Latest / Aired Out / Barre's defunct J.J Newberry store. "Those those folks who say this isn't the way to do it, propose away" - Steve Mackenzie

Transcript

Barre's defunct J.J Newberry store. "Those those folks who say this isn't the way to do it, propose away" - Steve Mackenzie · Aired Out

• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Good morning. Lots to get to this morning. It is
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: going to be a fantastic week. I can hardly wait.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: We have some fantastic guests coming up this week. It
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: is going to be an interesting one. And just like
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: last week, you're gonna hear things on the air here
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: that are very much unscripted, unplanned, and we'll hopefully have
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: a positive impact on your life in some shape or form,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: whether it's being informed about stuff, whether it's being caught
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: up with with some of the news, what's happening in
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and around our cities and our towns. We're gonna chat
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: with Steve McKenzie here in just a minute. Last night's
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Grammys were just as much about the La fires as
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: they wore the music. The show even ended with local
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: firefighters being brought on stage to be cheered by the
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: crowd and to announce, of course, the album of the Air,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: which Beyonce one for Cowboy Carter, a country Album of
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the Air. Wow, And yes, you bet we're gonna be
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: talking about that. I may even even though it's you
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: know this happened last night in today's Monday, I may
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: even save that conversation for g on third. But it
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: looks like Kanye West went off his meds again this weekend.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: He was tweeting all kinds of weird stuff about former
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Vice President Kamala Harris, and then he showed up last
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: night at the Grammy's with his wife, who I don't
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: know if you saw any of this what she was
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: wearing or mostly not wearing, but yeah, how awkward must
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: it have been to say? And the Grammy for the
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Best Country Album of the Year goes to Beyonce. Hey,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: we have a new sponsor. We have a new sponsor,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: GK Auto Detailing in east Bury just before the roundabout.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Whether you're preparing your car for a car show this
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: spring or summer, whether you're selling your vehicle you want
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: to get that winter grime off and enjoy a spotless car.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: It's GK Auto Detailing in Eastberry. I'm going to be
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: getting over there as soon as I possibly can, and
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: I frankly cannot wait. Good morning, Granted City Blast Baseball.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Good morning g and Stacey and Chris. We've got a
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: lot of people that are locked on here this morning,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Granted City Blast Baseball. I'm hoping that they're going to
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: be back on the air with me really soon to
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: talk about their drive to get to Cooperstown, which is
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: going to be incredible. I mean this August. I mean,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: there's so many of us that have been helping these
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: kids out to make sure that they can get to Cooperstown.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: And the price hack ons on this kind of thing
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: is not cheap at all. Birthdays today we have Marcel Otis,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Brandy Ash Reagan, Howard, Kevin Stoddard, Kristen Squire, Aaron Roberts,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Hannah Nielsen, Mala Hill, Tammy Hall. I think that's the
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: whole list here either side of either side of twenty
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: four and most of us waking up this morning, we're
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: gonna have cloudy skies and some snow later today, highs
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: around thirty seven, not too much snow, maybe a dusting
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: to an inch or so, and then tonight twenty one
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: snow showers one to three inches. Be careful if you
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: have plans to be out on the roads tonight. And
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: then Tuesday Tomorrow middle twenties, cloudy and florries, and Wednesday
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: partly cloudy, eighteen degrees punk Satani Phil saw his shadow
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: on Saturday. So six more weeks of winter, which I
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: know so many of us chuckle about stuff like this,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I had an aired out faithful listener posted on Facebook
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: on Saturday, and I quote here, I have lived in
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the Connecticut River Valley and Up Valley for eighty years.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Most years we will see signs of spring near the
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: end of March and beginning of April, no matter what
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: any rodents shadow says, Well, I mean, isn't that Is
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: that not the truth? Steve McKenzie, I mean, that's it
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: right there. That kind of just sums it. Good morning, buddy,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: good morning. I'm so happy to see you. Well, thank you,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: glad to be here. Happy Monday. Yeah, we have a
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: lot to get you this morning. First of all, how
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: are things going with you?
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Very good?
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: How's it been.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: I'm enjoying retirement thoroughly. It's nice not to have the
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: pressures and or the schedules of you know, just to
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: dictate what you do every day. And I'm able to,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: you know, the quaint old thing is spend more time
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: with the family kind of thing, but also do do
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: things that you want to do. I mean I've done
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: a lot of projects around the house, uh uh, and
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: and and have gotten active civically again in a number
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: of different things. So and it's nice to have the
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: flexibility of a retirement schedule.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: You. Ah, you can't punch out completely, buddy.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: You know that's one of the reasons why I'm here.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: You're you're born and raised right here in the Granite City.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're just you're always dialed into what's going on,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: and now you're very involved with the very area development. Yes,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: tell us about that.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Well, I uh, I think i've I've was asked to
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: be I don't think I was asked to be on
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: the board and I think it's been not quite two
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: years yet, Okay, But have gotten active in the in
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: the in the board, in the organization. We have recently
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: converted to five oh one three c H So we're uh,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: we've always been a nonprofit, but now we're a nonprofit
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: that can accept donations and contributions things like that.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: B a d C.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Is active mostly behind the scenes and trying to continue
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: to encourage development within the or business initiatives within the
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: central Ron area Berry City, Berry Town. We're sponsored by both,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: are funded by both the city and the town and
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: do a lot of behind the scenes work, if you will,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: in terms of trying to hook up prospective business owners
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: with locations or recruit business is to come in and
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: the days of probably attracting another bombardier probably long gone.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: So the the massive company coming into the center round
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: area is probably unlikely, although you know, some reasonably good
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: sized companies do come in and out of the Will
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Wilson Industrial Park. So yes, but it's the you know,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I think if you look at national statistics, it's the
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: small businesses that probably make up the core of the
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: of the economy, and that's where that's where a lot
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: of badc's efforts are.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: All Right, This coming Wednesday morning at ten o'clock, there's
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: going to be a press briefing at City Hall about
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: the JJ Newberry building, correct and the fundraising campaign that's
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: been going on. Yeah, uh, before we before we take
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: a deep dive on this, what are you're born and
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: raised right here?
