We will bring the special assembly finance committee, which is the joint meeting with the Eagle Crest Board of Directors to order for March 4th.

Madam Kirk, will you note the role?

And we'll go immediately into our agenda topics, which is our joint meeting, and we'll start with introduction.

So we'll go to Mr.

Collum.

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

All right.

I like long walks on the snow.

And uh no.

My name is Brandon Cullum.

I'm the uh board chair for the Eagle Crest board.

I've been on the board uh about a year and a half now and chair for some number of months that I've lost track of.

Um, and it's a pleasure to be here.

Thank you.

And thanks for being here.

I'm Beth Weldon, I'm the mayor.

Go ahead, Mrs.

Hughes Candies.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh Alicia Hughes Gandhi's assembly, seven or eight years.

Not a good skier, but I do enjoy getting up there.

I'm Kevin Crine.

I'm in my second term on the Eagle Crest board.

I also work at UAS as the director of outdoor studies and a philosophy professor and um run a ski guiding business in town.

I'm Thor Lynn Stam, Eagle Crest board member and uh in my first term.

Maureen Hall Assembly member in my first term and uh just got in from a ski on the lake.

I'm Jim Calvin, board member, was a board member from 2004 to 2010 and recently rejoined in I think it was August of this year, and also representing the board on the the city manager's um gondola project team along with uh Craig Dahl, Alex Pierce, and uh Alan Steffert.

Paul Kelly, Juno Assembly.

I've been on the assembly for almost three years.

Um I love both both cross-country and downhill skiing.

Good evening, Wayne Stevens.

Uh recently appointed to the board in August.

I'm a repeat offender.

I served nine years previously.

I think I was done in 2017 or so.

Um served as chair for two or three years during that time, uh lifelong skier.

I'm Sean O'Neill, um on the Eagle Crest board and in my first term.

Neil Steininger on the assembly in my first term, and I serve as the liaison to the Eagle Crest Board.

My name is Nano Brooks.

I'm uh assembly member first term, and I will bring some representation for the snowboarders of Eagle Crest as well.

We certainly can't forget them.

Umline, uh Ms.

Wall.

Hi, everybody.

Um, Christine Wall.

I am um in my sixth year on the assembly, and I don't have great internet tonight, so I'm gonna keep my camera off, but I'll be listening and um attentively.

Sounds good, Deputy Mayor.

Are you there?

I am Madam Mayor, thank you.

Greg Smith starting my third term on the assembly.

Umder and user of Eagle Crest.

And thanks to the board for your work, volunteerism and service.

Thank you.

And then I don't think we have an Eagle Crest board members online.

Okay, then we'll go to you, Ms.

Lipro, if you want to introduce yourself and we'll go down the list and any of your staff that's here.

I'm Aaron Lupro, the acting general manager of Eagle Crest.

I also run the Snow Sports Rental Retail Repair.

Robert R, Deputy City Manager.

I' Katie Kester, City Manager, and I'd like to introduce Alex Pierce in the back, who is the tourism director, also a longtime badass skier and uh very uh so very involved in all things Eagle Crest and Craig Dahl uh in the audience whose special project's been working on uh cracking the gondola nut for us.

Good evening.

I'm Angie Flick.

I'm the finance director.

And I'm Adrian Wendell, CBJ's budget manager.

All right, have we missed any staff of any kind?

And then we have people in the audience.

Thank you for coming tonight.

So with that, we'll send it right over to you, Mr.

Collum.

All right.

Well, thank you very much, Mayor.

Um we've got a presentation for you tonight.

We just want to talk a little bit about the budget.

You've already seen the budget.

Um, but we just want to dive into a few uh special focus areas, and then we uh have a little bit of a discussion about the gondola, but that'll uh be fairly brief too.

So presenting this evening, um, we'll have Aaron Lupro, our acting general manager, uh Jim Calvin, um, chair of several board her chair of several committees and very active in the in the gondola working group, and then myself, Brandon Cullum.

Um so I think we can just jump right in.

And for those online, we won't be able to see you with the screen sharing.

So raise your hand or yell or anything along the way if you have questions.

All right, Maul, while uh Aaron gets that ready.

I do want to point out that Aaron is acting general manager, and I'm fairly new in my position.

So if you have any detailed questions, we may have to phone a friend or uh get back to you.

We'll do our best to answer any questions that you have.

Um but just keep that in mind and your patience is appreciated.

Thank you.

Okay.

Must be a beautiful day up at Eagle Crest today.

You know, I heard, but some of us worked, yes.

But uh those of us that didn't have lots of great stories out here, Sean.

Or looking at you, man.

Okay, we gotta work in now.

Thank you, everybody, for your patience.

Um, as you can see here, we have an overview of what we're going to present this evening.

Uh, we're going to start with uh Eagle Crest operations so far this season.

Uh, roll into the budget summary, revenue trends, expense trends, general fund support, and then we'll finish with the Capital Improvement Projects.

Okay, so far this season, um, Eagle Crest has been open 61 days.

We have budgeted for 86 days for this season.

Uh, we opened Tarmagan or we opened the mountain on uh December 5th, which was the first Saturday in December.

Uh Tarmigan was on the 15th of January.

Uh current snowfall as of today is now 305 inches.

Um, so we've gained a little bit since we started this presentation.

Uh we had a total of 19 snowmaking days this year.

Um, and for those of you that don't know what avalanche reduction missions are, it is our risk management on the mountain.

So Ski Patrol goes out and does avalanche mitigation to make sure that the area is safe for skiers and riders on the mountain.

Um, also updated is the West Bowl and East Bowl openings.

We have 19 days for the West Bowl.

And before I left today, we ended up with 21 days for the East Bowl.

So it was a very busy day on the mountain today, very snowy.

Um, this one's near and dear to my heart.

Community engagement is one of my favorite parts of my job.

Um the mountain in the summertime.

I think this year will be our fourth summer having Eagle Crest summer camps.

We saw a need.

Um, I have kids.

I know how hard it is to get into programs for kids in this town, uh, from swimming lessons to any sort of camp you wait and you watch that clock tick down.

So uh we decided to give it a try.

We knew that summer operations was something that we needed to focus on for the future of Eagle Crest.

So this was kind of in my wheelhouse um of coming up with ideas.

So for the last three years, we've had um kids at the mountain doing all sorts of adventure camps and activities, hiking and all over the entire mountain.

So last summer we had 50 kids over four weeks.

Um, we are limited by staff, obviously.

Um, but we also have a really fun event in the fall, uh Eagle Crest Haunted House, which is a fundraiser for the Eagle Crest Foundation for the Books of Board program.

So we have a lot of the books of board students that come up to the mountain and help uh decorate the lodge with us and they participate and they dress up and they scare the public.

They have a really great time and it creates a lot of uh team bonding across different schools in our community.

Um we also always host a Christmas Eve event at Eagle Crest.

It was a little bit limited this year with um issues that we had going on the lodge, but we did have 60 kids that uh Santa gave gifts to this year and along with their families that were there as well.

So we turned it into a different kind of event uh than usual, but it still was a fantastic outreach to the community.

Um through the fall and winter, we've had two movie nights on the mountain.

We are gonna have a couple more movie nights up on the mountain this year.

Um and in the fall, we had Discover Eagle Crest Day.

It's a community day on the mountain.

We hadn't have it had it in a couple of years, probably six or seven years.

So we brought it back this year, um, pulled together a lot of vendors in town that wanted to support Eagle Crest and wanted to show what their groups um could do on the mountain in the winter as well.

So we did a huge fundraiser for that event, but in conjunction with the Eagle Crest Foundation.

We had a silent auction, we had uh barbecue, we had face painting, all sorts of activities for families on the mountain, and we raised funds for both the books to boards um program and the school group scholarship program that we have with the foundation.

And we move into the school group scholarship foundation, our scholarship through the foundation.

Um we created this event.

We used to have a learn to ski weekend for I think 36 years on the mountain.

And the event was for third and fourth grade students, and we could only reach about 30 kids in that on a weekend.

So I talked to the foundation, and instead of only reaching 30 kids in a season, we're able to reach this year 19 classes of more than 30 kids.

Some of these classes are bring up 60, 70 kids.

So that's a lot of students that are being sponsored by this program.

Um, and then book support program.

This is our middle school outreach program that we have on the mountain that is through the foundation as well.

Uh, these students are brought to us from teachers and counselors of kids that don't otherwise have access to Eagle Crest.

Um, and we want to support them and mentor them and create good relationships both with each other and with uh the staff on the mountain.

So that is community straight into the big stuff.

Major maintenance projects on the mountain this year.

Um, we had quite a few.

We were really grateful to the assembly that uh gave us quite a bit of money to work on deferred maintenance throughout the summer to do some really large projects.

Uh, some of them being uh the new bull wheel bearing on the top of pharmigan.

I know that sounds like it might be an easy quick fix, but it's really a large project where you have to actually take the bull wheel off of the lift and either bring it down to the bottom of the mountain to replace the parts and then take it back up and put it back in once you've done that.

Um, so these we ended up taking the one off of Black Bear, bringing it down, uh, which we found out was actually Parmigan's original bull wheel, uh, got that fixed up, put it back on Tarmigan, um, got that changed out.

So, along with that, that's big project.

We had lots of great contractors, lift specialists that came in to help support these big lifts through the summer.

Um, we did a lot of major fleet maintenance on our snowcats as well.

So they were ready for services and they had lots of safety equipment um brought on to them as well.

We did the Fish Creek Lodge Water Project, um, which was the unexpected project that we had in the cold snap.

Uh, we also did some blasting.

They hardened the road to the mid station.

Um, we refurbished some snow guns.

We relocated a mobile uh patrol hut to the base or to the top of Hooter so that uh ski patrol had somewhere to be in the middle of the mountain so that they could cycle down from the top and so that there was always somebody around on the mountain, easy to get to where they needed to go.

Um we also rebuilt shives on Hooter and uh Porcupine lifts, and we did non-destructive testing on the Tarmigan Tower Bolts and Clips this year as well, which is a lot of work.

On to Brandon.

All right, thanks, Aaron.

Um, this is uh just a summary of uh approved budgets and our requested FY27 budget from FY24 to FY uh 27.

And just a couple of patterns to point out here, you know, the trend in our general fund support is we saw that peak in FY25, help us catch up on um on maintenance.

And now we're back to uh normal um, like our historical contributions at 930,000.

And then on other revenues, you may note that FY27, we project in the budget a significant drop in revenues.

We're gonna talk about that a little bit more.

Um, but that's really a function of just declining past sales that will we'll make some correlations to some other factors here in a bit.

Um, but we don't want to over overpromise and we'll we'll definitely get into that.

And we'll we'll definitely get into that.

Um, commodities and services, we've seen a jump uh in FY26, and that carries into FY27 somewhat.

We're trying to back it off in FY27 just a little bit, at least to not grow it.

But that's really a function of our maintenance needs.

Um, and then we also see cost allocations affecting that a little bit, and we'll talk about that.

Um, and then in personal services, we see you know, things holding steady from FY24 to FY25, and then we see that jump in FY26.

And something that to note is that was originally about three point a little bit more than 3.8 million.

And um, we had that cushion to move in to bring uh Eagle Crest employees into the CBJ pay plan, ended up costing about half a million, a little more than half a million less than expected.

And we just gave that up and and uh we didn't need it uh to meet our needs, and um and that represents a solid savings.

And um then in FY27, the increase we see on top of that is just the standard wage growth that that's automatically pushed out um from CBJ or by the city to um employees that are in the pay plan.

So uh one thing to note that we'll also talk a little bit more is the uh difference between what we see budgeted and personal services and what we actually expect to spend because of our vacancy rate and um and what we're gonna be doing with that.

Um finally you can see our net totals and the fund balance starting in FY25.

Uh the assembly graciously uh made the decision to support Eagle Crest on its path to sustainability and allowed us to move into a negative fund balance.

Um and some drivers there were increased expense for uh bringing employees into the pay CBJ pay plan, which is something that was going to prepare us better for uh gondola and year-round operations so that we can improve retention and better recruit.

Um then additionally, we see um more expenses, you know, that that drive that up.

So let's go to the next one.

I was just gonna say you're gonna explain some of these, so we'll wait on questions for a little bit.

Okay.

That sounds that sounds good, yeah.

Um, you know, here you can see if you so this is just um FY25 actuals uh in a review of FI26 adopted, amended, and projected, and then FY27 projected.

And this is where in the personal services line, you know, you can see for FY26, we've got 3.8 million after the integration, we end up with about 3.3.

And our projected is in the 2.4 neighborhood.

And that's the vacancy rate gap that I'm talking about.

Now FY27, we jump back up because that assumes the uh standard vacancy rate, which I think uh CBJ for the first time is allocated a vacancy rate to the Eagle Crest budget, and I think it's 4.1% this year, but in reality, we're higher than that.

Um, I think it's closer to 15%.

And so um just something to keep in mind.

And then you can see some growth in um, well, I think that's probably the the mediest point.

Uh again, there's the general fund contribution to that you can see from FY25 to FY27, where we're we're coming back down.

So and if questions come up that I don't address later, we can always move back to these slides.

So go ahead, Aaron.

Oh, yeah, thanks.

It uh at the wrong angle in my glasses, it looks like the same slide.

So uh these are the variances that we that are just summarized that you could probably pick out from the previous slide.

And I really don't have much to add for this one.

All right.

So one of the one of the questions that we anticipate the assembly asking, and and that we often ask ourselves is what can we do on the revenue side?

And the obvious, you know, solution that one would want to consider is raise prices, right?

Um, so we've been taking a look at what's happening with um revenue in relation to different events.

And I think this is a really telling correlation.

Um, you know, correlation isn't causality, but you can't ignore it.

And this shows our operating revenues year to year correlated with annual snowfall.

And you know, 26, we're still snowfall is still in in process and our revenue is still in process, right?

Like we could still make more revenue.

Most past sales are in.

Um, but I think the more telling is uh the drop that we saw in 25.

So, you know, we we did have some difficulties in 25, but 25 was a really bad snow year, and we saw revenues suffer from that.

And you know, 26 started off rough, you know, people had the taste of 2025 in their mouth, and then they're they're bringing that to their decision process when they're thinking about whether or not they're gonna buy passes.

And then 2026 starts off to be a pretty bad snow year too.

I mean, we did have the snowpocalypse in December, but counterintuitively that doesn't necessarily make for great skiing because it wasn't super safe snow, and we had lift issues at the beginning of the season too.

So um we have to wait for snow to stabilize to open everything, and and we've also got to get people there.

So um, it's just definitely something to keep in mind.

And I think before we make the bigger point here, I'd like to go to the next slide and turn that one over to Mr.

Calvin.

Thanks, Brennan.

Yeah, I've had I've had my head buried in sales data for far far too long.

And there are just a few points that we need to keep in mind as we contemplate pricing for next year.

What we want to be very careful of is building in barriers that actually reduce opportunities for people to enjoy our our community ski area.

This graph shows the the number of passes, adult passes sold compared to the average cost of a pass.

And you can see the average cost of a pass increased pretty sharply from the 21, 22 season to the 23, 24 season and held stable in 25.

As those pass prices went up, the number of passes declined.

We see the same story in uh teen passes and in youth passes.

The result is between 22 and 25, there we sold 250 fewer adult passes.

That's about a 15% decrease.

Again, that ignores 26 when we had kind of a big drop off in pass sales.

And the teen pass sales and youth pass sales are both down by about 25% over that four-year period.

So as we think about increasing our revenues, we just have to be very careful with how we price so that we don't defeat our own purpose and add additional barriers and result in less revenue.

Our objective is not just to raise prices.

Our objective is to raise revenue.

And the best way to raise revenue is to increase the number of passes that we sell.

So we need to restore confidence in our pass holders and just get the number get these numbers back.

Yeah, and I think uh just summarize these two slides.

I think that the idea of restoring confidence is key, right?

I mean, it may not be any one thing, it may not just be the weather, it may not be the pricing, it may not be the lift functionality issues, but we've lived through a bit of a perfect storm here, not the time we had today, but um a little bit worse of a perfect storm.

And um the last thing we want to do is raise prices and then further alienate folks um from the community recreation area that Eagle Crest is.

Um, but that doesn't mean we did we don't need some kind of revenue solution, of course.

We just want to add that um looking at this, this is just the adult pricing and sales.

Um I'm watching what's happening right now, and since we've been getting snow, and I'm noticing that people are also buying differently this year.

They might not be buying an adult season pass, but they're buying five visits or 10 visits or day tickets or flex passes.

So they're buying very differently this year because of the uncertainty.

Yep.

We'll probably want to see that data as soon as you can get it.

Any questions on the revenue side of the house from the assembly?

Uh Ms.

Huscanys.

Thanks, Madam Mayor.

Uh looking at this, sometimes I'm trying to skew my uh brain on a couple of different access.

So what is the just the adult uh pass?

So just a normal how what has that changed?

Sorry from 25 to 26.

Or even 24.

Say your question a little different.

How what would it cost me if I'm an adult to buy a season pass in 24, 25 and 26?

What is the pass price?

Off the top of my head, I'm not certain, but I believe it was there's different tiers.

Sure.

Give me one second.

The adult tier one price was six hundred and thirty dollars um for this year.

I believe it was the same for last year as well.

And then 24, I don't have with me, but I can get it.

So that hasn't changed between those two guys.

Okay, thank you.

Ms.

Hall, did you have a question?

Yeah, thank you, Mayor Beth.

