realized the error and realized that we had close to a million dollars Mhmm. Around a million dollars still available to spend. So with that said, there were some additional recommendations that were made before the last council meeting a week ago, and, those were shared with the council, and then the some council members had some additional recommendations, and, what the council ultimately asked was that we reconvene and look at, just look at everything over again, including including the ideas that had come from this committee, and ideas that had come from council members, and other clarifying information or requests that had come from some of the grant requesters. So that's what we have before us today is, the task to take another look at, what other monies we would like to spend and, and give an updated recommendation to the council based on the county code. The council is supposed to approve the wraps and restaurant tax allocations by their second meeting in May, which will be next Tuesday. And we, we we should be able to get this done today and over to them. So with that being said, ALMA has compiled you'll see in front of you a couple of different documents. One is kind of a summary document that says excerpts from emails for additional requests. So, I don't know if this is every email. We've I went through mine and tried to send him the ones I had, and, there were some that got sent him directly, but there may be others. So if any of you have other emails or requests that, that you're aware of that are not on this list, then we we can still talk about those today. So that's what that document is. He he basically just took an excerpt or a bullet point, a sentence from each of those, and some of them are duplicates of each other as well. For example, one and two are about the same project in Providence, and then four and five are about the Mhmm. The request. So so we'll we'll go through those in a minute. And then you have two spreadsheets that are in the documents that he gave you. One of them says at the top, wraps in restaurant program recommended additional funding, Bruce Cook. So that's from committee member, Bruce Cook, who put that together prior to the last council meeting. And then the other one says proposed wraps award adjustments, and that one is from council member, Carl Ward. They look pretty similar, and I I think Alma did make some slight adjustments to them to put them in the same order. I did put them in the same order. Yes. They weren't necessarily in the same order as each other, so he thought that might help us to go through and compare because they have a lot of duplicates of similar projects. And then behind that in your stack, you will see the an another document that has excerpts of the the full text of the emails that were sent, and, so what Alma did is he just copied the text from the emails and put them in here. So for example, if you saw the first one on the excerpts page that was on top about referencing an email from council member views or an email from mayor Alder, you can go into this, and you can read what they actually said if you would like more details about that email. And then behind that in the stack, you will see our minutes from our last meeting, as well as behind the minutes stapled to that, the list of our recommendations that we initially gave to the council. So, with that being said, are there any questions about any of that information, any questions about the task that's before us today, or anything else you wanted to add, Alma? No. You you covered it. Thanks.

K.

So at that point, then let's let's go ahead and dive into these as we did last time. Alma will be putting the numbers into spreadsheet as we go. And and just to clarify, I guess, I would just wanna clarify and and add a couple more pieces of information. Some of these projects are eligible for restaurant tax funding, and some of them are eligible for RAPS funding, and ALMA predetermined the eligibility in the spreadsheet, and already has them allocated to the category. There are some that would qualify for both, potentially, but Alma has predetermined that. And, with that being said, there was some discussion at the council meeting, and I've had discussions with a few other people. Wendy Hassan reached out to me as well from Cache Valley Center for the Arts, gave me some background information, and senator Hilliard attended our, our last council meeting, last week, and spoke, about these, these revenues, and so I just wanted to share some of that information. And council members, if you'd like to to chime in and add anything as well, that would be great. But there there was some discussion about the overall purpose of these funds, and there are two different taxes that we are distributing revenue from today, the restaurant and the wraps tax. The restaurant tax, senator Hilliard gave a little bit of history about that, and I thought it was pretty interesting restaurant industry was actually against it, and, and pushed back against it. And, one of the the compromises that was made, with that was the agreement that the funds from the restaurant tax would be used to bring more people here who would go to restaurants ultimately, but, that it would be used for tourism. And, if if you look in our in our county code about, about that particular tax, the restaurant tax, our county code doesn't say a lot about it, but, what it does say is

restaurant tax emphasis will be given to supporting tourism. Funds from the restaurant tax,

about the restaurant tax, but his point was that, and and council member Ward made this point as well, that the intent was to reinvest that money into our economy in ways that would generate even more restaurant tax, as well as other economic economic stimulation. What are you gonna say? What's the rate? What's the rate for the restaurant tax? Was that 1%? I can't remember. That is one. 1%. Yes. K. So it's a 1% restaurant tax. And then the the wraps tax is different because it's a one tenth of 1% sales tax, and that one's on all sales tax in the county. So all purchases that happen in every city in the county, as well as RAPS tax. So the intent of the restaurant tax is primarily tourism promotion, bringing people here so they will spend money in restaurants, spend money in hotels, spend money on all kinds of other things that will generate wraps tax as well. And then the intent of the wraps tax is, recreation, arts, parks, and zoo with the intent that 45, that 40% be used for cultural, uses, that 50% be spent for recreational uses, and that 10% be spent for the zoo. And, the Up to Well, it this is what it says in the code. So the code says, RAPS zoological facilities allocate 10% after administrative costs to the Willow Park Zoo. So it doesn't say up to, but it doesn't necessarily say that it has to be a full 10% either, which I think is supported by what it says after that. So it's which I think is supported by what it says after that. So it says based on an acceptable proposal submitted each year, so they have to actually submit and ask for it each year and meet the deadlines and requirements. And then it says the percentage will be reviewed each year, which I don't know what that means, but then it the next sentence says, if less than 10%, the additional funds may be allocated to parks and rec. So it does imply that it could be less than 10%. It doesn't say it can't be more. It doesn't say it has to be at least that much, but it does imply that it could be less, and it says it will be reviewed each year. So, but the initial percentages are 50%, for recreation, 40% for cultural and botanical, and 10% for zoo. So, those those numbers are, something that we should review on a daily basis. And, Alma Alma, do you have those percentages in the spreadsheet? Can you show us based on our current or what we end up with today where we stand with those? They're not percentages per se in the spreadsheet, but if you'll notice,

I've I've already divided them. And the way the process works is when the applications are received, we review them for completeness, and then we put them in an access database, and the access database determines where they fall, whether they're in restaurant, wraps, or whether they could qualify for both. And then I have put them into the different categories. So there on the left is the restaurant column, so all of those applications fall under restaurant. Then the others over there would be wraps and and and and then it's divided out, and then the zoo has its own excuse me, its own category. So I've already put them into the different categories. I'm not gonna be moving them around. What I will do is I will go in and edit, and if you do an additional amount, I'll put in that additional amount, and then we'll have the final or the end result. If I look over here so you know exactly what we're looking at, it's it's just a little over 1,000,000. So right there, the 1,088,130 is the total. Available. Available. Correct. Question.

Yes, sir. When you read from the, you know, the code there,

there was a paragraph that says the percentages need to be looked at. What that kind kind of was right in the middle of something that referred to zoos and then something below referred to zoos. Is that percentage referred to the amount allocated to zoos, or is that percentage the amount allocated between the two whole

Just to zoo. Yeah. So I'll I'll read it again. This is under section d, wraps zoological facilities. Then section number one under section d says, allocate 10% after administrative costs to the Willow Park Zoo based on an acceptable proposal submitted each year. The second sentence says, the percentage will be reviewed each year. And third sentence says, if less than 10%, the additional funds may be allocated to parks and recreation. So whatever whatever is not used for zoo That's I think or 2%. That's

About two temps. About two temps. About two temps. Mhmm. It's because that percentage can be adjusted.

Yeah. So it says it says if it's less than 10%, that whatever's left over would go into that 50% category, where 50% recreation parks. It doesn't say if it's more than 10%, which one that should come out of, if it should come out of recreation. It doesn't it doesn't say, but it doesn't say you can't go over. It doesn't say say it has to be that. It just says it'll be reviewed each year.

Right. So there's a lot of flexibility.

The the way the statute's written, I think the cap is 10%.

Mhmm.

The The cap is 10%, and we can choose to allocate less. Yeah. Two thousand, ma'am. And if it is less, then the difference goes to parks. And I think that's the cap of the of 10. It could definitely be interpreted that each of these is a cap that you can't go over.

It it doesn't specifically say that, but they all add up to 100. You can't have more than 100%.

So I don't know. David That one sure tries, David.

Can I ask, I what I I don't think this body would have I we could review and make a recommendation about percentages, but this body wouldn't have any authority to change those percentages, I presume? Well and in fact, this was approved by the voters. So even the county council may not have authority

to No. This authority, no. But suggestions, yes. And then the the governing party, which is the county council. Council could make alterations to 10%, these kind of things. They could make some changes. Gotcha. Yeah.

Yeah. It it's not the clearest language, and probably we should have clarified it before the voters reauthorized it it last November, but, we have ten years to figure out what we wanna say.

To to make it clear.

Just gotta read that. Yeah. So this was just reauthorized in November for another ten year period, which will be the third decade of this program. So with all of that background being said, I just wanted to share that that additional information about the desire for all of us to be reminded that restaurant tax should be used for things that stimulate more restaurant tax and more sales tax through tourism, and then the RAPS has its percentages according to which we should allocate. Allocate. Any other questions about our background, our purpose today, or the projects that we should now undertake? Okay.