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: What are your memories of that building and how far
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: do they go back?
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Well, I like to say if it's longer than two weeks,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: I really don't remember anything. But uh, but my memories
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: of it are as the five and dime and we
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: used to go in there. I think I recall it
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: had a lunch counter, you know, it was one of
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: the anchor stores. In the downtown. Yeah a chain, yes,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean I think there were
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: a handful of them in Vermont. I don't know if
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: it was a national chain. I think the northeast h
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: p A Is hometown where.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: It got started. Yeah, way back, like way back. Oh.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it seems like it was here
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: for most of my childhood growing up.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: So so what happened? What what is your your memory
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: of what happened to? Well, it's that building.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, part of it, I think is the
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: just the ongoing change in the in the economy, in
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: terms in the in the marketplace, if you will. It's
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: one of those things that, like a lot of things,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: it happens so slowly that you really don't notice it
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: until you pick your head up one day and you say, gee,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: that building has been empty for a long time. So
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: once the Newberry's chain uh closed whatever the right word is. Uh,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: then various tenants occupied the store for a while. The
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: one that I think I remember the most was the
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: dollar store or something like that. And uh. But as
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: as different businesses either moved or went out of business
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: or whatever, the store the building eventually became empty. And
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: and it's I think important to point out that we
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: talked about the JJ Newberry's building, but it actually includes
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: the store right to the left of it, which I
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: think was the old Gladstone's shoe store, if I'm not mistaken.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: And uh, while it looks like two separate buildings, it's not.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: It's one uh, one large building and they're they're attached
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: at the hip, if you will.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Basically to kind of fast forward here, it was the
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: idea of who, well, actually maybe at B A d
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: d C B A d C to two for our
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: community to say, let's let's come together. And yeah, I.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Can, I can, I can speak to that. And and
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: and for better or for worse, I'll take the blame
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: or the responsibility for the idea. Uh. And the idea
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: developed as as B A d C was doing its
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: strategic planning process. But this was in the spring of
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: last year when it started. And one of the inputs
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: that we got from from that process and during that process,
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: and I'll read it here is a quote that somebody
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know who, but somebody had contributed during the
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: strategic planning forums that we had we need to tear
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: down and redevelop the Newberry's property on Main Street and Berry.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: The property has been bacant for years, has deteriorated from
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: years of neglect and as an eyesore. And that statement
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: only echoed the sentiment we've heard on the street now
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: for gosh knows how many years, and and really galvanized it,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: I think is I reflected on some of the post
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: flood public forums, and while it wasn't the major point
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: of the forums, I think in every forum I was in,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: somebody mentioned, you know that building downtown and the abandoned property,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: and why doesn't somebody do something about it? So in anyway,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: with that, with that background, it just dawned on me that, yeah,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: why doesn't somebody do something? So nothing has happened in
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: fifteen years. So I proposed this initiative to first the
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Executive Committee and then the Board of Directors, and all
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: signed on to it immediately, And it was clear from
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: the beginning we somebody has to make a credible offer
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: to the current owners. Incredible, uh, I guess I would
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: quantify credible as a million dollars. So the proposal that
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: I conceived was we'll make an offer of a million dollars,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: but it had to be credible in two ways, One
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: the amount of the offer, and two the form of
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: the offer. It wasn't just an email, it wasn't a letter.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: We prepared a very formal legal purchase option document and
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: presented that to them so they knew that we were
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: serious and that they being well. They are two current
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: two owners Jeff Jacobs from uh originally from Montpeer he
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: lives in Burlington now and then a fellow by the
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: name of Sam Lunstein who lives in Newport, Rhode Island,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: and they've owned. Ironically, they owned this building, but they
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: also owned the Whalen's drug store Brooks Struggs that was
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: torn down to make way for City Place. That building
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: was also bought from them by the city through the
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: use of a grant that was provided at the time.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: So here we are thank god that happened. Well yeah,
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, look, I mean I think a point iver
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: to make here is that my vision for the ultimate
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: redevelopment of this site is essentially identical to the process
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: that we used to develop City Place. First thing that
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: happened was the city you got a grant, bought the building,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: raised the raised the structures, leveled a lot. We actually
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: put a mini park in there for I don't know,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: two three four years for that interim period between when
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: the property was raised and when a proposal was received
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: that provided for the development of city place. That's that's
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: the exact same process the envisioned here. This is this
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: is nothing new in terms of the way to go
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: about it. So I proposed this to the directors and
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: to the or to the whole board, and we worked
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: on I conceived the idea I think last may or,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: so worked through the summer to develop it. Approached the
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: owners in September, and got to a point in November
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: where we made a formal offer. Took about four to
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: six weeks for communications to go back and forth, but
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: they they executed the purchase option, so, which is which
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: was an important milestone. We had to have some reliable
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: option to buy the property, and that occurred.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: But there's a there's a deadline on this, yes, there
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: is early June, right.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Yes, we had. The option provides one hundred and eighty
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: days to raise the necessary money to complete the sale
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: and we're probably you know, down to one hundred and
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: twenty days now because it's taken some time. Once the
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: option was signed, the first thing we had to do
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: was approach the council to see if the council Berry
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: City Council would allocate the same amount of money that
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: they had made as an offer previously, and I think
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: that offer was made in September of twenty twenty two,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: so it was it was critically important for the for
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: the fundraising campaign to have the financial support and the
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: commitment and the endorsement of the City Council to this initiative.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Is there any flexibility to that early June deadline.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Not that we're planning on. I mean, I think we
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: have four months here. I really believe that four months
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: is we're either going to raise the money in four
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: months or we probably won't raise it in twelve. So
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: it's important if people we will be reaching out to
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: the community here after the public launch on Wednesday, well,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: it's important for people to donate or commit if you will,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: as soon as they comfortably can, if they comfortably can,
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: because we're proceeding on the basis that the June deadline
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: the June deadline, it's somewhere around the first, just it's
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: easier to say June first, but then we have to
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: notify the owners if we're going to execute the purchase
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: and sale. If we're going to execute the purchase and sale,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: then we have thirty days to get the closing, which
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: would happen sometime in early July. The other thing I
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: wanted to mention is that the board of directors or
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: fifteen directors of BADC have pledged a total of seventy
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: five thousand dollars. Wow, that's an average of five thousand
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: dollars per director. I felt that was important to get
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: the commitment of not only in the City Council, but
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: certainly the board. In fact, we had to have the
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: commitment of the board before we went to the City Council.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: We speaks volumes right there.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Well, I hope. So that's part of the intent. And
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: we have in the game as individual directors, we have
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: skin in the game. And those are donations. They're not investments,
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: they're not contributions by the board. And there's going to
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: be a return of those dollars with interest and so
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: on and so forth. They're they're donations, they're not investments.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: And if things don't go through that will they get
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: that back?