Um the uh, you know, at one point I heard a comment that you know, maybe they should reopen the season pass sales because some folks had withhold purchasing one more protest.

So I I don't know if there's any any credence to that sentiment or or if that's something, you know, giving folks an opportunity to support their local ski area in good times and bad.

Season pass sales are still open, but they are open at the larger rate, which is the tier two.

Um we will have a conversation as a a board to talk about what we want to do in the next meeting.

So there's and if and if I may just follow up on that, you know, one of the issues with opening the the sale price back up, like the early season discount price back up, is in what about the folks who bought passes at the higher price after that window closed?

So then we'd have to contemplate a refund and figure out where that money comes from.

So if it becomes a bit of a sticky wicket.

All right.

Uh Mr.

Smith.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I was looking at the it looks like the donations and contributions line item.

Is that mostly the Eagle Crest Foundation or yeah?

Um you could let me know what the what that one's from.

Yes, that is 100,000 is typically from Eagle Crest Foundation to the ski area each year.

And quick follow-up.

Follow up and does that include like the sponsorship of the towers and things.

Is that I can't remember if that goes to the foundation and then comes back to you crust or is that anyway?

Uh separate pot of money.

The the 100,000 annual donation is actually from the uh EagleCrest endowment held by Juno Community Foundation.

That's the the fund created by uh Bill Corbis.

Uh separate from that are funds arranged for books to boards and for the school group program, which is um as Aaron described earlier, uh Halloween events and other um Discover Equal Crest days of our raise money for that.

And then Tower Sign is a separate sponsorship program, which we're initially reinitiating this year.

The sponsorships are due.

So we'll be kicking that program off.

Last time we did that, we raised about a hundred thousand dollars.

I'm saying we because I'm chair of the uh foundation board.

Um so separate separate avenues for money to go through the foundation to the ski area.

Uh we have reserve funds for the books to boards for school group uh and for the operating endowment funds.

Thank you.

Um since we're at you, what is the fund balance of the Eagle Crest Foundation?

Do you know?

Uh the money held by the Geno Community Foundation in the endowment is somewhere in the neighborhood of two and a half million dollars.

I think and we receive the foundation receives each year roughly five percent of that.

Any further Mr.

Steininger?

Um, for context, how do our past prices compare to past prices at other kind of similar looking ski areas?

Um, so I would I was just uh visiting my daughter in Bozeman and I went to Bridger Bowl, and um we're cheaper than Bridger Bowl by and I'd have to look it up online, but my impression was buy a hundred, a hundred and fifty bucks um for an adult pass, you know, but Bridger Bowl has like four high-speed quads and stuff in but but as far as area and vertical feet goes, it's fairly comparable, right?

But their infrastructure is very built out, they have a midway lodge, that kind of stuff.

Um, a couple of years ago I was at Mission Ridge, which is a another kind of more community-oriented ski area, and I I noticed something similar.

I mean, Mission Bridge was a little bit more expensive, but it's also more built out with more infrastructure and they get more a little more tourism than we do.

So go ahead, Mr.

Steiniger.

Um kind of different different vein of question.

Um, Miss Lupro kind of mentioned that buying behavior is a little different this year with more kind of day passes or pass blocks as part of that analysis of pricing um that you did, Mr.

Calvin.

Do you kind of consider maybe keeping seasons pass prices level, but raising those day passes or those booklets to try and push behavior back towards season passes?

Yeah, that's exactly the calculus that we have to consider each year.

We want to we want to we have dual mandates.

One is maximize operating revenue, the other is maximize participation, get as many people in the community up there as we as we can.

So finding that balance, if you tip the balance on season pass prices, I guess it's okay to shoot a little high if you can generate an equal amount or more from five day or 10 day passes, or if you have price your day day tickets right.

There's you know, you you just have to find that sweet spot where each price generates the maximum revenue for the particular product, whether it's a season pass, whether it's a five-day pass, a 10-day pass, or a half day ticket or a full day ticket.

We really have to, and there's no there's no magic to that.

You just have to look at the numbers and see where we think we can generate the most revenue and keep the most people on the mountain as we possibly can.

Yes, finding prices is not an easy task.

Ms.

Huscanies.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

To that end, trying to balance those dual mandates and trying to figure out something that works for everyone.

Have you looked at further splitting up, trying to incentivize the pass purchasing, but splitting it up more between installments?

Because I know that we see that for better or worse across a lot of high-ticket prices, airline tickets, uh, whatever disposable income things that you shouldn't be buying, saying make it monthly, you know, to make it uh more feasible.

Have you looked at anything like that?

We currently have that as an option.

Um, we have the payment plan, which starts in July.

So you make your initial payment in July, and then you have uh, I believe six additional smaller payments after that to pay off your pass, which I think the last one is in the middle of November, so that by the time you get the the chairlift spins, your pass is activated and it's paid off.

Just a follow-up on that.

Uh go ahead, Ms.

Huscanies.

Uh thanks.

And I wouldn't have thought of that if you didn't already have it.

I mean, just have you considered breaking it up further.

Because I remember as someone who that's a big sticker shot to buy a pass when that came online was like, oh, hey, this is actually pretty attainable.

So just food for that.

All right.

Um, Chair Collin.

Yeah.

And uh so uh member Steinager.

Is that the should I say member?

We just call Mr.

Heinegger.

All right, thank you.

So we're getting used to this.

So I I totally bear in mind when I was at Bridger Bowl, I was looking at uh passes for my kid who still falls into a different bracket.

So there are a couple of hundred dollars more.

There's several hundred dollars more.

So they start at 9 30 and go up to over a thousand, depending on when you get it, um, which I think is reflected in their infrastructure, like it's a built-out system.

So there's uh Ms.

Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um I haven't, well, let me try to ask this question.

You know, we are basically like have a concrete understanding of what the pool of potential customers are at Eagle Crest, and we're just trying to, you know, figure out how to maximize their uh participation, or are there you know, new people that you know show up once or twice that we're trying to convert into others or people who've never gone to Eagle Crest that we're trying to turn into users?

Like, do we have a sense of what what percentage of the market, you know, what our market potential looks like.

Who wants to try and tackle that?

Mr.

Calvin.

I I do know that they have a unless you've gotten rid of a triple play that tries to incentivize new skiers, but go ahead, Mr.

Calvin.

Yeah, I think cost is a is a let's face it, cost of skiing is a principal barrier.

And that that's why books to boards and the school group program are so important because they essentially provide kids an opportunity to be introduced to skiing at virtually no cost.

It it gets more challenging to keep them engaged is a more challenging effort.

But keeping youth pass prices cheap is one way to do that.

There are a lot of different barriers, but I think Eagle Crest has done a pretty good job.

The last time we did market research, there was 5,000 people in Juno that were skiers, users of Eagle Crest.

So that's a big, a big chunk of our population.

And the question of pass pricing, a really important aspect of that is the size of our market.

We have 30,000 people.

We get folks from Sitka and we get folks in Haynes and Skagway, but we're a very small market for us for a skier that we have really fortunate, thanks to the generous support of taxpayers to have a ski area for a community our size.

And as we think about pricing, we you know we we could certainly charge $800 for a season pass, and we could probably sell a fair number of them, but then we'd see fewer and fewer people skiing, unless we made the day pass 40 or something.

So again, it's that it's that balance that we have to find that's really difficult.

And each year we we do our best, but then each year Mother Nature throws a curveball at us or uh a lift breaks down, or so it's um Aaron loses sleep over this every every year.

She tries to figure out the pricing.

Um, and just oh sorry about that.

Um just to follow up to what Mr.

Calvin was saying, this this relationship between day tickets and season passes is important because when the season pass holder goes to buy their ticket, they're going to be thinking about ski days, right?

And so, you know, how many ski days does it take me to break even on my season pass?

And so if season, you know, if day ticket prices go down and season pass prices go up, and you know, we're looking at an $800 season pass and a 40 day ticket, you know, that calculus is a lot of ski days, right?

And and so you may just decide to go with 40.

And um, and and so that's something we we wrestle with too when we start thinking about that relationship.

Yep, and rain does not help.

I've been around Eagle Crest enough that just takes one rainy season and you're almost starting back over with the climb back up to the numbers passes.

So we're sorry you're losing sleep, Ms.

Lupro.

Any further questions before we go on, Ms.

Hall.

I just had a question on the budget overview slide.

Um, what goes into the license permits and fees?

Because that um I think you uh adopt a budget was 463,000.

And for the proposed for FY27, it's 170,000.

So just kind of wondering what Ms.

Hall, can we hold that question until they get to the expense side of the house?

So that's all right.

Oh, is it never mind?

Sorry, I thought I was expense.

My bad.

So some of those are um permits, which is our vendors, which is zip line, uh i ride segue.

When we had the Alaska Coach Tours doing walking tours, that's permit revenue.

Um, those are the ones that are we had done previously.

Um the Alaska Coach Tours is not doing it.

Uh zip line right now has decided until we have a little bit more information on what the gondola project would be.

They are not going to be operating this summer until they have a better idea of where we're going.

Uh, they didn't want to sell the product this upcoming year.

Um, and it not it being construction, be in the construction zone.

And they knew that they were going to have to move their uh zip line anyways because it was in the way of the project.

So they decided for this next upcoming year that they would not operate.

So that's why the numbers also low.

Go ahead.

Um, I I'd like to add though that that does represent a lot of opportunity for us, right?

So we have, you know, it's not just the gondola, there are other places we can go for summer operations.

So, you know, we've got who Aaron just talked about, but it's a big mountain, and um, and it's something we we think a lot about.

And there are, you know, there are events that can be held up there, there are other concessions that we could bring to bear.

And so it that it's not lost on us that there's opportunity there.

Yeah, definitely hiking pass, biking pass.

Anything oh, Mr.

Burke, sorry.

Thank you, madam mayor.

I was just noticing the uh, you know, the um pricing and sales trends and then the snowfall and operating revenue trends.

And I, you know, for 27, it's our or for the current year, it's looking like our you know, snowfall is gonna spike back up there, which won't necessarily be reflective of you know the trend over time that's being presented now.

And I'm just curious like how much of the populations like conversion rate is being considered with the ticket sales.

So I know you're talking about you know, making sure that young people are engaged and stuff, but there's a lot of uh uh younger adults moving in and out of the community at a pretty decent rate, and you know, getting it on the radar of some of those young adults that are coming to the community, meaning like, hey, this is out there doing like outreach to the employers that are bringing some of these employee or uh employees in and then being like, hey, you know, let's do some sort of incentive opportunity to get them up there once and then you know, try and try and make them catch the bug for it.

But I I just uh wanted to mention that that could definitely be another aspect to consider with those trends is just you know, different people coming in and out and making sure that it's on everyone's radar.

Go ahead.

Yeah, you know, one thing uh that Aaron could probably even speak better to, but that we've heard a lot about in the last couple of years is Eagle Crest marketing, and and that helps us a lot to signal that the season's turning around.

So there may be folks at the beginning of the season that are like, oh, it's a dead season, I didn't buy my pass, or we're not getting the snowfall.

And then even, you know, like not today, of course, but later in the season, the snow starts to disappear from down low, but it's still wonderful up high, right?

And so we need that marketing to be able to communicate that and to get people um and to get the idea of Eagle Crest at all, you know, for some of the people that are in town for work and they're they're not from Juno or don't understand the area very well, to get that in front of them so they can come up and try.

So I think marketing is very important for us to maintain for that very reason and for communicating turnaround in the season for helping people understand the opportunity exists in the first place.

Ms.

Wall.

Thanks, man.

Um, I'll add to the list of things, all the ideas that we have that we want to ask you guys questions about in terms of revenue.

Um pill passes.

Is that something that you all are considering or is part of the plan or been talked about?

We had as a board and Eagle Crest talked about it, I think it was four years ago.

We have not talked about it since then.

Um part of the problem that we saw was enforcement.

Um, and we couldn't figure out how we could do that and have staff on the mountain to be able to enforce that, or if it was a free-for-all kind of check yourself.

Anything further?

Ms.

Huscanys.

Thanks, Madam Mayor.

I'm gonna just keep throwing crazy questions out there or crazy ideas, just while we're still talking about revenue, because um I think the board has a lot to consider.

And I think you all are considering revenue options that you may not have considered in the past, and you talked about all the summer opportunities.

I'm curious.

Um, this would not be something you would think of as a municipal ski hill.

But when Mr.

Brooks was mentioning um employers, it put to mind how many large private employers we have in town who use Eagle Crest absolutely as part of their recruitment when they're trying to convince someone to move to town.

So have you considered what giving on a larger scale would look like or setting up relationships with and if you're not following what kind of giving I'm talking about, you can say you're lost, and we can talk about it more later.

I'm well, I think what you're what I hear you saying is have we thought about asking companies to contribute to support Eagle Crest since it brings so much value to them, right?

And um, you know, there's the Eagle Crest Foundation.

I think Jim could definitely talk to that, and that you know it can engage on an ad hoc basis when there's a specific project or maybe maybe in other times too.

But I think it's definitely a good idea.

And it's probably worth saying that you know, as these ideas come up, we're open to ideas.

Just because um we haven't adopted things in the past, you know, we we can be creative.

And I think, you know, it just we also need a little bit of a license to do it, you know.

There you like with your example, you you hit the nail on the head.

It's not something you would think about with the municipal ski area, right?

Maybe a nonprofit ski area or something.

But if that's a direction that um sounds beneficial, then we could certainly consider that.

And you know, with the uphill question, I think um personally I I go uphill a lot, and I can I don't want to pay to go uphill, but that's not the right choice, right?

Like it makes sense to consider that.

And um, but uh that's one of the things we run into, right?

We have a large user base with uphill traffic, and they a lot of them are season pass holders, and they're like, Well, we're already paying for season passes, and that you know, should get us access to the mountain.

So one of the things that we'd have to do with some of these more creative ideas is can communicate with our user base and try to try to get buy-in and um because we don't want to alienate anyone.

But I'll bring up the bad question that we thought about revisiting the letting snow machiners cross in the spring.

I can see like a lawn tram permit on every snow machine.

Not since about 2008.

That was a hot issue when I was that's what I'm saying.

There's right now, if you every truck seems to have a snow machine on it, just saying.

Well, I I would say there's probably some real safety risks with that.

Um, I know in the backcountry snow machiners and skiers do a fairly good job of avoiding each other.

And one of the main ways they do that is we kind of have an informal agreement of who can go where, right?

There's a mountain where, you know, there are a couple of mountains where backcountry skiers go and the snow machiners kind of stay away from, otherwise it can be fairly dangerous to mix that traffic.

And we it it's a big problem to solve.

Yeah, and that's what I was saying in the spring when Eagle Crest was built.

Yeah, letting come across.

I might make one one more point.

I just want to note that we have an incredibly generous business community in in Juno.

It's often the same businesses that are supporting um books to boards and tower sign sponsors and special events.

So it's the same 20 or so businesses that are just incredibly generous.

Uh since the foundation was created 18 years ago, about two million dollars is moved from the private sector through the foundation to Eagle Crest.

So we're already enjoying a tremendous amount of support from our from our business friends and neighbors.

Okay, on to expenses.

I guess that starts with me.

Okay, we're starting with our commodities and services.

Uh, like I said previously, we were gifted by the assembly an additional amount of money to take care of some deferred maintenance.

Um we've worked really hard through the summer, through the fall, and even in through this winter, um, things are costing us a little bit more, and we are trying to be mindful and responsible on what we're focusing on.

Um, we know that we are a little bit, well, quite a bit higher than last year, but that was expected as we were dealing with quite a bit.

Um, a couple of things that I want to think about when you see this is where we are at.

Um we have some aging infrastructure at Eagle Crest um between lifts, buildings, our fleet, um, water, even our parking lot with those fun little dips that you experience in the upper lot.

Um one of the things that I definitely lose sleep about, Jim, is the lifts.

You can see here how old all of our lifts are here at Eagle Crest.

Um a lot of them are ribblet lifts, as you can see.

Um, with that riblet has not been a company since 2003.

With that also is the fact that Superior Tramway bought as many parts and pieces um from ribblet company when it went out of business.

Um once those parts and pieces are gone, uh, we won't be able to find them.

So it'll cost us more to manufacture them or find them at other ski areas that are getting rid of those parts.

So just keep this in mind that these are the age of our lifts.

Parts are getting harder to find.

Um that's all I'll say about lifts.

Uh buildings.

We did an assessment in 2024 in the summer.

We had uh somebody come up, I believe the city also used the same company to assess all of our buildings and uh lifespan.

And we took a look at Fish Creek Porcupine, the maintenance shops and kind of got a big report on what that looked like um for the mountain uh fleet is another one that we are focusing on.

All of our snow cats, we were very grateful to get a new snowcat this winter.

So thank you to the assembly for appropriating those funds for this winter.

And we've done a lot of work this year this fall and winter to try and bring all our remaining fleet up to um a standard that we feel is a lot safer than previously.

So we've put a lot of energy into making sure that we have a full fleet.

Um but they are aging and we are working on um appropriately finding the equipment that we need to move on to next.

Um, but with that, when you your staff retention keeps you keep losing staff, you keep losing that institutional knowledge, the knowledge of the mountain, and you're driving those snow cats wherever you're driving them.

We have some that know where every nook and cranny are on the mountain, every rock, every stump, every tree that fell in whatever year it fell, and they know where to avoid it, but not everybody knows that.

Um, and a little bit of snow might cover it just enough.

