Welcome to our meeting.

The date is April 14, 2026.

The time is 7 p.m.

This is an open meeting of the Grand Island City Council.

The City of Grand Island abides by the Open Meetings Act in conducting business.

A copy of the Open Meetings Act is displayed in the back of this room as required by state law.

The City Council may vote to go into closed session on any agenda item as allowed by state law.

Now I ask that you stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The City Clerk will now perform roll call.

Councilmember Sheard.

Present.

Councilmember Stelk.

Present.

Councilmember Conley.

Present.

Councilmember Nickerson.

Present.

Councilmember Brown.

Present.

Councilmember Hazi.

Present.

Councilmember Mendoza will be absent.

Council President O'Neill.

Present.

Councilmember Pollock.

Present.

Councilmember Lanfear.

Present.

And Mayor Steele.

Present.

Also present are Jill Grenier, the City Clerk.

Patrick Brown, the City Administrator.

Stacy Nonhoff, the Assistant City Attorney, and Keith Kurtz, the Public Works Director.

Individuals who have appropriate items for City Council consideration should complete the request for future agenda items form located at the information booth.

If the issue can be handled administratively without council action, notification will be provided.

If the item is scheduled for a meeting or study session, notification of the date will be given.

Council members, we've had a request to remove 7T from the consent agenda.

Council members, would you like to remove any other items from our consent agenda?

Hearing none, we shall continue.

A sign-up sheet was available in the lobby for individuals wishing to provide input on any of tonight's agenda items.

If you did not sign up to speak on an agenda item, please come forward, state your name, and the agenda topic on which you will be speaking.

No one has come forward, so we shall continue.

So we're making that change at this time.

The first thing on our agenda is 6A.

Mr.

Fiala.

Good evening, sir.

Good evening.

First of all, I'd like to thank the mayor and the city council for allowing me a little bit of time to share what's going on at Grand Island Casino Resort.

We celebrated our one year anniversary last Friday on April 10th.

When we opened our temporary facility in December of 2022, we started with 100 teammates.

Then we added table games in August of 23 along with 50 more teammates.

Today we stand with a full resort, 431 hospitality professionals right here in Grand Island.

Since gaming was new to the area, we've trained hundreds of people in food service and preparation, table games dealing and management, cage cashiering and count, hotel operations, surveillance, and security.

We are developing hospitality professionals right here in Grand Island.

86.5% of our employees live in Hall County, shop in Hall County, and I live in Hall County.

I shop in Hall County.

I spend my money here as well.

Our 185 million dollar fully integrated resort has three restaurants, including Ruthie's, which is a fine dining steak and seafood restaurant, a hundred and sixty-two-room hotel, a luxury spa, small banquet space, indoor and outdoor pools, and hot tubs.

We are adding 1,000 parking stalls on the Fonner Park campus, which can be used by all visitors, not only to the casino, but anybody on campus, and especially during the state fair.

So a few of the economic things I would like to just show you in the trailing 12 months, we've had almost a quarter of a billion dollar impact on this area in Nebraska and Grand Island and Hall County.

The building and construction was about 185 million dollars.

The Grand Island and Nebraska vendors last year, the trailing 12 months, we spent over 18 million dollars.

Fonner Park ownership got a little bit over 5.9 million, and then that parking lot is going to be about 3.4 million dollars.

Taxes that we paid to the city and the state, property tax, 751,000.

It is billed to Fonner, but we reimburse for that.

And then the city share and the county share of the gaming taxes, 1.4 million dollars.

City lodging tax, 42,000, and then city occupation tax, $93,000.

So the impact direct to the city and the county for the first year is $3.8 million.

We also pay a lot of taxes to the state for the property tax and problem gaming and state fund, sales and use tax, state lodging tax, payroll taxes, and then our state withholding tax for anybody that wins on gaming was over 12 million dollars.

Last year we paid six over 16 million dollars in wages and benefits to our employees.

So that total impact number is 245 million dollars.

I just want to put that in perspective.

You know, Grand Island is known for the world-famous sandhill crane migration.

It draws about 35,000 visitors a year, and the estimated regional impact is about 28 million dollars.

The casino's first year impact is almost 10 times that.

As council members, I encourage you to reinvest in some of those economic dollars back into Fonner Park, back into marketing the campus and events like livestock shows.

When Fonner Park is busy, Grand Island is busy.

So that's really what I'm here today.

Just don't forget us when you're thinking about putting some money back into the campus.

You know, I know we're developing throughout the city, but don't forget that Fonner Park is here that's been here 70 some years, and just keep putting some money back into us.

So that's really all I asked.

Don't forget us, and thank you so much for your time.

If you guys have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Mr.

F.

Fiala, I want to thank you for your wonderful presentation.

And I must say I have been very impressed with you and your team and with the Keel family.

Thank you also for providing excellent hospitality jobs.

Mr.

Nickerson, I appreciate all of all of this information.

I guess my first question to you would be this is probably a loaded question because you're gonna have to be very careful how you answer it.

But has your first year met or exceeded your expectations?