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Yes, now for any donor, including the city. If if
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: this is not successful and we we can't proceed, all
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: donations will be returned, all right, and that's that's critically
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: important for the city. Allocation of four hundred thousand dollars.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: We probably wouldn't ask for the transfer of that money until,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: you know, sometime in May when we know that we're going,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: when we can see the goal line and we know
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: we're going to get there, and then that transfer would occur.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: This is really big news for the Granite City, man.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is like, wow, I hope so and
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: and and you know it's you know, anything with that property,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: anything that involves money. You're going to be hitting the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: beast nest with a tennis racket here. I mean, you know,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: we have opinions. Everyone's kind of an opinion about this.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, look at look at people were pasting signs
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: on the building. You know, uh, you know, four hundred
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars for what. But the bottom line is B
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: A d. C Is contributed on four hundred thousand.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Let me let me, let me let me speak to
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: that too. I understand. I mean I'm not naive. I
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: understand a million dollars there's a lot of money for
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: that property. And it's insulting to some people and I
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: understand that, but I look back on some advice that
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: was provided by Dominic Cloud, who's a city manager of
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Saint Albans, And when I was sitting manager, we had
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: forums and so on, so fourth in conferences, and one
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: of the things he advocated, because Saint Albans was in
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: the same situation one time, is you you have to
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: bite the bullet and pay the price. If you look
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: at Saint Albans now that is a nice little community.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: If you were there ten years ago or whatever it was.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: They had some really unutilized property.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: It was it was, it was not attractive. If you
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: go up there now, it's a nice little community. And
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I'm hoping this will be a catalyst for the same
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: in my opinion. You know, the revitalization of downtown Berry
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: was launched when we did the big dig. Yes, and
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: prior prior to that, people were nobody was investing in
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: the downtown because the big dig was coming. The big
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: dig was coming, just nobody knew when and when Tom
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: came in as mayor, he got that off dead center.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: When that happened, I was sitting as city manager, and
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: the morale and the attitude about downtown Berry just changed. Overnight.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: It was almost like a light switch went off. And
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: then there was substantial investment in the downtown by property owners, developers, businesses,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: merchants so on. But I feel we kind of hit
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: a plateau about you know, five or six years into that,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: and it's sort of and City Place came along, Mark
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Nicholson and John Benoit, the Grant said developers. Grant City
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Developers revitalized the Blanched Block. I mean some huge, huge
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: investments and improvements in the downtown. But I feel, like
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: I said, five or six years later, we sort of
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: hit a plateau, and I'm hoping this will be a
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: catalyst to restart reinvigorate the development of downtown, the revitalization
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: of downtown. I can continue it.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: It hasn't continue it. Yeah, I still walk into Blancher
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Block today and I'm just in awe.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: Well, and if you walk through the building at all
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: and you just look, I mean just the quality of
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: the work they did the restoration, but they've got some
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: extremely interesting historic follows.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, we have a question here and and I
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: think a lot of people are wondering, and you know,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: what's going to happen with the building once we purchase it.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: We're going to get there, Okay, We're going to have
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: that conversation. Okay, but before we go, there a couple
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: of things I want to say here before I forget.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Nicholas Sterreli castro, our current Berry City manager, was in
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: here a short time ago, and he did speak about
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Saint Albans and that there they've been in a very
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: similar situation as us. We talked about it a little bit.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: He he brushed on the six hundred four hundred yep,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: and you know, respectfully said, you know, McKenzie needs to
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: get on the mic and let's let him. Let's let
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: him do the heart cell well break it down for us.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: But you know, he did say something like, this is
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: going to be decided by our city residents and their
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: their pocketbooks.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I. You know, we still have to raise
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: six hundred and twenty five thousand dollars. And I think
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: about that six hundred and twenty five dollars on thousand
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: dollars one. On one hand, I say, oh my gosh,
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: that's a lot of money. What did I get myself
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: into here? On the other hand, I say, six hundred
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: thousand dollars is a drop in the bucket in terms
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: of the financial capacity to this community. This community has
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: the money to do it, if the if the motivation
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: is there, if the commitment is there.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: There there.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: So I have no doubts at all about the capacity
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: of the community to support this.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: What's the total price that we're that we're looking for.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we're trying to raise one point one million
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: dollars a million dollars for the purchase price, and then
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: there's an allowance of one hundred thousand dollars because we
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: have taxes to pay, we have the closing costs, and
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: there'll probably be some other miscellaneous costs that I don't
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: even see. We need we need to make sure that
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: we can deal with the interim ownership of the property.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: The ultimate goal and the city is on board with this.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: This city Council is on board with this, and the
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: mayor and the manager is to transition ownership to the
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: city so the city can access the kind are grants
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: that they did for the development of city place that
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: that aren't available to A five oh one three.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: C All right, So what what are we looking for
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: for donations here from from people?