Thanks for the review.

Yeah. Thank you, and thank you for your help, and thanks for, specifically your, recommendations. I think that was very helpful. So at this point, let's dive into these recommendations, and are these all of the requests that we have?

Yeah. Yeah. The requests the email requests are the only ones that we had received. Thank you. And then and then there was the suggestions from council member Ward as well as Bruce Cook, Bruce Cook, member of the the committee or the board. Okay. And there that's in the two spreadsheets.

Okay. I'll also have I suggested, another 25 for Hyrum City where we was getting Providence and Yes. Michelle, when we went through.

Okay. Let's make sure we talk about that too. So I thought one so you said Hyrum City, another 25 is what you were recommending? Yes. And then was there a second one after that you just said? Is that in addition to the 25 I recommend

for Hiram City? Yes. You didn't have anything down there? Yeah. I see.

This is Karl Ward. This is Karl Ward. I was gonna say, yeah, Karl Ward.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. You have that. 25. I have Oh, there is another one. Okay. Just came in. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So that Hiram City one is on Bruce's. So what I thought might be a good starting point for us Excuse me. I'm so sorry.

Excuse me. So clarification,

though, on on that Hiram on the suggested. So is it 25 or 50? Because somebody's one of you are recommending 25 and the other 25. So are we doing 50 total? No. Just it's just 25.

Bruce recommends 25, and Reid also had recommended 25. So It's there. So I'm not saying additional. Okay. Awesome. They hadn't talked to each other, so apparently it's the same 25. Okay. Awesome.

So my thought was that, it might be easiest, and we could probably knock out a lot of these if we went through these two, spreadsheets together, because there is a lot of crossover between them. Between them. And then we also have a number of individual ones, that we got on emails, which we could some of these are actually pretty simple, and actually, how many of these emails are on these lists as well?

I think I think several of them

might be

On the excerpt from the emails, I only put the ones that requested additional amounts. Okay. So there may be more emails, but, you know, if you run across something, if I missed it, because a lot of them just came in this morning. Okay. I just handed out the one So why don't we first consider Bruce, let's go through your list. Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, it's part of the committee here. K. Your list first. Let me And then then we go to the

I don't like to go through this like there was additional money found. Right. And all of a sudden everybody's Upping the request. Yeah. Because that's not what happened. Exactly. Second of all, we don't need to spend all of our money. And specifically, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking about the airport, which I'm unwilling to recommend that we allocate this year, but we could have a pretty big request in future years. Therefore, I would like to keep a larger amount in reserve than we have in the past. So they come up with a suggestion or with additional funding that they need matching with the service to meet it. I don't want to meet it this year. I don't want to give it to him this year because Is there a way we're gonna have to cut away from people in future years. K? So anyway, I suggested the American West Heritage Center, the initial award was 90. I suggested that we fund the entire thing, give them additional $15,000.

Okay. So, if you look at Carl's, spreadsheet, Carl recommended the the same thing, that, an additional 15,000 awarded to American West Heritage Center. What are, the committee's thoughts about that?

So so moved.

Yeah. This application scored really well. I I'll second that. Lots of And and I I do wanna take scoring into account here as well as we go through this because we don't want those scores. And we did, you know, when on the first round that we went through all that. We really did. Got so. Okay. Is there anyone who is opposed to that additional

recommendation? Okay. Seeing none, we will have that additional 15,000 added to the recommendation.

The next one is Cache Valley Civic Ballet. Civic Ballet, but this is the floor replacement and not the ballet proper.

Oh, right.

And I suggest that we give them another 3,400, take about the $10.04. They need to still come up with 4,000 of their own, and I felt good about helping the Whittier Center.

Okay. And then on Carl's, he also listed the ballet. However, this was the other the other grant application from the ballet number if you look at the line number, number seven and number eight are the two. Bruce has has application number 8, and Carl has application number seven. So Carl recommended an additional 10,000 for ballet. So if you have any thoughts about those two recommendations, let's talk about the ballet, both of those at the same time. I like the floor project because it's capacity building Yeah. Rather than like, operational,

they like, operational, they they there's they may if if they scale operations such that they have to come back and ask us for larger amounts of money every year, then it puts a different burden on the RAPS tax in the future than if we do capacity building for this one even a little higher than that and leave them perhaps only with 2,000 to raise. But but but On eight. On the floor? Yeah. On eight. Yeah. I'm really I think

I on going back to seven, based on the number of people that they're serving, I felt comfortable with the 10 that we gave them, and I would not recommend giving an additional 10.

But Would you Counselor? How do you feel about going in? A little bit higher on eight. That's fine. I I don't I I am in the same boat. I think that's big big picture stuff, and everybody half the people on this list use it. I'd hate to see, three people

three quarters of the floor done and the other couple of left. Well, didn't they make quite a bit of money, I thought, last year when they were worth it? October? I say, did they make quite a bit of money?

I don't remember the October. No. I don't think so.

Okay. So their initial request for the floor replacement was 14,400. We initially recommended 7,000, and, Bruce's recommendation was 10,400, but I've heard a couple of people say if you want to go higher than that, is there a specific number that we would like to consider? You've been around number 5,500,

additional. So that'd be both seven plus the 55 rather than your 3,400. Let's just go to a 55. 55. So I think that's 12,500

is what that would be for their $14,400 request. 12,500 would be the recommended award. K. Is there any opposition to that? K. Hearing none, that will be our recommendation there.

So that's number eight, an additional 12 pieces of fiber. On the other one, number seven,

does

the committee desire to recommend anything further for application number seven for the ballet?

I think we just spent it. K.

I think we just we keep them. K. So we gave them a little extra for their capital project. Yep.

Yes. K. So what was the final $12,500

for the flooring project number eight. And number seven didn't change. And number seven, our recommendation has not changed. K. K. The next one on Bruce's list is Cache Valley Center for the Arts, and there are two projects he has listed recommended changes for number 24 and number 25.

I recommend funding, fully funding both of those projects. So we went from we they requested one twenty on '24. The initial was a 100. I recommend an additional 20 to give them a 120.

I second both of those. Yeah. And okay. Take 50 and instead of 40, take it to 50 on. Yeah. 40 to take it to 50. K. So an additional 30,000 combined, 20,000 on the first one and 10,000 on the second one. Full full fund even on both them. K. Any other thoughts? If not, anyone opposed to that? Okay. So we will do that. And then,

I don't think Carl had that one listed on his. So Yeah. So just to recap, I need to make sure we get this. So 24 is an additional

20. 20. For a total of 120,000, and then 25 is an additional 10,000 for a total of 50,000. K.

Okay. The three theater companies, we try to treat them based upon their productions. We try to treat them equally, and I just I think I suggest an additional five for each of the theater companies. Five for number 34, five for number 43, and five for number 52.

K. An additional 5,000 for each of those, and, Carl recommended on his an additional 10,000 for Four Seasons, and Music Theater West, an additional 2,000, and what was the third one?

Was it was Unicorn the other one? Music Theater, no.

Music Theater West. Cash regional. Oh, Cash regional. He didn't. Carl did not have an additional recommendation for that. Okay. So the recommendation then let's just say the numbers again. Number 34, number 52, and number 43 Correct. Are the three projects that Bruce is recommending. We allocate an additional 5,000, above and beyond our initial recommendation. So the initial recommendation for four seasons was $20,000 out of their $47,000 request. That would take, the recommendation to 25,000 for them. On number 43 for Cash Regional Theater, they requested 49,000. We initially said 25. This would bring theirs to 30. And then number 52, music theater west, they requested 38. We initially proposed 30. This would bring it to 35 Are there any thoughts

about those three? I'm in favor of that.

K. Any other thoughts about those three? I do. Okay. Is anyone in the opposition to those? K. Hearing none, those will be the recommendations, 25,000 for Four Seasons and 30,000 for Cash Regional and 35,000 for Music Theater West.

That was an additional 5,000 to each one. Additional 5,000 for each of those.

5,000 in addition to our original recommendation. Okay. And

let's see. I'm just gonna cross the just crossing out the ones on Carl's that we've already addressed.

Next one on Bruce's list is Hiram City.

And the cities, you kinda also treat them alike

Correct. Probably. So I think that's that would be good, dispersing some of those extra funds. Hiram, Millville

Yep.

City.

Okay. So the Bruce's recommendation for Hiram is an additional let's let's do each one of these individually. So Hiram, the recommendation original request was 250,000. We initially recommended $1.75, and Bruce's recommendation is that we give them an additional 25,000, bringing them up to 200,000 total. Any thoughts on that one?

I'm agreeable to that. Yep.