It's exceeded our expectations by a little bit.

This is our seventh casino, so it's not like we're new to this.

There was economic development studies done before we got here.

It's it's really what we thought it would be.

And the people here have been great.

I think we're really surprised at the talent that we found and the employees that we found.

431 employees is a lot of employees, you know, and I think that was our biggest worry when we first moved here, but we've been well received in the community, and you know, we do things for employees too.

We have profit sharing quarterly, we share profits with them, we do food trucks.

We we want to make sure that they're happy because it is hospitality.

So very good.

Honestly, a couple things when I first realized that a casino was coming here.

I had some reservations.

I really did.

Some of those reservations were we gonna see an uptick in crime, you know, people needing money to go gamble.

Are we gonna have more homelessness where people spend all their money and now they're living on the street?

You know what?

I've not seen any of that.

And that's a pleasant surprise.

Not that not that they always go together, but through addiction and things like this, we know that things can happen.

But you have performed for a year so quietly, a lot of times you don't even realize the casino is there because there's not a lot of hubbub, there's not trouble, we're not having a police called all the time there.

That's a positive thing for the community as well.

So I I appreciate that.

And to know that you are employing over 400 professionals, that's great for us.

And I there has to be a great interaction between Fawner Park, the event center, the casino, all the stuff, because when somebody's at one event, my guess is some of them spill over into the other areas.

So do you see that happen on a continual basis?

Yeah, so especially horse racing, Friday and Saturday nights, we have a link, we call it that goes right into Fawner Park, and we have that open an hour and a half before racing, and then usually an hour or two after racing is done.

Um, and people can walk right from Fonner Park into the casino, they can walk from the casino into Fawner Park.

The one thing they can't do is carry liquor back and forth because we have separate liquor licenses, but it's worked out really well for us.

And the same with the Heartland Event Center.

Um, for like Love Volleyball, when they were here, we opened that up.

Tons of traffic came back for that too.

Uh any entertainment that they can do at the uh I think Big Iron Center, they're going to call it now, um, helps us out.

It really does.

Super.

And once a month we get together on campus, and I'm talking the State Fair, Fonner Park, Heartland Event Center, uh, and us, and we just kind of talk about things that are going on on our campus and how we can help uh help promote each other's business.

And you touched on the parking lot that's in process right now, and that's a heck of a lot of concrete is going to be poured here over the next few months.

Is it on on schedule?

Everything look good according to the state.

It is on schedule.

We got to open before the state fair.

I'm telling you, that's that's the goal.

So we're hoping in in July that'll all be done.

Very good.

Well, it's it's great to watch things happen, and I can't say it's problem-free because I don't know all the details, but to me it just seems like you've just quietly operated and you're operating successfully.

That's good for you, that's good for Grand Island.

I appreciate that.

Been very good for us too.

Thank you.

Mr.

Brown.

And Mr.

Fiela, I just want to express that you run a class operation out there, and and me and my wife go out there and eat that Ruthies and the other 22nd street.

But uh, we really like it, and everybody in town that I talk to likes it.

You've done a real good job.

Appreciate it.

Good.

Thank you.

We had our growing pains, and we've had some rough days here and there, but overall it's gone really well.

We're very pleased with the first year, Mr.

Sheard.

Thank you.

Uh I got a question, but I do want to pile on the the compliments.

Um it has been nice to have this.

Um again, eating at the restaurants, all of them uh enjoyed uh making a few property tax reduction donations here and there uh through the many mechanisms.

Uh very nice people out there, been very, very pleased with that.

Uh, my question is do you have any sense of how much of the visitors, how much of the gambling revenue, how much of that comes from outside of Hall County?

Do you have an estimate?

So 80 percent of our business would come from with about within uh about 90 miles of here.

Okay, and of that, the Grand Island population probably represents in Hall County, probably represents 25 of that or so.

Uh, we have a lot of people that you know come from Aurora that come from Carney, Hastings, you know, kind of that area.

We also get a lot of travelers that come through.

Um, we have regular drivers that are truck drivers that come through from Texas, we see them every week, or people that come from Lincoln and stuff.

It's a comparison thing.

We are a different property than they than they have in Lincoln or that we have in Ogallala.

We're hoping that once Ogallala summer hits um that we get some of that traffic coming this way as well.

So you've done this enough times.

Is there a sense or a pattern of does that 80% coming from 90 miles?

Does that change over time?

Or is that do you think that'll be pretty consistent here?

The only time uh we've seen it in our other properties that would change is if another property opens up within that 80-mile radius or 90 mile radius, and otherwise, no, it stays pretty consistent.

Okay, very good.

Well, again, thank you.

Um, really enjoyed having it here.

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

O'Neal.

Just like to pile in a couple compliments real quick as well.

It seems like it's a very well in operation.

I've been out there several times, and uh it's obviously attracting a lot of people here to Grand Island.

Um, just a couple more kind of follow-up questions.

Um, so we've seen the tax revenues kind of increase a bit over the last two or three years, you know, when you had the temporary casino and then the full one for a year in there.