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Well, we're how much is B.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: A D, B A DC thrown in.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: The organization has as as the organization hasn't thrown in anything. Basically,
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: we've we've have a five thousand dollars option fee, which
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: is a token again element of credibility that we're serious
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: about the option. And so it's a five thousand dollars
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: fee to have the option. If we purchase the property,
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: that five thousand dollars goes towards the UH towards the
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: purchase price. If we don't is forfeited. But the what
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: what B a d C has invested here is in
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: or not invested but donated, is in the donations from
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: the directors. And that's again seventy five thousand average of
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: five thousand apiece. Some gave more, some gave less. So
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: we in terms of donations, I mean, we would greatly
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: accept anything from twenty five dollars on up right, but
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: we're going to have to get sizeable donations in the
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: range of twenty five hundred to ten thousand dollars maybe
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: more so we will approach some of the local institutions
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: and so on, but that's the range that we're looking for,
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: all right.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: So BADC is contributing through its directors, all right, Yeah,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: and we're talking somewhere in the summ of around.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: Seventy five thousand from the directors. All right, so we've
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: raised or raised, We've got committed four hundred and seventy
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: five thousand. Now we need to raise six hundred and
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: twenty five to get to that one point one million.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Dollar cole so roughly six five thousand from the community.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: The community, the community and institutions. You know, we we'll
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: approach we we have engaged I don't know four to
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: six weeks ago, a professional fundraiser, and her advice has
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: been absolutely on the mark. We are ready to release
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: at the launch the materials that support this initiative. We've
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: we've developed a case statement which lays out the whole program,
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: the why, and you know what's going to happen, so
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: to speak. We've developed some architectural exhibits. Black River Design
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: has donated their time to develop four exhibits that show
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: what is there now and what there could be?
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Will that be on display Wednesday?
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: Yes it will, okay, and then and then I've actually
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: had four sets made, so I want to have have
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: them set up in strategic locations throughout the city, maybe
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: City Hall. I haven't checked with the manager yet inside
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: the store, and and maybe one or two other.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Locations and maybe an interim green space.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, once the just like with the city Police development,
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: once the property is acquired and then raised, the structure
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: is raised, you're going to have a flat spot there. Yeah,
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: And you know it's it's not it's extremely unlikely that
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: a developer will start developing the building a building, uh,
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: you know, the day after the other structures are raised.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: So there will be an interim period. I mean, this
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: whole process. I think, if it went smoothly, could be
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: three to five years before there's a new building there.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: But that's that's what it takes.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Of course. And you know, we're getting a lot of
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: comments here, one of them being about is this in
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: the floodplane?
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: I think technically it is. But all that needs to
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: happen is the building the first floor raised one foot
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: to be of the floodplane. So I've checked into that.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: It's not a big deal. The the exhibits that we have,
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: you you really can't tell it tell but in my
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: conversations with the architect, they provided pride of that. And
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: remember these are these are these are conceptual exhibits. They're
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: not final designs, but we talked about that and the building.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: The entrance way would be raised about a foot and
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: accommodate the fliplane. Okay, if you, if you, if anybody
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: looks around the city, you'll see that any of the
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: buildings built in the last ten years have not been
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: impacted by the floods. That's anything from City Place, Key Bank,
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: or what was Key Bank, Community National, the Jiffy Mart.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Anything built within at least the last ten years was
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: not impacted by the floods.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, what are some of the ideas. I mean, when
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: Nicholas was in here, he was and I think it
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: was on the c A X too, saying that his vision,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: which was shared by others, would incorporate some retail much
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: needed housing.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let me speak that. I mean the right respect.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: The potential is limitless. That it all depends on a
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: when the time comes. What the ideas are of a
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: developer who would prepare a proposal to develop a lot.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: When we when we sought proposals for City Place, we
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: got three, three very good quality proposals. In fact, it
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: was hard, hard decision to make, but we selected the
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: new construction out of South Burlington, and so part of
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: what happens will be based on whatever the vision and
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: the financial capability of a developer to develop that property.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: So would I like to see a hotel there, Absolutely,
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: but really well, but I don't think that's realistic. And
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: what's not realistic is to put up more office space.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: There's plenty of vacant office space right now, and until
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: the work work ethic goes back to where it was,
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: you know, prior to twenty twenty, where people went to
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: the offices and worked, the office space is not going
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: to be financially viable. So what my vision is in
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: terms of what could be very city zoning requires a
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: retail commercial on the first floor, so it would be
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: retail commercial, and then the upper stories and we're envisioning
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: four to five stories. Again, it depends on the finances
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: of the of a particular project. Would be housing, probably
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: not low income, maybe moderate and or market rate. And
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: there's the project that the city has undertaken down on
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: Seminary Street. I believe they're anticipating thirty two units down there.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: This is a similar size parcel, so you know, thirty
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: thirty five units perhaps, Again it would depend on the layout.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: But basically what I think is most feasible is commercial
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: retail on the first floor and then housing on the
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: upper stories.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Just got of comment here. There does need to be
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: more hotels, for sure, but the but the state will
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: put people in there. There is no place for people
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: who travel to stay in the city that is nice
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: to and and up to par, that is nice and
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: up to par with other towns in the States. Yep.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: So that's why I'd love, I'd love. I'd love to
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: see anything there. But if a hotel were feasible, I'm
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: just not sure it is with the demographics and so on.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: But but those are the kinds of things that would
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: be explored by with a developer.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Walking distance for for people staying to locally get to
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: the restaurant.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: A nice a nice draw for the downtown.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, granted, industry, I mean everything, I totally agree.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: But whether that, whether that transpires or not, remains to
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: be seen.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Wow, we're getting a ton of questions parking issues, infrastructure.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: You know, I've I've heard, as I'm sure you have,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: that there should be a parking garage there, that there
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: should be a parking lot there, that it should be
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: turned into a park permanently, you know, I mean years ago,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: I was choking around with with Tom on the air,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: creating rumors for Tom, which I know he appreciates so much,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: saying that Tom was going to turn it into a
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: roller skating rink. Laugh laugh. But you know, I think
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: the bottom line here, Steve, is that really truly, anything
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: other than what's there is going to be.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: An imperfect I guess I guess you reminded me to
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: make a point here. The sole objective of this what
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: I've dubbed the one forty three Main Street initiative, that's
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: the address of the property. The one forty three Main
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: Street Initiative is to gain control of the property. Nothing
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: will happen until the ownership of the property changes. That
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: unlocks the door for the development of this property. Now,
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: whether it becomes a permanent park or a five story building, Uh,
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: there's there's going to be a lot of opportunity to
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: to determine what that will be. I I'm envisioning that
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: the city would have some public forums when the time comes,
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: not right off, when the time comes. Yeah, so, but none.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: We can we can speculate about what should be there,
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: but nothing's going to be there unless we get control.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: Unless somebody gets control of that property.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: What about tax stabilization, Well, that's okay with the BA
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: d C be on the hook for the property taxes.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, we will. That's part of why the one hundred
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: thousand dollars, you know, we need that one hundred thousand dollars.