And then you might have somebody that might not be as experienced, and then your fleet takes a hit.

So having the knowledge and keeping the retention within our staff is a huge deal to us to make sure that we can maintain everything, but also know where everything is.

Um, and not just on the mountain, but also in the lodges.

Um even when it comes down to dealing with the the old generators and things like that.

We I phone a friend all the time.

Um, he knows where all the power lines are, knows where everything I might not know where is, so I can help try and support the staff, but I know who to call when I need to call them, and I'm very grateful for that.

Um, but I might not be around all the time.

So we need to create retention within the staff so that we can keep the institutional knowledge.

I believe this is you.

Thank you, Aaron.

Um, so this goes back to that uh vacancy rate gap that I was talking about earlier.

So um one of the things that that we're seeing is, you know, we we have just over seven FTEs that are empty.

And um in that it's actually quite a few different positions, you know, several part-time positions making up certain FTEs, and then a couple of big uh positions that we need to fill.

But um we've and and we need more.

I mean, to get to a sufficient operating level to where we can we can carry the gondola, carry year-round operations, stay ahead of maintenance.

Um, the ideal would be some more growth.

But we understand the environment that we're in.

We're not asking for more FTEs.

And one of the things that we're gonna do is there are a couple of points to take away from this.

And so one is you can pretty much guarantee a savings over our personal services budget and NFY 27, because there's no way we're gonna fill all of our positions.

Um we we might get through half of those FTEs.

But another thing that we're gonna do is, and this is going to be led by Aaron is we're gonna take a step back and kind of re-revise our strategy on how we've got those FTEs allocated, looking at the PCNs that they're in and seeing how we might be able to better allocate some of those PCNs inside the uh FTE expense that we've already got and and just meet our core needs and um get ourselves just in closer to the horizon uh with the resources we have.

So do you want to add anything to that, Aaron?

Just so you know what the gap is, that's 22 positions and three of those are full-time uh year-round positions that are vacant at this time.

All right.

So this uh this is was an interesting slide for us when we put it together.

Um, this tracks our general fund support from FY23 to FY27.

Um, and then also tracks our full cost allocation.

So, you know, if you look at FY23, we had a full cost allocation of about 300,000 and general fund support at the historical um, I think 930,000.

And yeah, it's 880 plus 50, so 930,000.

And then we saw general fund support rise, uh, starting in FY24, getting up to uh just over 1.4 million FY25.

Um, and in that period between 23 and 25 general or the full cost allocations stayed fairly flat, growing a little bit in 25, but then substantially more in 26, and we see it substantially more in 27.

And part of what that represents is just an illustration of where the general fund contribution is going.

And less and less of the general fund contribution is actually making it into Eagle Crest operations because it's it's going to support the integration with CBJ and the services that we get from CBJ in a big part.

And um, and it's it's important help, but I think it's also meaningful context and the sense that you know our costs are rising.

And um, and it's not just discretionary costs that we have, it's it's allocated cost.

Um, and we've got to be able to manage those.

And but um, yeah, so it's telling.

And then this is just uh revisiting the fund balance.

Um, you know, this this slide looks kind of scary to us because it's it's a hefty contribution from CBJ to Eagle Crest and um comes with a lot of commitments that we fully understand.

Um we entered into this agreement in FY25 that CBJ, the assembly specifically would support us um in some of our growth, like we said earlier, moving into the future.

And um, and we understand that that comes with a commitment to find solutions, you know, in the gondola in year-round operations and efficiency and bridge this gap on our own at some point.

Um, and you know, we we appreciate the opportunity to be here to uh talk with the assembly about this budget, and we know that a lot of the conversation is really, you know, addressing like the future of this fund balance and where this is going.

And um, but you know, I I do want to say it's been very important to Eagle Crest that you know this this agreement that resulted in this fund balance was implemented, and um, and we have been making good use of it.

We have been working hard on recruitment, working hard on maintenance and working to keep those old lifts moving and this very important uh community recreation area functional.

So I forgot there was another slide.

Um so actually, Aaron, do you want to take this one?

Yeah, sure.

Okay.

In the FY26, we had a total CIP of 576,000.

The 350 uh was our CIP account, and the 226 was the additional capital maintenance projects, um, which included a snowcat that the assembly um graciously approved and a snowplow as well.

So we took a group, a big look at what we needed to focus on, and it was lifts, lifts all day long.

Um, so that was our biggest focus in FY26 so far.

We were able to um work with uh contractors, specialists that came in to support us.

Uh, we also brought in fleet uh experts as well to help us diagnose our problems within our fleet in our SnowCats.

Um so the FY26 was uh a big uh help for us.

Um, as you can see in FY27, we have 167,000 for our our CIP as a group.

We decided that 127,000 of it would go again towards deferred maintenance, uh, mountain maintenance that we needed to deal with, and then 40 towards additional capital maintenance.

Um, in addition to the the CIP account that we have, we also have a CIP account that was the Eagle Crest Master Plan.

It has 61,000 in it, and I know Jim is going to speak to um what we would like to do with that.

Mr.

Kelvin.

Thank you, Aaron.

Yeah, we are in the process of designing um uh strategic and business planning effort where we would secure the services of a professional mountain recreation planner.

We have we need a roadmap basically from where we are now.

We fact is that we are sort of in a non-sustainable operating budget position.

We have um immense recapitalization needs.

Um replacing Armigan is uh five million dollar undertaking at least, replacing Black Bear as a three and a half million dollar undertaking.

Our 50-50-year-old lodge has a replacement value of $13 million.

So we need to prioritize, we need to plan, we need to look for resources to do this.

Um, and with a particular focus on summer, and we're we're attempting to join the rest of the mountain recreation world in and having getting to a position where our summer revenues support winter operations.

It's a long path, it's a hard path to get there, but that's what the gondola is about, and I'll talk more about that soon.

Okay.

So you can see where we've come from 2022 all the way to 2026.

Um we had a couple of years at 275,000 and your wonderful gracious gift in FY27 or FY26, as you can see here, and for the next year, we will have 167,000.

And for the next year, we will have 167,000.

So just kind of shows you where we came from, where we're going.

So we still have a long road ahead.

And I just want to note that you know the the CIP allocation or appropriation for 2026 um came in incredibly handy because we ended up having a ton of problems with um drainage and water pipes and lift issues.

And so not only, you know, maintenance that we knew we needed to catch up on, but maintenance that we learned we get to catch up on at pretty inopportune times.

And so that'll come in very handy.

And if you happen to look at actuals right now, um, some of the the cost for like the earlier maintenance stuff still being moved over to CIP through coding.

So those numbers will change over the next couple of weeks as as some of the coding gets worked out.

Questions.

There we go.

Questions on the expense side of the house.

Mr.

Kelly.

Thank you.

You were just talking uh, Mr.

Cull about expenses that you learned you would need to take care of.

I am wondering uh at this moment if you have uh a better idea of more a more comprehensive idea of what those expenses are.

So you're not going to be surprised by by future events.

Do you uh have you taken uh an inventory or uh have you been able to make you know substantial revisions to your schedule so things are a little more predictable?

Uh thank you, Mr.

Kelly.

The expenses that I was being a little cheeky because the uh the water pipes broke and we discovered that without much notice, right?

And um, and it was very handy to have the CIP, but we do have a CIP plan.

And I think um at the risk of putting you on the spot, Aaron, you may know it a little bit better than I do.

And if Aaron doesn't, we can follow up and give you some of that information in greater detail.

So some of the CIP plan um is actually wrapped around the water situation and making sure that um when the water bur pipe bursts under the building, uh it was during our cold snap, right?

So the water that comes from the creek and filters into the pump house.

Um at that point, we lost all the water in the whole system.

So that meant any little drop of water in the line froze.

So we are trying to be mindful of how we move forward and making sure that if something happens again, we have appropriate pipe, we've got it covered.

We're trying to make it a little bit uh better so that we don't lose water again in that same situation if it freezes.

So we're trying to that that $40,000 is geared towards that in our C A CIP this year.

Um, that's what that one was for specifically.

Uh go ahead.

Thank you.

I appreciated the comments on the water line.

I'm also thinking though, uh, of all the equipment that is used by the mountain, including including the chairlifts, uh, any uh I I guess do we have like a more comprehensive idea of what the mountain needs so that we're able to schedule things and we're not surprised by them and we're able to the budget for all of these things without being surprised by them.

Uh Mr.

Kelly, I think that's a great question and uh a totally reasonable expectation.

And um there are things that we're still working to understand on the mountain, and there are some things that we we know a little bit better than others, right?

And one of the pictures that's developing right now, and you've you've heard a little bit about it is our snow making infrastructure.

Um we we know we've had problems with snow making, we've had pipes freeze, we've had pump houses go go down, but we haven't had a really comprehensive understanding of how to solve that problem in a holistic way.

Um we've just been playing whack-a-mole with that stuff, and um, but we have uh a mountain ops manager Nate Burner, Nate Burner.

I'm sorry, Nate.

Um and Nate is uh the last time I talked to Nate, he presented an incredibly broad understanding of the problems with our snow making system and within less than a year of being on the mountain.

And I think that's a reflection of his experience.

And uh you it's a little bit early for us to throw out any real numbers, but we're getting our head around it.

He's working on understanding how we could better design the snowmaking system, design in contingencies and better safety systems, and that's not to say, you know, past general managers and mountain ops managers didn't do a great job keeping it running.

And that's not to say, you know, past general managers and mountain ops managers didn't do a great job keeping it running.

But if if you we were gonna really do it right, we take a step back and just look at how it should have been done from the beginning.

And that's really how Nate's looking at it, even the electrical side of it running the pumps more safely, things of that sort.

But it's not cheap.

I mean, this is gonna be, you know, it at least a half million dollar project to fully restore snow making, which is why we play whack-a-mole, right?

Because it's super expensive.

Um, when we look at the lifts, we have a similar issue.

You know, we have lifts that are from between 1969 to I think 1977 was the youngest lift we have.

Um and some of those lifts, they don't even like the riblet lifts.

One of the problems we have with Ribblet is the comp they've been out of business for a really long time.

And then there's a company that stepped in, I think Skyway Tram that was making parts for riblets, and now they're gone.

And so it's it's hard for us to even get a price for a comprehensive like restoration or refurbishment of one of our lifts because the parts just don't exist anymore.

So, you know, in that case, we're looking at we we have schedules of plan maintenance that we understand that are reflected in our budget, and then we were kind of attacking problems as they arise, right?

So, you know, and then that leads us to the gondola, like why why we went that direction in the first place.

Yeah, Mr.

Smith.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I guess I just I had another question on CIP, but I just wanted to confirm maybe what I thought I heard with the CIP request.

We we will or we won't be able to restore, you know, smoke snow making to how it had been, you know, when it was maybe more functional a couple of years ago.

It won't or it will.

The amount of funds that are in there will not.

Um both Nate and myself have been working on what a phased approach would look like, also, so that it wasn't such a big hit to um the budget.

Okay, thanks.

And then may I have another question?

No one else does, Madam Mayor.

Go ahead.

Yeah, I I guess just to confirm, you know, I'm I'm I see the CIP number at a uh out of the you know, the lowest it's been in five, six years and maybe longer.

Um I guess I just I want to just confirm you you all feel confident that that number can will work for you for 2027.

I mean, as best as obviously can predict.

Who wants to answer that one?

I'll answer that.

I think um I think that number is a we're all in this together kind of number um that was um was given to us.

And you know, we understand that we're in a period of austerity.

And um certainly if we were able to pick a CIP number, that probably wouldn't be it.

Um, but we're also willing to make do with the CIP that's available.

Um, if the assembly would like to see a list of of projects that that we thought we could hit if we had the resources, we're happy to provide that.

Um, but when we showed up this evening, one of the things we wanted to do was show up with um uh uh show up supportive of the environment to some degree.

Very good.

I appreciate that.

I I would be open to seeing a CIP list if you want to send it along to me.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Smith.

Ms.

Hughes Candies.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh I'd like to hear just a little bit more if you can elaborate about the FTE.

So it's maybe I jotted down the wrong numbers, but sounded like you had seven full FTEs, 22 positions, three full time.

And when I think of where we were, let's say pre-austerity measures are looking at this, what's it gonna take to make the seasonal shift?

Uh and that included adding some positions that were specific to the seasonal shift.

And then you talked about moving around PCNs uh within the amount that you have.

So do you talk about how the board is and that goes for the whole board thinking about your personnel numbers now with the FTEs you have in this budget?

Does that represent a departure from that?

Or so the FTEs, so part of this was um we were asked to do the conversion project, right?

So we we went and we worked really hard on trying to figure out um what that would look like.

We got it all finished, and then we went out for recruitment on some of these.

Uh it's taken us quite a while to get some of these recruited, and then some of them we have to open back up and recruit again.

So it's been a revolving, let's try again, let's try again.

Um some of the available FTEs that weren't funded were um perfect example.

We got an admin at Eagle Crest for the first time.

Um that position was previously a snow sports school admin.

Uh, I don't need that anymore because I have other FTEs that cover that.

So those could be FTEs that I shift to something else that we might need more.

Maybe we need more in laborers or lift operators or something else.

So we're just trying to look at what we have currently and try and be mindful of where we need to go.

Um where do we need the most support right now um to get the work done?

So that's we're just trying to figure out what we need to shuffle around.

Go ahead, Ms.

Euskanis.

That's great.

Thank you.

And so I know there's another topic we haven't gotten to yet, but to the current thinking, does that include positions that are focused on a seasonal shift that you don't have now?

Or how has that fit into your calculus of what we need right now?

So right now, some of those positions that we created last year were part of the seasonal shift.

Um we ended up getting the admin.

We ended up getting your round revenue coordinator, um, which was filled and is no longer filled, and recruiting.

Um part of that is thinking about marketing, adding additional moving and shifting marketing so that we can get the word out about Eagle Crest a little bit more so that we can get the revenue that's coming in.

Um not all of it was focused moving towards um summer operations, but some of it is, so it's kind of like a split.

That's helpful.

Thanks.

Mr.

Smith.

I'm sorry, I forgot to lower my hand.

Um, Ms.

Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, this question you know, relates to the gondola, but it's it's really about this this budget, I think, for this coming year.

So I'm gonna ask it now.

Um, I I sat down with a few board members a few months ago, you know, and basically said, you know, there there may be a scenario here where you know the we don't move forward with the gondola, in which case the um we cannot let Eagle Crest go to negative fund balance.

And so that would, you know, happen immediately if if that decision is to be made.

Um has the board had conversation about you know what what is what is the draconian?

I realize it would be draconian to to not um be able to um you know project a negative fund balance for next year.

Um but what what what does that look like?

Have you talked about it?

Have you talked about kind of what the process looks like if that if that's the way that things go.

Um, Miss Wall, thank you for that question.

Um that is an existential issue.

It really is.

Um for us right now with with the maintenance requirements with our operating cost with revenue where we anticipate it to be um to not carry a negative fund balance not only hobbles us um when it comes to at the highest level of understanding, it just meaning the 10,000 foot level, it um not only hobbles our ability to position ourselves for summer operations, but it hobbles our ability to contemplate winter operations.

And um, and we have not done a lot of analysis on exactly how we could reposition ourselves.

One thing that we know is if there's a decision not to move forward with the gondola, we have to pivot to that very very quickly.

Um and maybe in an ideal situation we'd have a better analysis for you, but you know, honest just speaking candidly.

I mean, Aaron wears two hats right now, and and you know, it's it's difficult to um look too far into the future while we're still looking for a GM and building out that staff, but um I can tell you that it's definitely a question of whether we could continue to operate.

Thank you.

I appreciate oops go ahead.

I'm letting you finish Ms.

Wall.

Do you have anything more Mr.

Calvin wanted to jump into I I just wanted to appreciate that that candor and and um and honesty.

Thank you.

Mr.

Calvin I know time is short here.

So um uh we have a slide deck set up to talk about the gondola but I think maybe just in the interest of time we'll if I might just kind of jump into that it's relevant to the discussion we're having now um let me pick up one question and then we'll jump into that.

Okay.

Ms Canys and then we'll jump into that.

Yeah thanks Madam Mayor it's kind of just a follow up and I recognize I think your answer gets at the I think the answer is no because the board has a lot else on its plate.

So you're not talking about what if the assembly does this or what if the assembly does that I will just say maybe I'll just leave it as a comment then and it can percolate in our heads as we hear about the gondola I have been approached uh pre what if we do the gondola we don't do the gondola following the result of the last election and what the city was projecting of what we might need to make in cuts just because of how that election went I have been met by many members of the community who are passionate about Eagle Crest and they have different ideas and one subset of them I would say that flavor is what does really old Eagle Crest look like what did Eagle Crest look like when it was tiny or right fledgling and so again the I think the answer is no but given the recapitalization that you were talking about have you thought I guess I'll just put that out there and say that is another thing I have heard from the community of what does tiny half broken eagle crest look like mostly uphill eagle crest look like I'll turn it over to Mr on that on that cheerful note okay so um Mr.

Calvin before you start um just uh prepping the assembly we are going to get our full gondola discussion with Mr.

Dahl on the first so with that in place we'll go quickly through yours we can run a little bit past seven but not a heck of a lot.

Okay.

Thank you madam we want to definitely finish the discussion with Eagle Crest board.

