San Angelo City Council 6-15-17

[0:00:00] called a meeting the special Wow let's call this special meeting to order its 335 on Thursday the 15th of June I want to remind you all if you're speaking you need to speak into the mic so you'll need to either move the mic around or grab the other mic this is the special agenda to discuss related to the operation and options for lease regarding a railroad museum located on city-owned property at 703 South cavern there is no public comment today so for those of you who might have come to listen to the proceedings just know that you will not be allowed to make comment today they can cheer if they want to and we we do enjoy that up here as well so don't limit it to one side of the family alright so to start with guess what we need to do is just talk through where we're at obviously there's a lease agreement that currently exists that has a expiration date in September September 1st September 15 so today we will start the conversation about the contract we will not be discussing any specific terms or agreement relative to that lease we will just be having a discussion from City Council's perspectives as well as your board of directors and subjects related to that contract all right we would like to go up first Daniel you want to start mayor again thank you for that quick summary

[0:02:04] that you gave again this meeting really is to get a general understanding of where the museum group is and also to make sure that we're clear as far as our kind of expectations moving forward we are talking about a long term lease it's a 20-year lease so we want to make sure on our on our part that we're doing the responsible thing for a community we do appreciate your efforts what you're doing with the museum as well but on our part we just want to make absolutely sure that moving forward we have an agreement that those satisfies both parties that also addresses some of the issues that we like to address as well but with that said I like to turn it over to the museum group and kick off no I don't know no better better no better no better no there I'm David Wood I'm the president of the historic orient Santa Fe Depot incorporated which is the corporate name that was the 501c3 that leases the building from the city we do business as because nobody could figure out what that was as the railway and Heritage Museum of San Angelo so that's what we go by in public and people understand what goes on in that building that way but our corporate name is the historic orient Santa Fe Depot incorporated we are 501c3 the group started shortly after the building was saved from being torn down and their main mission was to save the buildings and get them from the deterioration mode that they were in they worked for over two years doing that before a grant was found through

[0:04:11] TxDOT and this was the first grant TxDOT had issued anywhere for a restoring of a Depot for use as a museum and a bus depot so actually the first day used for restoring a train depot for anything so the museum board backed away so to speak after finding all the historic information and passing that on to the architect who was did a wonderful job on making sure that the building inside and out looked like what it did when it was built back in 1910 and we have people that come in all the time that say my dad worked here there's one gentleman back here that came in I used to run around barefoot when I was a kid my dad was worked upstairs and he was a train master Roadmaster and that he would go and visit all these any start date Larry started naming off all these people and stuff and that's part of the fun that's where we get paid we get there's no salaries paid we're all volunteers we're at a point where that needs to change we have evolved the museum it's grown from two rooms originally two three four rooms and then the whole building as the city does bus depot was closed down about ten years ago after the contract were for the grant they got was up we want to expand the history portion to include a lot of the land on the other side of the railroad track there's a museum outside of town that has got a

[0:06:15] lot of things that came from Fort Concho when Fort Concho went through a period where they divested themselves of anything that didn't have basically to do with Indian Wars fort and the barrels museum and Yola has been closed because it's out in the middle of nowhere and nobody knows where it is I think they had six people the last year and they're willing to help us out bring in some of the things that were here in San Angelo so we can display them to that's our plans and our plans are also to hire a full time director that keep the continuity between the board of the volunteer board going throughout the years and in most nonprofits a director like that is expected to raise help raise about three times their salary three to four times their salary and so that will be one of the criteria we set for them is to help put on some fundraising programs that we don't have going right now and we've got several that we like to start with we've already come up with several the recent son Angelo Gibbs Day we participated for the first time last year and raised about 13,000 this year we raised over almost $15,000 it's not quite 15,000 and but we put out a memo that all the money raised would be put into escrow that if for some reason we are not able to negotiate and get a lease that we will return the money back to the people because the board does not feel right taking someone's money if we're not able to continue nine months ago we started negotiating with the city's staff talking to them our main thing was that

[0:08:20] we cannot get in for the last three or four years and not been able to get any funding from foundations because they will only fund you if you have a long term contract in three year country with three years left on the contract they said we can't fund you until you get a renewed contract so there's quite a bit of money that is available out there we would like to continue the partnership with the city the city wrote the original contract 20 years ago and we would like to continue that partnership and with that contract in that verbage with the basics that's in it now which the basics are the city will maintain the outside of the building the parking lot elevator maintenance which is about $3500 a year the air conditioning systems which as you notice when you went upstairs they have not worked in 20 years they just weren't designed well to start with in their old systems that take the old type freon that's not going to be available very much longer we went out and got beds or estimates they weren't bids we got estimates for putting in a high-efficiency system that can be zoned so different areas that you saw today at the Depot can be turned on during the week when we the staff is down there the volunteer staff is working on something and we don't have to turn on 24 tons of air conditioning and the system is a 19-point 9 seer as versus the agency or system that is currently there one of the big things is in commercial property and I did not know this before but commercial property is charged a demand

