Jul 29, 2024 5:15 PM - Redding City Council - Special Meeting

>>Welcome to this Special City Council July 29 I am Julie winter I am the Vice Mayor I'm filling in for Janessa that she's actually eye on on just but she's on remotely. So I'm going to just run the meeting for her with a few things comments to make If anyone wishes to address the city council. On any item considered this meeting before during council's consideration of that item, please fill out a blue speaker request form located in a lighted alcoves right there at the back of the council chambers and submit it right up here to our city clerk. The city council will allocate up to a maximum of three minutes per speaker for each agenda item. Staff Reports are available online at the city's website or at www dot city of redding.gov. And in the public view binder located on the podium at the north side of the chambers, please silence your cell phones. Thank you. All right, I just want you to know I'm going to do a call to order and we're going to go into closed session. I'll talk about that briefly. But we'll do a roll call. >>[ ROLL CALL ] >>All right, thank you. So just to let you know as a point of order order we are going into closed session briefly to discuss a litigation issue and as soon as we're done we'll come back out here and we'll be talking about big dreams so hang on to your seat all right thank you. [ CLOSED SESSION ] >>I love all the enthusiasm and energy. We're going to return to our regular meeting. I just have a couple of announcements we are working on hooking up the community room was another standing room only. So we will connect that I think our city manager will given an announcement when that's ready for live streaming. And also we do have reportable action. So I'm going to turn this over to our city attorney. Mr. >>Thank you. The council met in closed session to consider item two A is listed on the written agenda. The Council voted unanimously to give authority to initiate litigation. The parties the action, that particulars will be disclosed upon inquiry once the case is filed, unless doing so would jeopardize the agency's ability to effectuate service a process or if doing so would jeopardize the ability to conclude existing settlement negotiations to its advantage. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we are going to, to turn to item number 3.1 on the agenda this is to consider termination of contract with big league dreams reading LLC. And I'm going to turn this over to Director Manet who will give us a report on this item. >>All right. Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Members of the City Council. We are here tonight to talk about our sports facility known as Big League dreams. We have a long term operator out there. >>How's the sound in the back? Can everybody hear? I heard some No. So we'll we'll do our best to speak up, you know, really into the microphone, that kind of thing. >>All laneway and thank you sports fans. It's alright, so the facility was originally built in 2001, we had an $11 million approximate budget, mostly funded by grants bonds, redevelopment, money and city funds. It was leased to and operated by since that time company known as Big League dreams, which is a Texas based third party company, at least back then it was they had a 35 year lease which is set to expire in 2036. As part of that deal, big league dreams was to pay 6% of their gross revenues. And on a quarterly basis, they would issue those payments to the city. They were also 100% responsible for the maintenance of that facility. Since that time, 2001, they've paid nearly a little over $1 million to the city in their rental payments. The activities out there included hockey, volleyball, softball, baseball, and a bunch more. Since that time, they have also faced a plethora of issues. So these include competing facilities. So a few years after the original our big league Dreams was built, the min Tikka facility was built several other different brands or local Sports Park popped up since that time, a lot of those draw traffic away from our park. And so that coupled with our market conditions where we are, I would say lower on the population compared to a Bay Area market or a Southern California market. It makes it harder to support these with just local groups. I know there's a lot of us here tonight, but we have to rely on tourism to really make the financials pencil out there. On top of all that we had the great recession. So prior to the Great Recession, there was a really strong or stronger economy which supported this park. And as things shifted over the years, we see the amount of teams players, sponsorships and all that dwindle. And that means our facility is increasingly reliant on bringing in outside dollars. We also had the COVID 19 pandemic so that facility shut down for nearly a year left them with ongoing expenses and little revenue during that time. And there was an ownership change in 2022. So TC sports, bought out big league dreams and continues to operate big league dreams today. That escrow took about a year and it was very complicated. And then after that we experienced inflation. So That makes all of the investments in the facility, their purchasing power is diminished. And families sometimes have to choose to prioritize food over fun. So revenues have gone either they've declined or been stagnant over the last few years out there. Prior to the ownership change big league dreams missed a few payments. And after the ownership change big league dreams agreed to pay back all of the past due rents, and set up a payment plan in a letter of agreement. They made the first three payments and then started to miss payments after that and issued one additional payment in 2024 have $10,000. And to date, the city is owed $215,000, approximately right big league dreams. And I would say that that is common to big league dreams facilities as they all have struggled through this ownership change and coming out of COVID. A little look at the current conditions out there in the maintenance status. So the TC sports company that bought big league dreams, inherited maintenance issues at the park. So since 2010 issue, conditions have declined. And it's as maintenance kind of took the backseat to operations, we see that there was less and less investment in the facility. In 2023, big league dreams signed that letter of agreement, which outlined not only the payment plan, but a list of deferred maintenance items that they would be taken care of and set timelines for each item. The full description of those items is in the staff report. So you can refer to that if you'd like any detail. But to summarize that, I'd say that some items were complete, but the big ticket items are not they were left undone. So we'll go through a few photos of current conditions out there. So you can see these are the fields, the infields were all slated to be replaced that did not get done, you can see some patch work that's been done over the years to try to keep those going. And you can see some projects that are left incomplete at this time. And some issues with items like the chairs and seating. So essentially, they're breaking, they're older, they need to be replaced. And they have not made that investment. Volleyball fields need to be redone, and the restaurants definitely need some upgrades, as well as the restrooms, and another shot of the restaurant interior there. So with that big league