Um, do you see your project your projected growth kind of more um going on a more much more slower trajectory, or do you think you'll have a much potential to keep expanding at a aggressive pace or we're like most other businesses?

That first five to seven years, we should see steady growth.

It's not gonna be as much as we did this first year from temporary to full property, but we should see steady growth for the next five or six years at least, and then it kind of plateaus for a while.

But gaming changes, it's like any other business as long as you keep up with the times.

I mean, someday you're gonna see cashless gaming, you're not gonna even have to bring cash.

You're just gonna bring your debit card and you're gonna tap it on the machine and you can play.

I mean, things are gonna change.

I know one of the big pushes in the state now is for um mobile sports betting.

I'm not in favor of it at all.

You don't know who's betting.

We like to see our people come in so that we know who they are and what they're doing.

That's what's gonna ask kind of next is do you see other future sources or or uh other things competing against your industry as well?

That would uh that would be the the biggest one at this point, yes.

Well, thank you.

Thanks for the report.

Appreciate you coming out.

So thank you.

Thank you again, Mr.

Fiala.

We will now take up our consent agenda.

And Mr.

Shear, do you have a motion?

I do uh I move to uh approve consent agenda agenda consent agenda items 7A through 7V with the exception of T.

And Mr.

Brown.

I second that motion.

Any discussion?

Please vote.

Motion adopted 7T consideration to approve improvements to the train area in Stalley Park.

Good evening, Mr.

McCoy.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council.

Um the zoo operated at Stalley Park up until 2001.

Uh you might remember that.

Um, the only thing that really um is left from the zoo is the is the uh train.

And also after the after the zoo went away, um, there was a committee that was formed to um think of some ideas for a reuse of that area.

Uh that's how Kids Kingdom was born, and that's also how the uh big picnic pavilion there at Stally Park, the L-shaped one that was created after the zoo um the zoo went away.

Um so that um group of members on that committee um came up with an idea.

They kind of reorganized and they came to city council.

Council may recall, came up with an idea to improve the area inside of the train area.

Um they presented a plan.

We did budget for this project.

City council did approve uh 2.25 million dollars in this year's city budget.

Um the group of uh um basically private um of private citizens um raised uh almost uh 750,000 dollars, actually a little more than that, um, of private dollars towards this project.

So we did bid the project um, and the lowest bid that we received was for mid-plains construction uh for two million seven hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars.

Um that is to um we got some photos for you here the beginning of the slideshow.

You see to the left is lit with uh um LED lighting that can be changed with different colors and themed.

Uh there's a bridge there to the right.

Um new playground equipment.

Um there's also some picnic shelters, and some basically pedestrian lighting, um, and the and just lots of landscaping.

Um the one thing that is not included is a bike track.

That was one thing that was uh presented to council, um, but it did come in.

The the budget dollars came in a little higher than we we had liked, so that is not included in this budget uh or this bid.

Um our thought is that this could be done as a later phase.

We could include it in next year's budget if we wanted to.

Um, a timeline for this project.

The contractors would like to start right away, that they would have pretty much everything done by October 1st with the exception of the playground.

Um I don't have a picture of it, but there's a themed playground, it's a dragon themed playground that's a it's a custom item that's just gonna take a little while, has a longer lead time.

So that would be done in the spring.

So we'd have the entire project done for next year, 2027.

Um we do recommend um approval of again a bid of 2 million seven hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars to mid-planes construction to improve the area inside the train.

Thank you, Mr.

McCoy and Mr.

Shear.

Thank you.

I move that we approve the improvements to the train area in Stally Park.

Thank you, Mr.

Lanfair.

I second discussion, Mr.

Nickerson.

Thank you, Todd, for sharing that with us and kind of reminding us of what we've agreed to do.

I was just wanting to confirm that tonight's vote starts the clock on this, then, so things will start can start moving forward at that point.

Yes, correct.

So we'll have a signed contract, and then we'll have a uh pre-construction meeting probably next week.

And and again, I've the indication from the contractor, he wanted to get started right away.

This is an exciting project for the community, and I know all those that were helped driving this and and bringing private funds in, we're very excited about it.

Takes time for things to come together as we know.

Everybody wish it was built last year, but we've got to wait probably till next year before we can enjoy it.

But again, it's it's worth the wait.

So I was just looking at the lead times that you sent me on email.

Looks like a lot of things are three three months clear up to seven months for a lot of stuff, seven and a half months before they can get here.

That's just part of the process.

We just have to wait till things can come in.

It's gonna be a beautiful addition to Staling Park, and the more I'm out at Staling Park playing on those old pickleball courts.

Um, it's just the gorgeous park.

There's just so many amenities there, and this is going to enhance that so greatly.

And what I'm really excited about, I'm the tunnels are great.

I know it's gonna be fun on the train ride, but I'm excited about the things that give kids activities.

That's give them let them burn that energy.

Go out there and run yourself ragged.

And that's the fun part of this thing.

But the tunnels with the train, they're gonna be fun.

But I think this is where all the action is gonna really happen when we've got kids out there enjoying that every day.