[0:10:24] rate on electricity and whatever the highest is during that quarter you're charged that that's where you start and are starts at about two hundred and fifty six dollars a month before we turn on one light and we average a little over six hundred dollars a month throughout the year just turning the air conditioners on one day a week we hope with the new system that we will be able to afford to open up more days a week our goal is to open five days a week I've been in contact with the Chamber of Commerce and the Bureau and they said that would help promote the museum a lot more and that's one of the goals that we're shooting for it would bring in some money it won't bring in five times more money because still I've talked with the fort and the art museum and the majority of all the people that come through come through on Saturday so that would probably still remain about 60 to 80 percent of the total people would still come true on Saturday but we would like to open it up another reason is I'd worked with the Moody Foundation before and we had a board member that work on the moody foundation to get money from people those big foundations like that you need to be open 21 hours a week so that is another reason why we like the air-conditioners working where we can be open more airy would you like to say something thank you I appreciate it mayor I've been working with with David in his group since last summer quite honestly this is in the middle of district 3 my district and I think there's been some miscommunication some misconceptions about what the city was trying to do and what the railroad board museum board was

[0:12:29] trying to do quite honestly I don't think anybody's sitting on this side of the table or at these two tables down there intentionally thought that we were going to close that museum so I don't know where that came from that's that's another one of those fake news stories bottom line is I think it's this organization has done some good things and I think if they really have a plan to expand the hours out there then I think it can be taken to the next level but what I told David way back late last year was unless they can do public-private partnerships like soon been done over at the four ort never going to be successful because the city is not going to be able to completely help the museum based on the amount of visitors that they've got today so if we can help extend this contract get it out there and that helps you find some funders and I think this particular group are willing is willing to do that details I'll let everybody else work on that but the bottom line is is I don't think anybody up here wants to close museum I think it's I think it's a gym for Santangelo but we've got to work it in such a way that everybody's comfortable got to remember that we're utilizing taxpayers money to do this and not everybody is a railroad fan so we've got to do it in such a way that helps you do what you need to do it still leaves that particular building in that organization as a gym in West Texas in San Angelo Texas the we never told anybody that we were that y'all were not going to lease continue the lease I mean it's in the current lease that the lease can be continued and stuff I think some

[0:14:35] people misunderstood some stuff but we have presented to I think here you were in the meeting we would like to get once we get a long-term lease we can't get it without it I've already approached three foundations and they're willing to donate somewhere between 50 and 75 thousand dollars that we will donate or give to the city to help in some of the capital improvements like the air conditioning system that is needed so we were wanting to partner that way plus all the money and time that we put into running the museum itself which has been a lot over the years we put in tens of thousands of dollars that we've raised over the years and hundreds of thousands of hours it's for clarification David and you have those figures you shared them with many of the people up here the media is in the room today you've got people in the audience what are those numbers for the air conditioning taking care of the parking lot and redoing the windows the city has had on their capital improvement budget which anybody can go online and read this is the page for the depot there's a separate line item budget under the capital improvement for HVAC system air-conditioning system both of those as far as I can tell have been on the budget for at least eight years and it's exactly the same as doing the changes the top it looks like the date every year though when it comes to council it's on the list and there's a lot there's column Y for yes we have money

[0:16:39] right n we don't have any we haven't found any money and for eight years those have been on the council approval and they approved the ones of course that have money they don't approve the ones that don't have money I suggested that the museum is qualifies for the hotel-motel tax instead of taking money out of the general fund for some of the maintenance that's been done in the past that if you take it out of that it will help keep the general fund down dollar-wise just second I'm running out of program the the HVAC system and this is for a high quality top of the line that can be zoned and high-efficiency that will be cut our build by a third on the electricity so we can can open more and it will keep the building at whatever temperature we set it at last night we turned it on and it was 85 degrees upstairs still even though the thermostat was set at 75 this estimate is seventy-six thousand eight hundred and eighty one dollars I'm not sure I don't have the city's estimate on what their estimate for replacing it that they've had for eight years on the budget but haven't found the money for I guess I was just referring to the numbers that you shared with this group up here so seventy six eight there and you had some eyes seventies they called