dreams last week indicated that they are no longer willing to operate our park. And we are still however in contract with them. So they've ceased operations and laid off their staff from what we're told. And we must now face that situation and make some both short and long term decisions on how to proceed. So I'm gonna go and outline our short term options and do the pros and cons for each and then the long term and then we will be wrapping up. So short term options. So we have to basically to choose between to close the facility or tried to keep the facility open. Currently the facility is shut down as there is no staff. So the pros for closing the facility is that there is just less risk, we actually have a lot of unknowns with operating that facility. And to be frank, my staff is great, but they are not prepared to to walk in there tomorrow and open the doors and start having games and programming. This would actually be the simplest plan because we're shutting down it gives us time to come up with a plan and evaluate the situation and the maintenance needs. And it's actually the lowest cost option at this time. So there will be some additional utility costs, there will be security cost and there will be some light maintenance items that we have to do to keep it from falling apart while no one's out there. But it won't be a full blown staffing situation. downsides to that shutting the facility would disrupt all scheduled programming and it would affect our residents would also impact other facilities. So since this time, we have had the phones ringing off the hook for facility use request, as have the schools and Chester Lake City and Anderson are both feeling the same thing because there is obviously a big need that this facility filled. And you can see that it's the need didn't go away. So we're trying to figure out where to put that. Our second option is to keep the facility open with city staff. So the upside of that is that we would be able to host programming that is existing so there's actually 14 scheduled tournaments between now and Christmas. And that would allow us to facilitate those as well as other indoor activities and would be the least impactful option for our residents. downsides to that is that city staff does not have a business model to successfully operate that facility. I know it'd be a stretch to figure that out on the fly. Our staffing is also not adequate to be able to do that. And it would take some time to get people hired on to be able to run that facility and it were to require immediate operations and maintenance fund Looking for us to be able to do that work? So we'll move on to our long term options. So long term option number one would be to develop a model. So this is after we've decided what to do in the short term. If we shut down, then what what do we do after that, or if we start running it, what do we do after that, so develop a long term model for a city run facility. So that's our city staff is manning the gates and they are actually running programs out there. So the upside to that would be that it would provide much needed facilities to staff. Currently there are times of the year we're actually our in house programs are running recreation cannot use our own city owned fields. And that has to do with things like our junior giants program conflicting with little league times. So there's times where we have to be resourceful and rely on partnerships or other facilities. And we also have hit capacity on most of our programs for the summer, like summer camps, this would allow this is actually also a very cost effective investment if you thought of this as like a purchase for a park. So if you think of panorama Park, it is a 20 million plus dollar project. For the amount of money to recreate this, it would be substantially higher in today's today's world. But if we were to think of it like purchasing the park, we could do it for a much lower cost than building a new facility. So it gives us an instant Jumpstart. And it's kind of a plug and play solution. But also allow us to more easily seek out grants for improvement and changes out there. So that could be for programming for maintenance for whatever it would allow staff to be able to tackle that in house. And it would allow for new creative and higher quality uses. So that could include new recreational programming and events. I know my staff has a very long list of ideas for that space. And it also would provide us the ability to use it in the case of an emergency as either some type of shelter or resilience center. downsides to that is that the city would have to budget for staffing and maintenance immediately, and we would not earn in the long term. And we would not know that cost of this time, that's something that we would have to develop. The model may also require an operational subsidy. That is, however, very common for sports parks. And I'll tell you that Medford Sports Park is subsidized by a million dollars annually. It would also be an increased workload for our staff. So while we'd be able to staff up for those people running the park and our recreation staff to do that, management would have to absorb that as sort of a whole new enterprise in our department. In that model, the city would also have to explore options for funding and repairs to be able to do that work and figure out where that money's gonna come from. And we would also have to have a third party operator for concessions because the adult sports model generates a lot of revenue on alcohol sales, and that helps to the sustainability of the parks, we'd have to figure out how to do that. Our second option for long term solution is develop a request for proposals for a third party operator. So that is essentially exactly what we do. Now, we would just have to issue that proposal, we'd have to develop that and come up with ideas, which we think would make an operator successful. That would be the least amount of added responsibility for staff because that is what we're used to now, it may actually result in some initial funding and investment into the facility for maintenance and improvements. And it would most likely have a quicker turnaround for projects and operations out there because they won't have the same regulations and policies that local government would have. The downsides to that are that we do have a difficult recreation market here where we don't have other, we don't have many suburbs and other cities to draw from. So third party would have to rely largely on tourism to generate more of those higher earning events. And that would that would go a long way to make them sustainable. So you'd have to have a really good operator that could do that. And we'd have to be able to find them through that RFP process. So according to other operators that we've spoken to sort of, in general about our facilities and our market is that we would still have to potentially subsidize and they are still, they're actually looking for larger facilities most of the time to run because they can draw in bigger tournaments. So all of those factors may mean that it is difficult to attract a third party. It may also mean that they might not continue to make investments in our facility if they don't have adequate revenue. And so that would mean that we would anticipate also a low likelihood of being able to get future rent payments from an operator if they aren't going to have a strong revenue. Other downsides include