Kansas City Business Session - December 19, 2024
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Kansas City Business Session - December 19, 2024
The Kansas City City Council held a Business Session on Thursday, December 19, 2024, at 1:00 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting began informally without a quorum but later achieved a quorum, allowing official business. Key agenda items included an update from the World Cup 2026 Board and the Housing Trust Fund annual report.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The council approved the minutes from the Business Session of October 31, 2024. Motion passed unanimously.
World Cup 2026 Board Update
Pam, Lindsay Douglas, and Jason Sims presented an update on World Cup 2026 planning. Key points:
- Timeline: 538 days until the tournament, which will be the largest version of the World Cup ever. Kansas City will host six matches, including a quarterfinal, with 650,000 visitors expected during the tournament. The visitor impact during group stage matches is expected to be as significant as the quarterfinal.
- FIFA Fan Festival: The initial event concept was submitted to FIFA in November, with a preliminary layout featuring a live viewing area on the south lawn of the World War I Museum, with the skyline in the background. FIFA has called it the best fan festival plan among host cities, and Kansas City will present its process (not specific plan) at a host city workshop in January to remain competitive for sponsorship investment.
- Transportation: A stakeholder workshop in late November generated ideas for point-to-point transit connections rather than relying solely on the 435 loop. The team is assessing park-and-ride locations (currently illustrative, not final).
- Bus Procurement: Kansas City is the first host city to go to market for bus leasing, with an estimated need of 200 buses. The first 200 buses have already been identified, and contracts are expected by mid-January. Over 4,000 buses will be needed nationally, and Kansas City secured a favorable price by being first to market.
- Safety and Security: A dedicated safety and security director (former Secret Service) has been hired. The $1 million line item in the 2025 budget is a placeholder for joint operations center setup and training. Equipment needs are being assessed, and a $625 million federal funding request (including $59 million for Kansas City) has been submitted with other host cities. Costs depend on factors like final draw and base camps.
- 2025 Budget: The board approved a $33 million budget for 2025, covering management, safety, transportation, fan festival, and other costs. The budget is partially fluid, and funds from committed public and private sources are available. Unused 2025 funds will roll over to 2026.
- Private Funding: Sponsorship packages (supporters and champions) are being sold, limited to 10 supporter packages. Local businesses can use the KC 2026 logo.
- Small Business Engagement: The team is working with the city's small business task force and area chambers. Over 1,000 businesses have signed up for procurement notifications, half of which are diverse-owned. A charrette with entrepreneurial support organizations is planned for Q1 2025.
- Community Events: Planned events in 2025 include an announcement of Kansas City's audio ID and host city poster (Q1), a mascot reveal (Q2), the one-year-to-go mark in June, and countdown clocks. The volunteer portal will open in Q3, expecting 4,000–6,000 volunteers.
- Short-Term Rentals: Councilmember O'Neill asked about using short-term rentals for housing during the World Cup. The team noted that existing hotel capacity (55,000 rooms) is likely sufficient, but they are purchasing data on short-term rental clusters to plan transportation connections. Councilmember Bunch added that owner-occupied short-term rentals still have flexibility under current ordinance.
- Detention Capacity: Councilmember Rea raised concerns about the city's limited detention beds. The safety and security director (starting soon) will incorporate detention planning, considering temporary facilities and booking process changes. The team acknowledged the need but noted that events typically see fewer arrests, with peripheral crimes often falling under state jurisdiction.
Housing Trust Fund Update
Deion Lewis, Evan Sherelli, and Mary Owens presented the 2024 annual report on the Housing Trust Fund (HTF). Key points:
- Program Overview: The HTF was established in 2018 to fund affordable housing development and preservation. A board reviews applications and recommends projects to council.
- 2024 Results: Through four RFP rounds, 96 applications were received, and 44 awards were made totaling about $40 million. These funds leveraged nearly $500 million in total project investment, with HTF dollars making up about 7% of individual project budgets on average. The majority of awards are in council district 3.