[0:18:41] on the parking lot and some cost for the windows seventy six thousand eight hundred eighty one dollars for the air conditioning system or quality striping which does lots of parking lots in town to clean the parking lot to put tar down in all the cracks to put two coats on the west side which is where the buses tore up the parking lot and put one coat on the east side would include would be six thousand two hundred and thirty dollars and I believe this city budget was thirty six thousand for doing that but they are looking at doing a gravel and tar type like they do on the streets sealcoating which would last longer than this it's just it's not as pretty as this in it you're liable to pick up tar walking across it and carry it into the building just like you do when you walk in the streets the other is for adding storm windows to the outside of the building and this would be single pane double-pane single sheet without a frame with or without an outside frame so you can still see the original 1910 windows that are up there the windows would be sealed the old windows would be sealed completely there's a lot of windows and a lot of leakage of air and dust into the building and the cost for that is thirty six thousand two hundred and forty five dollars that will cover all the windows that you have over there are a very few windows that are right over the doors because of the way they're

[0:20:44] built they cannot put those on there where the little square windows are about that bigger square or but otherwise all the windows upstairs and downstairs and it would include a coating on the windows that keeps ninety-eight percent of the UV from coming in which is a problem when you have a museum to keep that UV light from curating the pictures and stuff that we have on display so that would cut that out it would do cut a lot of the reflective out but mostly that leakage that goes on we have some windows that are the permanent top windows that are down half an inch and we have tried putting those back up we've broken a couple windows we replaced them but it's just very hard to get those up and sealed again 107 year old building the recent reason I asked the question is is we just we just came from the railroad museum and quite honestly there were all there was a lot of heat coming through those windows on the doors and I would that's what I'm asking you the the windows on the doors it's all this awful also included in this $36,000 if most of the windows on most of the doors would be there's a couple that wouldn't but the majority of the heat that is coming through from the windows themselves not the doors not the windows on the doors Charlotte do you have some comments well first off I wanted to say thank you I'm a presuming that you are the museum board this body that's sitting before it's museum board in New York is tickle the death of you here today and to work with us and talk with us and I need to clarify something for either my understanding or for all of our understandings what is just being discussed our intricate details of what is needed to go on which can be worked

[0:22:47] out at staff but the public unfortunately thinks it's the capital improvement plan is a slam dunk it's going to get done and that's not what the capital improvement plan is matter of fact the capital improvement plan wasn't even born into about five years ago five six years ago something like that it hadn't been that long and it is our city's wish list of what we feel can reasonably be done if we had funding we never have funding you know some years we have good years and we can see our way through to get to some of those highly ranked as first-come that's on the CIP or important safety issue on the CIP or to move forward with it it's been a dream number one I'm a railroad fan I want to be the conductor on the train that goes through San Angelo I believe in financial of history and I believe the railroad is where our history started so I don't think there's anyone on this council and y'all hope to end up by wrong but I don't think there's anyone who doesn't feel the same way we believe in it we support it we wanted what it comes down to as a matter of monies and who's in control of spending the monies and who's responsible for what that's what it comes down to we can sit up here and spend this isn't Saturday is it it's whatever day it is we can spend the rest of the afternoon hashing over who's responsible for this who's responsible for that and quite frankly I don't care what's past is past can't be undone I want to see us move forward and I want something good to come from it so that whatever the city should have could have done throw out the window and whatever this board should have could have done throw out the window make this a learning experience the rest of our boards for all of our San Jalloh facilities our buildings it's the same

[0:24:50] out of the Coliseum it's the same over at the fort it's the same they have needs their old buildings their historical buildings and quite frankly guys City Hall was literally falling down around us there was only a prayer that was keeping that building standing before it was redone it just took money so where we can do what we could do I'm interested in hours of operation how many days a week I am interested in maintaining the history of the building now our fort museum board it's harder than the devil to get anything done because they that board has such strict requirements for what goes in to update and getting a new window over there and take an act of the good Lord I do believe because meeting the requirements of old but that has combined with meeting the requirements of what can be efficiently ran and operated that's the case you know I want to show place for San Angelo the building's old it leaks like a sieve with dust and dirt and it's dirty you can't go through without getting nasty or dirty and that's not what I want people to leave with when they come in to see that building and to relive the history and the struggles that had - don't get me started on history but what they had to go through to just get to the railway platform in San Angelo Texas to get the railroad to begin with that's what we all need to be interested in and I think staff is perfectly capable of working out the parameters of the contract as long as we tie down exactly how it's to be maintained exactly how it's to be