keeping, we would still keep our facilities shortage so we wouldn't be able to address the current lack of gym space that we have, and our deficiency in baseball fields or softball fields. And ultimately, that third party would give us less control. So at the end of the day, if profitability and sustainability is in question, this may model may still result in subsidization for that third party as well. Our last option here is to direct staff to explore, broadly just selling the facility or just getting rid of it. So the upside of that as that is not really an investment, we wouldn't have to put additional dollars into it. The downsides is that we lose it as an asset in our original investment in the facility. There are a lot of legal issues with selling parks would not help recreation fill its programming needs. And it would require substantial staff time. So there is a property line adjustment, there is a lot of research, there is potentially a vote that would have to happen with that. And then once sold, we would lose that as an asset to the community because we no longer have control over it's what it provides to the people. So that brings us to our recommendation. So Staff recommends that we terminate the contract effective immediately with big league dreams. And we shut down the park in the short term to assess conditions in needs, which would give us time to implement long term plans, which would be to either or to both create an operations and maintenance plan for city run facilities that would be running the numbers, figuring out how much staff we would need, how we could program that. And the other strategy would be to also look into developing a request for proposal for a third party operator, so figure out what's going to entice a third party, and how would they be successful running our facility. So it takes some research and some time, but those are the two options that we think would be best to explore. And with that I could take any questions you may have. All right, >>All right, thank you. I would like to bring it back to the Council for questions for staff. Does anybody have any questions for staff? >>I have questions. I think I'll wait, how much do we have public comment? We do. But till after public comment. >>You're going to wait till after public comment. Okay. I and I would like to ask if mayor or dad has any questions for staff? >>I'm going to wait till after public comment. >>Okay. >>I actually have some questions for staff that I think might be helpful to ask before we go into public comment, because this might answer some of your questions that you have out there. My first question actually, probably would be to you Mr. Tippin on this. You know, I know that the council has been working with there have been issues with big league dreams for several years. So it's not like we have not been working on this. We've been working, but we've been working on it behind the scenes. It's not something that we have publicly talked about. And I think that's probably been frustrating for you the public. So because the closure appeared abrupt, and you haven't had the information that we've had behind the scenes. So also the maybe the information that you need to understand the economics of running running this facility. So I wanted to know, Mr. 20, you could speak to the fact that why just some of the rationale why we have not discussed this publicly. >>Sure. Yeah. >>Until now. >>Yeah, I think I think the the biggest reason is that up until very recently, the two parties, the original big league dreams, and then the TLC sports who purchased or TC sports that purchased big league dreams have been very forthright with us. They've worked very closely with us, they let us know, for instance, when the first payments were missed in 2019, they called us immediately and explained the situation they were going through. When COVID hit they were very upfront. They told us throughout the period of 2010 to 2017, some of their financial difficulties in investing in the park, but they had every intention to bring it back around and to invest in the park and fix all of those things. When the new company took over, that was the first thing they told us. Number one, they're going to bring us up to up to snuff in terms of payments, but more importantly, they were going to immediately invest in the parks. And that's across the state of California. All the parks that they purchased, they were going to look at equity financing. They were looking at large scale marketing operations to increase revenues. They were looking at financing options, and they had every intention, I believe, to follow through. I think what has happened is largely as director mini described, they probably underestimated the cost associated with running the park and I think they overestimated the revenue at least within the reading market, and so on. Up until very recently, the dialogue with those companies was very forthright, very open. And there was no reason for us to believe that becoming more litigious and and calling for breach of contract was going to result in anything other than an abandoned facility like we're seeing today. And so with some of staff's initiative, and then a little bit later on with council direction, we've been working hard to see if we could pull this out and make sure the facility not only stays open, but gets repaired. >>Okay, thank you. Couple of the other questions, do you I try to mention the Metro market. And I think that's important because we often do get compared to Medford you know, why is Medford there's all of the recreational facilities, which are wonderful. I have family that lives in Medford. But the City of Medford subsidizes out of their general fund a million dollars a year. And so just be thinking, I'm just thinking about that, do you see us being able to, you know, do that with our current budget, and we're already looking at a million dollar budget deficit in our budget. >>Structurally, we've got about a $5 million deficit. And so, you know, the answer to your question is, is obviously no. However, I would also say that, you know, we have a roughly $85 million discretionary general fund budget, and it's this body that can make those decisions and decide what's best for the community, whether it's, you know, maintaining the services that we provide today, or do we lessen those to provide other opportunities? So so there will be an opportunity for the council to have that discussion, I presume, as we are developing the the information to bring back to you for your consideration in the near future. >>Okay, thank you. And do you? I know that director, many mentioned grants, and I think of grants has typically been available to build something like we got a grant to build this. You mentioned panorama Park, we're building that because about a grant, it's not not very little, it's coming out of general fund. Do you see grants available for repairing and replacing existing infrastructure? >>I would say not we shouldn't count on that. You know, the old adage, never say never. As you know, we've recently received grants to help maintain boat ramps. That's new. And we've never received items like that in the past. But as a general rule, agencies that provide grants generally want to provide grants for new capital construction, and they expect that the entity will maintain those into the future. So it's, it's, it may be out there, and we certainly will look hard and ask