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: We we will pay the property taxes as long as
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: we own the property. Hopefully that's not a long time,
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: but but we'll we'll pay the property. The intent the
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: city cannot afford to lose any more grand list and
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: U uh so we would pay the property taxes for
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: as long as we own the property. There are some
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: other points I want to make. There's no people people
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: sometimes speculate on on the negative and what there's there.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: There's no tax stabilization. Uh anticipated Uh no, uh I
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: had some talking points here.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I mean you know revenue, tax revenue. Yes, well,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: well that's I'm guessing it's going to be a slightly
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: higher than than what it's generating. Now.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: There's no there's no tax stabilization being requested, there's no
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: tax exemption being requested. There's no loss of taxes on
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: this property. B A d C will pay the taxes
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: as long as we own it. What's important to realize
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: is that if if a you know, I'm not a developer,
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: but I reflect back on City Place and whatever. I
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: don't think a building could be built there that would
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: cost anything less than ten million. If it's a multi
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: story building, the potential for the increased tax revenue is
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: probably in the ten to fifteen times range. I mean
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: it would dislike City Place, the taxes, the tax revenue
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: from that property increased exponentially. There was tax stabilization for
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: City Place, but we're not. That's nothing we're proposing.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: I'm getting so many comments. I'm having a hard time
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: keeping up with them this morning. But you know, I
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: think we all know. And I've said this to Tom
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: so many times. He even looks at me and he's like,
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: come on, JD. Not again. And Lucas herring that, you know,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: being on the north end of the street, north side
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: of Main Street, that afternoon sunset, it's just lighting it up,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: and it's just like putting a spotlight on it every day,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: reminding us what an iceword is. It doesn't look good.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: We have so many comments about parking that you know,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: you can do this, you can do that, But if
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: you don't have adequate parking, which we don't. I mean,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: it's very different parking.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: Parking is an issue that is going to be dealt with.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: But again, if you if we don't get control of
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: the property and start down the path of developing it,
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: parking won't be an issue. Yeah, it'll just sit there.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, who knows how long that property
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: will sit there? Like that just be a continued drag
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: on the aesthetics and the vitality of the downtown Bingo.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: You just said it in the interesting comment here, And
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: this is something that I pushed Cody Morrison on quite
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: a bit, and and Tom and I think I even
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: asked Nicholas about it when he was here a short
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: time ago. And I'll read the comment here. He says,
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: why are the owners of the property? Why aren't they
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: being fined for having an empty building on Main Street
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: with no intention of a reasonable sale price. There should
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: be a fine for empty building owners not doing anything
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: with the building. You and I both would agree that
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: there are a lot of rules in this city. There
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: are a lot of ordinances, There are Planning Commission standards
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: to keep our city with integrity of how we want
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: it to look and if you violate those any anything
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: even so slightly, you get dinged. And here we have this,
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: this this large building which is has been an iceore,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: not for two or three years, but for a long time.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: The fifteen You know, why isn't there there's something where
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: the owner of that building can be held accountable and said, look,
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: you need to either your price tag is unreasonable or
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: you know something you need to do. As the owner,
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: you need to do something.
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I I understand the gene. There's got
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: to be a sledgehammer that we can motivate the owner
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: is to do something. The current Vacant Building Ordnance has
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: provisions in it. I've s been a long time since
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: I've looked at it, so I can't cite them. But
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: one key one is that as long as the building
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: you have to register it as a vacant building, but
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: that's just a nominal fee. As long as the building
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: is theoretically for sale, it it avoids any any further
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: incentive if you will to do anything with it. So
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: that's a that's something that wouldn't change until Ordens has
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: changed or revised.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: And I just got to comment here, you've never met Jeffrey,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: I haven't met Jeff Ja you have, I think.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: Well, I actually don't think i've ever met Jeff face
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: to face. I first, I'll say, did business with Jeff
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: when I was city manager, and there had been a
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: purchase and sale agreement that had been executed by a
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: council and the prior manager to when I came in
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: to buy the If anybody remembers the old TNT building
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: on Enterprise Alley, that purchase and sale had expired and
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: I resurrected it because it was critically essential to buy
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: two properties in the Enterprise Alley area, the TNT building
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: on the Granite Street side and then the old dry
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: cleaning building on the Deepot Square side. We had to
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: get those properties in order to pursue the remediation and
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: redevelopment of Enterprise Alley. So that's when I first interacted
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: with Jeff. But again, you know, in today's age, everything's
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: done electronically and whatever, so we didn't need to meet
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: face to face. But I resurrected that deal in the
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: interests of the city. So that's where I had a
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: first introduction, if that's the right word, or interaction, I
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: guess Jeff, well, I mean the first and only for
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: all intensive purposes.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: And listen, I have expressed frustration about this on the air.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: I have seen and heard so many city residents complain
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: about this as you have. My god, you were city
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: manager for what twelve years. I've complained about it with Tom.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: You know, I guess, and I'm not digging on anyone here,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: but it just seems, and I said this to Tom
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: on the air, it just seems like Tom would be
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: the kind of guy that, if he were that owner,
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: that he would say, I'm selling it to the City
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: of Berry for a buck. It's just, you know, I don't.