I have two. K. Anyone in opposition to that recommendation? K. Hearing none, that'll be our recommendation for Hiram City, 200,000 total. So an 25,000 more than our initial recommendation. And then, did we wanna talk about all of the cities right now? Just

Yeah. Go ahead and do That's right. Millville and

The next one was Millville, number 50. Tennis court, they asked for 23. We didn't originally recommend anything for them, but Bruce's recommendation now is 23. They did have another project. Yeah. It was at number one. On this project. Yeah. So on project 50, tennis court lighting, we initially did not recommend anything. So Bruce is recommending that we fully fund that project to $23,001.44. Everybody okay with that?

We gave them a 175 on the other project. The other project. So they'd be almost 200,000.

Yeah. Okay. Any opposition to that? No. K. Hearing none, that'll be our recommendation for Millville City, project number 5023144Dollars.

And then Good.

Since we're talking about cities, let's talk about Paradise's project number 58. Parks, 59,000 was their initial request. 50,000 was our initial recommendation, and Bruce recommends we just add the other 9,000 to fully fund that. Everybody okay? No. It's okay. I agree. What number was that? 58. 58. 58? K. So the recommendation for 58 then is $59,000 to fully fund their request. And then, the next one is Providence City Skatepark. They initially asked for 300,000. We initially recommended half of that, a 150,000. Bruce recommends an additional 25,000, which would bring them to a 175,000. And this is one that we also got an email from council member Buse asking that we bump it to 200,000, and, mayor Alder, asked the same. So that would be an additional 50,000 from our initial recommendation. If we follow the request of council member Buse and mayor Alder, that would bring them from $1.50 to 200,000 of their initial 300,000 request. Mayor Alder did reach out to me too, and she said that they felt like they could come up with the additional 100,000, in addition to all of the other money they were already matching on this project. Thoughts on that one?

I I like that idea simply because we're doing about 200 for Hiram in the revised thing, and and, you know, similarly ish sized cities, a similar amount of money makes sense to me, but but I'm I'm I like that they didn't ask for much. I mean, they just wanted to get to that Yeah. Just a little bit more. They're not asking for the full 300 either. Just not to get them over the threshold.

Okay. I would be able to I just don't like skateboards.

Have you tried one? You can't knock it. You try it.

Skateboarding is not a crime.

Okay. I'll go with it.

Okay. I I'm just being honest. I don't like skateboards. I they a lot of kids use those with scooters and a lot of different kinds of things besides the skateboards as well. So Well, that didn't prove anything. I'm sorry. I didn't know But that's no. I there's a there's something for everybody. There there has to be something for everybody that's important.

So Exactly. Okay. So, so the recommendation is 200,000 for Providence City. Is there any opposition to that? K. Hearing none, that will be our recommendation I'll go with that. On project number 59, Providence City Skatepark, $200,000. Smithfield City I hate

to send the message that you can call and get more. It's

perfect.

This is a unique year. It's because we we need to make sure people know in the future. We did that because of a a computer miscalculation. However, some people have had a pattern of doing that Yeah. The best. Okay. So project number 64 66 are Smithfield City. The first is project number 64CentralPark. 26400690 request. Our initial recommendation was a 75000. Bruce recommended we bump that to 200000, and then they had a second project number 66 where that's the museum.

Well, is that that one already. Is that oh, the the yeah. The 66, the one that we didn't fund? That's the museum. Our initial recommendation was 30,000 of their $103,000

request. All the way through.

And then Shoot that one pretty close to 50% then funded.

Yeah. Yeah. So Bruce's recommendation is to bump it up to 50,000. So, again, 200,000 to the city, which is the same amount we just decided to give to basically, the same amount, yeah, that we gave to Hiram in Providence. So let's talk about that one. Central Park, everybody okay with bumping that to 200,000?

Yes. I am. Yes. I am.

So that'll be our recommendation on number 64, $200,000 for Central Park. And then 66, Bruce's recommendation is to take it to 50. What are your thoughts on 50,000 for the museum?

I like it. Anything that helps history, historical stuff that's been already 80%,

if they can I you They'll probably be coming back for the other 50% next next year? But Yeah. We we my only struggle is that this is their number three, and we've already gone over what the other ones have asked. You know, like, in that in that spirit of keeping them

as as semi equals we can. I can't remember. Was this actually the city asking, or is it a historical organization or somebody else

doing this? I think it's through the city, but but there's But it was a historical There there is a historical

committee or something. City official city project? Yeah.

Project city building. Okay. Smithfield's also a little bigger population wise than these That's true. Than than Hiram and Italy. So I I'm open to to doing something a little more. I and and like Dave said, they've been coming to us for a $100,000 asks every year for a few years on this, and and RAPS has given them ten, fifteen, 20, and maybe this can be an amount that jump starts and and helps them get somewhere to where they can have some more deliverables.

I'm just glad that we have people even thinking

and would like to actually do something to document something for the next generation. You know, know, we don't have enough of that happening.

Okay. So is is there any opposition to giving the museum a 100,000? K. So that will be our recommendation then, 50,000 on project 66, Smithfield City Museum. That brings us to Excuse me. Backup. Let's go back up to Logan Downtown Alliance. Just a second. So 66 number 60 6, an additional 20,000? Additional 20,000 for a total of 50,000. K. Okay. So that's all of the city ones on this list, so let's bump back up. We skipped Logan Downtown Alliance, and then I think we're caught up. Let me do that. So let's bump back up to project number 45, Logan Downtown Alliance, top of Utah Marathon. They initially requested $15,000. We initially recommended $10,000, and, Bruce recommended we give them the extra 5 to give them a total of 15,000 as they requested.

I would do

that. K. Seeing head nods. Any opposition to that? That's recent. K. So we will make our recommendation 15,000 for the Logan Downtown Alliance, project number 45. And then dropping back down to project number 70 on this list, Unicorn Theater, they asked for $15,000. We originally recommended 7,500, and, Bruce has recommended an additional 2,500 to bring it to $10,000.

I'm good with that. You bet. Everybody okay with that? I don't use it today.

Sounds good. So $10,000 will be our recommendation for project number 70, Unicorn Theatre. Utah Festival Opera. And this one, I think, Carl had on his actually, oh, you know what? Carl had the same recommendation for Unicorn Theater, so I'm gonna cross that one out on his list. And

then he had

top of Utah Marathon, so I'll cross that one out because we fully funded that. So he did have Utah Festival Opera on his. So Bruce's recommendation for Utah Festival Opera was that we give them an extra 50,000. They initially asked for 550,000. We initially recommended 400,000. Bruce's recommendation is give them an extra 50 to bring them up to 450,000, and that is Carl's council member Ward's recommendation as well. Yeah. K. Everybody okay with an extra 50,000? Yes. K. I see lots of head nods, so we'll do an extra 50,000 for Utah Festival Opera. Twenty twenty three operational support, number 72. And then while we're talking about Utah Festival Opera, project number 73 is on Carl's. This this was Utah Festival Opera Marketing. They initially asked for a 175,000. We initially recommended 50, and Carl is recommending we double that and give them another 50 for a total of a 100,000 out of their $175,000 request. Thoughts on that?

So Well, that's a lot of advertising.

That's a lot of advertising, but one of my concerns is is that why put money into the one if we can't get anybody here? Like, if I don't know what they need. I I don't understand all of the the details of the marketing, but there is something to be said for if we're gonna invest in the one, we almost need to invest on the other because if nobody comes, then it's a waste of investment. So

In prior years, they've done very well with their advertising even though we haven't What was that? I say in prior years, they've done quite well, I think, with their advertising Have they? With what the amounts that we have given them. What do you mean? You mean they've gotten plenty of people here with the amount we've gotten them? Yeah. Is that what you mean? The past. So

But the price is going up with advertising like everything else.

And also thinking of the fact that one of the practices I'm I'm a short timer on this committee, but one thing I feel like I've observed is that we'll often ask, where did we fund them last year? And when we you know, I I I don't wanna make too much of an operational commitment this year that we wouldn't be likely to be able to support on an ongoing

basis if they have applied and had an equally meritorious appetite. I think that's a valid point. That's a pretty valid point. Yeah. So, if we think back to what we talked about or what I, recapped at the beginning of the meeting about the uses of these funds to essentially invest them into things that will, generate more tax revenue. We think about the the offer. That's what they're talking about doing with this money is advertising outside of our valley to bring people here to get people to come here. I asked them how many, of their, attendees came from outside of the area, and they told me it's about 60%, maybe a little higher than 60% of their attendees who come from outside of our county. They they told me also that they had a an economic analysis done a few years ago that showed 35,000,000 to 45,000,000 in economic activity as a result of of what they're doing, which seems very high to me, but it's it's surely somewhere in the millions of what they're doing.

Walk through this with me a little bit. I got got the email from Julie Hollis. She says we've got about 800 people coming from Arizona. So assume you have 800 people coming from Arizona, and let's assume that they spend a thousand dollars a piece a month in sales taxable sales, sales taxable disbursements. So if you've got, 800 people, a thousand dollars a month, that's a million and 6 a month, three months would be 4,000,008 in sales taxable sales over the three months that they're here.

I think we're talking about two separate teams. Well, we're not Are we Those are overlapping.