for anybody and everybody to, you know, look, as well, and let us know what's out there. But it's unlikely that we can achieve enough grant funding to do what needs to be done out there. And I think, realistically, we're looking at $3 million just to repair the facility into something that people would say is okay, and probably seven to $10 million to actually make it back to the condition we would all expect. >>Okay. And do you know if any investigation has been done to see if our local sporting communities, baseball hockey communities, all the groups that use that facility would be willing to do fundraising or step up or partner sort of like the the soccer group has done for the soccer Park? >>I think anecdotally, Travis has had some of those conversations, I think everybody's willing to have the conversation. What does that look like in the long run? You know, for instance, if we were to bond some improvements. Now, I say that with some caution, because like grants, typically you can't bond for maintenance. So we'd have to be careful of of making too many assumptions relative to you know, borrowing money for that purpose. But as you note, it was soccer Park, we were able to find some financing. And in that case, we had some loans that came from McConnell Foundation, and ru, which I won't mention, because that's a sore topic. But we also had some general fund money that went to that replacement of the turf. And the Soccer Association, really, through reading and youth soccer is paying us back a monthly fee to help offset that loan. Those things are possible. But I think that goes to what Travis was mentioning in terms of the risk associated with that. So we have a reserve and our general fund. And certainly we can do some improvements. And on an assumption that we would have revenue that would help pay that back. But that is taking that risk, and you don't know what the answer to that is at the end of the day. >>And what I you know, as I'm looking at this, so that we're not facing this whole issue again, in 20 years, it looks like we need to have a different model than the model that we've had that set up this initial lease. And I mean, none of us were here when big league Dreams was, was built. So we weren't involved in that decision making. So this is sort of another problem we've inherited, I just want to make sure that we that we have a different model going forward that whatever we do is viable long term, economically for maintaining it's one thing to build something, it's another thing, then with a grant, it's another thing to replace it when it's settlers out, which we will be dealing with the soccer park when that artificial turf? >>Yeah, certainly. >>life course as well. >>Absolutely. And I would be remiss if I just didn't put in the plug for our overall unmet needs at this point, as well. So we've had, you know, there was a lot of assumptions and forecasting done in the early 2000s, associated with the number of residents that we would have and the growth of the community. And that could be seen by some of the annexations. That happened. And the fact of the matter is, you know, for whatever reason, call it the collapse of the 10 further collapse of the timber industry, the lack of, you know, industry showing up here, more of it moving to sparks, etc. And then the Great Recession, none of that really came to fruition. And so, you know, from a from a taxation basis, our tax base today, inflation adjusted is smaller than it was in 2004. >>Great. And then how how long would it take? In fact, maybe maybe Dr. Mehta, you can answer this, how long would it take to put together an RFP? How long do you think it would take before we could put that out? And then we'd have different groups that would respond to that? >>And yeah, that's a couple month turnaround just for creating one because we'd have a lot of questions to answer along the way, looking at other examples, figuring out what's the successful model, potentially talking to other operators to feel out the situation. And then they're typically like a 30 day posting, and it takes 30 days to evaluate. So I'd say it's three, four months easily, if not more to do that. But that's about the quickest. >>So, realistic, have we shut? The park is currently we've closed it right now. How long do you think that we would need to keep that shut until we were able to? Like, What's the timeframe? >>Big League Dreams actually closed it? Because we don't? That's true. Yeah. Did they shut the facility, it would take several months to staff up to be able to do that. I'd say at the very best case scenario you're looking at for months to be able to get people on staff to be able to do something like run that facility, in the fashion that it's run today was run. >>Okay. All right. It's just a hard conversation. I just want to say that to to all of you. It's hard for us. It's I know, it's hard for the community. We love, love this asset. Obviously you do, because you're here. Any other questions for staff? Yes. Councilmember Johnson? >>Just a question about the, if it takes three to four months to get the RFP written, if we decide to go that direction, is there I'm thinking about another way to keep the park open, that maybe isn't just fully bearing the burden on the city? Is there a way to have a short term contract with a qualified entity that could manage it for a six month period of time, potentially taking over those 14 tournaments, concessions, etc, that would allow us time to work out the long term vision, but have kind of a stop gap in between? >>Yeah, I would say that, maybe not to achieve all the tournaments, you know, because any agreement that we would reach with, presumably a more localized vendor to do that work. You're still gonna have to execute a probably pretty substantial agreement. >>Councilmember Munns, >>(INAUDIBLE) from loss. And so I want to have a backstop in terms of if I don't make X amount of money to cover my losses and a little bit of profit, then the government is going to backstop me for that. And so that negotiate (INAUDIBLE) you were thinking that's the long term solution in the first place. >>Are we currently insured? Or is the insurance policy for liability out there expired? >>Well, currently, we're self insured. So the insurance expired that big dreams habit. And then for the balance of that conversation, I'll hand it over. >>So part of the terms of the contract big groups is required to maintain several different insurance policies on the facility. Those will all expire August 1. And after that, and after the contract was terminated, those policies will not be of benefit to the city and and against any liability, that it would be simply the city's own self insurance that would be relevant. >>And do you would you be concerned with that was just our own self insured policy about our liability risk due to the integrity of the or lack of integrity at the park, >>It would be taking on a significant amount of additional risk that is currently being funded in insured independently. So I would have concerns about taking that on at this time. >>Thank you. Any other questions? >>Go ahead. >>Mayor Audette? >>I have Hi. I had a question about insurance. I know we are self insured. But if another entity or operator needed to get insurance, what is that process going to be like? Given the deterioration? The park? I'm just wondering how long that would take? >>I don't know that I can estimate effectively I you