So thank you for bringing that to us tonight.

Please vote.

Motion adopted we will now take up our public hearings.

Public hearing eight a public hearing on the purchase of property at 2915 South North Road for the parks and recreation department.

Mr.

Brown.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good evening, council.

Uh, before you is the property, which on you'll see on this map right here, is right here.

It's basically two acres in this rectangle.

Um, the house is vacant.

Uh the folks have uh the estate has set accepted our offer of 295,000.

And this is just the public hearing uh about the uh purchase of real estate.

Thank you.

Public hearing is now open.

Is there anyone that would like to speak on this item?

If not, public hearing is now closed.

A motion council, Mr.

O'Neill.

I move we approve 2026-96.

Thank you, Mr.

Lanfear.

I second thank you.

Any discussion?

Please vote.

Public hearing AB public hearing on acquisition of utility easement 3404 West Highway 30 consolidated concrete company.

Mr.

Harley.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

This is for a 20-foot easement for electric service at Condol Consolidated Concrete.

Thank you, sir.

Public hearing is now open.

Is there anyone that would like to speak on this item?

If not, public hearing is now closed.

Mr.

Brown.

I move we approve 2026 TAC 97.

And Mr.

O'Neill.

I second the motion.

Any discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Resolutions 9A.

Approving Grand Island Expo events and livestock inclate forty application.

Mr.

Brown.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mainly Mary Burley will be given a presentation on this, but I just wanted to give you some information.

So tonight you're going to be asked to approve the excuse me, the application.

We're still working on a contract.

We got the red line version back from uh Fawner Park or GI Expo on Thursday.

We had several people out, uh conferences, um, schools.

And so we are still working on that contract.

I see absolutely no barriers.

I think it'll get done quickly, very quickly, and I know council wants to get this get this done.

I know GI Expo wants to get this done.

And uh I just want to assure you that uh we'll we'll be as fast as we possibly can.

So Mary.

Thank you, Mr.

Brown.

Mrs.

Burley.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mary Burley, I represent the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corporation presenting an LBA 40 application for you this evening on Grand Island Expo events and livestock.

GI Expo, as we refer to it, is replacing the Grand Island Livestock Complex Authority, also known as Gilka, to take over the recruitment and facilitation of livestock shows on the Fauner Park campus.

The Fawner Park campus has evolved tremendously over the years since since the very first horse race occurred there in 1954.

And as I was working through this presentation and looking at the overlays on the city's GIS system, it was fun to see how that that campus truly evolved with Island Oasis, next Heartland Event Center, and then land that was dedicated for fire station number one.

You see in the bottom there there are city baseball and soccer fields.

Those were then replaced and relocated when the state fair buildings moved.

Um, up on that north side, you'll see the community's very, very busy community field house.

Uh and then the Nebraska building, and last but not least, elite casinos, Grand Island Casino and Resort Spot, which is very conveniently timed today.

Uh we did not know that they would be placing their economic impact study for your consideration today, but it works out really well for us.

So the activities that take place within the Fawner Park campus are an incredible economic driver.

We know that through the math, uh, but we also know that livestock shows are part of our foundation and part of our identity, and that foundation and that identity are all rooted in agriculture.

So I wanted to show this video because oftentimes we see these these buildings when they're packed full of critters and people, and so it's hard to understand what truly the magnitude and the impact that these buildings have in our community and how they are just such a showcase showcase facilities that we have here in Grin Island.

There are hundreds of thousands of square feet under roof to host those economic activities all year long.

We'll move on, but there's lots more cool stuff that happens under those roofs.

So Grand Island Livestock Complex Authority, Gilka was a partnership that began in 2015.

This was an organic partnership between Fauner Park, the Nebraska State Fair, Grand Island Tourism, and Grand Island Chamber of Commerce.

Each one of those partners chipped in $25,000 annually.

And then they also added volunteer work, lots of labor that was donated, equipment, fuel, security, each one of those contributing to the facilitation of those those shows.

And this worked for 10 years.

Each one of those entities does not have the disposable income to contribute to the operations of those livestock facilities, nor do they have the capacity to donate that labor anymore.

Some of those national and state livestock shows that are held in Grand Island and put Grand Island on the map, include the National Junior National Hereford Show, National Junior Angus, Red Angus Youth Expo, American Shorthorn, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Some of those critters I can't even try to pronounce.

And we know that Grand Island is rooted in agriculture.

We know that Green Island families participate in these livestock shows.

This little gal here's name is Collins, and she's an eighth grader with Green Island Public Schools.

When she's not showing her cattle nationally, she's a really aggressive and talented center midfielder on my daughter's soccer team.

And she gets to do both here in Grand Island.

I think that's an important component to that.

But because Collins, we know that Collins participates, but we know that largely a significant amount of folks that come to show their their animals in Grand Island are not from our community.

They are from very much outside of our community, bringing new money in.

And the majority of those participants, when they come here, they bring their new money, they stay in their hotels, they eat their food, they drive tourism-related activity.