Well let's let's see if we can make it through the the PowerPoint is 10 slides, 10 minutes, but there's some really important stage setting we have to do and then some important things for the assembly to be thinking about between now and April 1st so don't need to cover this again what we're trying to do is achieve self-sufficiency for the ski area and that means that from the 1000 in summer operating revenues that we're generating now we need to go to about two or two and a half million.

So it's a tall order but we think there's opportunity with the two million visitors that we host each year that's a 1.7 million cruisers and a couple hundred thousand independents and again joining the mountain recreation world in North America there's revenue opportunity there we we think there's a path to self-sufficiency um and the whole point of that though is to recapitalize our ski area which has got old equipment old facilities we want to modernize it with new lists and we want to make it self-supporting so they're tall orders uh lots of capital needs we're operating at an unsustainable deficit so again we've been looking at the gondola as the the path to this if clearly it's in general summer operations but the gondola in specifically let's look at the next one Aaron the Craig Dahl and I have been working diligently on understanding the operating cash flow aspect of the gondola and this is a very simple graph that shows annual operating revenue and annual operating costs for the ski area year round this includes winter operations and summer operations and what we can see here is that is that we would achieve a breakeven status in FY32 or 33 again certain set of assumptions about the gondola being built and being online let's go to the next one Aaron again assumption is that we're up and running in May of 2028 that's what's required with our arrangement with gold belt um I was in in these in the operating cost for the winter we're assuming it's about the budget that we have have now increased for inflation the revenues are only those revenues associated with the lift they don't include any of the ancillary revenue opportunities gift shops or or mountain coasters or the any of the other attractions that will be revenue generating opportunities the extent that we can generate those or produce those opportunities that breakeven point moves closer to to us um revenues are net of of gold belts share um again on this trajectory we would start seeing a decline in general fund support needs in FY29 so not very far away and we'd be as I noted we'd fully self-supporting by fiscal year 32 or 33 principal risk on this again we've looked really hard at the operating costs staffing and maintenance and such the principal risk is the market and our and we're dependent on our partner gold belt to tap that market next one please so a ton of work to do to to be ready for this opportunity in terms of infrastructure planning um we've got to figure out how to provide a good experience for visitors with restrooms and shelters and we have to have facilities for staff we have

Principal risk on this, again, we've looked really hard at the operating costs, staffing and maintenance and such.

The principal risk is the market and our and we're dependent on our partner gold belt to tap that market.

Next one, please.

So a ton of work to do to be ready for this opportunity in terms of infrastructure planning.

Um we've got to figure out how to provide a good experience for visitors with restrooms and shelters, and we have to have facilities for staff.

We have to develop attractions up there, developer relationships with vendors, and we need to think about what in-house business development opportunities there might be.

We need to do very, very detailed business planning around staffing, marketing, um working capital needs.

We need to secure permits for these other activities that we might want to initiate up there.

All of that has been sort of backburnered while we wait for our construction cost estimate, which has been in the works for a few months now.

Um we have been expecting a pretty significant shortfall.

Um there's roughly three and a half million dollars available, unspent funds.

Uh, we got our cost estimate yesterday from Cornerstone General Contractors.

This is the their first estimate.

There will be another estimate at the for the April 1st meeting that's called a guaranteed maximum price.

This is their first run at it, and that price is 27 million dollars.

So that's a pretty big gulp factor.

And I'm not sure if all the assembly members have heard that number yet, just so you know.

It's uh it's again, we expected 10, 15 million, 27 is um quite a pill to swallow.

Um so that that forces me to pivot a little bit from we got that news after we prepared this presentation.

But our our first step then is, and we're meeting on Monday with Cornerstone, we're meeting with the design team to understand uh if there's any is there any room to maneuver within that budget, what are the contingencies, what's the air range?

Are there any are there any possibilities of cost savings associated with this?

And there may be there's a three million dollar contingency built into that 27 million dollar price tag, but I it's quite unlikely that we're going to get this thing down to the 20 million dollar level.

So that sort of requires a reset.

Um again, this is a bit old.

There we have some options again, and a different if the budget for the construction had come in at something less, we could have conceivably considered CBJ as a funding source.

I'll talk in a bit more detail on each of these momentarily, but gold belt, our partner is an option.

Another option might have been CBJ borrowing to fund the shortfall from ADA or some other lender.

The fourth option is to solicit investors.

There are big companies across the country that invest in mountain recreation um facilities, and there's money out there.

We don't know what the chances are for us, but that's something to look at.

And finally, ending the gondola project is one of our options.

So let's go to the next one.

I think we'll go past this one.

This is the CBJ funding the shortfall.

We just don't, it's not up to me to say, but I don't see the CBJ funding the shortfall.

Um gold belt, I think is if there's any hope of preserving the construction timeline.

It's probably with our partner gold belt.

Um it's quite likely that if gold belt steps up, that there'll be conditions associated with that re additional investment, which may include um operating the mountain on a year-round basis, the gondola and winter operations.

Important to note that CBJ retains ownership, and we have that gives us power on what the winter operations look like, and we could have strict operating requirements, but but gold belt is increasingly key to the gondola project.

And again, depending on what resources they want to bring to bear, they may have resources that allow us to more quickly recapitalize our winter assets, the lifts, lodges than we would on our own.

Next one, Aaron.

Again, this one is probably old news.

Uh, one option would be to terminate the RSA, the RC is the revenue sharing agreement with Goldbelt.

So terminate the arrangement with Gold Belt.

Go out to ADA and um see at face value.

This the gondola project fits some of the economic development criteria for for ADA lending.

Um, but they have a 25 million dollar limit.

And uh certainly that would not ideally we would get a loan for the amount that we need to pay gold belt back and for the amount to build a lift, and that's 30 37 million dollars.

And that's $30, $37 million.

So we still want to keep looking at what sort of lending opportunities there might be here over the next 30 days or so.

All right, let's go to the next one, Aaron.

And as I noted, uh looking for a third party investor.

The gondola project or EagleQuest in general is unattractive, unattractive with the RSA in place.

So we'd require paying Goldbelt back.

There just isn't, there just isn't room in the cash flow for us to pay Gold Belt according to the terms of the revenue sharing agreement and pay debt service.

There, I mean, there is there's room to do that, but there would be very little or no benefit to Eagle Crest.

So what's the point?

The attraction to these investment entities out there in North America would be the really strong business opportunity in the summer, these two million visitors that we have.

And so it would take a very long vision, uh, a developer with a very long vision, and we certainly don't have a clear understanding of what the opportunities are, but we want to take we want to take a look at that.

We hope to have a little bit more say about that by April 1st.

Uh it may be a fast way to recapitalize, depending on the ski area, again, which is our objective.

We got old equipment, and all it takes is for the wrong piece to break on tarmigan, and we're toast.

So recapitalizing is just as important as our operating deficit.

So anyway, very complex transition and a high degree of uncertainty about whether there's really any potential here for um or for us and the gondola and for our ski area.

Next one, Aaron.

So what does it mean to shut down the project?

Well, we write Gold Belt a check for 11.9 million dollars or the equivalent.

That includes about $3.7 million of unspent or uncommitted gold belt money.

So the there's a net of eight eight point two million there, but then you roll back in the two and a half million dollars we spent to buy the gondola and ship the gondola, we have a total sunk cost of about almost 11 million dollars.

And further, under the heading of good news, that would leave Eagle Crest with little chance of becoming self-supporting in the near future.

We'd have no way to repay the fund balance.

Um we would certainly be coming to the assembly for a reset in our general fund support because of the $990,000.

You know, clearly we can't keep adding to the fund balance if we'd have no hope of paying it back.

So we'd be looking for additional general fund support.

And to the and when the time comes to replace lifts, we'd be looking for bonding help there.

Um one thing it would do was clearly focus our attention on alternative summer development opportunities.

Again, the the project that we want to contract a mountain recreation planner with is like let's fast track other summer development opportunities and get that going.

Nothing could happen at the pace that the gondola would provide in terms of generating cash flow to move us to a self-sustaining basis.

But no matter what happens, if we're gonna have a skier, we need to get very aggressive with summer development.

If it even with the gondola, we need to be looking at other summer development opportunities.

So that's a tough picture.

Let's next one, Aaron.

This point may be moot, but um it's quite unlikely if if gold belt ponies up sufficient funds to um help us build the gondola.

Uh it's still unlikely that we will have permits in place to um to get started on construction, the full permits in place to get started this summer, unless we do a phased construction effort, that is issue a permit for earth work and get that started as soon as we can.

It seems quite unlikely, even if Goldbelt is in the picture that we're gonna have all of our funding lined up in time for this construction season.

So if there is any hope of construction, which frankly, given the price tag, it's it's hard to envision.

Um, but if if we are going to proceed with construction through some through the good graces of gold belt and their investment, we're able to start construction.

We'll need to do on a phase basis.

If we if we start construction for three million dollars worth of of um earth work, for example, and we don't have our funding lined up for the balance of the construction project.

Well, that's gold belt money we're spending, so that just increases the amount that we have to pay gold belt back when the when the time comes.

And really the the only urgency it would be nice just to step back the scheduling pressure off of this if Goldbelt would agree to extend the extend the revenue sharing agreement that would be great but the but the urgency is our operating budget because we're going to need two or two and a half million dollars a year more than our general fund support in the foreseeable future short of pretty draconian cost saving measures up there.

So we have real sense of urgency to sort of capitalize the scary a real sense of urgency to to start generating revenue that eases this the budget deficit that we that we have on the other hand it's a big complex project and we don't know where the money's going to come from so we're gonna need more time but I mean that's the that's the upshot I think I've got one more Aaron um yeah so guaranteed maximum price expected by April 1st will that be dramatically different than the estimate the 27 million dollars probably not but can't say for sure um meantime we want to talk with Gold Belt we want to work with the city manager in talking with the gold belt we want to understand their interest in further investment we want to understand the conditions that that they would impose on that additional investment though the chances of are sort of dwindling that ADA might fit our mold we want to continue looking at Ada or other lending opportunities and we want we want to start looking nationally to I could just test the waters about whether Eagle Crest might be an attractive um uh investment target for some of these big national firms to be perfectly blunt there are companies out there that look for ski areas that are having trouble and um they invest in them and they turn them around and and and frankly you know it'll remain a Juno owned asset Eaglecrest will always be owned by Eaglecrest so we can kind of drive the boat on winter operations but maybe we're an attractive target if we if our only demands are operator skier in the winter the rest is up to you it's you can take advantage of the all the opportunity associated with summer development and you can make the most out of winter operations it's it's yours.

Just make sure you operate our ski area for 90 days a year and you don't charge more than 750 for a pass and 75 dollars for a lift ticket and it's all yours.

So anyway that thank you for giving a few extra minutes madam mayor that's no I think everybody needed to kind of hear that I'm looking to the staff real quickly on April 1st when we hear from Mr.

Dahl are we planning a joint meeting again with the Eaglecrest board at that time can we do that so we have one big meeting with all of us Mr.

Dahl's presentation we'll we'll talk about that after this how about that the short answer is you can the assembly can do whatever they want and the longer answer is we uh we'll we'll talk through scheduling and the other things on your agenda with you.

Good thank you for that um all right that was sobering for all of us I'm sure um if you hadn't heard that already um again we will be hearing from Mr.

Dahl uh with more specifics and everything else but um what Mr Kelvin presented are some of the questions that we're gonna have to answer hopefully together and um the answers are good are few and far between for good solutions so appreciate your candor mr calvate I think you stated it quite nicely any questions without getting hugely into discussion on the gondola Ms.

Hughescandys oh uh Ms.

Wall Thank you Madam Mayor um appreciate this um getting this information uh this is just so my brain can be thinking a quick question phase construction decision you know ASAP it maybe madam manager can tell me what you know what do we what real date you know in assembly world could we be considering that decision because I think there's a lot to talk about before we make that decision and I realize ASAP is meant you know it it is important to make the decision as soon as we can and we need a lot more information thank you I I guess I would say that you know if the moving quickly is necessary if the project is going to move forward on schedule and I think those are probably some large both of those the project is an uncertainty and the schedule are two uncertainties right now.

I I guess I would say that you know if the moving quickly is necessary, if the project is going to move forward on schedule.

And I think those are probably some large both of those.

The project is in an uncertainty and the schedule are two uncertainties right now.

Yeah.

Thank you for that.

Any follow-up, Ms.

Wall?

Just like a general timeline, like in the next two months, we have to make that decision.

Is that like a correct a good general timeline?

Okay.

Pretty much.

Mr.

Dahl is smirking at me.

Uh Ms.

Hughes Candies.

Thanks, Madam Mayor.

Thank you for that, Mr.

Calvin.

That's uh very good.

Very good, very bad.

Um very good information out of very sobering topic.

Indeed.

I think you know, the question screaming at the front of my mind is why do we think, and this is just for the room at large.

This is not for you, Mr.

Calvin or the Eagle Crest board so much.

But why do we think we can wait until April 1st?

And why do we think we can do this?

I I've I will be respectful to the we have other community partners in the room who are waiting to talk to us.

We have other important uh financings, but I feel like this information now at the end of this meeting, and then hitting pause on this topic.

Even though it will require digging in and figuring that out before we make big decisions, that seems like insanity to me.

And I've had a a day of hearing insane things and not getting to say that's insane.

So uh thank you for indulging me in saying that's insane.

Um between now and April 1st, functionally, are there anticipated?

I appreciate the bulleted this is what we're gonna do in the meantime to get more information.

Is there are there other expenditures out of the pot of money that we have that we're looking to make or beyond just the fact that we're burning the time?

And I guess that's to the whole board or anyone who's yeah, and spending more of the old belt money is I think is your question.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor.

I I can take a crack at that.

The godless cars are in Colorado as we speak, and work is beginning on that the re refurbishment of those, and we have a contract for that.

So that money is committed, I think, and don't foresee stopping that that work.

So and the design is essentially at 95%, but I there's probably still some engineering money that's being spent.

But by and large, the the money that's being spent is is on the pre-construction services contract with Cornerstone.

Um, although they have a zero budget contract for the pre-construction work, but the the timing is they have to produce their guaranteed maximum price by April 1st.

So that's kind of what's we're feeling like we have this three-week window to learn all we can, especially from Gold Belt.

I mean, we just need to know what their interests are and what their conditions are, and if that goes nowhere, then we know we won't have an answer for sure on outside independent in investors.

But gold belt is the critical is the critical factor here.

That's really helpful.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Mr.

Crime.

Also, um, we just got this information yesterday.

So I think that we're all kind of in a situation of trying to take a little bit of time and digest it rather than just kind of react immediately.

And um, so I think that's it's probably helpful given that it's such a big decision to take a little bit of time with it and just kind of mull it over for a while.

Thanks, that's how I'll do.

Mr.

Bricks, you have a question.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Just as far as uh, you know, you're talking about how regardless of you know what happens, there needs to be a focus on um boosting summer operations and diversifying them and then even uh reaching out for other funding sources.

And I was just wondering if you guys had considered um, you know, I know that you're mentioning some of those uh larger national companies, but more so in like the um, you know corporate sponsorship for certain companies, and you know, I've heard the term uh disnification, and that's not what I'm referencing, but more so like a company like Red Bull, you know, they're very involved in winter sports all over the country and just you know, reaching out to companies like that who are supportive of those sports and seeing if there's any type of sponsorship for any little bit, not necessarily full-fledged partnership, but like, hey, do you want to uh you know, sponsor our our our guardrail ribbons or you know, get logos up or something in exchange for things like that?

funding sources and I was just wondering if you guys had considered um you know I know that you're mentioning some of those uh larger national companies but more so in like the uh you know corporate sponsorship for certain companies and you know I've heard the term uh disnification and that's not what I'm referencing but more so like a company like Red Bull you know they're very involved in winter sports all over the country and just you know reaching out to companies like that who are supportive of those sports and seeing if there's any type of sponsorship for any little bit not necessarily full-fledged partnership but like hey do you want to uh you know sponsor our our our guardrail ribbons or you know get logos up or something in exchange for things like that and that you know brands like that are pretty well received by by the demographics that use you know ski resorts as well so just wondering if you know those are types of avenues that can you know start getting the iron in the fire in regardless of the avenues that we go down short stories we're gonna be looking at every conceivable opportunity for for summer revenue sponsorships that I mean it ranges from let's uh have submit um letters of ask for letters of interest in developing summer tourism attractions at at Eagle Crest and we have someone that has a mountain coaster and they come to us and they've got three million dollars and we um figure out where to put it and we come up with an arrangement where we get 10% of their gross and off we come and we kind of do that one at one at a time um via Ferratas and mountain coasters and ropes courses that's probably the direction that we would end up going with this.

On the other hand there are as I've noted there are firms out there that would come in and look at the the big picture and say this is where we are now and and we want to help we want to develop this whole thing and this is our plan.

So corporate sponsorships um equity investors debt investors we're gonna look at all of it for sure all righty so looking up there um at the screen you just took off um I'm not sure who should be reaching out to gold belt this is what I'm thinking my head so I'm thinking that maybe uh Ms.

Kester with a couple members of the board if you want to reach out to gold belt might make more sense than just having them reach out or us reach out just have a joint reaching out um the other ones and these are just my feelings and we'll go around and see what everybody said on Ada and the other one I would let's start with gold belt first and then Ada and then we'll deal with the third one after that that's my opinion so uh any other assembly member interested in anything different just all right um uh sure do you does Eagle Crestboard already have a meeting set up or between I assume you have several meetings between now and then or potentially uh so are you asking the structure are you asking if we care that they're going to reach out to Gold Belt I guess I don't understand the question we don't have any meetings scheduled with gold belt it's clearly something that we would want the city manager and involved in because the issues are more than just Eagle Crest with Gold Belt.