know, I know that the process can take certain amount of time. And it can often be tied to the sort of the cycles of the insurance industry. So the rates are changing on an annual basis. I believe this is about the time of year to go ahead and do that. On the other hand, I don't know how long it would take for review of this particular facility or whether the same insurers might be willing to essentially extend similar policies to a new vendor. That's all things we'd have to explore. >>Thank you. Yes, Councilmember Mezzano? >>Thank you, Vice Mayor Winter. >>There's no doubt that everybody up here on this Dyess cares about the youth in this community. And we understand the value and the importance of this, I really think we need to get outside the box on this one. And I have the utmost faith in our parks department in the programs that they run for the city and have been for a number of years now. And then we'll see the learning curve being that difficult to keep this park open. in some fashion. Maybe we can host 14 tournaments, but we could keep it open for for our local use here in the city. But Travis, could we reach out to the original owner? Is he friendly? Would he want to consult with us on the operation to shorten that timeframe for developing a business plan. And if we could do that, maybe that that reduces the risk of shutting this part down. I mean, I really don't want to do that. And the other suggestion I have for you is that if we need to reach out to major league baseball for funding, collusive just got $3 million. So if we could do that, and there's some money there, we would make make ourselves available to that. In the interest and I think this is all going to go out into the community. And I certainly know that we've gotten a number of emails from everybody that that is concerned about this and, and wants to protect our youth and the different sports that they participate in, out there at big dreams. And I think more of that will come and some of the ideas that are coming across in the emails are pretty good. And yet some of them aren't so good. Right? We have extreme heat, and we have a lot of rain and baseball out and real grass just doesn't work out there takes a long time to dry that field out to make it safe. So let's get outside the box. I think we all have that ability and work on something for the youth in this community. That would be my two cents. >>All right. Thank you [ APPLAUSE ] >>All right, I am going to bring it back to you. So this, we're going to open it up to public comment, we have quite a few speakers. So just a couple of things to help speed up the process, you have up to three minutes to speak. But it's okay to say ditto, you don't. And I just want to say we all want the park open to it. So if you're just try to keep your comments as brief as you can also would encourage you to bring forward solutions. We've been wrestling with this for two years, and it's been extremely difficult, I've been easier, we would have already solved it. So if you could avoid criticism and finger pointing, that's not helpful to solution. It's kind of a waste of time. So I'm just asking you to bring forward some solutions or and maybe things maybe ideas that we haven't, we haven't thought about. The other thing you can do if you can avoid applause in after people speak even though you love what they say I totally understand maybe do wave, you know, wave jazz hands. That might help us keep the process because when you clap, it just slows us down. And again, we have live speakers, we want to give everybody a time to speak. So I'm going to call your names and I'm going to call three in a row so that you can line up over here and you can come right up to right up here to the Dyess to speak our first speaker is going to be Nicky Edwards, and that will be followed by Melody moundridge. And then number three by Brenda woods. Thank you. So Nikki. >>Okay, so I want to start by I want all the youth people, baseball players, softball players, hockey players, I want everybody stand up really quick for me. This is what it's about. This is it's about the kids. I mean, yeah, big league is barely against softball. You guys are good. And if Yep, the hockey all of it. I know firsthand that the city has deals with little league, that is Little League gets priority on all the fields. It's they get the choice in the fields on all city parks. And so travel ball softball, soccer, all of that is not going to have an opportunity or as much of an equal opportunity as Little League is gonna have. Big League is family oriented. It's very It provides fields for not just the travel ball kids, but also your school ball teams that don't have the opportunity or the fields that they big league provides fields for also school ball teams. And then basically big league is saying, you can't even go to a city park now without feeling like something's gonna happen to your kids big league gives the ability for these little ones who have to sit and watch their siblings walk around or play ball all the time. They give them the chance to run around and play and have a good time. My Thank you. >>Thank you. Melody Moggridge. >>Good evening. My name is Melody Moggridge. I'm currently the vice president of Shasta roller hockey league, a goalie mom, the wife of a hockey coach and player and a member of the Shasta roller hockey league community. As the council is faced with making decisions regarding the facility known as Big League dreams, SR HL believes it's important for you to get to know get to know our organization better. We are a local family friendly nonprofit volunteer organization that has been proudly offering youth hockey for over 20 years we've worked hard to keep roller hockey affordable to all families by keeping our link fees low and providing access to equipment rentals for various seasons. I'm sorry until has a strong volunteer base that allows youth hockey to run seamlessly four days per week. Coaches assistant coaches referees, Junior referees, board members, family members and youth players that have aged out of our program continue to volunteer. Seven years ago, we were hosting a learn to play clinic and 10 game season each year. Currently, we have a robust year round program, including learn to play skills and drills, a 15 game fall season attending spring season and summer clinics. These additional seasons have resulted in a registration increase of 280% 265 youth players have graced the rink in the last year alone. This astounding growth was brought about with limited advertisement. Our families are so supportive of srhr that they're encouraging their friends to join In a sport that's not widely known in the north state. One of our most valued qualities is our culture. Our players and families support and encourage one another, often finding themselves cheering for players on opposing teams because those players have also become family, as storytellers, a passionate bunch, and at the heart of our culture is love and hockey. As I come before you tonight, the future of our league is in your hands. The Fieldhouse at Big League dreams is the only hockey rink in the north state. Without this field, hundreds of players both youth and adult will no longer have hockey accessible to them, not just locally, but in the entire North State. We believe that our community can see hockey flourish. SR HL has successfully run youth hockey in a fiscally responsible way. And we are hopeful that with