[0:26:52] operated and the hours of operation and then the board is responsible for raising your funding and your financing for any other extras and stuff that goes over there but as I was walking through I better ask when it's my turn to speak I got to ask one quick where is the existing record of all of the donations of these displays kept as to who owns them where is that cat they're in books three-ring binders and it is being transferred we bought a special program for museums but that we paid $2,600 for and in one word I'm just going to say one more gillies ownership of the records as to who owns those various I saw some lovely names of different counties different people that is their ownership and it's on loan to it along to the city is it on loan to the museum board I'm going to list the contract with that and those things those things bother me and I want that cleaned up and cleared up moving forward there's very few things that are on loan most everything most museums try like Fort Concho its we if you take something on loan then you're responsible for it I know we let that Cerritos as the reason Morgan but I saw lots of placards and cards on loaned by this family that family you can go down to Sonora to their little museum and the different things you know on loan by but those records in the keeping you know the city's got to be made aware and kept date of that otherwise amount of dollars we do or don't have and the suggestions it's where we can get the dollars in the shared dollars is for a later date to be done but the contract terms and the expectations by both parties is it's what I thought we were here for today

[0:28:56] because I really don't want to spend the rest of the afternoon talking about shoulda coulda woulda's and he said and she said that's my feeling on today's matter is the depot a registered facility next National Historic Register so one of the first things a group did was get it on the National Register and the State Register of Historic Places that means that and I was surprised to find this out that means the outside of the building cannot be added on to or changed right now the windows I've already checked and that can the storm windows can be put over since the original windows would show through it that's not the optimal way to do it but to replace the wind the current windows like y'all did at the city with those high-dollar windows that look like the original ones is about 10 times more money so we're talking about two hundred and some thousand versus thirty nine thousand we have a lease with anybody else that's a dollar a year we do actually and Cindy can speak to that actually as far as the the leases that we do have with other entities or nonprofits or what-have-you that do pay a dollar a year and they cover all the maintenance cost everything else so when they're $1 a year you'll you'll tell us what they have to pick up in terms of maintenance in order to get a dollar a year lease yes ma'am we currently have nine leases that are a dollar a year those leases none of those the city provides maintenance on a lot of them do require that the tenant actually put the improvements on and maintain the improvements it's a term of those I'm sorry I don't have the terms of them but some of the tenants of Boy Scouts of America Girl Scouts Howard college Williams halfway house YMCA financial emergency Corps the symphony Stevens library and then the College Hills

[0:31:02] library the city also owns the property for the college Hills library about the soccer fields in the baseball fields the soccer fields are actually owned by the Bureau of Reclamation the city leases those and then they are subleased the city furnishes all the water and the maintenance on the fields I don't have information on Parks and Rec that would be under Carl lights really the leases you're talking about our buildings yes ma'am there's registers are structures so the question I have is based off of and you might review the past five years of fundraising and donations that have been made by does this board can you update everyone here in terms of the amount of dollars that have been raised through fundraisers as well as the dollars from donations this issue is as I understand that when you only have two to three years left on the lease of course very few foundations and boards will have a conversation with you due to that this lease has been a 20-year lease and so the question mark is in 20 years it hasn't always only had two to three years left on the lease so what grants what foundations have been applied to and to help facilitate some of the preservation maintenance facilities that are there and then with you when you start talking about existing history of donations and fundraisers what would be the dynamic that would change that you would now be able to raise enough money to hire an executive director one of the big dynamics is changing is the two people that we have sitting down here that are under 50 as you all know it's hard to get young people on your boards and we've got two really great ones laying

[0:33:06] at the end is by the way the mayor of Starling city and he went through and when he was a kid through the museum and that got him so excited that he majored in history at Texas Tech and Randy you can speak for yourself I can I think y'all have even noticed it because discussions have been going on for quite a period of time I'm sure you've noticed that there's a change in energy here and there's a big change in energy because you have people who have the knowledge and the energy because yes we are under 50 but we're also in that period of time in our lives where we do enter in leadership which I think I touched on the last time I got to meet y'all and where we can actually build traction so we can create a long-term set maybe a date for you know a year from now to get to a point of fundraising where we can not only take over and we've discussed it a great portion if not all of maintenance where we can take over a great portion if not most of capital improvements and where we can also not only develop the museum to be a place that we now have the ability and the energy and hours and a manpower to make it something you're extremely proud to walk in and out of but something that San Angelo can just really you know put up on a pedestal to help encourage commerce and tourism in San Angelo which is a big part of I don't know about y'all it's a big part of what I know goes into my business as well which gives me the ability to do this so I think a lot of it is having people I mean I'm I love every one of you guys but I'm guessing that I have a huge amount of skill sets and knowledge that they don't have about marketing about creating events and other things that start creating interest and start building a higher amount of people who do walk in so that we do become something that can be used as an