They're they're related. That's one That that's making sure I'm on the stage. The summer citizens are one component of the attendees of the opera, and so you're They they contend. They contend that they're because reason they come here is Yeah. Opera. So 4,000,008

and the restaurant taxes are or the 1%, we have 1%. So $48,000

in

wraps tax, assuming those very generous tax. Assuming the very of the restaurant tax, assuming very generous assumptions. So $48,000 that they that comes back in the form of a RAPS tax.

From Justice Summer Simpson's From restaurant. Now RAPS is one tenth. That Now are are they buying anything? Yes. Yes. I'm saying

let's we're assuming that Buying a thousand dollars a month in sales taxable Yeah. Disbursements. I wonder certainly, they pay rents, and there are other things included there, but I think when they tell us how much they're generating, I I think that's inflated.

So, yeah, I I I think it's a high number, but you're just talking about 800 people, and 35 to 40,000 tickets is what they told me. Is that a true statement?

K.

So it's it's a lot of tickets. That that's eight eight hundred people, and I'm sure those 40,000 are duplicated attendees. Yes. It's not 40,000 unique attendees, for 40,000 tickets. So, yeah, that I I would agree with you that it's probably somewhere in between that and 45,000,000. That's that's a really big number, the economic analysis, but there are multiplying factors involved. I'm not an economist, but

Yeah. But the other thing is that those 800 people that are coming, they don't come strictly for the opera. They've been coming a long, long, long time. And it's the snowbirds that are coming up here Right. That has, I think, more of an impact than the opera. Because they've they've done it in the past. They've come up here for the environment

compared to where they're at. So going back to the recommendation, I feel comfortable increasing their operational support, but I'm reluctant to increase the advertising budget.

Okay. So There's also a recommend a recommendation from Julie Hollis for increasing the amount that they get for the summer citizens.

That's a different that's a different request.

So that this is We'll visit that one in a moment. Right. So It might be balanced out. Okay. So on this discussion, Bruce didn't recommend increasing the marketing budget for the festival opera. However, council member Ward recommended giving them an additional 50,000 on top of the 50,000 we initially recommended. Mister Khan recommended an additional 20,000 on top of the 50,000 that we already recommended to them. Any other thoughts on this from other committee members?

I'll get back to what he said earlier, though. If we look next year based on what we did this year, then in the prior years when we looked at it, we've always given them $1,015,000 at the most. For marketing? For marketing because you've also got Utah State marketing for the snowbirds to come up here. Well, that that's actually changed,

and that's part of the reason why In the process of being changed. Right? Well, that part has changed. So it has changed already? Utah State did not go and do their visits like they have in the past. They discontinued that, and that's part of the transition process of the summer citizens being probably taken over by the chamber of commerce because the the university has been reevaluating their role in this, and they they've had some staff changes and operational changes related to that. And so they the university has already pulled back on on that marketing and did not do those trips this year already. Those those would have happened earlier this year. So that was something that the theater companies picked up and went and did on their own because they had to. They knew that had to happen still, so they went and and took those trips. So I know that's part of the reason for an additional request is because they envision going forward that they won't be able to rely on

other funding or personnel doing those marketing trips. Do we know why the university chose to not?

Yes. The their their well, it it started with the staff change. The person, who who used to run this retired, and then, the university realized how much work it was to run this program, and I think replaced that person with three people trying to get everything done, realized that it was a lot of work, and that caused them to reevaluate their mission and their role and, and what they were trying to accomplish. And in doing that, they they realized, and I think the community members who are involved realized as well that, this should be, more of a collaborative endeavor with the theater companies and others in the community businesses, shouldering more of the load and not having the university carry all of this this weight for this program because the the university originally started the summer citizens program, well, because of the because of the dam failure up in Rexburg, and because these these summer citizens were originally going to Rick's College, as it was called at the time, but when the Teton Dam failed in, what was it, 1976 or something, the the college campus was flooded, and the summer citizens had to come somewhere else, so they came here, and they've been here ever since. And it was originally done as a as a way to, make money off of empty student housing in the summertime is what it's been explained to me, but it's grown into more than that. But the university does not have as much of a need for that even these days because these days the university is able to fill their student housing in the summertime with high school students who are coming to programs like church camps and and other camps, and when the university has looked at that they've realized that that maybe should be a higher priority for them because those are potential future college students coming to their campus, and and they'd like to make that a priority for themselves. So there are a lot of factors like that that the university has been considering, and that's caused them to to reevaluate their level of involvement. They still wanna be part of this. They still wanna host it, but they realize that it shouldn't be mostly them or as much them shouldering the load. And so some of that, some of that responsibility is shifting to, groups like the Utah Festival Opera to now do some more of the marketing, and, groups like the Chamber of Commerce to, help with, running this, which I don't think that's been announced formally or even decided formally that the chamber will take it over, and our recommend our our application this year from summer citizens is still from the university, but it's the the plan is to announce that, I believe during the summer citizen session this summer that, that transition will be made. So long story, is that that's part of the reason why the theater is asking for more marketing money is because they're going to shoulder more of that load for getting the word out and getting people here. That's futuristically,

because you just said it wasn't gonna be announced until the middle of the summer.

The the operational side of it will start to transition this summer. The marketing side of it already transitioned starting at the end of last year because the the university already stopped that part, and the the theater companies already picked it up. I, I believe, I believe there were a couple that went on trips this year that, anticipated being part of that bigger program, but had to do it on their own.

Last year, we allocate a year ago, we allocated $3,030,000 dollars to the Utah Festival for marketing. This year, we have already allocated, suggested 50,000. Right. So that's a two thirds increase. I'd just not increase that anymore than that.

That's what I'm in favor of.

Just keeping it we've already increased it to 50.

I think we're From you said it was 30 last year? Thirty eight years ago. K. Any any other thoughts from the committee on that one?

I'm okay with what you guys decide again on the on the new guy, but I would say you gotta spend money to make money. And just looking at the stuff that they've reported last year, even just from that 407 ZIP code, 3,800 people, 3,800 plus at about nine at 2498 a person, if that ROI is correct, that's 90,000 just in that ZIP code. But most of their people come not I mean, most of their tickets are not here. Well, there's plenty here, but 39%, about 10,000 tickets, or at least outside of great at Cache Valley. There's very few things that bring as many people as that to this to Cache Valley. And to be fair, if we could control just keep it nice and cool, we'd that's better than almost anything. You know, like, if we could throw money at that, just do that. But because I think that's honestly that's one of the major factors. But keeping that that rolling, that that snowball started is important. So I'm I'm okay if you stay at 50, but I would suggest that if you're gonna reinvest, that's one of the few places you're gonna get as much reinvestment as as what they do. They're very, very proactive.

Yeah. I think if we look at the purpose of restaurant tax, this request is probably the purest request in line with the exact purpose of the restaurant tax revenue, because all of these other ones are are doing stuff. How much of that is advertising and getting people to come here? Like, they're doing something fun that will hopefully attract people to come here, but this is actually going out and telling people, hey, come to Cache Valley, come to our opera, come come to our shows, and come to this community, and go to the restaurants and stay in the hotels and shop in the stores and all those other types of things. I feel like this is out of all of our requests, this is the purest request for restaurant tax dollars, and I I think we should at least give the other 20 the extra 20,000 that Damon just recommended. And if we look at what we just did, we just handed out tens of thousands of dollars at a time to several other people, 15,000, 20,000, 10,000, 25,000, sales tax generation, this one is. This is that's exactly what this money is gonna be used for is to get more customers to come up here and spend more money.

Well, given the background that you have just done, concerning the the university versus the opera, and and the university not being able to fund the summer citizens, I mean these are all connected, and and I think that we could we could give a bit more to the opera.

And it would be nice if we had some kind of reporting system to know. I mean, I I would this is one of the things that is long term gonna build that that nest egg, so to speak. And I would love to see those numbers year after year if this number correlates to a bigger number to start with, you know, and where and where that there's gonna be a spot where that plateaus, right, where that's just marginal gains, but we don't know where that is. We don't even I don't know. That might be ears and ears down there.

Okay. So let's let's just handle this like we we would normally. So

I'll consider put a motion of a a $20,000 increase on the table

just to see what happens. Okay. So we have a a motion for additional $20,000. Is would someone like to second that? Yeah. I would I'd follow that. I would support that. So we have a second a motion and a second for an additional $20,000 for the operating or for the opera marketing request. Any other thoughts or discussion about that?

Okay. It would be contingent on results. Like, again, we we don't wanna set a precedent. We think Expect the difference between the theory. There's no contingency about it. Yeah. That's what it should be. The 20,000 is spent. It's spent. Good luck. There's no contingency

precedence. Demonstrate

the effective use of it.

Okay. All in favor of an extra $20,000, raise your hand. Yes. Okay. I see five votes there. So that changes to an additional 20,000 for project number 75. No. 73. 73. 73. 73. Sorry. 73 is 20,000 extra for a total of 70,000.