So pretty entwined that's why I'm saying absolutely I I'm asking what you have scheduled Eagle Crest board between now and April 1st you have a board meeting yes we have one tomorrow.

Yes that is what I'm saying.

We have one tomorrow.

Yeah yeah okay great thank you I'll interpret for you um so we'll just quickly go down uh the assembly members just for quick thoughts and then we'll go down the Eagle Crest board members to see if they any thoughts so I kind of spoke out of turn but I didn't ask any questions ever so that's I took that prerogative um Ms.

Hughes Candy's what's going on in that what are your thoughts on any of that or do you or did you already say it why don't you come back to me Mary okay um Ms.

Hall thoughts yeah no I'm I'm in favor of starting local um and reaching out to gold belt and starting the conversation I have a lot of trepidation about large national firm coming into our little community and yeah so my thoughts uh Mr.

Kelly thank you I think I'm in favor of starting with gold belt and then maybe uh funding with a with AD with Ada.

So maybe if we can start with Gold Belt and maybe fund a certain amount, and then maybe we'll have less of an obligation to less of an obligationless terms and conditions that gold belt would be holding us to, then we might be more advantageous to do to approach gold belt with an idea that we're we're asking Gold Belt for some invest some more investment.

And we might be asking uh ADA for a loan as well.

So some sort of combination of that.

Thank you for that, Mr.

Steininger.

Um I think the order that you laid out that's laid out here, gold belt, then Ada, then private investors makes sense.

Um in particular, I'm interested in how firmly gold belt will hold us to the May 2028 deadline, particularly because of the amount of money that we need to come up with otherwise.

All right, Mr.

And and actually to add to that if if Gold Belt is interested in partnering further, how much effort beyond just money they might put into the project, whether it's kind of helping move the project to move the schedule along would be something I'd be interested out of that meeting.

Well, that would be interesting.

They have a certain expertise on building gondolas.

Um, Mr.

Brooks.

Thank you.

I I think it's a great orders and order of operations.

Uh you know, I I would just be uh curious and you know, possibly having assembly members partake or uh listen in on the meeting mid twin gold belt and the uh Eagle Crest board.

I appreciate that.

But when we listen in, it becomes a public meeting, and I don't think that's going to be doable right now.

Now it's just a eventually we'll come in front of the public with all the assembly members, but we can't have listening in without the public being a public meeting, just so you know.

Um, Mr.

Smith.

Thanks, Madam Mayor.

Order sounds good with uh and I I liked Mr.

Steininger's um additions there.

Thank you.

All right, Ms.

Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um I I mean I don't have a lot of faith in any of these options.

Um not that I don't want them investigated, but just because of the size of that number, it's hard to imagine a scenario where we can get on a sustainability track, you know um, with that number, but certainly the loan um option does doesn't seem realistic, but you know, gold belt and other investors.

I'm certainly I'm happy you all are trying.

I definitely think it that deadline's important, and as everyone mentioned, this being a partnership between city staff and Eagle Crest um is important in in having those conversations.

All right, thank you for that, Ms.

Walso.

Now we'll just go to the um board.

Well uh go ahead, Ms.

Canis.

Thanks, Madame Mayor.

I agree with uh the order sounds right.

I agree the deadline is important.

I agree having more context in order to know how to interpret this number is important before we have that number.

I appreciate that the board just got that number and appreciate learning that I'm fine with all of that as an investigation, but I have to say only because and also I've had great conversations with the the board in between, and I so appreciate right now the spirit of I think that we're all in it together and we we're very entwined and we have to stay entwined.

Uh I had a great meeting uh or a great phone call today with Mr.

Cullum.

I have to say that because of this number, and because we got these slides like last night, and because that number is so high, and because of everything in the city financially, how this fits into our other financial picture, and because I was there when we started this and we got into it by rushing that I have to express my extreme trepidation that it goes the more that we the more context and more time to react, I agree is good, but I would just make those comments because this is my time to make them while I'm here with you, and I appreciate what a blunt conversation or uh candid conversation we're having.

So I just wanted to add that.

Okay.

Um, so now we'll go to Eagle Crest and it could you can include your uh manager too.

So we'll you have it now, your chair.

All right, let's start with our acting manager, Aaron Luper.

I know this is a lot to take in.

It was a lot for us taking this afternoon as well.

Um, when I was shared the information.

I'm just really grateful that we are all here.

Um and having a candid conversation as well and being honest with what we're facing.

So I I also want to thank all the assembly members for taking the time to meet with us and ask very pointed questions on everybody's concerns as well.

So thank you, everybody.

All right, I'm just gonna go clockwise with the Eagle Crest board.

Um, so my thought is um we shouldn't be married to the gondola.

It's it's a it's a 27 or 30 something million dollar, 10 million dollar thing.

And there are other opportunities out there.

Like if we're looking at making an investment of this size, there are other opportunities.

And and we don't have a list of those.

We haven't explored them.

We haven't we haven't dove in.

And and I think we shouldn't rush into this.

I wasn't on the board when we adopted the gondola.

I wasn't part of that due diligence.

Um, but clearly things have changed, and the value proposition is different.

And so now that we have this completely different value proposition on the table, we should look at it through the lens of the opportunity cost that it presents now.

So, what else is available?

And I think if we all agree that Eagle Crest needs to be around for the community, that it adds value to the community and that we're going to invest, we're going to look for investors and kind of be in it together to move Eagle Crest forward.

This doesn't have to be the way.

So I um Mr.

Cry, sorry.

Um yeah, just so you guys know we're all pretty disappointed and kind of you know shocked.

And I think one thing that Mr.

Collins said, I mean, we we've been really thinking about this um as you know, something that we want to definitely try to move forward.

Um I was on the board when we made the decision to purchase it.

And um, I I think given the information we had, it was a good decision, but it's taken a long time and installation costs have increased more than um I mean, just construction costs on every project have skyrocketed, and that's kind of put us in this situation along along with um some other factors that that have really been out of our control.

Um so at this point, I do think we need to explore the options as proposed.

Um, I also think we need to think really hard about whether it makes sense to again put whether it's through a loan or another investor.

Um put 27 million more dollars into this project.

But if we don't, I and one of the things I'd I'd really like to take time to do is think about what the alternatives are, but also what we might envision Eagle Crest to be if we had to make drastic cuts and if we had to really think about it differently.

And that's just going to be a complex and difficult process.

But I think that that um yeah, it's something that we're yeah, we're all going to obviously have to engage in.

So Mr.

Lindston.

Thanks.

Um I think that if there's a consensus that we could reach out to investors, then uh it's kind of a given that Eagle Crest could be profitable.

And I want to thank the assembly for looking at it more of a challenge rather than a dead end.

And uh, and that that Eagle Crest with a clear plan that doesn't change or drag on for four to six years could profit.

So whether or not we give that to someone else is you know up to the group.

But I just want to or snow machiners have to give skiers rides when they're going.

Mr.

Calvin.

I've had more than my share of air time, so I'll just be brief and say that I really appreciate the assembly's attention tonight.

I know that we're all here because we really care deeply about Eagle Crest.

We're celebrating our 50th anniversary.

Who'd have thought that the 50th year would be such a pivotal one for us?

And it's going to be all hands-on deck.

And thanks in advance to the manager's office to the assembly to the board for navigating our way through this.

Mr.

Stevens.

Year-round operations are crucial and critical to the survival of Eagle Crest.

The board is committed.

And we need to work together to find a solution that I think we can get there.

And the reason why I'm on this board and all that is because I see Eagle Crest as a great community asset.

A community member referenced it as being the anchor store of Juno in a lot of ways, you know.

Um I've talked with real estate agents.

They they also kind of say, hey, look, this is the place we're trying to get someone to buy a house here, you know, and um, and this is a great way to sell a house and just bring people in and make people stay.

Winter is the hard time, and and Eagle Crest is a great community asset, and it's accessible.

And just if we can even expand that love the the love for Eagle Crest that people have in the winter to the summer, it's gonna be a huge success and a great asset, and it's gonna keep people in Juno.

So that's kind of my stance on it.

Thank you.

Um thank you.

And I'd also like to thank the assembly members.

Thank you very much for having us.

Um and we Eagle Crest has a regular board meeting tomorrow night here in the assembly chambers at 5:30.

Um, there's also a Zoom link in the packet.

Uh we welcome public to our participation.

So uh thank you for that.

And I just want to thank the board.

Um, it's been a trying time, and you guys have weathered the storm fairly well.

We appreciate the honesty and um candidness.

Uh you're carrying some very not very happy news for any of us, um, especially the Eagle Crest community.

Um, so we appreciate that you've done it.

Um, I just want to do a quick shout out to Mr.

Kelvin, because I know you put in a lot of extra work, and I imagine other people on the board and Ms.

Lupero, but uh you guys have been working really, really hard, way above and beyond the volunteerism for your board.

So we want to acknowledge that and thank you for your service and appreciate your time tonight.

With that, I'm going to adjourn this meeting.

Um, let's take about 10 assembly members, 10 minutes.

Um, the only thing I ask before you guys run off is these tables have to come down.

10 minutes.

So go ahead.

Take advantage of all the help you have.

Take the tables out of the

Now we are on to our assembly finance committee agenda for March 4th, 2026.

Ms.

Hendricks, would you note the role?

And we'll go immediately immediately into our agenda topics, and we apologize for our partner agencies that are their meeting ran a little long.

So can we have KTO?

Yes, you're already there.

You stuck in there.

Please go ahead with your presentation by starting with introducing yourself.

Thank you very much, Mayor.

Thank you, members of the Assembly Finance Committee.

I am Justin Schumann.

I am president and general manager at KTLO Public Media here to discuss our partnership, uh, many years of partnership with CBJ specifically around Gavel, Alaska and legislative judiciary and executive coverage here in our capital city.

Oops.

Uh at any given time.

An additional 17 hours of Alaska Supreme Court hearings and nine hours, the executive branch of events that happened in Juneau.

We also work with partners in Anchorage and we'll occasionally be able to work with those partners at KTU to get coverage of Anchorage based events.

And then three more staff who work on our video and operations team, whether in a technical capacity, traffic, whatever it may be, all of which are central functions to Gavel Happening.

In total, this grant supports really our entire staff, especially when we incorporate our administrative folks.

And at its peak, that's a total of 29 staff members at KTOO when we have our seasonal or temporary staff for Gavel.

A couple metrics that really stood out to me as I was preparing this.

In 2025, we saw 62,282 sessions of our on-demand archives.

So that is archive legislative hearings, sessions, uh Supreme Court hearings, and the like.

So just the legislative session last year, we had 115,310 hours.

And that is just through KTO's assets.

So that includes our website, of course, and also apps for both Roku and Apple TV.

It does not include any of the streaming activity that happens through AK Ledge or Ledge TV.

So that number is actually substantially higher for those who are unaware of how that relationship works.

Anything that the media services team at the state takes or is streaming, if we're producing it, they will always take our feed just because the production quality is far superior.

On broadcast, this is a map of the Alaska Rural Communication System.

So this exemplifies every single place that has an ARCS transmitter and every single community that we do reach in the state of Alaska through ARC.

So ensuring that accessibility to the state capital in Juneau through the ARC system and through our partnerships both with Alaska Public Media, who now manages the ARC system.

They also broadcast 360 TV and Gavel Alaska as one of their subchannels in the Anchorage and Matsu market.

And we also have a close working partnership with KUAC, who ensures that all legislative coverage and everything happening on Gavel, Alaska reaches the Fairbanks market as well.

Borrowing from the Juneau Economic Development Council and their economic indicators report.

In 2024, Juno saw the first increase in state government jobs since 2012.

State government contributes to over 255 million dollars in earnings to Juno's economy on an annual basis.

That's 21% of all earnings in June, and over 40% of all earnings originate with state, tribal, local, and federal government.

So CBJ's investment in Gavel, Alaska plays an essential role in ensuring that Alaska's capital city is accessible statewide on television, online, uh, and it helps Juno protect an essential economic engine for our city by ensuring that accessibility throughout the state.

Another vital service that rides uh on KTOO television infrastructure, which is something that uh this grant directly supports, is public safety.

And the screenshot you see here is from our uh glacial lake outburst flood coverage in 2025.

Um, by using existing television infrastructure, our skilled staff, our broadcast technical expertise, and our streaming capabilities, as well as the relationships that KTO has established with local government agencies, other nonprofits, tribal governments.

Um we coordinated a very comprehensive strategy to cover uh the flood this year, and that is just another part of what this grant ultimately enables us to do.

And while it's not directly associated with the production of Gavel Alaska, um there are certainly always capital expenditures, equipment needs, and things that this grant does help us address that are vital to these functions happening.

Um so despite the legislature only being sort of a few months of the year, uh, the support that this grant provides to KTLO and to our community as a whole is felt in various ways throughout the entire year.

Um taking a look at budget.

As I'm sure all of you are aware, we had uh a seismic shift in in what our revenue looked like in the last fiscal year.

Um, this particular pie chart um was prepared before rescission.

Uh KTOO operates on a July 1 fiscal year.

Uh we had an incredibly difficult budgeting process, knowing that this could be on the horizon, but ultimately chose to move forward with a budget that did assume uh our typical federal funding, which we have received for 50 years at this point.

Those funds have always directly subsidized a significant portion of Gavel Alaska, and ultimately were swept out from under us on the 18th of July.

The House of Representatives voted on the 17th, or excuse me, the Senate voted on the 17th uh in favor of rescision of funding for the corporation of public broadcasting.

Uh the House followed suit on the 18th.

The president signed that bill into law just a week later.

Uh, that for us was 1.2 million dollars, 34% of our overall budget.

Uh, that sent us into an immediate scramble.

And I think it's important to emphasize that this isn't a one-year loss for us.

This is as far as we can tell, this money is gone for the foreseeable future.

So we, of course, set to work immediately on revising that budget and approved a new budget in our August board meeting.

Um, and it rolled our revenue back to 2.9 million, and it made a few bold assumptions, including an increase of over 150,000 in individual giving, and some faith that we would find $500,000 in grants elsewhere.

Uh, at that point, we had no idea where the landscape was changing so rapidly, we were not sure what opportunities would present themselves.

But you can see when compared to the last pie chart, uh, our partnership grant grows from 13% to over 15% of KTOs, then revised budget and projected revenue.

This chart provides an overview of KTOO public media's expenses.

This was also revised down from our pre-recision budget that uh we were projecting approximately $3.2 million in expenses.

So this is a half million dollar reduction as well.

Um we reached that figure through a combination of staff benefit reductions, furloughs, and at the time we were projecting uh a reduction in force at KTO.

These cuts also included our ability to provide full service for the special excuse me, special session that took place in August.

Um, so we did have compromise service whenever there were concurrent meetings happening.

Uh, we could not provide the captioning.

We could not provide any of the production quality that we typically do because we had furloughed all those temporary staff.

Typically, our video production is superior to what Ledge TV offers, uh, which is essentially a bird's eye view of the room.

There's no effort to follow who's speaking with a camera.

There's no captioning of who is speaking, what district they're from, and what bill or or or hearing uh that we're currently watching.

In general, that's what this grant enables is all of that production value.

And television is expensive to produce.

Uh, it's 44% of our overall budget is video services in Gavel, Alaska.

Um, that equals about 1.2 million of this revised budget, and over 850,000 of that is Gavel alone.

Um, and just to put that in perspective again, that's over well, last year just under 900 hours of live produced content out of the state capital.

Uh, and then also live produced uh events like celebration, like uh we are the sole broadcaster of Alaska Federation of Natives.

So this is all part of our TV operation, all of which rides on the same infrastructure, which you help support.

But the story I get to share with you today is a much more hopeful one than it appeared to be in July of 2025, and one that speaks to the power of our community.

Our projected revenue for this fiscal year appears to be exceeding even our wildest stretch goals at this point.

Um, community giving has far exceeded that 150,000 increase that we had set.

And we've had an influx of philanthropic dollars that have put us on solid ground.

One of those gifts not featured in the slide came directly from the Juno, well, excuse me, the Juno Community Foundation.

Um that funding came very specifically earmarked for the production of Gavel Alaska.

Um, it really took the burden off of the loss of federal funding this year and has allowed us to move into the 2026 session with the same production quality and standards that we have approached every prior year.

We also received funding from the Voices Across Alaska Fund, which was propped up by the Alaska Community Foundation to support public broadcasting throughout the state very quickly.

They started fundraising in August.

This was in conjunction with public media stations across the state, and we're making distributions by October.

We were recipient of about $340,000 from that fund and an additional $500,000 from the Public Media Bridge Fund, which was propped up nationally by a company called Public Media Company.

But I think the important thing to note about both of these funds is that they are, you know, as stated in public media bridge fund, they are exactly that.

They are intended to be bridge funding.

They do not address the fact that we have lost 1.2 million dollars this year and every single year moving forward.

So they have helped us build the runway that we need so we can actually start to think and plan.

But our current sources of revenue are still very essential to our continued operation.

Providing a little bit of detail on what reserve funding looks like moving into fiscal 26.

Um, this is taken from our uh year-end financial statements.

Our audit is not quite done.

It will be soon.

I will be happy to share with all of you when it is.

Uh, but based on our fiscal year and financial statements, KTLO Public Media had approximately 1.1 million dollars in liquid reserves, which is about a three-month operating ratio for us.