the city we can continue, we recognize there's a lot that goes into your decision to operate the park. Sre tell believes that we have solutions, and we're asking you to give us a seat at the table in these discussions. We would love to collaborate with the city to continue this work. Thank you. >>Thank you >>Friend of Woods, followed by Ryan woods, followed by Ethan hunger. >>Good evening board. My name is Brenna woods, and I'm a hockey grandma. I highly encourage that all the cities within Shasta County come together to find a way to save this facility without to be Argosy and read take no excuses why it can't be done. But focus instead on all the reasons why it should be done. Our children deserve a place where they can engage in healthy activities, build strong communities and have a chance at a brighter future. let's prioritize our youth and invest in their well being by preserving this vital sports facility. Big League dreams provided a space where young people could engage in sports, particularly the Hockey League in a setting where boundaries did not exist and the fees were relatively affordable. The league has been financially self sufficient, but now our kids may no longer have the opportunity to play hockey. My grandson has been playing hockey for the last four years, and after losing his mom it has been the one consistent source of happiness and belonging in his life. Family families involved in the Hockey League are an outstanding support group for the league and the kids. Shasta County and other cities have not offered the same level of support to ensure our children have the opportunity to participate in the sport they live without alternatives like big league greens archeologico, our hockey league will no longer exist. And we have so many excellent hockey players with so much potential. And if we don't have that hockey facility, they will not be able to succeed and go somewhere with that potential. Our children deserve opportunities like big league dreams, investing in the sports facility would not only save the Hockey League, but also create opportunities for hosting tournaments and attracting teams for soccer and baseball. Closing this facility would be a missed opportunity for tourism and more importantly, importantly, a heartbreaking loss for our kids who would no longer have a place to pursue their dreams of becoming professional hockey players. It is our responsibility to keep our kids engaged and safe in the real world. Now, there's a lot of parents here tonight, that would probably love to have a seat at the table. And we'd be more than happy to volunteer their time to find a solution. Because this was kind of dropped on us at the last minute. I'm sure tonight's not going to be that time. But we would like to have a seat at those tables. And sooner than later. We love hockey. They don't have another option. This is it for them. You know we were just getting ready to put my granddaughter who's five into hockey, and she was excited. And she's been skating since she was to stay with my grandson. So we do need a place at the table. >>Thank you. Ryan Woods followed by Ethan Hollinger followed by Tawny Cowell. >>Good evening. It's good to see a lot of people come out and support the Sports Park. I think it's pretty obvious that we all want to keep it open. At the young age of seven, I found the sport of hockey did a lot for my life. Crew, the dispersment shed, team atmosphere, discipline, all things I was able to use as I grew into my career in a fire service. My grandson needs all those things and benefits from this, as do all of the youth. And not only the youth in the city of Redding, but Shasta Lake Anderson, Mount Shasta Red Bluff Like they said, This is the only rink in the area. Without it. These programs don't exist. As a youth, I was lucky enough to be able to play ice hockey. It's expensive. It's hard to find rink time, though my parents did it. But we had a rink accessible without a rank. These kids aren't going to get the opportunity they deserve. Please support the programs. Let's keep this Rinko >>Ethan Hollinger followed by Tawny cow followed by Rick oaks. >>Honorable city county council members my name is Ethan Hollinger and I'm captain of the 14th US Shasta roller hockey Roadrunners team and ready. I stand before you today to express my deep concern about the future of the roller hockey rink at the former Big League Jews facility and even more disturbing the future of roller hockey in Northern California. Roller hockey more specifically, Shasta roller hockey league, NHL has had a life changing impact on me. And without a ranked axis I'll lose a massive part of who I am. Roller hockey is not like any other youth sport. We cannot simply go to their neighborhood park can play a game or plan on playing roller hockey for schools. Roller hockey requires a specific surface to play at safely. And schools in the north state as you're aware do not offer hockey scoop school sport. When most people think of BLD they think about its impact it's had on the baseball or softball community. But the roller rink is more than just a building. It's a little known cornerstone of our roller hockey community. And where I and the other roller hockey lovers get to live our best life. Trust me, it's amazing to be out on the rink. As you know firsthand, the community of Redding is big on providing youth with countless sports opportunities. Thank you for that. From the time I was three I played a variety of sports scene reading and it wasn't until three years ago when I first awkwardly rolled onto the rink at BLD in my rental gear for my first essential skills clinic that I felt complete. From that moment on hockey consumed me and yes, sir Joe rents out every piece of equipment that a new player will need to play hockey safely at a reasonable price. They want families to be able to try out the sport without having to make massive financial commitment to buy their child gear. Hockey is expensive. Ask my parents. Kids can rent gear. Oh, sorry. That will distract other kids can rent gear for a season or for a whole year from Esri chill. But without facility player will not be able to play our sport, let alone all year round. Saturday's hockey Saturdays my family calls them our giant family centered party. You can hear this hockey theme music playing inside the rink as soon as you get out of your car in the parking lot. Each hour you'll see a new batch of hockey players lugging their hockey bags that are often twice the size of them and excitedly greeting each other on their way from their car to the rink. As soon as you open up the doors you will undoubtedly be greeted by smiles and hellos from everyone and quite possibly the unique smell of fresh hockey year. I like it. But seriously the culture so chill is legendary. Our travel teams just finished up competing in Norwich finals, the biggest roller hockey competition on the west coast down in Irvine. We were thinking by the people running competition for our great sportsmanship and the positive culture we brought to the rink as a club without a rink will no longer to get to grow our positive culture together. In the city of Redding, if the city of Redding no longer has a roller rink the next year's roller rink is San Jose, the Plex. Imagine this bear with me for a moment if I can no longer competitively play roller hockey and reading. That means off to Dr. O could fit convince my parents to drive to commute over three