Perhaps seeing seeming out of character, given my last motion, I would move that we not fund the Utah theater project. Number seven, the additional request on number seven.

Carl's got it down to fund it, but From from Carl's Foundation. From Carl's.

So we we had a request for the Utah Theatre for $8,000. We initially didn't recommend anything. Carl asked that we give them at least $2,000,

on the initial round that scored a 23 out of 40. Possible, I think. 40. And and at that kind of scoring, I I think there's other higher scoring projects that would have more merit I agree.

For for additional funds than the Utah theater. In fact, that might be the But for folks that we're just leaving the way they are. Maybe the airway they are. One of the lowest.

Okay. Anybody think contrary to that? No. Okay. Hearing no opposition to that, that brings us back to Bruce's list of recommendations. We, I think, just have the zoo left on that one. Is that right, Bruce? Okay. So the last one to talk about on Bruce's list is Zutah, and their initial request was for 480,000. What what is 10%, Alma?

The 10% is $268,707.

268,000?

$268,007.00

7. Okay. So they initially requested $4.80. I think they were just making sure they asked for the full 10%, I'm I'm guessing. So they they covered that. So 268,000 would be the full 10%. Carl, in his request, asked that we bring them to 10%, which he he guessed that it was around $3.20. It's actually $2.68, And Bruce has recommended that we increase them from one sixty to one seventy five, an additional 15,000. I'll second that motion.

For an additional 15,000? 15,000. That's it, though. K. Sounds good to me. I won't support anymore.

I second it. Okay.

Just as a reminder that 2020, they had a $61,000 surplus that year, and in 2021, they had a $255,000 surplus from that Little carryover or not carryover that they actually generated, $2.55 more than they spent.

Is that money they're putting into their capital to future expansions?

Or Didn't say didn't indicate. They just had quarter of $1,000,000 They kept wanting to buy that truck too. Remember? That was a year ago. Okay. That's the truck.

Okay. So I heard a motion a second to give them an additional $15,000. Any thoughts otherwise? Any opposition to that? K. Hearing none, that will be our recommendation for number 79, Zutah, an additional 15,000 bringing them to a total of 175,000 being recommended to council. And let's go now, having finished Bruce's switch. Thank you, Bruce, for all of those recommendations that's helped us spend a bit more. How much have we spent now, Alma? Okay. Or how much left? How much is left? Yeah. So we had a little over just over 1,000,000 left, and now how much do we have?

About 300. So right here, the We have 777,986.

So we spent almost a quarter of it right there. Let's go through Carl's the rest of Carl's list, and then we'll get to these various emails that we got. So on Carl's list, the first one is American West Heritage Center, and They took care of that one, Brad. They already took care of that one. And then Cache Valley Ballet, we already talked about. The next one was the Roping Arena Lights. The what? Fairgrounds Number 17. Arena Lights, number 17. Their initial request was for a $103,095. We did not initially recommend funding of that. Carl thinks we should give him a $100. We did give the fairgrounds lots of money for other projects. This one was This is one of their lowest ranked priority list. This is one of their lowest ranked. This is their lowest. In fact, we ran short on number three.

Yeah. We allocated the x amount. That's right. Yeah. Let's say we circle that one, and we come back to it as if we need to. Yeah. And is it worth doing topping off 16 before we hit 17?

Yeah. That's a good point. Yeah. I think this committee carefully considered various applications and the priority on that one, and and, Carl did say that, he realized that we had made some of those considerations and that he wasn't aware of them. So let's skip that one for now, And, the next that takes us to the next one on Carl's list, Gran Fondo. They asked for 4,000. We recommended 2,500. He thinks we should give him 3,500. Any thoughts on that and an extra thousand dollars for that one? What number is that? That's number 38. Cash grand fondo. It's a nominal.

Well, then this actually potentially could bring some some people only around town. But You'll be able to slot the The 3,500?

Yeah. I I support that. The the bang for the buck on this is substantial. That'll be good. K. So favor that. Anybody against another thousand for Gran Fondo? That's okay. K. Hearing no opposition, that will be our recommendation that

we recommend a total of 3,500 for their $4,000

request on project number three. We already fully funded the other

request of theirs. We did do that. Oh, yeah.

Okay. So that brings us to the next one on Carl's list, number 40, Jump the Moon Foundation. They asked for 24,600, and we initially recommended 15,000 for them, and Carl asked if we'd give them another 3,000.

I'm agreeable to that. I think this is a good foundation. They do a lot of good.

They do a lot of good, and they work hard at it. Yeah. They do. They do a lot of the will, don't they? Lot of what? It feels like everything they give them, they they do a lot with it. Yes. They do. And this is only 16 proposed budget too. It's not very much what they're totally

or they're high in the sky is. So they're they're located they're newly located over here in the old Napa auto parts building, aren't they? Isn't that where they're at? They have. Yep. Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. It's a good location.

So, Carl recommended an extra $3,000, on top of the 15 we already recommended, which would make the recommendation 18,000. Any opposition to that? K. Hearing hearing none, that'll be our recommendation. $18,000 on project number 40. Project number 43 is the next one, Logan Community Foundation. And That's the theater.

Yeah. Which one? Yeah. That's 43. That's the theater. We've already considered that one. Number 43.

43. Cash regional theater. That's cash regional theater. Yeah. We already talked about that. Done more than what Carl asked for. We did a lot more than what Carl asked for. Okay. And then the rest of these on Carl's list, we've already talked about. Top of Utah, Music Theater West, you did we do Unicorn Theater? Yeah. We did Unicorn Theater, Festival Opera, Utah Theater, and Zootas. So we're making pretty good time. We are an hour into our meeting and gotten through both of both of those lists. Be done by next week. Let's go. Let's go.

Is that me? We all get lunch. You.

Yes. Yeah. We're gonna be done. So let's go through all these emails. So the top the top email I have on my stack that Alma just gave us is about the suicide concert, suicide prevention concert. We got an email from Bart. I was just gonna read this after watching the RAPS Committee. Dear good morning. After watching the RAPS Committee meeting and the lengthy discussion about funding for the suicide awareness event, I wanted to write to share my feelings about the event. As you know, this event, ideally, was attached two years ago by Margaret Gittens, the office specialist at the Fairgrounds as a way to bring the community together to spread the message of for an important cause. The first year held at this event attracted an estimated 3,000 attendees with about the same amount the second year. While this event is billed as a concert, it's much more than that. There has been a thank you reception for first responders and resource booths sponsored by local mental health providers. Suicide prevention is something that is very meaningful to me, having lost his son to suicide. Just in the past couple of weeks, I have also lost a staff member at the fairgrounds to suicide. Knowing the resources available are important and have been important to the staff here at the fairgrounds. There was also very recently another employee of the county that lost a child to suicide. I want to thank you for the 15,000 already committed, but would like to consider funding like you to consider funding the remaining $10,000 for this important cost. So, she's asking for an additional 10,000 off of the 15,000 that we just gave. Thoughts from the committee on this one?

Let's see. This one's under the United

Way this time. Is that right? Yeah. So, what happened is the last couple of years, the fairgrounds actually managed it, so it was a county project and, was actually supported by, restaurant tax dollars the last couple of years, but in an effort to move it to a nonprofit, the United Way stepped up and is willing to basically run this through their books and help with leading the event. The, the executive director of the United Way, Jeremy Berman, happens to also be serving this year as the chairman of the Cash Suicide Prevention Coalition, and that was one of the, thoughts, as far as, well, over the last couple of years was that, rather than this being something that the fairgrounds puts on, that we make it something that's led by community groups, including the, suicide prevention coalition and the United Way, and there are actually a number of other non profit organizations who are partnering on this project, and it over the last two years had Alex Boyer was the headliner, which brought people in from all over. As as I mentioned last time, there there wasn't any way, because it was a free concert, there wasn't any way to track where people came from, how many out of towners, came to it, but, with with the thousands of people there, it was estimated that there were people coming from that area. So he's asking for an additional $10,000 for the concert, which is a I don't know what percentage that will be of the total cost, but I think it's I think I think they've spent around 50,000 on the concert the last couple of years. Thoughts from the committee on this?

I just had the thought, you know, we you've talked about Alex Boyer coming. I'm wondering if there was somebody that would be willing to you know, did Alex Boyer, donate the first year, his performance? He charged for both years,

and the committee is looking at having somebody else who is a big name who, will I think be cheaper.

I think if, you know, I am agreeable to this this extra 10 because I think it's something that needs to be out there, but I think we need to make sure that they're looking at different options and not spending so much on an entertainer because that's not what this is all about. Yeah. It's about getting the information out to the people.

Yeah. I know they are doing that. In fact, they had a meeting this morning where they talked about that, and I believe that is the plan to get somebody who's more affordable. However, we'll hopefully still have the same draw of bringing people in. That's the trade off. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's it is a tough thing because you get a big name, you'll get a lot of people coming, but that's a little bit more expensive, which with this, we're not selling tickets. So Yeah. So it's it is definitely a trade off. Okay. So we have a recommendation from, Barbara to, fund the additional $10,000. I'll second that. Thank you, Barbara. I think this is an important project for our community, and, hopefully,

we have, people from Describe to me how this fits within the restaurant

and

entertainment, and it it has an overall educational goal, but it's entertainment. People are coming to There are food trucks at the event, food people come go to restaurants beforehand or get food there at the concert.