And this tourism-related activity makes this program an eligible LB 840 entity and activity.

During the American Shorthorn Association Junior National.

These are the visitors that attended Grand Island's show.

Now, this is kind of a smaller micro look, and predominantly the folks, the majority of folks are coming from that Midwest region.

But we do know that our reach crosses the United States with only a handful of states not represented across the United States in Grand Island.

We compete with much larger communities like Kansas City, Missouri, Madison, Wisconsin, Fort Worth, Texas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then Denver, Colorado, is probably our largest competitor.

Denver's facility is named the National Western Center and is located in the heart of Denver's very densely populated metro area.

Their metro area exceeds about three million residents.

Denver also just announced a two-phase redevelopment plan that they plan to do.

Phase one is a $812 million renovation.

Phase two is an additional $325 million to the campus to include a new equestrian center, $160 room hotel, parking garage, event space.

And once we get to that kind of dollar amount, that money doesn't even make sense.

Yet Grand Island continues to compete for these national state livestock shows.

They have submitted a budget per show.

And each one of these show budgets is in your packet for your consideration.

We start May 31.

We're just a short six, five, six weeks away.

Each one of those shows do they do pay to come to Grand Island.

But that revenue is much smaller than what the show expenses are to put on those shows.

So if you look through those budgets, we do show a deficit.

We have a smaller deficit when we can count on LB 840 to help facilitate those shows.

Grand Island Expo and our friends at Grand Island Tourism are working to make up that delta, and so that we are net neutral on hosting those livestock shows in Grand Island.

This is the 2026 show budget.

2027 is not much different.

The economic development corporation board of trustees, we do recommend approving this application and we recommend approving the distribution per show based on that delta that we saw on the show budget in the very last slide.

For a total of 300,000 for 2026, 300,000 for 2027.

And so in your council packet, I didn't put it on the slide here, but on page 401, you do have the balance of LB 840.

That balance of LB 840 is 968,175 for the rest of 2026.

We do request that you earmark and approve 600,000 for Grand Island Expo events and livestock to host national and state livestock shows in Grand Island again for 2026 and 2027.

And we're happy to answer any questions.

Mr.

Hawsey.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to approve resolution 2026.

Sorry, we have do we have some speakers?

You guys both just want to answer questions if Chris and Brad, right?

Okay.

Mr.

Mr.

Hawsey, I'm sorry I interrupted you.

Okay.

Uh I move to approve resolution 2026-98.

And Mr.

Sheared.

Thank you.

I'll second that.

Mr.

Pollack.

I would just like to say this is something the city's Grand Island needs.

I don't know exactly how much per show the average asking is, but I guarantee if what we pay them, grandma, grandpa, nephews, bring the money back into the community.

If it wasn't working so well, there wouldn't be so many people out there grabbing for it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Pollock.

Mr.

Sheard.

Thank you.

And uh, because Mike's pretty smart.

He said a lot of good things there.

What I'll add to that.

These shows have been adding to our economy for a number of years, and it's been on the backs of some businesses that put a lot into it.

I think Mary alluded to that.

Um the organizations uh a part of Gilka put a lot into this and didn't always get that return that the rest of the community got.

Um the other businesses received from this that we all benefit from.

Uh so I think this opportunity for us to help along these shows and take it off of uh some of the some of Fonner's back, quite frankly, and some of the other uh partners.

Um I think it's a great opportunity for us.

I think it's probably uh long overdue, but it's a opportunity to get us going for the next couple years, and hopefully we find a solution that gets us well beyond that to keep these shows coming forever, or at least until well past my days.

Uh and Mr.

Mayor, I promise that I will see you at one of those shows.

I don't want you to say that you won't see any of us.

I will make a bet that you'll see every one of us out there at some point, and I will go head to head with you and guess the names of the Cadillacs.

Thank you, Mr.

Shear.

Mr.

Brown.

Yes, I think this needs to be approved, and it's it's bringing a great deal of money into Grand Island.

I just ask that at the end of the year we have a accountability for the money spent on each one of those.

That's that's what I request for the taxpayers.

Mr.

Hawsey.

Thank you, Mayor.

Grand Island is is on a roll.

I think the momentum that is going on in Grand Island almost everywhere I look, whether it's from the casino impact or at the Fawner campus or anywhere in town, I see Grand Island on a very momentous roll where we're doing a lot of things, attracting a lot of people, and I frankly would rather go to an event in Grand Island, Nebraska than Denver, Colorado.

And so it's the attraction of this community.

It's the momentum that we have going on, and that's what we're trying to sustain, even though there's different challenges in the business cycle.

We need to step up to these challenges and figure it out.

And we as Nebraskans, we can always figure it out.

Thank you, Mr.

Hossee.

Mr.

Landfair.

Um I agree with Mike over here, most of what he said.

Basically, this is something Grand Island's known for.

And like Chuck says, we're on a roll.

We have a lot of things going, more things coming in.

This is something that's really good.

Um we've got to help it survive.

We've got to support it.

So it's I'm in favor of it.

You have my vote.

Well said, Mr.