Um we had an additional $482,000 in restricted legacy fund holdings at the Juno Community Foundation.

Uh, we could potentially tap that money, of course, the Juno Community Foundation's board would have to ultimately sign off on access to that money, which they likely would do at the behest of our advisors, but it is a restricted fund and we can't just access it like our liquid reserves.

As of this month, um, that restricted endowment fund has grown to just over 550,000.

So it continues to grow, which is a great sign.

Um, and as of our most recent financial statements, we're anticipating adding nearly another million to our reserves this year, um, thanks to those one-time grants that we've received and the robust giving from our community.

So moving forward, this is a snapshot of the fiscal 27 budget.

And I have to say this is a very difficult thing to prepare as we're looking at fiscal 27, considering the seismic shift in our industry.

Um, but where we are at, we are actually looking at uh increasing our expenses next year to make some uh strategic investments, specifically in fundraising.

Uh, we've also received a number of fee waivers from program providers and other folks, content providers this year, which will come back next year.

So we're gonna have to prepare to absorb those fees.

You see those return.

Um, as everyone here is likely aware, fundraising is a long-term strategy.

Um, and with the loss of our of um, excuse me, of our federal funding and an ultimate anticipation of a reduction in individual giving from this year because we will not have the same emotional response to the moment that we did in fiscal 26.

Um, we're looking at probably having uh a deficit budget for next year and the foreseeable three, two to three years before we start to see gains on those fundraising investments that we intend to make in the short term, which again underscores the importance of CBJ's support for Gavel Alaska.

So this pie chart is uh a very early estimate of what we think revenue might look like in the next fiscal year.

And you can see that that CBJ partnership grant holds strong at about 16% of our overall revenue.

And I respectfully request that um CBJ maintains that current level of funding in uh in fiscal 27.

That investment, paired with our aggressive pursuit of additional outside funding will secure our ability to continue providing Alaskans uninterrupted access to their state government, maintain the infrastructure that serves our community in both uh routine and emergency circumstances.

So that is it.

My contact information there.

We're truly grateful for the support that the city and borough have provided for many years to Gavel Alaska.

It's allowed us to invest in the human and technological capacity required to provide statewide access to government in Alaska's Capital City.

And I am open to any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Who has questions for Mr.

Showman?

Ms.

Hall.

With Gavel being so essential to people all over the state being able to know what's going on.

And do any of the other communities contribute to that?

I I know when we started, it was sort of like trying to keep the capital here, but um that has died down a bit.

I know we need to be ever mindful of it, but is there an opportunity since this is a huge benefit to citizens everywhere to have them help carry the load?

Uh thank you for that question.

At present, uh there are no other municipalities, cities or boroughs that support Gavel Alaska.

Um our biggest support comes in our nonprofit partners with Alaska Public Media and KUAC.

Um, we are currently um through working with what our local representation to see if state funding may be available.

Um not in the form of a grant, but in the form of contract for service.

But at this point, there are no other municipalities supporting, and I think that this is an area that ideally we would like to grow, and as a part of those fundraising investments we're making, um, we are bringing on new staff specifically to look at Gavel Alaska and what opportunities exist there, um, and also to build individual giving around Gavel Alaska, because by and large, we have been reliant on grant funding and sponsorships, and we have never really reached out on an individual giving level basis uh for anything outside of our standard what people would think of as radio services.

Um obviously Gavel Alaska reaches a different audience uh that may have different motive motivations for giving.

Um, and we do hope to tap that, but it is going to take some time to develop.

And I think other municipalities is another great avenue.

Thank you, Ms.

Wall.

And she's on Zoom, so you are good to see her.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Sherman, for being here.

Sorry, I'm not there with you in person.

Um this well, thanks first.

I'll extend another thank you for everything KTOO does, our community and how you all are managing to ride the waves that are being thrown at you.

Um is there, am I remembering correctly that there's some funding relationship between KTOO and the Alaska Committee?

Or what what is your partnership with the with the Alaska Committee look like?

And I apologize if um I'm misremembering that.

No, um we have received direct funding from them in the past, and they've also been a strong advocate for us frequently.

Um, and especially when it comes to matters of Gavel, Alaska.

And in fact, we are not currently receiving funding from them, but hope to be soon uh very specifically for uh the hire of one of these fundraising positions who's uh who 50% of their time will then be focused specifically on that Gavel fundraising piece that I just referenced.

Mr.

Brooks.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you for being here with us today.

Uh you had spoke a little bit on the investing and fundraising efforts.

I was just wondering if there's been um, you know, any looking into on investing in other avenues, you know, like financial investments that could um have any time type of monetary returns for passive incomes for the organization.

There are a couple irons in the fire.

One we're looking at as uh is our production services has always been a revenue generator for us.

Um so that is essentially video production.

Uh so the innovation summit as an example of of a contract that we just we just produced for uh JADC.

Um so we're looking to grow that business arm, and there's potential that we may even spin that off into its own for-profit venture um and break it from the nonprofit umbrella.

Uh that's long-term thinking.

We're not there yet, but it is something that we're investigating and beginning to put a little more effort into marketing.

As for investing reserve dollars, we've been reluctant to do that simply because we don't want to tie that funding up, and we just need that, you know, we need those liquid funds available to us in case of emergency, much like we saw this year.

Ms.

Hughescannis.

Thanks, Madam Mayor, and thanks for being here.

My question is kind of a follow-up on Ms.

Walls about the Alaska Committee because what I think uh my for my understanding, I feel like Alaska Committee always mentions Gavel Alaska.

So it sounds like is it correct to say that those are standalone like equipment or there is not any ongoing financial relationship where they're consistently giving?

No, no, no ongoing consistent giving.

This grant from the city comes directly to KTO.

Um, and then uh again, the Alaska Committee has been a huge advocate and has made direct gifts at times, but there's no ongoing financial relationship there.

Thank you.

Mr.

Brooks.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Is uh is there any other uh asset holdings beyond the liquid cash?

Um can you repeat the question?

Sorry.

Yes, uh just any other assets beyond the liquid cash, like real estate or anything like that.

I there is some, it's generally minimal.

Uh, most of our space where we have towers and infrastructure is lease base.

Um, we do own some of the towers.

We do try to capitalize on on much of that.

We own our facility.

Um, we have leases with uh a number of communications companies on the top.

So that is a revenue generator for us, but um we own very little, and in fact, even the piece of of property that we sit on is actually in a brown ground lease with the Alaska Man Health Trust.

So while we do own a facility, um it's not uh the most valuable asset to us in the sense that yes, it provides us with everything we need to produce what we do, and of course that's invaluable.

Um, but if we were to sell it, it comes with a ground lease underneath.

Any further questions?

All right.

Uh my only question I have for you, thank you for coming and thank you for all your work.

Um, we heard nothing but great things about your um coverage of the Gloff.

And uh I know many people looked at that.

And I think a lot of ways that kept people out of the area by being able to see that on you know, screens rather than flooding the area to look.

So we appreciate that.

Um if we wanted to donate to KTO, write a check to KPO.

I'm helping you with your individual sponsors.

And if we want to donate to Gav Alaska, do you write the check for Gab Alaska or KTO?

Great question.

Uh, you can write that to KTLO and put Gavel Alaska in the node.

It specifically earmarked for Gavel.

All right.

Thank you for your time today.

Appreciate you coming in.

Thank you.

Next, we have the Geno Arts and Humanities Council.

And we can put another mic over there, Miss McMillan, if you wanted to bring anybody up with you.

Okay.

Just look like you had a fan club over there.

Oh, there you go.

Am I okay to start?

Yes, please do so.

Start by introducing yourself.

Good evening.

Uh, thank you for having me.

My name is Maggie McMillan.

Um, I am the executive director of the Juno Arts and Humanities Council.

I appreciate the opportunity to be here today and talk to you about our partnership and the work that we do together.

So rather than reading in our mission statement verbatim, I'm going to tell you what the Jack does for the community.

We are the hub of all arts for Juno.

I like to think of Juno of having this like super robust and beautiful arts ecosystem.

And we are the hub.

Um we are a place for people to gather.

Uh we are a place uh that artists come to display their art and perform, but we are also a place that um gives artists opportunities, and that is what our partnerships allow us to do.

So this is the allocation of our funding that we got from you all um in our current fiscal year.

We're in our uh fiscal year 26 right now.

You can see that we got 12,000 for individual grants, 12,000 to make it so we can have people use the jack at an affordable price for them.

Um we used money for our catalyst grants, and of course, our biggest money making that we do with you all is um our major grants.

Those are the ones that you all think of when you think of the arts community of Juno.

Those are the major organizations we fund.

Um and I will tell you that we would be really, really happy to see this money again for this coming fiscal year.

We would really, really love to continue giving grants to artists and being a place where people can come for help when they need it with their projects.

So in the calendar year, we uh got 20 individual artist grants this year.

And if we would have funded them all, we would have needed 116,000.

And of course, we did not have that.

But what we were able to do is give 14 individual artists a thousand dollar grants.

And I know that doesn't sound like an lot, but for a lot of these artists, it's sometimes the first grant that they've ever given.

And this money helps either buy their supplies or gives them a stage to perform and show their projects on.

Um, I'm sure you know some of the people on this list.

Juno is a really amazing artist community.

So this lists and it's a lot of people.

We have theater people, you have fiber artists, you have indigenous people, you have singers, you have musicians, uh, writers, makers, all sorts of amazing people.

I truly believe that these people are why our community is a vibrant place to live.

Now let's talk about major grants.

Major grants, we had 15 applications this year for 349,000.

Out of that, we gave out 118,650 in grants.

Um groups like Perseverance Theater, uh, Juno Symphony, Juno Jazz and Classics, Theater Alaska Jam, they all rely on this support and they all use it for very different things.

For example, Jam partners, people with music mentorship opportunities versus Perseverance Theater, which offers productions here in Juno in the Capital City multiple times a year.

Um, Theatre Alaska is that does the same thing, but their theater is in a park and is accessible to all different income levels, which makes art accessible to all, which I think is really important in a community our size.

Another big thing we do at the Arts Council that benefits Juno is our art education program through programs like Artists in Schools and Artful Teaching.

We've worked really hard to connect artists with classrooms and support creative learning opportunities for our students.

Very exciting.

Next week we're going to actually be hosting the statewide competition for poetry out loud, bringing 26 uh students and their families here from across the state to see their capital city and perform.

I don't know about you, but I get really fired up watching young people get passionate about something.

So I'm really, really excited to see it and be part of it this year.

And if any of you are interested, um, K2 actually is hosting us in their broadcast room, and it will be live Monday evening.

So pretty exciting and another cool opportunity and another thing the Jack does to bring people to the Capital City.

So I think you all know that um I used to be an executive director somewhere else.

So I'm fairly new to the Jack.

I stepped in on December 4th.

Um, and it's been a very interesting transition so far.

So looking forward, our focus right now is on stability and sustainability.

As part of our leadership transition, we have spent a significant time reviewing and cleaning up our financial systems, improving reporting, and aligning our operational budget with reliable revenue sources.

That work is going to help us build a stronger administrative foundation for the organization going forward.

We are also reorganizing operations.

We are reducing our operating expenses, which unfortunately met this week.

We reduced some staff.

At the same time, though, we are continuing to support artists and organizations and really trying to help our partners still move forward, though we are ourselves going through a little bit of a hard time.

We've also started working on a new strategic plan, which I'm really excited about.

And I think our board is pretty pretty ready for.

And they waited to have a new executive director.

So we have an expired strategic plan right now, but they did that well strategically.

They were hoping they would have me first.

So now that I'm here, I'm really looking forward to working on a strategic plan that helps them move into the future in a very, very solid way.

So I know that I don't have financials up there, but um I did provide my budget to you all, and I am prepared to ask any or answer any questions.

You might have full disclosure.

I've only been in the books for a short amount of time, and I won't make up an answer.

So if I don't know something, I will just let you know and try to get back to you within the uh the business week.

Who has questions for Ms.

McMillan?

Mr.

Brooks.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you for being here presenting that.

I uh I can't remember specifically what uh organization was doing, but I remember reading somewhere about the Juno Fine Arts camp.

I know that SICA has the fine arts camp, and uh I personally think that we could probably do a better one if we really wanted to.

So can you speak to that a little bit?

So we don't do that.

I'm pretty sure the dance theater does, and the only reason I know that is because my son has attended the Juno Fine Arts camp.

It was actually his very first camp when we moved here seven years ago, and it's fantastic.

Um, could we do one as cool as Sitka?

I don't know.

Do we have a Sheldon Jackson campus laying around?

I mean, that's part of the special part of Sica Fine Arts Camp, nothing against Juno, but like it's pretty cool, you guys.

So um, no, I think there's a lot of really cool opportunities that we're trying to do to engage young people though at the Jack, maybe not have a full fine arts camp, but like we're uh we had a bunch of teenagers come to a metal show recently and we taught them how to do sound, right?

So, like we're trying to figure out how to do that, like how do we put a program together to teach young people tech skills?

Because that's actually like a career, and it's also really fun.

So we are trying to think of new ways to engage young people all the time.

Thank you.

I just I know that when I had attended the Sica Fine Arts Camp, there's a big emphasis on it being like world renowned.

People travel from across the country and other countries and you know, to try and bring something like that to Juno would be pretty pretty cool thing.

Any questions?

Ms.

Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, thank you, Miss McMillan for being here.

Um, I have a question about the the re-granting um and the the grants you give to other nonprofits, arts nonprofits.

Um is that typically like, you know, organizations that come to you, you know, year after year and and rely on this operation, you know, to make themselves whole in their operations and what they do regular for the community, or is it more kind of you know, special projects or initiatives or or things that come up and um you know you see them from time to time or mix of the two.

So I'm gonna answer this with the best of my knowledge as I've only been able to look through a couple years of grant applications.

Um, I think it's a mix.

I think certain people come back because they have different projects all the time.

I do think certain people probably apply, like jam was on our presentation last year too.

Um, the symphony probably as well.

They all have generally different needs though every year.

I don't think any of them um, from my knowledge, from my memory, apply for like operating grants year over year from us.

I think they're for projects.

Uh, Mr.

Brooks.

Thank you, madam mayor.

On the uh on the smaller grants for like personal artists.

Do you see uh a robust applicant pool for that?

Like every year, a bunch of people, a bunch of artists trying to get in on it.

Yeah, it was actually pretty cool to see the list of artists and then go, oh gosh, there was like hundreds of thousands of dollars that people wanted, and we gave, I mean, we gave out 14,000.

Like, so yes, there's definitely a need for those individual smaller grants and the young uh a lot of first-time artists come to us because uh our grant process is easy, we're receptive, we want to see Juno artists succeed.

So I I do think that's probably why we get such a large pool of applicants.

Ms.

Hall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and and thank you.

Um McMillan.

Um, I'm wondering why the fundraising revenue and the gallery revenue are projected half of what they were budgeted last year.

Yeah, so um I showed budgets versus budgets.

I'm not sure where our fundraising revenue is going to end at the end of our year.

So I'm being more conservative.

I inherited a very lofty budget from uh past operation managers.

Um and I'd rather be happily surprised at the end of the year instead of not.

Also, I will say we did close one of our galleries.

We had two um store galleries.

We have the Davis gallery and then the gallery and the Jack, and they were virtually identical.

Um, but we have the one in the convention center, and for like when uh out of state people come in and they want to get something for their kid or their spouse or something.

Um the cost to run it didn't make sense to me.

So I'm I'm seeing if it made sense to close it down.

We're gonna try try keeping it closed for six months to see um if the staffing expense going away makes sense.

Um if if we see gallery sales dive because we close the one in the the convention center, then we'll probably reopen it.

But because I'm doing a little bit of an experiment with the galleries.

Um but I did that because I was trying to get my um payroll expense down.

So since you touched on the convention center, how is that going with the rentals?

And do you need more help there?

Kathleen is the queen of the centennial hall, and she's she's doing great over there.

Um I think we all know that I have a hospitality background and I'm event planner at heart.

So um I would like to work, and I've already uh spoke to Katie and I know we have your guys' support to look at our how we are charging people who come into town.

So looking at our funding model and um or our pricing model and making sure it makes sense for us when I look to see how much money we make when we all are said and done with Centennial Hall.

I feel like it should be a better number on our budget.

So not that you guys aren't great partners, it's just the way we manage it.

I feel like we could make more money with that asset for sure.

You do throw a good event.

And I'm glad you're talking with staff because we've had issues with uh um centennial hall being not rented out because um staff wasn't available.

So far we've heard good things.

Any further questions?

Ms.

Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Umbody else is asking the hard question yet, so I guess I'll do it.

Um, Ms.

McMillan, you you know the position that that we find ourselves as a city.

We are definitely looking to will be making cuts um this year, um, and are asking this question of all of our partners.

Um, you know, if if the Jack was to get a reduced um grant amount, you know, has your board talked about what changes you would make, um, or do you have a sense of what the impact of that would be?

Do you have a sense of what the first things you know you what you would all do to respond to that?

It's okay if the answer is no, you haven't, but having a sense of you know what what would come next for you or how you think things would go um would be helpful.

So I haven't had a full chance to talk to my whole board about this, but I I will say that we are not in a financial position to offer these grants without you all.

So our granting program would probably go away until we get into a financial place to do so.

Um it's just the reality of that, right?

Um we are trying, like I'm I'm building a food court in front of the Jack this summer.

We are trying to figure out ways to offset our expenses so we can keep more of our money in our pockets so we can do these things for the community without asking you year over year.