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: Know Tom is the the.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: I don't want to speak for Tom either, no no, no, no, no, no,
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: nor I.
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: But I've worked with Tom. Frankly, I've worked with Tom
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: over thirty years. I mean when I first started working
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: with him on the school board. So but I've seen
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: how he acts as a property developer and what Tom does.
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: I think one of his major or one of his
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: significant operating techniques is to buy undervalued or under underperforming
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: property and then turn them around. I'm convinced that if well, well,
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: the state of that building is not usable, I mean,
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: that building will have to come down. But if it were,
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: if it were something that were usable, Tom buys properties
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: that had sit vacant for months, the years. He buys
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: them at competitive price because they are vacant for years,
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: and within six to twelve months he turns those properties
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: into performing properties. I mean, take a look at the
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: old Times August building I rule granted any number of properties.
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: He's a type, yes, but he's a very I mean,
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: I don't want to make this whole thing about Tom,
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: but he's he's an astute developer who knows how to
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: fill his properties and make them perform. And that's that's
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: the key. That's the key. This property is the way
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: it is because it's not performing. There's no tenant, So
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: that's the key. I mean, certainly Tom could do it,
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: but others can do it too, matter of I mean,
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: the whole idea of buying the property and raising it,
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: raising the structure and preparing it for a developer is
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: that takes out a substantial amount of overhead that a
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: developer otherwise would encounter and only make the financial feasibility
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: of a project probably infeasible.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: So it could be a good what five years before,
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: in a perfect world, if everything goes perfectly here, it
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: could be a good five years before and everything's buttoned up.
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: I would say three to five years. It could be longer,
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: could be shorter. But but you know, but but but
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: will never start down that road until the ownership changes.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's the first step. Yeah, you say gain control,
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: We need to gain control of the property, take ownership
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: of it. Are these donations? When are we going to
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: officially be open for donations? Well, technically can you make
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: that online? Yes, you can be.
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: A a few things one if anybody wants more deep.
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, we'll try to publicize as much as we
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: can that. That's that will start with the public launch
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: on wednsdy H. But all of the information that will
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: make available there is already online.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: And the website has been set up to accept donations
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: and and and see it B A d C dot
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: com B A d C dot com. Yeah, And if
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: you get you go right to the homepage. And I
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: think that the very first thing on the homepage is
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: a link to this initiative. And you're going there, you'll
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: see uh, exhibits of what is and what could be.
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: You'll see the case statement, you'll see gift giving guidelines
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: so you'll have all that you need right there now.
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: Those who are able to make a larger donation, uh,
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: and or are I guess over the ages of seventy
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: two and a half can actually make tax free donations
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: out of their retirement programs that were they're required to
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: take a required minimum distribution. They can allocate some or
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: all of a distribution to this campaign and they won't
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: pay the taxes on that distribution or that or the
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: amount that they choose to donate. That's a little bit
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: more complicated, but still viable.
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm showing a picture right now. This this green
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: space that would be there for for a while. But
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: I mean look at this that this future vision here
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: is amazing.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And I and again I need to emphasize that's
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: a concept, that's not that building has not been designed.
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: Of course, the ultimate building, assuming there's an ultimate building,
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: could could look different. But uh, that's what we're trying
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: to show. There is the contrast between what's there now
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: and what could be. Yeah, and the visual visual exhibit
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: helps drive home that point.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: Comment here, what a solid plan in place? Solid? How
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: could anyone throw five thousand dollars into the.
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: Pot I'm not sure what that means.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: I guess BA DC dot com.
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: Or you mean, are they saying what are the mechanics?
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: I would I A would say, yes, go to the
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: b A DC website and you'll find all of the
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: donation mechanics right there.
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, uh so tax deductible. Yeah, that's when we when.
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: We get to the end, I'll go down sort of
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: a summary list of I think.
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: How much how much would this generate in ROI.
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: You mean for the city? You mean taxes? Well, right now,
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: the taxes on the building are property taxes are just
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: under thirteen thousand dollars. If if it was a ten
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: million dollar building, of the tax revenue could be in
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: the two hundred and ten thousand dollars range, probably fifteen
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: times what the building is. What that property is generating now,
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's huge. It'll take some time to get there,
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: but it's we'll never get there if we don't start. Yeah,
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm I think some people think that
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: this is maybe just a pie in the sky dream
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: and it's it's it's not going to be successful or whatever.
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: But I'm I'm depending on the community that for so
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: long has said this is an eyesore. This is a
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: drag on our downtown. Is just not acceptable. I think
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: we'll see if the will of the community is there
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: to do something about it. If I will be very
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: disappointed if it's not successful. But I understand that it's
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: going to require the collective willpower, if you will, of
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: the community, and if it doesn't happen, I'll be very disappointed.
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: But I will say, you know what, I did my best,
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: and BADC did its best. We really tried to be
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: a catalyst to get this off dead center. If that
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: doesn't happen, it's up to somebody else to figure out
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: a way to do it.
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: Just got a text asking me to ask you about
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: eminent Domaine.
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: Emino domain I think was considered quite some time ago.