[0:35:09] advertising point for San Angelo and I think that's the big change David my question was how much money have we raised over the past five years and the donations because once again when we take a look at it we say in the last two years we have not raised anything because the short term left on least from foundations fundraisers are not foundations so that's grant on doubt on foundations prior to that we've raised about thirty-five thousand from the Tucker foundation we honestly haven't gone after a lot of money because we didn't we make enough money to keep the doors open and keep it running and so we haven't gone after extra money we've been building we needed we knew we needed repairs to the building the interior so for the what so we the question is is you didn't try to raise any money over and above what was needed to run the museum each one of the models that y'all saw upstairs cost around ten to twelve thousand dollars each to build not including man-hours there's a lot of things that we have bought that's on display that has not been donated we maintain the inside of the building which is been expensive from some areas of that but no we haven't and I have talked with both the area Foundation and the Health Foundation and some other foundations that if we get a long-term are willing to donate the money so that we can raise it to help the city fund the air conditioning which is the number-one

[0:37:12] goal from the standpoint of maintenance is people cannot go up there and when it's 85 degrees and we've had it running since yesterday I'm a big believer as most of you know in history all things historic and I'm a major believer that tourism is an important part of what makes up financial to be the city that it is and I'm also a big believer that when you are a board member and when you have in your possession at a very inexpensive rate that you would work as hard as you could to raise as much money as you could to take care of this historic incredible thing that we have because what's of greatest value is that building really making excited that we get to partner on this in the future with y'all's intention to have the museum there our ability to negotiate what's needed and what we can facilitate and commit to now that they have people that aren't older and do have the energy that do have the capabilities and the skill sets to do exactly that I just know it can't be a one man or two men band because one man a two man bands can't make that difference happen it's got to be a team of people it's got to be a lot of people working together in order to make it happen so I respect that we have a couple new young people and I know that your energy and efforts will make a difference but you can't do it alone and there's obviously a lot that has to be done there and you look at the dynamics and I want to make sure that when we talk about the future that future is attached to some dynamics that say we're just trying to survive because we got to do more than just survive day in and day out we've got it if you're proud of it show it you got a show you're proud of it and if you're only raising enough money to take care of basic maintenance issues you're not taking care of the proud thing that that

[0:39:15] building isn't we spend around 20-some thousand dollars a year which goes into most of it to electricity and to the maintenance of these and upkeep of the building on the interior and the exterior we spray the city does not sprays the weeds in the parking lot and stuff we have been doing that for 20 years to keep that down buildings are expensive Lucy you have a question yes ma'am thank you I went to answer David I agree with mayor I agree with Charlotte and what they said and I know we can't go back but I just don't know if I got this right did you say in the last 19 years how much money have y'all brought together or had or have to date in the last 19 years since our lease is going to be up and sent in your lease is going to be up in September so I'm wanting to know how much money of you raise how much money have you gotten from Grants how much money have you has it all been in the last 19 years had you brought in that show what you had been doing in the last 19 years I honestly it's it's probably close to whatever about 20 times 20 is $400,000 20 thousand times 20 has been raised on top of another 30,000 worth of grants so about four hundred and thirty thousand dollars but in the same time of there's been about three hundred in eight hundred and sixty thousand hours at $22 an hour's with the IRS credits a volunteer hour for that has been spent at no cost but we've had the volunteers that have come in and done that work we don't we don't pay anybody to build the

[0:41:21] train layouts or maintain the outside of the mowing and stuff we did for the first ten years when the bus depot was there because they didn't have the budget to do it so we maintained it and so whatever is needed we do and I also went to ask has it always just been open on Saturdays from 10:00 to 4:00 yes ma'am except for during December in during December starting the Saturday after Thanksgiving we open up from 6:00 to 9:00 on every Friday and Saturday evening fundraising wise that is we raised about 20 close to 35 percent of the total funds are raised in the month of December just like many retail businesses after their monies is in December but with our Santa Santa fake Christmas that we have every year and a lot of you have come in read stories to the children that we have every night at 7 o'clock but on Saturdays and Fridays from 6 to 9 Plus this Saturday from 10 to 4 what we would like to do is be open if we can get where it's comfortable enough to be open open of Sundays Thursdays Fridays and probably Wednesday I was just wondering if you had any kind of field trips that the children from elementary come today we have twenty or thirty a year of children coming in we've got one next weekend from a church summer camp we usually have several of those during the summer we had a hundred pre-k kids that were extremely well behaved from El Dorado of four weeks ago right before the end of school we usually have two or