Lanfear, Mr.

Stalk.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I I too am in favor of this project.

It's for two years.

My question is, what goes on after that?

Um my comments going with it are we have hired lobbyists that work for the city of Grand Island.

Let's put them to work on this.

Let's let's talk to our three local legislative people and get them to work for us too and get something passed.

Um all you're doing right now, and this is a great project, but all you're doing right now is you're buying two years a time.

Um so I I challenge the council, I challenge the committee of Grand Island.

Let's get this figured out.

So we we're not back here in two years.

Mr.

Stelk, we'll bring this up with the city's lobbyist.

Mr.

O'Neill.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um I want to do anything we can to continue to attract visitors to Grand Island.

Uh we we love it when people come here, stay here, stay in a hotel, go out to eat, go shopping.

That's a big economic impact to town, and we want to keep doing that.

These shows have been a success for a long time.

I live out near the Fawner campus.

I can always tell there's something going on out there when these things are here in town.

And these are things I think we have to find ways to protect because once it's gone, it's tough to get back.

And I I think what uh we found is there's a lot of other communities around here that have got very competitive with their facilities now, too, that we didn't have some of that competition several years ago.

Um I like to echo what uh Councilmember Stelk said too.

I think we should continue to talk to the state as well.

And and I had mentioned this uh a couple months ago to a state representative as well.

I think we should continue to explore all other revenue sources as well.

And it seems like our peers are doing other things that maybe we're not doing, and we need every tool we can get in the kit to make sure we can continue keeping these here, and I'll I'll do whatever I can to try and help as well.

So thank you, and I'm very supportive of this.

Please vote.

Motion adopted ordinance 10 a consideration of amending Article 23, Chapter 6, Hotel Tax.

And Mr.

Lanfear, the motion to suspend the rules, please.

Mr.

Mayor, I move that we suspend the state rules.

Mr.

Mayor ordinances.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I second the motion.

Any discussion?

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Mr.

Brown, please present.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, this item has come back to you uh last time we talked about this, actually twice.

Talked about this in December of 25, and also and the retreat in February.

So this is to move the hotel occupation tax from 2% to 4%.

That extra 2% will give the city uh a $500,000 on, and it would be capital for some projects that we need to get done.

Um to Mary's Mary's point, to Mr.

Fiala's point, this is this is Fawner Park Campus night.

So we're reinvesting.

It's the Heartland Event Center, it's part of the Fawner campus.

So uh on your screen.

Um here's some improvement costs that we have for our Harland Event Center.

We've already started the chillers and the boilers.

Um arena lighting needs to be be uh replaced, the sound system.

We're working on the vestibule.

Uh matter of fact, you uh approved the contract tonight for the architects for the vestibule.

Um so that'll be moving forward.

Uh the roof replacement, uh the ice rink, as I think council all knows that that grant did not go through.

Um, so I'm not sure of the energy of pursuing the ice rink at this time.

Uh it's a conversation to come up.

So the subtotal, if you include the ice rink, is 10 million dollars.

And then you have island oasis, which I consider part of the fawner cabinets as well, at 11,500.

And so we're looking at uh basically 23,500 investment into that into that area.

So I'm sorry, 23 million.

So one of the things I I do uh from uh Mr.

Fiala's presentation and economic impact to the city and county.

I I saw in there, so the casino uh tax, which we put into our general fund, which has helped us, not uh raising property tax.

So that has helped immensely, okay.

Okay.

That's also helped when the state has reduced some of our revenues that we get from the state.

Secondly, uh the hotel the uh they have it as lodging tax, but it's the hotel occupation tax.

That is going to the Heartland Event Center.

All of those funds are so that's an investment in there.

They also showed then a occupation tax of the city.

Well, that's food and beverage, I'm pretty sure.

That's all going back into island oasis.

And so we do keep in mind what's going on in the Fawner Park campus, and I think the city does a really good job in investing in that area.

So this hotel tax that we are talking about this evening would help finance these improvements into the Hireland Event Center.

Uh these are just some of the uh financing uh scenarios that I have gone through that with these are the same as I gave to you in February, so this is not changed.

Um here are the revenue sources.

We also have here this is a comparison of the uh all the taxes that places charge for people to stay.

So at Omaha, you'll see it 17 and a half, 16 in Lincoln, Grand Island is 14 and a half, Carney 15, 16.65 Manhattan, Lawrence is 17.35, 16.13 Kansas City, Denver is 19.9, Fort Worth is 19.25, and Louisville, Kentucky, it's 17.

So the median is is 16, basically 16 percent, and we would be at 16 and a half.

So we're right into the median area on this, so uh, we're not the lowest, we're not the highest.

So um again, um, this is just to increase the hotel tax to another two percent to four percent, and it wouldn't go in effect until May 1st of 26.

Thank you.

Brad, did you want to speak or just questions?

Thank you, Brad Melama, Grand Island Tourism 201 West Third Street.

Um, wanted to speak on this.

Um I did not know that the island oasis was going to be proposed as a part of this project.