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, a lot of people, a lot of people
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: resort to that, why don't we just take what? Does
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: the city just take the building? That's a pretty complicated process.
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: I've heard references to some larger cities have been successful
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: and isolated cases of eminent domain. I'm not a lawyer,
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: I'm not an expert on eminent domain. But a couple
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: of things that I think I do know is I've
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: even been told that state of warn statues prevent eminent
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: domain in the city, And I really I don't know
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: the specifics of that, so I don't want to speak
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: to that with any kind of authority. But I think
• 56:48
  Speaker 2: what I could say is that pursuing eminent domain would
• 56:57
  Speaker 2: probably cost the city as much, if not more than,
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: four hundred thousand dollars. I mean, the financial resources of
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: the existing owners are there to put up a very
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: aggressive fight against eminent domain. And if eminent domain is successful,
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: and again, I think the city would spend every bit
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: of four hundred thousand dollars, if not more. If it's successful,
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: then what you got, You got the same thing that
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: we'll get with this initiative. They'll get ownership of the
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: property and then it's into the city's hands to move forward.
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: So I think this is a much more viable, much
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: more feasible approach. I don't think it's frankly going to
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: cost the city any more to get control of this
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: property with this approach. Actually, let me say it a
• 57:59
  Speaker 2: more positive way. I think it will cost the city
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: less to get control of this property with this initiative
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: than it would to try to pursue emine domain.
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, you know, there's there's there's comments that are posted,
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: and there's comments that I've heard in my ear that
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: I've that I've had by text, and I'm sure that
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: you've you've heard, and the border directors for b A
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: d C that you know, asking for six hundred k
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: from our residents when they're struggling to get by, they're
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: struggling to pay their tax bills, they're they're struggling with food,
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: they're struggling with everything right now. Is well, it's a
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: lot to ask, you know, for for some of us, yes,
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: but maybe many of us.
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, The reality is that we're we understand that, and
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: we're not asking for donations from people who are struggling
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: to meet every day needs. The financial contributions are going
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: to have to come from people or businesses of means
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: that can afford to do this, who have a maybe
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: a vested interest, if you will, to see the property
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: developed and to remove that eyesore. So yeah, I understand that.
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: But again, the community, in the holistic sense, the community
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: will either support this or they won't, and if they don't,
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: I understand be disappointed.
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: But also if they support this and we fall short,
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: they get every time pack Yes.
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, yep, yep. There's no risk to the city. There's
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: no risk to be ADC. There's no risk to an
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: individual donor.
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: That's that's a really important yes part to mention. What
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: else do you you said.
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: Well, I just, I mean sort of just. I made
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: a list of bullets kind of summarizing everything we've said.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: But sometimes it maybe helps to have a recap. But
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: so this proposal addresses the number one chronic downtown complaint,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: the abandoned Newberry's building. Yes, it's a couple of points
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 2: I haven't made. It's consistent with the city strategic Plan
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: that was developed in Uh. I think it was finished
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: in two thousand years ago. Yeah, twenty twenty three. I
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: mean it started. We actually started the initial the strategic
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: planning process while I was near the end of my
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: term as manager, but it continued with Nicholas and the
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 2: city Council at that time.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: If you go into the strategic plan, I won't cite
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: the sections here this to be honest with you, my
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: own impression is that the section of the city plan
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: that speaks to revitalization of downtown, I think it describes
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: a Newberry's building in every way you can without using
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: the word Newberry. I mean, I think it's just just
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: a that the city plan speaks to the Newberry's building.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 2: Maybe others, but it certainly speaks to the Newberry's building.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: And the other thing is it's an infill project. I mean,
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of you know, a lot of discussion
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: in the planning world, in the state world, you know,
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: infil infil infill rather than expanding into currently undeveloped areas.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: This is an infill project. I mean to me, that
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: hits two boxes right. There no loss of taxes to
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 2: the city. There's no risk to the city b ADC
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: or the donors potential ten to fifteen fold increase in
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: property taxes. The BADC directors have skin in the game,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: aim of they donated seventy five or will donate seventy
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: five thousand dollars. Another another thing I've heard, and just
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: it's just I don't know how these things start. There's
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: no director conflicts or personal or business benefit from any
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: of the directors by this initiative. It's just that. And
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: I get disappointed when I hear those kinds of unfounded allegations.
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: It's just not true.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you're saying that.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So, I mean I think those are those are
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: some of the highlights I think in the in the
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: in the file analysis. If you don't like this proposal,
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: then you're not going to support it. And I understand that.
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: And if you do like this, this this initiative, this
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: proposal go to be a DC dot com, go to
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: be a DC dot com.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: Well, and I think the other thing is you.
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: Know that you'll get your money back if we don't
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: meet the goal.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, i'd you know, I'd be happy. I've already answered
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: one or two questions. But my email address is S
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: McKenzie two.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: He got a second. Are you sure you want to
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: put that out on the air.
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, S m A C K E n z I
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: E the number two at my fairpoint dot net. So
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: it's S mackenzie two at my fairpoint dot net. And
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 2: if you email me, I will answer you. Uh it may.
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: I try to answer them as quickly as I can,
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: but sometimes it may take a day or two. But
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: I'll answer you if folks have questions.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm typing this here, K E n z I
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: E I E the number two at my fair point,
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: fair point dot com dot net.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: No dot com dot com Okay.
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: Uh, maybe right, I think it's dot Yeah, yes, yes, yes,
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: I think it's I can't even remember your own email.
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: And you're you know the thing about you, Steve, you
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: were an outstanding city manager for twelve years.
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: I appreciate that. I'm not sure everybody thinks that.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: But I would be surprised if my dog thinks that
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: you are born and raised here. Yes, you are one
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: of the most approachable guys that I know. I think
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: I've only seen you get hot maybe once or twice.