We're just not there yet.

Thank you for trying to be creative.

Okay.

I don't see anything further, so thank you for the presentation.

And next we have JEDC.

All right, please start by introducing yourself and welcome.

Uh thanks.

Thanks, Madam Mayor.

Uh Aaron Morrison, uh, the current uh chair of the board for uh JDC here with my uh executive director who can introduce himself.

Thank you, Aaron.

Uh Brian Holst, I'm the director of the Juno Economic Development Council.

Thank you for having us.

We uh for people online, we we did send the the document that uh we just shared with the board.

We have a couple more copies here if someone in the audience would like one as well.

Thank you, Adrian.

She let us know that the level of detail we put in the presentation probab you wouldn't want more than that.

So we provided more than that for you today now.

So uh the June Economic Development Council uh just turned 39 last month.

Um we are planning some activities uh in our 40th year next year.

We're excited about that.

Uh this was a formed as a partnership by the city and borough of Juneau Assembly, you all and the Chamber of Commerce in uh 1987.

Our mission is to foster sustainable healthy and sustainable economic climate in Juneau and um throughout Southeast Alaska.

Um and working with other partners is key to our work.

Lots of partners that we have.

We have a um a fairly diverse uh set of uh resources that come to us.

Um the city and borough of Juneau, that's that's not your imagination, that is the largest logo.

You are our our biggest and strongest um supporter.

We appreciate that very much.

And we have a we have investors on this sheet.

Um we asked the staff to take a look at how many organizations um contribute in some way to um our work and um it's over 200.

Uh you know, the the maritime festival alone, which is a crazy little project thing that's just grown, um, had over 70 um sponsors, lots of in-kind as well, but lots of lots of engagement with our community, which really appreciate.

Um our board of directors, as you know, we have this uh wonderfully important relationship with the city where uh the board of of JDC delegates to the assembly the responsibility to appoint our board.

And we have a our staff, our staff is a uh we have 13 members of uh we have 12 staff members that are year-round full-time staff, year-round staff, eight full-time, four part-time, and we have a Jesuit volunteer as well.

We've had volunt great success with Americor and Jesuit volunteers supporting our work um over the last um several years.

We also have seasonal staff um in the primarily in the in the summer.

Uh as uh many of you know, we uh assume the crossing guard program in July of this year.

We also manage the um the staffing for the downtown ambassadors through the DBA through an agreement with them.

And we also run uh camps in the summertime because we need families with young children to love Juno.

And we've um we'll talk about that a little bit later.

Uh just want to go through some of the main areas of focus of JDC.

These are areas of focus identified by our board of directors and then our staff.

We deliver programming in each of these areas.

Some highlights.

I know you have the the deck in front of you, so I'm not going to go through through each of these, but just want to raise uh just a um mention a couple of them.

You know, this this topic about this this first line about uh raising awareness about the demographic trajectory.

Uh Alaska has experienced um 13 years in a row of net out migration.

Um Juno, we're not immune to that as well.

We are we lose a lot of people.

We at Alaska's attractive.

We also are a place where lots of people come to Alaska.

We have a population in the state of Alaska of 750,000.

Just gonna bear with me for a second.

750,000.

In a 10-year period, in the last 10 years, we've had 500,000 new residents.

And in the last 10 years, we've lost 500,000 and plus residents.

We have which which is tops of the charts in the United States.

We have, which which is tops of the charts in the United States, we have the we have no problem attracting people to come to our great state.

We have a terrible challenge in retaining people to live in in Alaska.

And it's something that you all are dealing with.

We know that as a family, that's a wonderful asset for you to want to raise your family in a place that's a ski resort.

Within in this make Juno Great Capital City, we also focus the bit of work that we do on housing.

We we used to do a lot more work on housing.

And then you hired our housing coordinator from us, and we sort of did less on that.

Housing is such an incredibly critical issue.

Super delighted to see that the assembly incorporated that into your priorities for this next year.

I think there's a that's an opportunity to get more working class family into some form of homeownership.

In our our second area of focus is uh key regional industries.

That's the if you've heard us talk about clusters.

These are those industries that bring money into our community.

Um think traded industries, think uh the visitor industry brings money into Southeast Alaska in their pockets, and they leave again the mining industry.

You know, there's uh we take the rocks out of the ground, people send us money, those traded industries, that's what grows your economy.

Um we work uh closely with the the visitor industry.

We're very careful not to do duplicate work that others are doing.

So in the in the visitor industry, we're primarily focused on work in the Tongas.

We work with um, there are operators throughout all of the Tongas.

That's one of the main attractions, of course, to come to Alaska is to see um uh spend time in the Tongas and getting access to that those wild um resources takes time and effort and permitting, and we assist um operators with that kind of work.

I think I'll also just mention the on promote entrepreneurship in small business, a third area of focus.

Uh several uh pieces of work that we do there.

One one is uh angel investing, and that's creating opportunities for um entrepreneurs to get uh capital for their startup businesses.

And it's also an opportunity for us to train uh people that have resources, right?

So that they will invest in in businesses.

We were successful, uh, several of us getting um getting the Alaska, I think it's the Innovating Alaska Act passed several years ago in the legislature, and now we help to host uh we've done seven rounds of funds for angel investing, uh simultaneously teaching people how to invest in small companies and also actually making an investment into companies by vetting organized companies through through this process.

Uh we're super proud of the fact that we're the winner of the F SBA growth accelerator competition prize, which allows us, gives us some resources, which allows us to continue to do this um work.

We also lend money to businesses in Juneau, and I can talk about that a little bit more and a little more as much detail as you want a little bit later, a later slide for that.

Developed town is also very important.

It every time we talk about this, I get to remind us all that the economy is about people, right?

Um, our job is to make this um economy sustain all of us uh as citizens here in Juneau.

That's where the word economy comes from.

It's vessel that carries us all.

And the economy isn't meant to just work for uh the business owners of people that are doing really well.

Um we have a good economy when it serves um all of our community, and that's really important um to us in the developed talent.

So it is an area where we we do summer camps.

We we um uh have created a uh we serve over 300 young people every summer now in their summer camps.

These have expanded, we see great demand, they're very high quality summer camps, primarily around skills that we know are are important in Alaska needed science technology engineering mass skills, but in the last few years, we've also added tradescamp, and we also have added um an entrepreneurship camp in partnership with the Juno Chamber of Commerce.

Uh we do um in this area, we also do uh quite a bit of work um in addressing elder care, elder population.

Uh we see a giant opportunity for Alaska and the rural health transformation program, and we're being we're being very proactive in in working with lots of partners to make sure that our community um can access uh those resources that are coming to Alaska, 270 million dollars next year or this year, and uh anticipated for the next four, four or five years.

also added tradescamp and we also have added um an entrepreneurship camp in partnership with the juno chamber of commerce uh we we do um in this area we also do uh quite a bit of work um in addressing elder care elder population uh we see a giant opportunity for alaska and the rural health transformation program and we're being we're being very proactive in in working with lots of partners to make sure that our community um can access uh those resources that are coming um to alaska 270 million dollars next year or this year and uh anticipated for the next four four or five years and then um also very pleased to um have just secured enough funding to be able to create a CTE Current Technical Education pilot program and the construction trades for this summer I think all of you know that we have been uh very um eager to alert to this community to these um incredibly large construction projects that are on horizon we have the Coast Guard um home porting which will is 300 million dollars just in the infrastructure it'll cost them more than much more than that when by time it's all done the Hunda Totem project 150 million dollars gold belt um uh docks 500 million dollars we're talking 600 at least conservatively uh construction workers needed um in Juno that don't live here over the next four years um minimum to be able to go to so we're we have secured a small amount of funding to do a program this summer where we're going to have at least our goal is at least 20 um high school graduates to get training in the construction fields this summer to cultivate interest hopefully begin careers as part of a longer effort a larger effort to get more people in the pipeline to be able to take those jobs when these job when these large projects occur because there's funding these projects are going to happen and if we this let them happen we'll have large infrastructure that's good for our community if we're thoughtful and we proactive and we can get uh people from our community involved in working on those projects then we can also create careers for for Junoites to stay in Juno economic services is is a is the fifth area of of work that we we do I will just mention um we mentioned the innovation summit we just uh the 15th time we've we've put that together uh uh several of you participated appreciate you making the effort to to do that we also deliver um research to our community uh throughout throughout the year on different topics of of importance we collect data where we we give a lot of credit to the department of labor and lots of great resources out there for economic data we also are are one of three communities that collects data on the cost of living in Alaska so that we have up to date um way of of monitoring um what what it does cost to live in June relative to other communities throughout Alaska throughout the United States of America sorry lots of partnerships with organizations it's one of the one of the um services that we recognize is needed in our community is that there are a lot of nonprofits that are that um find it challenging to to operate and we are um we have a very talented staff and we um have we provide support to other organizations to help them to operate efficiently basically less expensively because they don't have to install the capacity um to do that across the top here are several of those organizations the Juno Navy League is is off the charts we do the books for the Juno Navy League as well which is a very successful um new organization in our community lending history uh there's a lot of detail on here and again I know you have the slide deck and don't know why it extends beyond the page there but but lots of words really meant for you to be able to read that in in your packet we do have an active uh loan portfolio thank you to the to the the assembly this was a portfolio we've been managing on your behalf for many many years and now um we we manage it um directly we've also managed the CBJ float plane noise abatement program um we we saw a similar program using um directed towards the visitor industry that looks like perhaps it's going to be postponed for a while but the renewable energy program to help um businesses transition to renewable energy in the tourism industry we have a child care loan program that we also run on on your behalf um at at CBJ some of these programs like the child care loan program or um it's a great program we're happy to do it doesn't we put it's meant to be affordable because it's it's subsidized lending essentially so there's some we generate other resources and elsewhere to be able to pay for the cost of those programs the revolving loan fund um typically pays it basically pays for itself we've we've had um just wanted to include just some comments from from people perhaps that you know in our community um about how the work that um you know how we've impacted them these are these are comments in the last year um that are made you know from Eric we we actually got this from a KTO report um you know um read that uh and was very happy to read that ask of course I'm asking permission if we could replicate this here uh it is we cannot take credit for the success of uh uh of Juno businesses but we what we we give them loans and we we give them loans essentially we're gonna

program or um it's a great program we're happy to do it doesn't we put it's meant to be affordable because it's it's subsidized lending essentially so there's some we generate other resources and elsewhere we'll have to pay for the cost of those programs the revolving loan fund um typically pays it basically pays for itself we've we've had uh just wanted to include just some comments from from people perhaps that you know in our community um about how the work that um you know how we've impacted them these are these are comments in the last year uh that are made you know from Eric we we actually got this from a KTO report um you know um read that uh and was very happy to read that ask of course I'm asking permission if we could replicate this here uh it is we cannot take credit for the success of uh uh of Juno businesses but we what we we give them loans and we we give them loans essentially we're giving people when you get a loan from the Juno Economic Development Council it's probably because the banks won't give you a loan right we don't lend we don't compete directly um with banks and uh and so these are opportunities that I think these people uh appreciate either we got to them help them to get to their success earlier um or sometimes maybe they would not have had the opportunity to to get those loans the mayor serves on our board she reminded um us to to make sure that we mentioned the research that we do there's a we have uh research staff um um on JDC that's that's their their um their exclusive focus they they help us in in in many you know aspects of of our work as well to inform our own work but also to produce um information for the community long list of I think this is the last um four or five years of of of sort of of titles of research projects there's a research library we call it on our website where you can access um all of our research papers and research notes and um and survey information and the mayor also suggested that we mention to you and this this um feels old because we're all so happy that it's so far behind us with all the pandemic craziness um but but I think it's important that we we mention this because we played a very large role during the the pandemic and and it's a role that this organization um enjoys playing and I think is expected to play in our community is that um we we you want to have this our capacity around um on the good days when you know we can we can continue to do economic um programming but when things are are are difficult we're also an organization that you can count on to turn to to help deliver um services we we did a um a very large amount of work in the that four year period I think we managed all of the business um grant programs that the city um was responsible for we we did your lent loaning lend loan program as well we also helped the state um deliver programs 206 million dollars we we we delivered to 3500 businesses throughout Alaska um and it's a they all got to receive a check from the Juno economic development council and every time we've we signed those checks I always thought right at least I'm pretty sure when you get a big check for a grant um and you see Juno in this name maybe you thought nicely about Juno finally something good from my rural town so we're happy to do that.

We've made a um and it's important for I think where the conversation needs to go is uh some of this work that we did under the pandemic work of return to the pandemic slide uh all the work we did with the city and borough Juno it's grants and when we do deliver um grant work through the city we don't make money but we don't lose money right it's uh it's cost recovery when we delivered programs um for the state they chose to use a contract mechanism so the contract mechanism um if you win the win the award and you can administer it efficiently you can earn some some excess revenue and it as a nonprofit if we have excess revenue you know the only thing we can spend it back on is our work but we were successful in uh in managing programs and earning earning revenue um the contracts again we'll be clear not a penny made or lost from the work with um in in with the Juno City and borough Juno resources but the way the city the state chose to manage it ended up working well for us as an organization and so we um want to do more work for Juno we want to expand and so we've we one of the choices that the board made was to develop was to invest in program development we have now a a full-time staff member who does um focuses on program development and to get re resources you need to make a lot of proposals um so this shows the the the just the last couple years of proposals 23 proposals and and um f25 we have 17 to date um and then the amounts of of resources that we have um earned so far I was Daniel who does this did tell me that in FY26 we now have four proposals and the total is it's like 1600 or so anyway he's uh he's uh he's the lead of that work and he's doing a great job our return on investment this is a uh this was a a request from uh you as an as a body several years ago the question is that you posed to us and reasonably is

I was Daniel who does this, did tell me that in FY26, we now have four proposals, and the total is it's like 160,000 or so.

So anyway, he's uh he's uh he's the lead of that work and he's doing a great job.

Our return on investment.

This is a uh this was a request from uh you as an as a body several years ago.

The question is that you posed to us and reasonably is hey, we give you money, you know.

How do you what do we get back in in exchange?

And so Maria Gladyshevsky uh gets the the credit for uh we worked with her, she suggested and we agreed on it's it's hard for us to get money one year and then be able to say this is what happened.

Um but if we we decided if we look over a five year period, you know, how do we measure what the impacts are?

And so this is um your very important blue dot there is the 1.9 million that you you gave to us to support JDC in a five year period.

The 11.7 million, those are additional resources that we were able to um bring through our doors um to um for programming at JEDC that we leveraged on top of your resources, and then this larger direct investment, those are funds that flew to Drew to businesses because of programs that we manage businesses or other organizations.

So the impact's large.

This large dot, large green, is uh also covers most of the um pandemic era.

So that's that's going to decrease.

But the what we're pretty consistent in the leverage of for every dollar we get from the sitting borough of June, four or five additional dollars, we're able to deliver in an economic programming um in our in our community.

This slide, I probably shouldn't put it in there because you know, Mike's, yeah, I see, right?

She's on, yeah.

So anyway, it's just the point is you have been consistently supporting the Juneau Economic Development Council since uh it was created every year.

We really appreciate your support.

The difference between the two lines, the yellow is the nominal line, and uh because we're the you know the economic development group, we we we put in real dollar terms, meaning you know, in inflation adjusted.

And so that very first year, you apparently gave us a good chunk of resources to kind of kind of get the organization going, and then you've been really steady with your support um ever since.

You have in front of you the in your hands and an online um the the our financials.

Um we were asked to talk about you know what would it, what would happen if you reduced our our funding, right?

And our board has not done a formal budget to determine you know what what would be eliminated, but what we we're able to discuss what is what is vulnerable, right, to for funding.

And so what has happened is that over the last several years when uh because we have earned resources simultaneously, JEDC was spending earnings in addition to what we were receiving from CBJ in addition to revenue that we were earning simultaneously because we did we did have a a substantial amount of earnings in the board.

Um and I and I I will say I this is what I asked the board to do.

We didn't have earnings for the sake of earnings, we earn money so that we could use it on economic development.

So we've been spending those at um probably about $300,000 a year for the last four or five years since since we earned into programming.

So what does that mean?

That means there are some programs that don't pay their way, right?

So those are the programs that are probably those are the programs that are most vulnerable to funding, like the STEM trades in summer camps.

We didn't have a 300 kids participating in summer camps um three years ago.

Uh, but we allowed staff to grow that program to meet the demand.

We have pricing that allows it doesn't turn away single family.

You pay what you can pay from as low as $30 to the full price of a camp.

And so what it what happened is that these camps then grew, right?

And we were okay with that because we wanted to see what the interest was and the support was.

So that's vulnerable.

We have a lot of, we either have to fundraise a lot, but those are it's basically subsidized program.

Our robotics program, we run robotics program throughout the state of Alaska.

Um, we have five or six teams at the Juno Douglas High School in robotics.

Um it's seems kind of silly, but we almost so that this community has a robust robotics program.

We run the whole thing for the entire state of Alaska.

We run 20 tournaments around the state.

We have great corporate sponsors.

That program doesn't quite break even.

Again, vulnerable.

The Maritime Festival.

Uh, right.

It's an awesome event, and it's free.

The public, it's uh we're super happy that it it has so many people come to it.

It's uh uh it and lots of interest.

It's it's growing.

We own tents, you know.

We you know, we've created this opportunity for people to um it's a great small business opportunity, but you know, it's not a small business program by any means.