[0:43:24] three a week that come in we have a lot of short-term changes that need to be made to hit some of those things and one of the things that I've already kind of developed a program for us to put in place once we do go forward into the next lease period is a way to capitalize on getting more field trips there and more events there like they do in December that bring in a lot more traffic and be an Operations Manager for multiple businesses I have the ability to put all of those things in place well not having to do the work myself being able to delegate so I do have a lot of plans for that kind of thing because we do have hot buttons our hours we can increase the amount of grants we could get once we get hours and Elise things like that being able to have volunteers and we have a lot of volunteers that come from the base it's a huge thing for them because a lot of them are just graduating and that's like one of the few places they get to go so it's a really neat pleasure but being able to not only increase that but other volunteer groups that I've been connecting to again a lot of these things can't be done until we know what our lease is going to be in our lease period but I'm already working on a lot of those things so that we can hit those hot buttons and really do get a chance to change it around you have a rough estimate on how much you can apply for for the grants once you have a lease in place especially being on the National Historic Registry what was what would that number look like have y'all what I talk over the heads of both the Health Foundation the Santangelo Foundation and they said these programs of the air conditioning insulation and stuff would definitely be in that where they would put money into and I talked to him in the neighborhood of 25 to 50 thousand dollars each they could not say other than that is something we would definitely look at because they're not

[0:45:25] the board their boards would have to vote on that but as that will be one of the first things we do once we get the lease is go to those foundations and some others and trying to get some additional money for helping in the air condition at the federal level and the federal level is sort of drying up a lot of that has to come through because the building's owned by the city just like the money for the restoration had to come through the city because it had to go through the owner of the building some of that we may be able to find it might have to be and we could sure use the help from the city and the staffs knowledge of how to get some of that funding to of the half cent sales tax is another thing too that may be able to help out but federal funding of and state funding mostly you're going to have to go to the owner of the building they don't fund for a lot of of ongoing they fund more for capital improvement type things so I think a news you mentioned that it's a lot easier to the other day to get the capital improvement monies than it is the ongoing day-to-day maintenance monies and I'm sure you all have a grant writer that you know if one of us need to be like point of contact to work out leg leg work and then work on technicalities on getting grants written and pushed through that I mean that's certainly something we're very capable of so here's a lot about grants and as far as a fundraising art makers concerned of course and love what you're hearing what you're saying as well I think that definitely didn't need to step your game but when you start looking at in Charlotte I'm sorry I know

[0:47:28] you mentioned about the history and all that but in order for us to have confidence moving forward we want to make actually sure that history doesn't repeat itself you know so we started looking at funding and it can't just be grants but it also has to be the fund raisers that you do as well David you talked about this being on the CFP for the past eight years as far as those improvements and Charlotte mentioned a while ago CIP is really just a plan it's not really a funding mechanism and obligation it's not an obligation though so on our parts you know as far as working on even back then eight years ago working on all the quran' would have been wonderful you know to help leverage those monies I know that some of the projects that we've had with CIP have moved up as I at the top of the list because we received monies from other entities as well so we leveraged those monies so again we start looking back at the past and I don't again I just want to throw that out here right now because the past you know five years and five years ago and I was going through the the financial cultural district planning study and one of the the goals that you stated even back then was that you wanted to acquire adjacent properties in the neighborhood nearby you want to create a Transportation Museum now it's five years ago and what progress has been made there again all that goes towards the fundraisers the monies that need to be raised in order for you to have a successful operation and I do mention that the cultural district because the Depot is a big part of that and we need to start making sure that we have a shared vision for what that people can become in association with all the wonderful assets that we have in that district so again we I hate to bring up the past but we just don't want the past repeat itself if we want to make sure that there are options not just you know the city fund everything at this point but it has to be options where you come forward and say hey this is our plan we have an Operations plan we have an interpretive plan for how the information is going to get out to people for the museum there's a lot of information quite frankly that we still need this lease is an into September

[0:49:31] 15th so we do have some time to work on that and even then we can actually extend on a month-by-month basis until we're comfortable that moving forward we have an agreement that the city fills you know we're actually doing everything we can to highlight that asset and do some wonderful things along with the cultural district we have a couple of landowners that are we've already talked to that are going to be donating some of the properties over there but they again wanted to see a long-term lease so that we were going to be viable for a while I can't say who they are right now that some of that property between the railroad tracks and Washington Street we're wanting to get all of that we don't want to really make it public a lot because then the prices will go up on those that we might have to buy but at one time we were working with the city and they were going to work on some of them were behind on their taxes and stuff helping it some of that land through through that we have some corporate donors that is one of the things that we are going to really increase working on we've got a newsletter that's going to be starting to come out that will help generate more memorials and donations through items like that we want to pick up our memorials donations or members to add to the membership considerably with a newsletter coming out that should help do that we've got a huge database of people that have been volunteers that have gone through the museum and stuff like that unfortunately a lot of people don't leave that go through the museum contact information other than their their town and things like that but we have fans for membership corporate sponsorship and several other things