and a half hours. One way three days a week for roller hockey. That's a massive commitment for our family and thanking them. >>Thank you. Your time's up. Thank you. >>No worries. Have a good day. Good job. >>Tonic coal followed by Rick oaks followed by Kaylee Brisbane. >>Good evening council members and thank you for your time and this opportunity to share out about big dreams future. My name is Donnie Cowell and I'm currently the board president for Shasta roller hockey here in Jasper County. It's been a vital part of our community since the early 90s. And I'm proud to say that I have had the privilege to be part of that group as my dad was one of the founding members. I've personally benefited from this rich community as it fosters. Playing from youth I met my husband I obtained a scholar college scholarship. Most importantly, I've made some lifelong friends, many of which are in our audience. Tonight. I'm proud to give back to the League that has given so much to me providing my two sons with opportunities to grow as young athletes and individuals. We have also reestablished as Ethan mentioned our youth travel program focusing not just on their physical skills, but also developing strong community members. We emphasize lessons in discipline, teamwork, friendship, leadership and community involvement. All skills are essential for personal growth and community development. In the digital era, the roller hockey community offers a crucial space for physical activities. Both our recreation and our travel hockey programs go beyond sports, broaden, broaden horizons, building resilience and instilling pride. As Ethan mentioned, our travel program just made it to playoffs in an international tournament. And while we didn't win, the kids gain practical real life experiences that foster grit, perseverance, friendship and family traits all vital not just in sports, but in life. As you deliberate on how to proceed with the field house of big dreams, we ask that you note the specific needs for a roller hockey facility as it requires an unobstructed 180 feet long by 80 feet wide space. To our knowledge there is no other facility and reading that would be able to support this. The Fieldhouse has become a cornerstone of our hockey community offering a unique recreational outlet for youth and adults alike. For years it has housed the only roller hockey rink between San Jose and Bend Oregon, drawing players from as far south as Chico. And as far north as Mount Shasta. My family personally spends four to five days a week there between October and June. The Shasta roller hockey league is is proud to be fiscally responsible, and financially solvent. We are committed to maintaining financial stability while keeping our sport affordable to the community. We do want a seat at the table if you're willing to give it to us. And we feel that we can provide a valuable and sustainable way to operate the field house within the upcoming months while you make new decisions. Thank you for taking the time to listen to us. And we just want to reiterate that we are here as a resource for you. >>Thank you very much. Thank you. I love it Rick oaks, Kaylee Brisbane and John Keefer. >>Good evening, everybody. And thank you to council and staff for getting this on the agenda so quickly. I think I can speak for everybody saying that we appreciate you listening to us. Coming from a perspective of a softball guy and a softball dad to two daughters. I started on day one how to BLD 23 years ago, the decay that's happened I know you asked us not to be critical but the decay that's happened didn't just happen over the last two years. It's been ongoing. And we we asked numerous times, maybe not with the city but with BLD that things be addressed. Moving forward from that. I mentioned I'm a softball dad. I've raised my kids out there. They both played high school ball here and one of them went on played at the collegiate level. I'd like to have that opportunity with my granddaughter. Okay, I'd ask you guys to do what you can't get it done. Thank you. Thank you >>Kaylee Brisbane, followed by John Kiefer, followed by Matthew Sherman. >>Good evening Council staff and community My name is Kaylee Brisbane, and I'm a proud skater also known by grizzly bear for Shasta roller derby. Many of you have been out at the Fieldhouse and seen our games we see you and your softball and baseball uniforms and we know our roller hockey brothers and sisters, that Fieldhouse that big league dreams or what should be renamed from this point forward should be saved and we are here with our Shasta roller hockey league families to tell you that we are a resource for you are nonprofit Shasta roller derby helps empower women, men, skaters of adult age and as a community that is a safe place for so many of us. I personally can say that my roller derby team is why I continue to stay in this community and serve in my leadership roles that I do serve. It is a place where we address the ongoing stressors of our lives every day. Raise your hand if being with your team helps you find joy. Raise your hand if being with your team has helped you through a crisis or a loss. Raise your hand if missing your team during COVID is something you don't want to experience again. Please work with us. We have solutions. We have fundraising capacity. Our roller derby team is willing to rent that Fieldhouse and share it with roller hockey as often as we can. We are happy to think through grants. We're happy to use our nonprofit status and to think about how we can save all of this facility together. Yes, it's about the children but it's also about the adults. We need a place to recover from the many fires and challenges that we've all experienced. We know there's a mental health crisis in this world. Let's not contribute to it by getting rid of something that brings so many people joy every week, please offer further meetings that are open for this group to participate in. Please know that we do not see you as the problem here. But we do see you as the block and the possible people who are going to take away our sports for the next four months. And that will be hard to cope with roller hockey and roller derby cannot go elsewhere. We have teammates who come from as far north as Medford and as far south as Chico. Imagine they're willing to drive those hours to play with us that will get destroyed if we close that Fieldhouse. Please let us have a seat at the table as the roller hockey league has so brilliantly said tonight. And please know we're here to help make this less of an impact on the city of Redding and our entire community. Thank you for the time tonight. >>Thank you. Great suggestions. Thank you Kaylee John Kiefer, followed by Matthew Sherman followed by Zoe bunting. >>Good evening, everyone. Yes, we were up in Medford this last weekend in a tournament. And we got the news. And it kind of took the wind out of everyone's sail. It was just devastating. We do softball, we have two softball teams. And we have 28 Girls we're trying to put into college. And we've already got one strike against him the COVID years. And we really they really, really need to play. There's teams out here who use those fields for practice, not tournaments just to practice. And now they're struggling to find somewhere to practice. They have nowhere to go. And it's pretty hard to tell 28 players will just stay home. We can't do that. It's unacceptable. I like Marc's ideas, Jack's