- Affordable Units: The HTF projects are expected to create or preserve 2,362 affordable units so far. In 2025, an estimated 315 additional units will be produced. Over half of the units target households earning at or below 50% of Area Median Income (AMI).
- Strategic Direction: The board aims to deepen impact by focusing on shovel-ready projects, improving education and communication to increase application quality and district representation. A data dashboard was created to provide year-to-date assessment of projects.
- Funding Sustainability: The current HTF funding is expected to run out in 2026. To reach the city's goal of 10,000 affordable units by 2027, new funding sources are needed. Councilmember Bunch noted that at the current average cost of $15,000 per unit, creating 10,000 total units (across all city programs) would require approximately $152 million. The 10,000 unit goal includes both new construction and preservation, and encompasses all city housing tools (not just HTF).
- Reporting: HTF now requires initial, bi-monthly, and closeout reporting. An annual report is published with a one-year lag; round 4 data was provided in the presentation but not yet in the report.
Key Outcomes
- The minutes of the October 31, 2024 Business Session were approved unanimously.
- The council received the World Cup 2026 board update and Housing Trust Fund update as information items.
- No formal votes were taken on the updates, but several councilmembers raised questions and concerns that will be addressed in future planning.
- The discussion of ordinances and resolutions was deferred to a subsequent portion of the meeting (not recorded in the transcript).
Meeting Transcript
Hey everybody, we'll just uh get started without a quorum, right? But uh city attorney's told me before we can just chat. Yep. Body's not coming in, but yeah, so certain of you will receive information for colleagues may not, but let me record. So it'd be almost better if they started to just come talk to us. A number of you could receive a lot of information. Okay, they can we can just hear from them without it being official. So um who wants to have an unofficial uh off book. Sorry, sounds great. Even better, right? Uh opportunity to chat. So let's go with World Cup 2026 board for a good visit. So come on up. We got the memory. Okay. Hey. Hello, good afternoon. Thanks for inviting us. Uh I have Lindsay Douglas, director of integrated operations, and Jason Sims, Director of Transportation, with me who are going to help provide an update, uh year-end update on some of the progress we've made. Um, and then uh work through. You have at your places, by the way, a recap of the 2024 progress. Um so we have slides for those at the end, but won't go through them. So 538 days to go. Um we start every presentation with this. The clock is ticking, but I feel really good about the momentum headed into 2025. Our staff is now up to 11 people. We have a director of finance starting after the first of the year. So make making some um really building some momentum in key areas. So you know all of this, but just as a reminder, this is the biggest sporting competition in the world. This will be the biggest version of that sporting competition, so more than half of the world's population will watch a World Cup match. And our match schedule, uh, those six matches, including the quarterfinal one, uh relatively new piece of information that we're hearing from FIFA in terms of what the crowd pattern will look like, is that it won't be um a build to the quarterfinal. The actual group stage matches, they expect the visitor uh impact and count to be as significant as the quarterfinal. So perhaps a slight dip in that round of 32, but then um back up for the quarterfinal. And uh Ms. Gramer, something I should know as like an ex-officio board member. Can you share? I don't know if you share the slides, but I have not entered these dates in my calendar yet. But uh Should I send you a calendar invitation or uh I think we all love to know, and so we'll make sure we we get that all down. But go ahead. Yes, absolutely. Also um available on our website too. Perfect. Yes, we will we will send the slides. Um just recapping the go the goals that our board has set for us. So you've seen these before, but delivering the matches in a safe, seamless and distinctly Kansas City way. Um also really taking this moment to rise on the world stage to show uh the world what we already know. I've heard people say if we could get people here, um they would really see what this place is about, and they're coming. Uh visit casey expects 650,000 people over the course of the tournament, so uh capitalizing on that opportunity, and then finally building sustained and long-term impact into every decision that we make. So um an update on the FIFA fan festival. So we were required to submit to FIFA uh in November our initial event concept, and really this is about how the space will be used.
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