[0:51:36] once we get the projects or we have us a what do you call it we call those things that you make exam a was up on the screen o LED sign yeah but a presentation we've got made up on the expansion that we've already taken to a couple of the large donors in town that are very interested in making donations for helping the expansion of the of the museum again one of our second goal after the air conditioner is to get a hired staff person to can help direct us and focuses more on donating and they can work six days five or six days a week that can be up there to get the kind of funds it's going to take to I want to repeat what daniel has said you've had the luxury for twenty years of a dollar a year lease and very few people get that luxury a dollar a year for a lease and so and only recently I guess because the lease is about to expire and we're negotiating going forward is all of these ideas and these thought processes and these creative ideas and energy coming forward now at the end of a 20-year lease and so to repeat what daniel has said dynamics change everything and we need to make sure that one understands you don't get dollar-a-year leases with no expectations that go with it that is a luxury that I don't know anybody who owns a valuable historic property would agree to that kind of police so we need to make sure that we are comfortable with the city's ownership of that

[0:53:41] building and that is we move forward we keep the historic value and the building and the history that goes with it it's precious and we all think it's precious it's so precious we want to make sure that the decisions that are made going forward ensure that 20 years down the road we have a building we're proud of a tenant that has as much pride in willingness to work hard raise the money get the grants get the donations that it needs be something we're all very proud of it's going to say I can really appreciate your position that's having to be responsible towards the citizens of San Angelo for a property and then I get it exactly you don't want us to come up here and promise things to you we don't want to get the end of the lease with the pressures on right and I think I know it's at the end of the lease but I think one of the things that really shows that there's being there is currently a culture change in this group which is obviously what was necessary is you look at the sign Angela cares dollars from previous years to this year and those dollars came because of those guys efforts I didn't do that he didn't do that you know new energy didn't do that and I know it's timeliness just seems you know like well and I understand that so if it's meeting our short-term our midterm and our long-term goals put on paper and described in a way where we can be held accountable which is what I think I'm hearing became a y'all need us to be accountable to you and the citizens because you're accountable to them we've allowed you the three of that building and we need to make sure that the people we've selected to be accountable for that building absolutely are truly that and I can appreciate that very I think you had a question well I think probably she just answered what I was going to ask I

[0:55:43] encouraged David about eight or nine months ago that he needed to strengthen his board because I thought his volunteers on Saturday were volunteering and that was basically what they were doing basically the railroad museum was being driven by David himself and I told him he needed to get some more energy on the board and obviously he went out there and did that with with you too I would say this if you're going to be successful you need to have two or three more just like you on there to do what you need to do you got to remember that a lot of the donations are excuse me a lot of foundations will support brick and mortar they're not going to support hiring typically hiring an executive director so you don't have to do that on your own you're going to have to find that way I've been on too many boards in this community so I know the process I take some direction both to other people in the cultural district bob newhart and the museum director or both of those individuals really have already had done what you what you're trying to do they put the plan out there they've gone ahead and done that mr. blue hearts got three projects right on on right now tool will be fun funded by private dollars private dollars and so it can be done just got ahead the right people and the right motivation and then those people that that can can go out and do that but what you said put those goals down get those back showing so we can hold your feet to the fire because you're absolutely correct we're responsible with the rest of this it has to more capable by Larry's money to do what we need to do Charlotte you had done comment or question well not everybody is a fan of the railway or the depot but everybody pays taxes here in San Angelo and that's what we appear have to be responsible for and say what can and can't be spent on but I have to ask you

[0:57:49] to I'm not being ugly I'm truly not I'm trying to make this point what do y'all didn't 4th of July what do y'all have plans your Santa Fe people has planned we don't you don't okay I know the last four or five years you know that you've been looking for money and funds but I can tell you that I for one would rather buy a ticket from the Santa Fe Depot no not in ting against the symphony board or the museum board or anybody but those tickets are quite expensive but to be able to sit at the east end north east end of the Santa Fe Depot with my lawn chair or your lawn chair and have wine cheese and watch fourth of July fireworks in the continuity you could do it you could make a tremendous amount of fundraising money that's your job that's not our job but that money goes to maintain your in and year out and you've got to do it every year that's what we're trying to tell you we can't give you money to do this you have to and they make their substantial annual operation funds I would chance to say at the Museum board at least five six years in advance in reserve when you have that many in reserve earning interest for you more people are going to be more apt to say yes on any hot money or going before have cent sales tax because you're providing a plan and working on a plan the hardest thing I learned my very first year in this office I went to Washington DC have to tell you and ask for something from State Representative Michael Conway he got up from his desk and he came around he said well let's talk Turkey what are you doing to earn it and and that's what I say to you instead of expecting the city to bail