ideas. Julie, Josh. All you guys have great ideas. I couldn't see the side I'm sorry. But yes, four months. That's That's an awful long time. If we could get this thing rolling. It's going to it's going to help a huge amount of people the the adult softball women's softball, men's softball, slow pitch, bass, pitch FastPitch, softball, baseball. We need your help, and we're willing to help you. I'm sure there's plenty of people out here that would be willing to lay some turf down. It's not that difficult. Whatever. I'm sure we could do it like we did the pyramids, right. Wherever has whatever has to happen to keep these kids engaged. Is you know, we're willing to do it. Just ask for the help. And these girls will thank you very much. Yeah, baseball and softball are their families. The teams become families, especially the traveling teams, they they bond they do they bond outside of the game. They do they go to a tournament then they'll go bowling or they'll go to the swimming pool or whatever. But this is their home field. And taking that away from them is tough. And I don't know we're we're scheduled for about eight more tournaments here in town this rest of this year. So if you guys can help us out. We would appreciate it. Thank you. >>All right, we have Matthew Sherman, followed by Zoe bunting followed by Matt very >>good evening, city council members and general public. Thank you for allowing me the chance to speak today. My name is Matthew Sherman, and I'm here to advocate both for myself and on behalf of the board and community members of Shasta roller hockey league. We stakeholders are dependent on their rank within Bigley gyms facility to be operational. And we hope to see its function preserved and continued to be open to the public. This rank as has been stated as the only one within 180 miles that is open full time indoors. We live and die by what you decide for us. We don't have a second chance. Now about me, I'm born and raised here in Redding. And while I'm not a business major, I do have an understanding at the grassroots level of what this community needs and what the city can benefit from. Currently, I work seasonally as a recreation leader for camp King at the MLK Center here in the summer, and for the rest of the year. I work as a full time double majoring student at Lindenwood University in St. Louis. In addition to being a full time student, though, I also participate for my university's roller hockey team, competing at the collegiate level as a student athlete I've been involved in the reading hockey community my entire life, and heavily so especially over the past three years, my involvement has included the roles of coaching and officiating, which through shots roller hockey, I amassed over 400 volunteer service hours during my senior year of high school alone. In addition to volunteering I've spent even more hours workings and official and playing out the adult roller leagues granted BLD as well as working as a private coach. And those roles are unnecessary secondary sources of income, which enable me to financially afford my pursuit of higher education without I don't get. Lastly, I grew up playing through shots roller hockey league as well for over 10 years and upon aging out continued to play, and I understand the value of what they're able to provide for our community and our kids. The opportunities provided to the rank and the DLD facility have given me the opportunity to grow and develop not only as an athlete, but also as a student, as a member of the workforce and ultimately as a person. This facility provides not only me a way to flirt, not only me a way to flourish, but many others as well. Giving other aspiring youth and adults in the reading community a means to do so. For youth, the rink and Shasta roller hockey league provide a safe place to develop and grow physically, socially and mentally. giving the kids a chance to express and apply themselves in a pursuit that not many of kids get to get get a chance to do excuse me. Hockey gives many of our youth a means not just to become better athletes but also means to become better physically and mentally as people by building their character and competencies to become more confident and better functioning. and that's something that you can't get a return on with money. Preserving and continuing the function of big league gyms facility will uphold a place where many members of our hockey community can become better, healthier people and live a higher quality of life. It is for these reasons that I hope the city can find a way to sustain the beat VLD facility. A lot of our livelihoods depend on it and as melody and Tani said, We want to help make our own and our kids dreams real. Thank you. >>Thank you. So a bunting followed by Matt berry followed by Brian false. >>Hello, my name is (INAUDIBLE). And not only I play travel, softball, but I also go to big league for fun family bonding, I get to watch my ENT play slow pitch. And I get to watch all of the younger girls whose dreams come true. I really just hope that we can keep this facility open not only for us travel teams, but for our school well teams that have to use the facility as well. I see other people's bonding, and it helps with others mental health. So I really just hope we can keep this open. Thank you for your time. >>Thank you. Matt, very followed by Brian falls, but followed by some are false. >>All right, thank you. My name is Matt, my wife, Bethany and two boys, Nathan and Colton are here as well. One of the most valuable lessons your child will learn from sports is how to take risks, how to be failed gracefully, and ultimately how to succeed by overcoming failure. Well, my wife and I were looking for an activity for my older son Nathan to be part of and we came across a hockey program, a big league dreams. We signed them up for the clinics and the upcoming season. We started going into the clinics and practices and I was doing my best as a dad to support my son and not get too loud yelling and stuff. You know, it's just stuff. My son Colton has Down syndrome, and he would come with me to watch and he was so thrilled and so excited for his brother playing hockey. You would scream and share and excitement of a goal or save. His personality is infectious, and it caught the attention of other families when we started to become connected. Soon we are encouraged to put Colton on skates and sign them up for a league. Reluctantly I said yes, knowing full well how difficult this would be for him. But I knew how much he loved it. And everybody everybody at the league wanted to be a part of it. My biggest concern was watching him fall and not being able to get back up and firm on himself for him. The first practice came for Colton and the coaches were teaching the kids how to fall and get back up on their skates. The kids fell but Colton could not get back up. He struggled and he was ready to give up. Then I watched the coach walk over to Colton and sit down next to him and started to show him what he needed to do to get back up on his own feet. After a few minutes and several attempts Colt stood up he was so proud of himself. He said he yelled and I yelled, excitement go Colton. That small moment speaks volumes to the community and how important some of these sports are to these kids. As big league dreams and this organization has kind of fallen down on his feet, right? Let's show the community and teach people how to get back up, pull thems