I'm not sure I understand how the connection of that directly to the hotel tax makes a lot of sense.

I do understand uh the increase potentially needed for some of the things at Heartland Event Center.

Uh, but I want you encourage you as council to think of this as a plan to increase tourism in Grand Island, not just fixed stuff.

Okay, not just fixed stuff, make it a plan so that it's a part of the larger community effort to grow the tourism economy of our of our community.

Okay.

Island Oasis, I'm just absorbing this right now.

I didn't know that was going to be a part of this.

That's a tourism, but very localized, very localized.

I would love to see how far the perimeter is for folks that might come to that versus events even at Heartland Event Center.

And within Heartland Event Center, there's great progress made, great shows, great efforts there, love the energy, support the need for increases there, but you have to really watch what you're doing to the individual businesses in the hotels.

You're tapping them.

An occupation tax can go against any unified business across the city.

It doesn't have to just be hotels, it can be anything so long as it's uniform across the community.

So you could say you pick anything that would affect people that go to Island Oasis or whatever to pick a new sector.

The hotels are traditionally done not just in Grand Island, of course, but across the state and across the country that way.

But be careful with that.

Every airplane that touches down at the airport could theoretically say, well, that should pay for part of the Heartland Event Center because people fly in for entertainment purposes, those types of things.

That kind of logic is what's being employed with with our hotels right now.

Junior Camey represents some uh ownership of hotels, but he tells me he's too nervous to talk uh to a group like this, but he wanted you to be very mindful of these improvements and the effect that it has on those hotel years.

So again, not necessarily opposed to an increase.

We understand a 20-year-old building needs to have things done.

The pool came out of left field communication was not strong.

A plan was not really presented.

So that's that's my take on that.

Like you let you absorb that for however you choose to vote.

Any questions I have be available.

Mayor, if I may clarify.

Yes.

So the poll is not part of the lodging tax whatsoever.

It's being paid out of food and beverage.

It's part of the loan package.

Thank you, Mr.

Brown.

On the merits of ordinance number 10,068.

Is there a motion?

Mr.

O'Neill.

I move we approve 10,068.

And Mr.

Lanfear.

I'm second.

Thank you.

Mr.

Sheard.

Thank you.

Pat, thanks for the information on this and the packet.

I appreciate seeing the uh comparison of the different cities and where they are.

I think it's important to note that that's based on a percentage, not necessarily the price of each hotel room.

So while the percentages might fluctuate and be really close, if the hotel room in a neighboring town is $100 more per night than ours, then that 0.5% doesn't really mean it's cheaper.

One of the questions I had for you is the memo said that the two percent to four percent would increase from five hundred thousand to thirteen or to look at it, sorry.

So the incremental two percent will add five hundred thousand.

But the number it showed us was eight hundred thousand more.

So I was curious where that came from.

Um the fiscal impact, the occupation taxes were five hundred and seventy-four thousand dollars, and a two percent increase would put them at one million three hundred and seventy-four thousand, so an eight hundred thousand dollar increase, but then we say that it's a five hundred thousand for that increase.

I like that math better.

I don't think it's accurate.

Yeah.

Um I would have I don't have a calculator on me, sorry, but um so the five seventy-five, so okay, five seventy-five is off two percent.

Right.

So we're looking at so you're looking at a lot of four one point one, one point two, yeah, yeah.

Uh 1150, 1.5, sorry.

Uh next question I have for you on that chart you showed.

I noticed that the Hall County is charging four percent right now as well.

Yes.

Do they have any limitations on how high they can go?

I think four percent is max.

That's correct.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

So us going to four and maybe down the road going to five.

Getting to be about the max of what it could go.

These other entities can't just keep adding on and adding.

Okay.

All right.

Well, I I'm in favor of this.

I I like that we're going to four percent and not five percent.

Uh I think that one percent difference there down the line might be one of the solutions we look at for uh potentially the uh grand island livestock shows.

Uh, but that's for our discussion down the line.

Uh I like the four percent.

I think that that's easier to bite off right now, and I think it puts us in line with neighboring cities.

So thank you.

Mr.

Nickerson.

Well, you've got your chart up there.

I'm just trying to do the math.

So help me under the Grand Island column.

Where is the city's amount on that?

Is it that we're talking about proposal?

So the total tax rate of 14 and a half.

But which line?

So the occupation tax is right here at 2 percent.

But I thought we were raising that to four.

I'm just uh this is original.

This is I'm just comparing today's numbers with today's numbers with other cities.

Okay.

So you're not telling what it will be with the additional two percent, which obviously raises.

It shall be 16 and a half.

Right.

So now that puts us above the median.

As far, of course, you have to factor in that a little bit.

So it puts us a little above the median, and again, we're below the maximum.

Uh would put us ahead of Lincoln, ahead of Carney.

But the reason that I'm okay with that is this document that I've got in front of me, the Heartland Events Center annual report that was shared with us here a few meetings ago.

One of the things that I like about this and that I that caught my attention was we were talking about how does that event center impact the hotels.