[0:59:52] you out and to bailout the Depot which I want to see the Depot survive but what are you doing to earn those dollars to make it work and that's where we are if I'm correct we have seven special events a year that we have that are fundraisers some of them some were open to the public for free and we do that three times a year we're open to the public for free but that's not a fundraiser what your idea is great we do something in July at the end of July fourth of July we thought about renting the parking lot out for parking space because there's no parking space around with 30,000 people going down to the to the river stage but that's a good idea and we've got someone on our board is heads up que si si that broadcast that and I bet he could help us set up some good speakers and stuff so you could hear the music live right there at the parking lot I think that we've probably oh wait a min Tommy you have if we're - no no no for to the end I want to just kind of I'll say end with with my comments not that I'm the rapper rapper but I'll wrap it you don't make Connor okay I think we're at the point I hear everyone wanting to move forward I don't I don't hear anybody not wanting to do that we can negotiate I'm going to say almost anything in a lease almost anything that both parties enter into that negotiation in good faith and then agree on those terms I think that's where we are we're just going to have to sit down with whomever they select as their reps whomever we select as ours and you know just really go to work and come up with those terms I just made a list here and I'm not a real estate

[1:01:57] person believe me but I just made a list of what I consider flexibility offered to both parties now the museum folks may not agree with anything's on my list if I presented them to the council the council may say no I don't agree with that either but to me we can come up with something that is a benefit for both groups because again we can put anything into the lease if we both do it in good faith that I think then can hold everyone accountable and move us forward and develop the expectations in the comments the council you need to comment from your board I just want to make sure because I do believe and again I really respect again your responsibilities so I want to make sure that I do have a good grasp of the things that y'all need so you can start that negotiation in good faith on behalf of the citizens of San Angelo with us for the lease I know that you need a short mid and long term plan for improvements for the Depot that hit all of the hot buttons as to ours donations fundraising grants and just regular operation hours I did recognize that Charlotte also asked that we have a system or a better way or at least have a written stone plan of how we're taking records that are kind of in a book and handwritten of what things are and aren't donated whatever assets we have and get those in a more structured more professional manner so that can be something that's looked through if somebody asked for it and if there's anything I missed I want to make sure that I get that because again being on the board and kind of talking I'm making a promise myself and I don't want to come back in five years and be told that you felt like I didn't hold up my bargain because it's important to me too we've got yet yes sir

[1:04:00] please the microphone sorry and I'd like that as well with her I we were both very new to this board less than a month on this board so I'm very well taking as much information that both parties are throwing out on the table and could not agree with more with any of y'all agree it's good to I agree in the same position that I am accountability and I think that we're all looking forward to moving forward with this museum in the future of it for st. Angelo when you leave here today know the great responsibility we're putting on your backs you have a treasured historic Santa Fe Depot building which the city owns and it's a big treasure and you've had it for a dollar a year for 20 years we need to make sure that you're as committed to it tomorrow and down the road to ensure 20 years or 10 years or whatever the issues are that we have a Depot that isn't stagnant and it's conditions I think that group as a whole knows that if it hadn't been for people that helped start this group we wouldn't have the depot the depot was offered to the city three times in the city said no we don't want it from the Santa Fe and it wasn't until a group of people started a campaign of media campaign that the city decided okay we'll take it but y'all take care of running both the buildings and that's the way it happened the first two or three years until money was found and then the city took interest in it but we didn't even know about the importance of saving those before Charlotte we can use that okay any other comments questions or input if not everybody get to work

[1:06:05] we've got a lot of work to do on our part and it looks like you all do too so we will meet again we'll have some further conversations I appreciate you all happiness really very hard to meet each of you let's hide when he was telling us that story about the $2 dollar 20 chairs that he just started talking about it and crisping the hair on my arm starts raising in this you know we want to make sure that those stories are recorded because what we all know is you never know what's going to happen and all of us know we have only a certain amount of time in place on this earth and we don't want any of the great stories and the history and the things that no one else can tell us aren't somewhere documented we don't want the history and everyone's time and effort to be lost it's too valuable so thank you so it could be sightings at the Depot you got any other Koshien we are adjourned at we're done now you can visit all you want now we do

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=FYoA9RVbnTs