OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL

 

CHERYL L. BROWN                                                                                                                     117 WEST DUVAL STREET, SUITE 425

            DIRECTOR                                                                                                                                                                                                 4TH FLOOR, CITY HALL

   OFFICE (904) 630-1452                                                                                                                                                                                  JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA  32202

     FAX (904) 630-2906                                                                                                                                                                                                              

  E-MAIL: CLBROWN@coj.net

 

SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON 2013-694


November 7, 2013

9:00 a.m.

 

Location:  City Council Chamber, City Hall – St. James Building; 117 West Duval Street,

    

In attendance: Council Members Gulliford (President), Anderson, Bishop, Boyer, Crescimbeni, Gaffney, Holt, Jones, Joost, Lee, Love, Lumb, Redman, Schellenberg and Yarborough

Excused: Council Members Brown, Carter, Clark and Daniels

 

Also:  Peggy Sidman and Paige Johnston– Office of General Counsel; Kirk Sherman and Janice Billy – Council Auditor’s Office; Philip Zamarron – Legislative Services Division; Steve Cassada – Council Staff Services; Jeff Clements – Council Research Division; Karen Bowling and Chris Hand – Mayor’s Office; Ronnie Belton – CFO; Shahid Khan, Mark Lamping and Paul Harden – Jacksonville Jaguars

 

Meeting Convened:  9:06 p.m.

 

Council Member Yarborough gave the invocation and Council Member Boyer led the Pledge of Allegiance.  President Gulliford outlined the procedures for the meeting.  A 2/3 vote of the members present is required to discharge the bill from its committees of reference so that the bill can be considered by the Committee of the Whole. Council Member Anderson, who will be abstaining from any vote on the lease amendment due to a conflict of interest resulting from his employment with EverBank, the naming sponsor of the stadium, will be counted towards the quorum  and will be permitted to vote on the motion to discharge the bill from committee for consideration. President Gulliford stated that if the Committee of the Whole was to recommend approval of the bill at this meeting, the bill would then be placed on the Council agenda at next Tuesday’s regular meeting for final action.

 

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan stated that the Jaguars are an important civic asset and the team needs to be a sustainable, long-term franchise that is good and does good for Jacksonville.

 

Jaguars President Mark Lamping said that in order to have a stable, financially sustainable NFL franchise in Jacksonville the Jaguars need to address tough local revenue issues.  The team was number 2 in local revenue in its first couple of years of operation in the mid-1990s but has fallen to 29th or 30th in recent years, in part due to the age and lack of amenities of EverBank Field in comparison with other NFL stadiums. He explained that Jacksonville is a very transient city (lots of military personnel coming and going, lots of transplants to the city from other parts of the country) and that has a substantial effect on how they view the Jaguars and what they expect of a game day experience at the stadium.  Because these relative newcomers often have allegiances to teams from other parts of the country, they like to follow those teams on game day and can do so more easily from home (with numerous television options and access to computers and other electronic devices) than they can in the stadium. The proposed improvements will provide a much more satisfying game day experience for those fans, and will be a huge benefit for the Florida/Georgia game, the Gator Bowl, a potential BCS national championship game, and other events.

 

Paul Harden, an attorney representing the Jaguars, explained how the tourist development tax is currently being used to support the Sports Complex capital needs.  A 2007 study by stadium expert HOK prioritized the improvement needs for EverBank Field and scoreboard replacement was one of the items due to be completed soon.  The team proposes that the City use the current bed tax dollars for the Sports Complex as a bondable revenue stream to pay for the proposed $43 million in improvements, to which Shad Khan will add $20 million of his personal funds.  The Jaguars are proposed to act as the construction manager for the project, as they have for several previous stadium improvement projects.  Mr. Harden stated that the team has no objection to several amendments (A-G) to the proposal outlined in an e-mail by Mayor’s Chief of Staff Chris Hand, which derive from comments made by the Council Auditor, the Office of General Counsel, and the City’s bond counsel.  He stated that the project needs to be approved promptly so that construction can begin following the football season in order to be completed by the NFL preseason next August.

 

In response to a question from Council Member Crescimbeni about changes in the state sales tax rebate for professional sports facilities, Mr. Harden stated that the Jaguars will petition the state legislature in the spring 2014 session to expand the rebate of sales tax revenue generated by professional sports stadiums from $2 million to $4 million per year.  EverBank Field currently generates over $7 million per year in sales tax revenue and the additional $2 million, if the state law is amended, could then be used to replace tourist development tax revenue as the bond pledge. Chris Hand verified that the Mayor had agreed to that swap of funds, if approved. In response to a question from Council Member Holt about video board revenue for non-Jaguar events, Mr. Harden said that all such revenue contractually belongs to the Jaguars, except for specified exception events (Florida/Georgia game, Gator Bowl, Monster Truck show).  The Jaguars are open to negotiating exceptions for other events in the spirit of helping to attract more top quality events to the city.  In response to a question from Council Member Love, Mr. Harden explained that the North End Zone “pools” referred to in media reports are really more in the nature of water features that will impart a definite Jacksonville look to the stadium, not intended as swimming pools.

 

Deputy General Counsel Peggy Sidman explained that the Council could vote as a Committee of the Whole on the proposal today and refer the bill to the full council for action next Tuesday, or could simply discuss the proposal today and then add it to the addendum to the agenda next week and discharge it from the committees then.  Given the impending loss of a quorum with the departure of several members to other engagements, Council Member Boyer suggested the need for another Committee of the Whole meeting next week to hear the Council Auditor’s concerns and to fully debate the proposal.

 

Motion: to discharge the bill from the committees of reference and take it up in the Committee of the Whole – approved 14-1 (Joost opposed).

 

Motion: to schedule another Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, November 12th several hours before the scheduled council meeting – approved unanimously.

 

Meeting adjourned: 10:04 a.m.

 

 

Minutes:  Jeff Clements, Council Research

                11.8.13   Posted 6:00 p.m.

Tapes:      Committee of the Whole on 2013-694 – LSD

                 11.7.13

Materials:  Meeting agenda - LSD

    11.7.13