And one of the big numbers in here that stood out, I don't know how they got arrived at, but it said 35,518 room nights are created through the Heartland Event Center.

And that's probably based on what's happened so far, not counting what future events will be.

That's a big number, and I'm trying to calculate in my mind how how big is that for the hotel industry.

The Heartland Event Center plays a very big role in keeping some of these hotels filled, I don't know about filled, but at least people uh with heads and beds.

So that is a big number, and we want to capitalize on that, and we know that the hard work that's going on in the event center is just going to continue to increase that number.

So the 35,500 plus nights created is an impressive number to me that we we want to continue to build upon.

I think when we spoke of this back in December or whenever it was, I think a lot of the pushback that we heard was again, you know, are we going to pick on the industry of hotels at this point at a 5% rate?

And I think we've had a good discussions that said that 5% is probably too much.

And probably when we're looking at the needs here to keep an event center current the greatest way possible, we do need to invest in that event center because we know that that 35,500 plus should increase with all the work that uh Kyler Tarwater and his crew is doing.

So we should see that increase.

That should be good for the industry and hotels, that should be good for the food and beverage tax.

And I think for Grandon as a whole, we just see a win-win there.

So I'm okay with the 4%.

And if we need to look at additional revenue, I would agree that there may be some other avenues we should probably look down, but right now this seems to make sense, and I really like the amount of rooms that are filled so far, is pretty impressive to me.

Mr.

O'Neill.

I support the two percent increase in the occupation tax.

And I I think it's the most responsible way to fund the repairs at the event center at this time.

You know, the needs are real.

There's at least you know, 10 to 12 million going in there, depending upon what we do.

Um the comparison sheet shows that Grand Island's you know, still at the low end of that spectrum, and I think it's um good for the local taxpayers as well if we can get into the uh the midpoint with the occupation tax and protect them as well.

And the key thing is this event center is starting to draw a lot of people from out of town.

And uh I've spent a lot of time talking to Kyler, but there have been a lot of events, and I've seen anything from demo derbies to volleyball games to concerts or whatever.

There are a lot of people coming from out of town.

I talked to someone else in town today trying to do a multi-day event um there later this year that will attract a lot of people from out of town as well.

Um, and I think we want to make sure that these events are bringing people to stay in hotels here as well, and I think many of them are.

Uh venue work seems like they've been working very hard, and there's a lot of stuff wearing down in a 20-year-old facility we have to take care of.

Um I think it's the right funding source.

It's paid by hotel guests and not local property taxpayers.

Uh we know the repairs are needed, and it seems like this funding source does fit this.

I think it's a good range to be in.

I think the five percent was too high as well, and we want to be responsible.

I think being at that midpoint is is uh defensible place to be.

Mr.

Pollock.

Thank you, Mayor.

Pat uh 5%.

How much would it change the bottom line on the total?

At another 250.

That seems like an awful small bag of peanuts that we're arguing about.

My my only problem with having this left back in reserve is we have the legislature out there every year looking for places where there's preserved money that they can take.

And trust me, if they had no problem taking good life district money, they have no problem taking this.

I would just as soon go for the five percent, have it cut and dry, and we'll be done with it.

Because we'll be back in two years to ask them for it.

If if everything goes the way it always has.

Thanks, Pat.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Ordinance 10B, consideration of vacation of public right-of-way in original town alley from Claiborne Street to Elm Street between First Street and Division Street.

Mr.

Kurtz.

Well, first, look, we're gonna suspend the statutory rules first, I think.

Mr.

Lanfear.

I move we suspend state statutory rules considering ordinances.

And Mr.

O'Neill.

I second the motion.

Any discussion?

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Now, Mr.

Kurtz, please proceed.

Yes, uh the public works department received a request uh on behalf of Hope Harbor to vacate the alley between Claiborne and Elm just south of First Street.

Um they are looking to redevelop the north side of that law and they don't want traffic through the alley.

Um they proposed an easement for the utilities uh in that alley space.

All departments had a chance to comment on this.

There were no objections, so we recommend uh vacating the alley between Claiborne and Elm just south of First Street.

Thank you, Mr.

Kurtz.

Mr.

Brown.

I move we approve 10,069.

And Mr.

O'Neill.

I second the motion.

Any discussion?

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Ordinance 10c, consideration of amending ordinance 22-125, parking and storing RVs.

Mr.

Lanfear, please proceed with your motion.

I move that we suspend the state regulation considering ordinances.

And Mr.

O'Neill.

I second.

Any discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Good evening, Mrs.

Nonhoff.

Please present.

Thank you.

Um Green Island Code Enforcement had come to the legal department asking for a change for the RV storage and what you can, how many you can have on your property to help clarify the codes and make it easier for them to enforce and for citizens of Grand Island to understand what they can and cannot do with RVs.

So we're asking that you approve the ordinance tonight to bring this forth this clarity.

Mr.

Hawsey.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to approve ordinance number one zero zero seven zero.

And Mr.

Brown.

I second that motion.

Discussion.

Please vote.

Motion adopted.

Thank you, everyone, for an excellent meeting.

We are adjourned.