It is great if you're an entrepreneur to get an opportunity to show your wares, but it only happens once a year.

Great event doesn't pay for itself.

Um vulnerable innovation summit, same thing.

It's a it we programmatically want to talk about challenging issues in our in the state of economy.

We host this in June during the legislative session.

K2O, they they left, uh, but it they do do awesome production.

We make it up great, it's not inexpensive to put on that event.

It doesn't pay for itself, vulnerable.

Our research work, right?

We um have spent um, yeah, it's vulnerable.

How much research?

I think the Juno Economic Domain Council always should do be involved in research.

Um can we afford two FTE like we had last year?

Maybe not.

Local frequency is a small program that we created during COVID, which was to encourage locals to shop locally.

Uh it hasn't had the uptake that we that we hoped it would.

And it it is uh it doesn't, it doesn't pay for itself.

So those are things that are are impacted.

Other other challenges.

So the CPJ funding that you provide to us is really valuable because it it also is a source for for uh matching, like the Forest Service, for example.

We have two agreements of the Forest Service.

Both of those agreements require us to have non-federal match, right?

So we would be a little more vulnerable, less time for research.

Um, we'd have to spend more time raising money, right?

We we we do have one FTE.

These are decisions that we'd have to make and more time, you know.

If I spend more time raising money, that's less time doing other work, right?

Um, and then less flexibility to respond to crisis.

It doesn't mean that um, it doesn't mean that the JDC goes away, but these are the types of of questions that would be proposed that we would we would have to deal with.

And I think this is my last slide.

Um super happy with the questions that you asked in that survey.

Um the that this is the value statement that the community chose, which I think is a great, we're in a great place in that sense because that is the answer to Juno's workforce challenges and Juno's sustainability challenges is that we need to retain more people, more working age residents um and young families so they can stay um here in our community.

Yes.

Thank you.

What questions do we have for the gentleman?

Mr.

Kelly.

Thank you.

And um, thank you for uh putting on the innovation summit.

I felt like this last session was very valuable.

I was noticing specifically in the vulnerable slide, some programs that are not specific just to benefiting Juno.

I also noticed in the budget and reserves spread our sheet that you gave us just before the meeting that I haven't really had a chance to go in depth.

That you uh I see Haynes is also mentioned on here.

So I I'm wondering what revenues you might be bringing in from other partners uh statewide.

Uh Mr.

Holtz, go ahead through the chair.

So the thank you for those questions.

On the balance sheet, we have the Haynes Revolving Loan Fund.

We have a long-standing um partnership with the City Mbur City of Haynes to manage their loan portfolio.

The portfolio is a is a little over 100,000.

It's currently deployed into two loans at the moment.

It is too small for them to want to manage on their own.

We're happy to do it.

There's no direct cost to Juno to do that.

The people pay interest on those loans.

This item here is a restricted amount on our balance sheet, meaning um, yeah, it's it belongs to the city of Haynes.

That's why it's listed as restrictive.

Was that it?

That answers that question.

Right.

And then I think the question about other funding from outside, you know, so our like our robotics program, which doesn't quite cover all of its costs.

Um we do have uh sponsors from from around the state, corporations, Alaska Airlines, uh Alaska 529, Conico Phillips, those are the some of the larger sponsors uh that allow us to run that program um statewide.

Mr.

Steininger.

Thank you.

Um also on the question of your reserves.

Um, you know, you you spoke to kind of spending down the earnings you made um ministering the COVID programs.

I see, you know, it's uh roughly 10% drawdown in your operating reserves, bringing it down to eight months of reserves.

Do you have kind of a target of how much you'd like in reserves?

Like when does that draw down but come unsustainable for you?

Go ahead.

Yep, Richard.

Yes, we uh we we want reserves between six and twelve months.

So we don't want to draw down much more of our reserves than we are at now.

Uh, but we would want to not go below six months.

Uh I don't think any nonprofit wants to go below six months, is our Mr.

Steiner.

Any further questions?

Ms.

Hall.

Hell, this is a little bit of just uh tootin' the horn for um you know I attended the innovation summit, but um earlier in the month at the Southeast Conference, I heard the presentation by the Department of Health on the rural health transformation funds, the 273 million coming to the state um every year for the next five years and just uh incredible opportunity, but so much unknown and everyone having to move super fast.

And um after that presentation, I was chatting with some of the folks from Department of Health, and they said, you know, what is Juno doing?

And I think, oh my god, what are we doing?

You know, this is a huge opportunity.

And um, and so anyway, I reached out to JEDC and they're on it, you know.

And I thought of if they had the capacity to do what they did during with the COVID funding, um, you know, this is really exciting and the capacity that you have or will develop in helping partner organizations apply will be a huge benefit to our community.

Um so I just wanted to highlight that and and also appreciate you know, the the focus of the innovation summit on our out migration, what we can do to keep folks here and attract them, um the growing need of the of the elder care community and also the workforce.

So just really um appreciative of um your work in all those key areas and uh and would like to highlight that the the different summer camps, that's child care.

And and so you know, parents are just scrambling to always find opportunities for their kids.

So the more we can make sure those opportunities are available, the better.

So I guess not really any questions, but just uh wanted to highlight some of what I've noticed.

Thank you.

Well, thank you, Ms.

Hall.

Mr.

Steininger and then Mr.

Brooks.

Uh thank you.

Also, uh, Ms.

Wall.

I actually think she might have raised her hand before me if you want to have our hand up by that at the apple.

All right, Ms.

Wall, then Mr.

Brooks, and then Mr.

Steininger.

Thank you, Madam Mayor and Mr.

Steininger.

Um I was uh in I'm just looking at the screenshot of the budget and reserve numbers.

Um but I notice your your investment income is you know in FY26 fairly fairly healthy.

Um is that just from is that just a good year from your operating reserves or are there other is there other investment income that I'm missing?

Well with the funds that we hold, we we try to uh we try to invest them as as best we can throughout the year.

And uh fortunately for for our organization, um, the stock market did really good this year.

So we were able to uh utilize you know those those gains towards uh cutting back on Aaron Morrison here again, the uh uh board chair.

Um we were able we we aggressively went after the budget this last time, uh thinking that we're gonna draw down reserve sum and those investments helped to kind of really balance the uh everything for this year.

So it was we got lucky.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Thank you.

All right, Mr.

Brooks.

Thank you, madam mayor, and thank you to assemblymember Wall.

That was the first half of my question.

Uh the second half, uh how much um savings and asset holdings do you have total and how much of that need to be invested for you to get that return.

Who's gonna take that one?

Mr.

Holz.

It's enjoyable to be at the economic development council because our board sort of understands the you know, the the economy.

So for example, Mr.

Brooks, we we own the building that we um operate in, yet we have a um a mortgage on it at a very low interest rate, and then we use those resources simultaneously to invest.

So we're able to get a um a return that um that exceeds the the mortgage by several points, which allows us to generate resources for the organization.

Uh so we had budgeted 140,000 in for this fiscal year in income.

We have a great stock market so far this year.

I'm a little hesitant to uh I I don't I don't know that we think it's gonna go down much.

We don't know where it's gonna go, but at the moment we're up quite a bit, and that's why it's 300 uh versus um 140.

So we do have we do have an active portfolio.

We have two um independent um managers that manage our um the the liquidity that we have.

Uh we also have we have a loan portfolio.

We have 1.6 million in that loan portfolio.

Very uh as as lending to a business in Juneau is no less risky than investing in the US stock market.

I think I we could probably agree to that.

Um and uh any resources that aren't currently deployed for a loan, I wouldn't say any, but but a portion of resources that aren't currently deployed in uh in a loan in a in a Juno business, we'll put that into our investment um portfolio, which also generates a return.

So we do have the the ability to earn some.

I mean that's why it's a line item on our budget.

We are able to to rely on um some income for through investments.

Thank you.

Uh do you have uh a number on your total savings and asset holdings?

I would yes.

Let me think about this.

We have uh resources that are not yet.

We have investments.

So if you look at let me bring you to our balance sheet, and you will see the loan capital fund 1.5, about a million is deployed, about 500,000, you could say is is in our cash.

Our property development fund is the we we acquired the building that we're in at JEDC, whose windows are leaking as I speak.

Um, it's a building that was built temporarily by ALNP, and we know it needs to be torn down and replaced, which is why the board created this reserve.

Until we do that, get more resources, that amount of money approximately is also invested.

So we have investments um close to uh three million dollars at the moment generating resources.

Don't hold me to that exact number, and I'd happy to give you a more precise number, but I think that's a in we're in the ballpark with that.

Mr.

Steininger.

Thank you.

And looking at the screen that's still up behind you on the the list of non-self-supporting or self-funding activities.

Is it possible to put numbers to each of those activities, like how much actually is being subsidized and kind of what percent is self-supporting?

And I don't expect you to have that off the top of your head.

Um, kind of less interested necessarily in summer camps for some of the points that uh that Ms.

Hall brought up, but but some of those other items like local frequency, how much are you actually spending on it?

Is it paying for half of itself or a quarter or what have you?

Um just kind of sinking through dollar values if we're if we're looking at having to make trimming in our budget here.

Thank you, Mr.

I of the of all of them, the one that loses generates the least and loses the most in local frequency, which I wish you would not have asked that.

It is a discussion on the board whether or not we should just how long we should continue that program fair question.

The other ones yeah we do have numbers it has been uh the board I did identify last year as a priority um for us as staff to reduce the gaps on these as much as possible which we're making some progress on but I can get you um some numbers on those later thank you uh Mr.

Brooks thank you madam mayor can you uh give just like a rough idea of uh what percentage of the CBJ grant goes for uh actual programs and matching funds and what percentage goes towards payroll to conduct the services if yeah through the term yes uh if you look on the other side of the sheet that I provided to you we have the allocation of CBJ uh resources uh for the last two fiscal years so how we distribute the 44000 and then we have the two million that we we spend additionally the the rough um breakdown is is uh you know payroll is about 80 percent of our of our costs generally we're we're people organization and about 20 percent is other goods and commodities so I would say about 80 percent of the the resources provided to us would go towards um labor and then about 20 percent to other um expenses I'll ask a quick question then I'll come back to you have you considered doing the innovation summit every other year and would that save you any money it would and I think the number on that and I'm not I don't know how I feel about saying the number but because I I wish it was smaller it's like 50,000 is the gap right and so it's a big number and uh yes we think about that every single year.

Um is this is that worth doing and and uh you know we understand super clearly the situation you're in and any amount of money that you give to us we are going to work really hard and maybe that's something we we end up having to do is do that event less often or raise more money.

I mean that's gonna I I know some of our staff is going to say we can raise the money who knows uh but but it's uh but yes we did we asked that question in the survey if you some of you attended please answer that we ask if you we should do it every year every two years people do say every year they like it uh but it does it's a big expense Mr.

Brooks thank you madam mayor can you speak a little bit on to your uh largest expenditure the developed talent and kind of how that differs from let's say the promote entrepreneurship and small businesses or deliver core economic services it seems like developed talent can kind of be in any of those so can you give us a little breakdown on it please yeah thank you works so you you've given me an opportunity to say something that's really important what the resources we get from the city and borough of Juno uh this may sound corny but those are that's our best money because we just then work with our board to determine how to allocate those resources we are out there looking for resources and so sometimes we don't we can't we don't always know what project proposal is going to be landed the large number the largest number in the column of of other resources that you see there is because in that program in the developed talent are two large programs.

One is the first robotics program but even larger than that is our we have a Margaret A Cargill Philanthropies um grant that's a five year grant uh 2.5 million dollars and so that's a that is that that's where that resource lives and we can only use those resources on that program.

We can't use that in any we don't have flexibility to move that to someplace else that's why that number is particularly large.

So that couldn't be uh you know that kind of program couldn't be considered promoting entrepreneurship or small business that because that's one of the other lines right above develop talent and it gets significantly less funding but it sounds like a similar description in a way yeah what I'm what I maybe I'm not being clear I apologize.

What I'm what I maybe I'm not being clear.

I apologize.

I maybe I'm not understanding your question.

The we get a we have a grant, a large grant for uh elder care.

We choose to categorize elder care and develop talent because the program is primarily about uh developing a workforce to support elder care.

So those resources land in that category when we do when we manage them and when we we show them.

That's why that number is large, because that's where the donor gave to us.

Thank you.

Got it.

Anything further.

All right.

Thank you for your presentation tonight.

And uh we appreciate your coming in.

We will make decisions at another time.

Okay, with that, we will go to our foregone revenue update.

Director Flick, am I starting with you or Mr.

Steiniger?

I believe you're starting with Mr.

Steininger.

Go ahead, Mr.

Steiniger.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Um, so we've had a handful of meetings uh to discuss foreground revenue.

The group of us, uh Mayor Weldon and Miss Hugh Scandis.

Um, and we're working on bringing a more detailed, I guess, color recommendation or memo to to the committee for discussion.

It's taking a little longer than I think we anticipated.

We probably anticipated too optimistically because every meeting we have uh results in a lot of homework for director Flick and her staff, and they have been very, very patient with us and all the questions we're asking.

Um, as we're going through, there are a lot of little loose ends and shreds.

And you know, we're trying to make sure that we get as much information about what those impacts from all the foregone revenue will be across Juno.

So it involves asking a lot of questions, digging into um areas of the Juno economy that maybe we haven't as individual members um looked in or experienced as closely.

And so it's involving a lot more input.

Um, I think speaking for the whole group, hopefully I think our goal is to bring kind of uh an organized list of that list that we all saw a couple months ago that laid out all the foregone revenue with sort of what we think maybe probably isn't worth diving into as a group versus items that we should have a more robust group discussion on and maybe a couple items that we as a group of three have a pretty strong feeling that we should we should address in in some way or another.

Um, and I believe we're getting close to being able to do that.

I mean, yep, yep, I'm seeing nods from the others on the the little team.

Um, so I guess that's the update.

All right.

Thank you for that.

Well, Ms.

Director Hang on two seconds, Ms.

Wall.

Director Flick, do you have anything to add to that?

Um, I don't have anything um to add.

I think the group has been um uh well rounded and having good discussions.

Um for those of you who had floated ideas to me, um those are uh have been actively um discussed.

And so I think that um nothing that has been floated to me individually has been left out of the conversation.

Uh Ms.

Wall, did you have anything on this topic?

Just a question, a question, if that's okay.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, and thank you all for doing the hard work of step getting lots of information on lots of different things.

Um thinking about like our, you know, I I had been the one that was kind of like make sure they come and tell us where they're at, not because I don't think you all are doing great work.

I know you are, but um, you know, we've got a goal for kind of passing our budget with two million dollars of um, you know, increased revenue.

And if we don't hit that, then that'll have impacts on other decisions we have to make.

So, you know, are you guys uh in the scale of what these opportunities are?

Do you think we are that that that goal is achievable?

Um, and or is it too soon to tell or um Ms.

Hughes Scandis is dying to answer this question?

Okay, but I'm getting put on the spot because I nodded across the day I said, Um, Madam Mayor, but I think um part of that homework that Director Flick has been doing, and as we've been digging into what makes the worth our time pile versus what doesn't, we are uh applying a filter, I would say, of looking at the ones that will generate enough revenue to put us on track to make those goals.

So yes.

No pause.

I would agree with Ms.

Use Scandis.

We're finding little pockets here and there, but I think they will add up to a bigger pocket by the time we're done.

Anything further, Ms.

Wall.

No, thank you for that.

Any questions on that?

Where we are with that?

All right.

So then we go to our information only, and Ms.

Wall, you said you wanted to add something to this.

Um, I don't think so.

Maybe someone remind me.

Am I supposed to be adding?

Maybe Ms.

Director Flick that wanted to add to this.

Sorry, somebody wanted to add.

It's getting late.

It is really late.

Um, I do need to um ask you all, just so we can be prepared.

Um, in the past, we have pulled together these awesome three ring binders.

I missed, I know Mr.

Brooks, you haven't seen one, so I brought an example for you.

It comes complete with your reminder of your like grade school, middle school, chopper keeper, um, flags, highlighters, pens, and tabs with dates for each of the meetings, so you can have your printed materials for all of the budget conversations in one place.

I know some of you prefer the paper and some of you do not.

So I guess I'd like to know who wants a book prepared for them.

This is a very timely question because I was just thinking when we got this packet that it should have three whole binder punch marks in it.

Okay, so I am seeing um oh, and miss and miss wall.

Okay, so I'm gonna do this the other way.

We will not prepare books for Mr.

Smith, Mr.

Steininger, and we will ask Ms.

Adkinson.

Oh, you want one too?

My goodness, I'm sorry, I missed that.

Um I see Mr.

Smith still on um the screen, and I did not see his hand get raised.

But we will follow up with email um for the people who are not physically in the room.

So everybody in this room wanted one, is that what I'm gathering?

Yeah.

Oh, if you if you have your old binder and want to drop it by, that's fantastic.

Um, but we will have these for you um with our big budget presentation on April 11th.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ms.

Wall, did you have anything to add since you are actually the chair of this committee?

I do not thank you for chairing it in my absence.

All right.

So our next meeting date is March 18th, when we will have a special joint committee with Dox and Harbors and Juno Board of Education, followed by another lovely finance committee, I'm sure.

Oh no, only just a joint board meeting.

So thank you all for your um patience and uh attentiveness tonight.

This was a longer meeting for us, and I'm sure some of us were busy dealing with snow today, so everybody's probably a little tired.

So all right, with that seeing nothing from the committee, we're adjourned.