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sometimes they get a little animated, but that but
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: that just reflects it's passion.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: It's passion. But you you're such a regular guy. You're
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: so approachable. You you know how to talk turkey and
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: sit down, have a cup of coffee, give you a call,
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: send you an email, have a phone call, whatever it is,
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: and just.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: Say it like yeah, well that was one of the
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 2: things I strive to do as city manager. I tried
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 2: to be as accessible as I could be to anybody
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 2: a lot of very frequently, and I'm sure Nicholas sees
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 2: the same thing. I mean, people will stop in the
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 2: office sometimes just to say hi. Other times it's I mean,
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 2: I've had people come in who were just bouncing off
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 2: the ceilings with some issue.
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: Sure, and some people didn't get the memo that mackenzie retired.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: They're still showing.
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: It but back then. But my point is a lot
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: of times what people want is just the ability to
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 2: be heard, to speak to somebody and agree. This is
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: sort of getting off track, but I remember one time
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: I was in the office at O dark hundred. It
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: was the middle of the night, probably working on the budget.
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: The phone rang, I think it was like two o'clock
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: in the morning, and I answered it.
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: Whoever it was.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: I think the person was calling from California, and I
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: forgot what they called about, but I think they were
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 2: absolutely shocked, which is understandable somebody would answered the phone
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 2: at two o'clock in the morning. Yeah, But I you know,
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 2: I didn't always make everybody happy. I mean, there's some
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 2: things that you can you just can't do. You can't
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 2: solve somebody's problem. But I think many people appreciated the
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: opportunity to speak to somebody, speak to the manager, be heard,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 2: feel like the manager would would try to do something
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 2: about their issues, sure, or or if not able to
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 2: at least understand why you couldn't do something about it.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: But that was to me, that was that was one
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: of the key points of my tenure was to make
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 2: myself accessible.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm being asked, Uh, where any grants discussed here?
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: Could there would we get grants?
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: No, that's that's part of the I've actually touched base
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 2: with the agency e Commerce and community Affairs, and uh,
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 2: those kinds of grants to buy property aren't available to
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: uh to a nonprofit. Uh, they are to a municipality,
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: and that's why we got to get control and change ownership.
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: But uh, grants per se are not a vehicle for
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: raising money here. Yeah, this is.
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: This. These are interesting times for for our city. But
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: we have been in a pivotal direction I think anyway,
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: especially the city place the big dig I mean you
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: know I remember, yeah it was.
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 2: But the community, the community, uh, the repleted it. Well,
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: I know, some businesses were hurt, I mean many were,
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 2: I mean just the loss of the walk in traffic,
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: but we survived it and came out much better on
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 2: the other end.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: Well we survived it because of each other. I mean yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: that's it. This is uh, this is really going to
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: be interesting to see. I know, you're you're you're set
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: in a strong case. I mean, there's always going to
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: be pushed back against the water, you know, obviously you
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: know that. And and residents have a lot of questions.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: They have a lot of questions. I've tried to answer
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: most of them this morning. Is there anything else that
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: that you can think of that we haven't hit on
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: regarding this.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: I think we've pretty much covered it. You know, these
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 2: are speaking points I'll have in the in the public launch.
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 2: But like I said, if anybody's got questions, uh that
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 2: are burning, send me an email and I'll do my
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: best answer.
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: So here you are kitten busy again, man, I mean
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: she's oh my gosh, buddy.
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's a different kind of busy, and it's
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 2: a it's a busy that reflects your interests, your passion
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 2: and whatever. I mean, I never envisioned doing something like this.
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 2: And you know, maybe I've uh caught a tiger by
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 2: the tail here, I don't know. But at any rate,
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 2: we're where uh. Carl Ranker is executive interim executive director
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 2: is working very very hard, I think I am. But
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: what we have uh support from all of the directors
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: in different ways. Yeah, to this initiative, and I think
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 2: they want to see it be successful. And I think
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 2: a lot of people want to see it be successful.
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 2: I understand there's some folks who, for whatever reasons, maybe
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 2: aren't supportive. But we'll see where the community stands.
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: Well. I think I don't know if anyone who wants
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: that building to be kept as do you know of anyone?
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: Not me?
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: Right? I think are and and you.
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 2: Know for those for those folks who say this isn't
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 2: the way to do it, well, propose away, Yeah, propose away.
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: Bring your ideas to the table. I think our mayor
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: has done a great job rallying behind this. I think
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: our city manager, Nicholas rally Castro has done an exceptional job.
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: I think our council has done to They've been very
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: receptive to this. And now we're asking for city community support,
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: community support to to step.
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 2: Up, residents, businesses, institutions. Uh, we'll we'll find out if
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 2: we can be successful.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: Final question, sure, is it possible to clone yourself? Have
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: you looked into any.
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 2: No, there's one and only they threw away them old When.
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: Joe's saying we need a bunch of steeves, Thank you
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: so much, for coming in here.
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed it.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: Thanks, thanks for your your honesty, your transparency, for answering
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: a lot of questions. This is not a simple thing.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: This is a little complicated.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 2: No, but you know, I mean it's not hard for
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 2: me because the passion is there. Sure, sure, and and
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 2: I and if you accept that not everybody supports it. Yeah,
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 2: and you hope they're in the minority, and that the
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 2: community will I have faith in the community.
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: Say sure, sure, Sure, you're doing a great job. Well,
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: thank you very much, kudos to you, Kudos to B A.
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: D C. Let's see if we can get this done. Yeah,
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: will you give me an update where you get yourself
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: back in here.
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 2: Maybe I can come in once a month or something.
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: That'd be fantastic. That'd be great. Julee's gonna be here fast.
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: It will be, believe it or not, I will be
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: despite what this.
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 2: We gotta get through mud season.
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: Will be here. Yeah. Thanks for coming in Steve.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 2: Nope, I I really enjoyed it. Thanks for asking me.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 2: You got it.