I'm saying it's a good cause. It really is, but I worry about

how we're gonna I think these are gonna be coming now in a in a they're just gonna be we're gonna get bombarded by everyone in their cause and want money to put on a benefit for their for their cause when when we start financing a community rally together on them specifically. It may it it causes me to worry.

Yeah. Yeah. But isn't that one of the reasons that they had a big name?

That's why because we you get a lot of people. Like, that's why gonna end up probably is not just within the bank. We were told that he was donating his time. Yeah. That's what I thought was That first one. Then all of a sudden, we came back and they said, oh, now he's not donating his time, so the county had to fork up a bunch of money. Yeah. We were not you know, that that was wrong. But

Yeah. I don't know who said he was donating, but I I don't know if anybody who ever heard heard that or said that, but

there I never heard anything about him donating. Even I guess that's what I'm the purpose here, I've I just worry about worry about there's gonna be several other groups and these are they're all good causes, but when they're community fed and they're put on just by the community or the some people themselves, I think they'll gain better traction than just looking at a be in finance

I think. By, you know, taxes. Yeah. I'm I'm uncomfortable recommending it more, and I recommend at least leave it to the county council to make that decision.

Okay. So we have a a motion and a second for, an additional $10,000 for this concert. Any other thoughts on that? K. All in favor of the extra $10,000?

Sorry. Before you go into that, I I actually I mean, this is a lot to wrap your head around. I'm I would go on record saying going forward, I'm a very large support of putting on a a big concert and bringing in a a name and bringing people into the valley. The more people that come in from out of out of town that support this, the more that helps perpetuate things like parks and stuff everywhere else. So I'm a big fan of that. I also go on record to say that it it can't be about a personal agenda. And then I would probably

go through with your goal.

Okay. Nobody else had

Not to talk it to death. I this one's really tough for me because I'm very, very passionate about the the the the nature the the subject of this event is hugely important. We I I in my work at USU, we see suicide touching our student body. We we have seen it in our high schools. This is just a a tremendously important issue. And and yet I am also struggling, like, if if I if someone if this had never happened and someone said, how can RAPS help this happen? I would have said, well, put in a request for a stage or an upgrade to a park so that we can do everything we can do so that we can help make this event happen by funding the infrastructure and and and the setup for it, but not necessarily being the entity that's funding it. And yet I'm we're I'm up against the precedent that it has been funded in the past. I I would I would love and and I think the United Way taking this on instead of the county is actually a step in a positive direction. And I I would love to see an application next year that says, hey. We'll fund a stage so that we can put on and help support not only this event, but other events. We will help support lights and and and and all of the things that would be necessary such that hopefully a little bit of fundraising through a nonprofit can cover the other costs that are besides infrastructure. That would be my preference to see the way that's handed handed. And application in front of us right now. I felt really strongly about making sure that the event could happen by supporting to the extent that that we did, because, otherwise, I think it would be a that that we did, because otherwise, I think it would fail. And and I don't think we'd be able to have this event that I think is really important. I I struggle a little bit with pushing with doing more. I wouldn't be angry if if if that's was the outcome. I would be angry if the event just died. I I would be disappointed. And and so I I'm struggling a little bit for fear that it might not work out. But I I I because of the significance of the topic to me, I felt the need to to kind of explain. I I don't think I'm gonna support the the extra funding. I will I I do support the funding level where it's at, and I hope that in future applications, if if I'm even on this committee ever again in the future, that we could find out ways that that, that we can support this event and perhaps others like it for good causes through the the infrastructure that's necessary to make them happen, but perhaps not not picking and choosing from among different applications for different concerts, with with different performers.

Okay. With that said, let's call for a vote. All in favor of Barbara's motion to add an additional $10,000, raise your hand.

Let's see. That's all in all That's five. Is is that a handout? Is that a handout? Yep. I'll go for that. Okay. So that's five. Strictly because of the my conversation when we had our first meeting. I agree with what you're saying, Dave, but it's just simply the subject that I think is so critical k. Suicide prevention.

Yes. Definitely. Thank you so much. So our recommendation on that item will be an additional 10,000 for a total of 25,000.

So what is United Way gonna do? They're helping to coordinate because the cost of their things is 25. What's that? So is United Way gonna do anything without they got their money or, you know, like That funds the entire thing. That funds the concert, not the United Way. They're they're just the

Facilitator. They're the facilitator, and that's what the United Way does. They don't usually provide direct services. They usually raise money for other causes and other nonprofits. I would think they have another

18 to raise.

They'll they'll have some admin cost at a minimum in the game

as well. Yeah. I don't think the intent is for the United Way to make any money off of this or to keep it on the side. I think all of these funds will be going to the concert. Okay. So let's go back to let's go to the document excerpts from emails for additional requests that comma put together, and it's number one through six on the front and then number seven on the back. I'm just gonna do number seven first because I think this is really fast. Herm Olsen, who's the director of the of the board for the or the chairman of the board for the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, asked if they could have an additional 17,500 beyond what they initially asked for in their application. I I just emailed them right back in that email and said, I don't think we can do that. Yeah. Because he didn't meet the March 3. Yeah. All that. So Otherwise otherwise, you open it all up again. Here we go again, and that's so nice. I told him, I don't think that's possible because of the time frames. He emailed me back and said, yeah. I understand. So I I think that one's really quick. We can just drop it off and say, no. You can't submit a new application after the deadline. So then going back to number one and number two, we've already covered those two. Cross those out. And then number three is the email from Celeste, which Celeste is here if anybody has any questions. But we already addressed all three of these, and we gave them each 5,000 more. Alright? So those have been covered. And then next on here, emails number four and five were from David Hollis, Terrell, and Jamie Andress with the cash chamber regarding the summer citizens program. And I'm sorry. I don't have that one right in front of me. What was their initial request? It was your state university.

Yeah. Not cash chamber.

Yeah. So as as I mentioned a little bit ago, this program has for the last almost fifty years been run by Utah State University and is in the process of being transitioned to be led. Utah State University will still be involved, but will be led by the chamber.

So they submitted the request, but the money will go to the chamber? Chamber? No. It will go to Utah State University,

because they are running the program this year. This will be the last year that Utah State University will run the program, and then going forward, they will still be involved. They will still be a major partner, but the Chamber of Commerce will be the lead organization leading this project. So project number 76, Utah State University asked for $30,000 this year, and we initially recommended 15,000 for them, and Julie and Jamie have asked that we provide the additional money. So this just just like the the opera and and many of these organizations, the summer citizens were hit pretty hard by the pandemic, especially because their their demographic are senior citizens. The the summer citizens are senior citizens, and, they were especially wary of, coming out. The university actually canceled, things during the pandemic, so they weren't able to operate. They have lost attendance and are rebuilding that. I don't think they're quite back to the attendance they were at before, and so that's that's part of what they're asking for. What what were our previous year's numbers? I don't That's just that we keep it at 15,000

and that the reserve that we have, that if we have to pull some out from the county council, may pull some out and give to the cash chamber or something later, if they're going to ramp it up, we can hold that money for them later. But I'm I I think we're pretty consistent in giving Utah State the 15.

Haven't we It's actually a little more. The last award was 10,000 in 2019.

Doesn't say what they got in 2020, but they didn't end up spending it because They're phase they're phase it out. Let's just okay. Then let's just get the money where it needs to be. But is it is this 30 then to reimburse the university for money they already spent this last spring?

It didn't say that. It didn't say that.

Yeah. It's a good question, but I don't think I don't think those would be elevated expenses. They have two years to spend it. That's just it.

But I I like Dave, Dave's recommendation simply because I think this is a great chance to to I I I I very much support the 15,000, but I think this is a great chance to reimagine the program, what the outreach, and all the other stuff looks like. Maybe not even But I don't understand. I'm I'm ready to take my best on a a discussion to take back the recommendation for 15,000. Yeah. I was too. I I got a big Why? Why here for them. Why?

Because Because they just found a scale. Yeah. This is to attract

like, that's what we just spent all that money on it. I'd recommend moving this up and over to the chamber or something or holding that in reserve to give to the chamber when they make a request so so they could spend that next winter spring where there's not a winter Can can we do that if the chamber didn't apply? No. No. No. No. No. We'll hold it to the county We can let the county wait for a future request.

So what I don't understand. Why are you saying don't give them any money? Well, they're phasing out. They're they're They're not phasing out. They're all they're doing is trans they're still gonna be part of it. They're just not gonna be the leader of it. They're not gonna be the one who the money runs through, but they're still gonna be a huge part of it. They will still host programs at the university. They will still host the summer citizens in their housing at the university. They will still have, classes and tours and and things like that that they host for the summer citizens. That they're still gonna be a major player in this. They just won't be the leader

carrying most of the the responsibility starting next year. This year, they're they're doing,

the responsibility starting next year. This year, they're they're doing all the things they have done in the past. They're they're continuing to they're continuing to run the program as they have in the past

this year. Next year's budget change. So they're having

So they're having money to run their program for this year, and they do bring in hundreds of senior citizens, maybe about 800 this year. This is a huge impact on our economy. I can't remember what the number was on this one. How many millions in economic impact from having summer citizens. The university, I think, has been extremely gracious for these many years in running this and doing this when really they probably were outside of their scope and their mission in how much economic activity they were stimulating in our community. I think they went far above and beyond their own needs and own wants in what they've done.

But I'm I'm going back to the conversation, the explanation you gave before. This is that they were drawing back because they could make better use of their facilities by inviting other groups in rather than the university, and they're not or rather than focusing on the senior citizens.

Yeah. So they don't see it as as critical of a need as they did maybe fifty years ago, but that doesn't mean they're not gonna do it anymore. They're still doing it. They're still providing that housing. They're just what they've done is they've reevaluated how much involvement they should have in it and how high of a priority it should be for them when they have so many other priorities that they are dealing with as a university. So they're still doing they're still doing this. They're still housing the seniors. They're still attracting them here. They're still marketing. They're still, they're still getting people to come here and stay here and eat in restaurants here and get medical and dental care here and buy cars here and go to the shows here and and do all of those things. They're still part of that. There's just a a transition happening in how exactly it will be administered. But this year, they're still administering it, and that's what they're asking for is money for this year to administer it. And we gave them 3 thou we were 3,000 above their that was allotted last year's to which we increased it to 15,000,

and I say we stick to that. And I that's so, again, that was a motion. Okay. I'll second that. So we have a motion and a second for

15,000 for well, to stay at the 15,000

that we initially recommended. Does anybody have any thoughts otherwise? I just have a thought that I would be much more comfortable if during this transitional period, this had been a request from both the Chamber of Commerce as well as the university.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's and part of the reason for these late emails from the visitors bureau and the chamber is because this is a work in progress. Over the last couple of months, is when everybody's been meeting and trying to figure out what needed to be done, because I think initially, some people were concerned that it might even go away, and everybody, because the university was thinking about how they were gonna handle this. And so this is this is all in flux still right now, but I absolutely agree with you. So, so we have a motion and a second to stick with our existing, recommendation of $15,000. Any other thoughts on it or against that? K. Anybody have a problem with that, with sticking where we are? K. Seeing no opposition, we'll stick with that recommendation. K. So that brings us down to number six. This is, I think, the easiest one. Wasn't this $2,500? And this affects every elementary school in the Valley. This is an incredible program, Mountain West Strings Academy. I apologize. I missed the discussion when you guys talked about this in the meeting, but I think we didn't initially recommend anything to them. What number is that? This is number 51. 51, Mountain West Strings Academy. They asked for $2,500 and this is a program that's in every elementary school in the Valley. It's a nonprofit. It's not run by the school district. They do use classroom space and do before and after school orchestra for the children. It's an incredible program because it is subsidized by their other fundraising they do, and it's very cheap for the kids to be able to participate, to rent an instrument, and to get involved in orchestra. If if you read the article about, the retirement of our Cache County superintendent, Steve Norton. He mentioned in that article that his greatest accomplishment, he felt like, was the establishment of this organization

several years ago in our county. This is related to another request. Which what's the number of the other requests that it's related to? This is

Which what's the number of the other requests that it's related to?

Well, I think they might have been closed, but I don't think they were we talked about them joint. About them in six months, but I don't think they were Are you Are you thinking

are you confusing this cash youth orchestra number 31? Yeah. 31. One of those.

Alright. Just look at that one. How are those related? 31 and 51 are two separate requests.

Yes. I think I I can't remember. They're prepared by the same person. That's true. And Brooke Cook is the contact person for both the work and last name stuck out in your head.

So I I would recommend that we give them the $2,500 It's one of our smallest requests that we got, and it has one of the biggest impacts, impacting every elementary school across our county in both the Logan and the Cache school districts. Positive

thing. Yeah. And this at least we can do. Yeah. And this is a separate

positive thing. Yeah. And this the least we can do. Yeah. And this is a separate nonprofit that has stepped in and said to the schools, we'll do this for you. They're saving millions of dollars, really, because if the schools each had to run a program like this, they'd be paying teachers who are benefited and buying instruments and all that kind of thing. This is a great organization. I happen to be aware of it because all seven of my kids went through it, and I I think it's a good good program, so I would recommend that we give them $2,500. Very small request and a very big impact.

I'll second that because I agree that I think The importunity. Children need more than just sports to get them because not everybody is so, yeah, I'll agree with that. I'll second that. Good point. Okay. Any other thoughts on $2,500

for Mountain West Strings Academy? I support it. My hesitation was I didn't see the separation from the school district clearly. Yeah. If that's Given that that's made clear, and I actually see it as an association with Cache Youth Orchestra more than with the school district. With that end, I would support the 2,500.

That was one part of the discussion

is that we're starting to finance

school operations,

and I don't think that's gonna do I don't I do not think we we think about that with this. Yeah. This is an after school program, before school program, so

good good points. K. Any other thoughts on that? Any opposition to 2,500 for them? K. So we'll make that our recommendation, 2,500 for them. With that being said, are there any other emails or requests or any other

I I have one. Stokes Nature Centers worked pretty well, and we didn't quite fully fund their proposal.

What number is that?

67. 67. And it did score in the thirties.

Thirties. They asked for 30,000. I think we awarded 25. I I've I've not was still pretty strong from other years. Yeah. Oh, okay. I I I I'm not adamant about it. They just thought we just thought thought I'd raise the question. I don't even increase this. I I wouldn't hesitate to increase to 30, but and then I I would like to come back. I I know I I said something flipping, I think, about the roping arena lighting, in our last meeting, and we kinda circled that earlier, and it might be worth coming back for a conversation. So let's let's finish the conversation about Stokes. Say the number again, project number. 667.

67. And

They requested 30, and we gave them 25. Recommended 25.

Okay. Initial request, 30,000. Initial recommendation, 25.

And Damon's recommendation is? I I would give them the remaining 5,000. The remaining 5,000.

Where we're at. But Okay. Any other thoughts about an extra 5,000 for Stokes Nature Center? Any opposition to an extra 5,000 for Stokes Nature Center? Anything. K. Seeing no opposition, that'll be our recommendation then, the full $30,000 for project number 67. So Thank you. Alma, where are we where are we standing? How much more money do we have in the bank? Let's look at that right now.

So we still have 756,486. Great.

Got it. Good number. Oh, that's a So we just spent a quarter 1,000,000, basically, or recommended another quarter million. We still have 3 quarters of 1,000,000 left. With that being said, I know you just mentioned Fairgrounds, Rokin Arena project.

Are let's let's talk about that, but does anybody have any any other projects that they'd like us to revisit? Sorry. I'm gonna spend the whole lot here if you guys let me, but Newton and Cornish didn't email us, but I don't think that that should necessarily hold them back. But I their their projects scored reasonably well and didn't get full funding, but got some good funding for both pickleball courts and playground equipment in Newton. I remember someone made the argument in Newton that we ought to to think about the kids on on getting some playground equipment funding in there as well, in addition to just the pickleball. And then Cornish, similarly, we funded 50,000 of an $80,000 request. And that those are smaller communities, but they have fewer resources at their disposal to support some of these things. I do like the communities that have some skin in the game, but would it be worth it to revisit those in the way that we did for some other

cities and towns Mhmm. Previously in the discussion. The 50,000 we allocated to Cornish is equivalent to a $182

per Per person per person per capita.

Yeah. And of the other communities in the neighborhood of 15 to $20 per capita. So I think you're being very generous. Yeah. And that was where you're going.

That was a that was a safety project too. It's why we even Yeah. We we took that up. And it gets used for that that park gets used for bike and Bike. Events and a lot of things that are little red that are counted wide. Red or something. Whatever. I think little reds out there I think there's a few of them that I have.

I think those are really good points, Damon, because with these smaller towns, this big of a difference in funding between what we're giving them and what they need could be enough to kill the project. It's oftentimes hard for these smaller towns with their very small budgets to be able to raise funds.

Even another 10,000, say, to Cornish and another, you know, another chunk to It's about a $30,000

difference, and I was gonna say split put another 15 on on Cornish. And then I thought we'd finish the I had that same thing with Newton possibly funding the playground equipment. Just fully funding that? Yeah. Or the family for the picker team. Far off. Right? Yeah. 13,700.

Okay. Is that a motion? Council member? Yes. I'll second it. So we've got a a motion to fully fund the Newton project and add an additional 15,000 to the Cornish project.

Now there's two Newton projects. Yeah.

Yeah. One one was the pickleball

and one was the playground okay

so I'm thinking more on the playground okay okay

so

your your motion is on project 54 to fully fund that that's only an additional $7,260. Yeah. Okay. And Take a look at that. Talking about pickleball courts?

I I would

I'd lean a little towards the playground equipment in some ways, but but I also wanna be mindful of the fact that Newtown put the pickleball courts as their first priority and the playground as the second. My my hope would be that that we could help. I I don't know how to best make sure help such that both projects could be done, but I I assume we have to put money behind a specific request rather than just saying, Newton, here's an extra 10,000.

Yeah. I I wouldn't have a problem with funding the pickle fully funding the pickleball parts too. We're only talking another $13,000. That can make a big difference for that town, and that's actually really cheap that they're gonna get that done with only a small request from us, $48,000 to do that. Those things can be very expensive, and they figured out a way to do it and get it done with only asking us for $48,000, I think. They they either

figured out other money or they figured out volunteers or some other way to get it done. What what if we put an extra five behind the playground and an extra 10 behind the pickleball? That gets both of them really, really close to where I I'm I'm confident they could figure out how to close the gap. And they can even still use one for the other I'll I'll once they get the money. If I'll go with that too. If you'd like, and If you wanna switch those, that's fine. It it requires I think if if if I remember, it requires an act of the county council to be able to transfer funds from one project to another, but that's something that they could come and seek if they if they needed to do that. Okay. Putting 10,000

on from 35 to 45 k on 53

close on that.

And Go to $12.02 60 on the 54.

I was thinking go to 15. 15. Okay. And that leaves them with $2.02 60. Okay. That's good. But but I'm I'm open to No. That's I'll I'll go with that. Okay. Did you get those outlined?

So start at the beginning on

for each one, please. We go to 45,000 on number 53. 45,000. So 53,

an additional what amount? 10,000. 10,000. 10,000 on 53.

And on '54, an additional 5,000 to bring it to 15,000. K. K. And, Barbara, you originally seconded to that. Are you okay with seconding this again? Okay. And then any opposition to that? No. Okay. That'll be our recommendation. And then '33, we were also yeah. Then we were also talking about Cornish. We they initially asked for 80. We initially recommended 50, and there was a recommendation to give them an additional

10,000.

15,000 to bring that to 65,000

total. I think that That scored really high, and that's not very much of their budget either. Yeah. It's a big project.

Thank you, Bruce. Thanks, Bruce. Thanks, Bruce.

Okay. So the recommendation is an additional 15,000 on the Cornish parking enhancement project. Any opposition to that? Seeing none, that'll be our recommendation there.

That was 33 An additional 15,000.

Correct? Yes. On number 33 and additional 33 and additional 15,000. Okay. Total of 65,000. Okay. With that being said, are there any other projects in this list that any committee members think we should revisit? Oh,

Dan, you said you wanted to talk about roping arena. The roping arena lighting. I'm not the one that's gonna gonna get the phone calls complaining from neighbors about lights showing up out there. So I'm interested in the county council's thoughts on that, but I Do the funds just roll over to next year if we don't spend them this year? Yeah. Yeah. We'll reallocate them

in the budget.

I and we're we're just my hunch is we're gonna end up getting this project request from the the fairgrounds next year anyways. And and if we've got the resource, and next year, the project will probably cost $20,000 more than it costs this year. And and so I

If you build it, they will come. That's what's happened down there, like, everything we've done down there. I agree.

Yeah. I You know, especially the Cache County Fair is a big, big draw, and the more improvement we can have down there, I think that I agree with David, the more people you're going to have attend on that.

Okay. So what we already recommended on Cache County Fairgrounds was project number 11, fair and rodeo enhancement, 85,000. We recommended number 12, cheese and dairy festival, 25,000. We recommended number 13, replace portable bleachers, 16,000. Number 14, Rodeo arena lighting upgrade. What's that? Yeah. We fully funded that one. Fully funded. The Rodeo arena lighting upgrade to a 151 Yeah. Thousand. I'll be doing it. Number 15, we fully funded concrete floors and livestock farms just under a 100,000. Dollars Number 16, we fully funded $54,000 for east parking area lighting, and then number 17 was the last one. Was there one that we partially funded? Well, I think we were at one point, we were talking about taking that 21,156

that was left over from and dumping that in there, but I don't think we ever officially did that and did never into number 17. Okay. So that would have been 17 that we had partially funded. If we I don't think we have ever officially partially funded that. Okay. At least on my record. Yeah. I wasn't According to our recommendation, we didn't recommend any funding for that one. But that's what would have been left over, and I think we might have left that as a placeholder and just not revisited that. Okay. So with that being said,

the request for a 103,095, Damon, is your recommendation that we just fund that fully? Yes. Okay. So the recommendation second move. Letter recommendation and second to fully fund project number 17, Cash County Fairgrounds, open arena light upgrade. Any any thoughts about that? Any opposition to that?

And now this is just for the parking lot lights or no? Is that Roping Arena. That's the This is the Roping Arena. Sorry. 16 was the parking arena. Fun. Yeah. 16 was East parking area lights.

Okay. So seeing no opposition, that will be our recommendation. A $103,095 for number seven. K. With that being said, are there any other projects the committee would like to revisit before we send our final recommendation to the Cache County Council?

This leads to the County Council with Yeah. What? Still some significant remainder. I think Bruce's point about having some carryover in the event that the airport's proposal is Yeah. That performed next year is very wise, and and I I like overact.

Okay. And and what's our our final leftover number? So the final leftover number is 623,391,

if I've got everything entered. Can we take just a minute and go through them to make sure that I've That's a good idea. That's a really good idea. That way, we don't have to pick a name.

So

let me just go in my order. I'm sorry. I apologize. It it won't be in your order. I'm I'm just gonna go down through this. What I did is I took the amount and then added an additional amount. So let me go through and find those. Just give me one second the the Cache Century ride. We did an additional thousand. Correct. So that's 3,500 total for number 38. Correct. And on number 45, the Logan Downtown Alliance did an additional 5,000 for a total of 15,000. Correct. And on number 54, Newton Town, did an additional 5,000 for a total of $15,000 recommendation.

What project number was that one? Number 54 Newton Town.

Playground equipment?

Yeah. That's correct. Correct. Is that correct? Yes.

K.

Number 66, this is Smithfield Historical Society. An additional 20,000 It's a different category. For a total of 50,000 to number 66. Correct. Yes. K. Number 71, the United Way of Cache Valley, get an additional 10,000 for a total of 25,000. Correct. K. Utah Festival, number 73, an additional 20,000 for a total of 70,000. Correct. K. Let me go over to this other column. Number three, American Festival West Heritage Center, did an additional 15,000 for a total of a 105,000. Correct. Number eight, Cash Civic valet, did an additional 5,500 for an for a total of 12,500.

Correct.

The Cash Fairgrounds, the number 17, the Roping Arena, fully funded at a $103,095.

Correct. K.

Number 24, Cache Valley Center for the Arts, did an additional 20,000 or a total of a 120,000. Correct. Number 25 did an additional 10,000 for a total of 50,000. Correct. Number 34, this is Four Seasons Theater Company, did an additional 5,000 for a total of 25,000.

Correct.

Jump the Moon, number 40, did an additional 3,000 for a total of $18,000 recommendation.

Correct.

Logan, Community Foundation, number 43, did an additional 5,000 for a total of 30,000. Correct. Then number 51, the Mountain West String Academy gave them $2,500.

Correct.

Number 52, Music Theater West, an additional 5,000 for a total of 35,000.

Correct.

Number 67, the Stokes Nature Center, an additional 5,000 for $30,000 total. Correct. Number 70, the Unicorn Theater, an additional 2,500 for 10,000 total. Correct. Number 72, Utah Festival Opera and Musical. The inner, an additional 50,000 for a total of 450,000.

Correct.

K. One last column, and then the zoo. Cornish, number 33, did an gave the a recommendation of 15,000 additional for a total of 65,000. Correct. Number 39 to Hiram, an additional 25,000 for a total of 200,000.

Correct.

And number 50, Millville City, recommend $23,144.

Correct.

And then 53 Newton Town, an additional 10,000 for a total of 45,000.

Correct.

Number 58, Paradise, is an additional 9,000 for a total of 59,000. Correct. Number oh, excuse yeah. 59, Providence is an additional 50,000 for a 150 or excuse me, an additional 50,000 for a a total of 200,000 to Providence. Correct. And then 64 Smithfield, an additional 25,000 for a total of 200,000. Correct. K. And then the zoo to number 79, Zootah, gave an additional 15,000 for a total of a 175,000. Right. I miss anything? And I'll send this out.

I think I checked everything off on my notes. Just double check.

So that leaves just a little over 600,000.

K. I don't see anything else. Do any committee members see anything else or have anything else they think we should consider? No. Okay. Once again, thank you so much for all of the work and effort and time and advice. We will send this recommendation to the county council for their next Tuesday, and we'll be adjourned. Thank you.