 of all the order meeting of the senior services committee December 6th at 8 AM. I'm simply death chair of the senior services commission. It was sort of around the room at the end of the session. We are not in line to be our friends convening the person. So guys, please come on the mission. Brandy my air, I'm the mission. So you better level yourself and brand forward. So I'm just going to hold on. Here we learned and then the friends. So we had one friends board. I mean, friends board. It's not going to start. We don't. But now it's. I'm on track for something else. Then you rush and then the final. Jack and commission. So he's mission. Allison, do you want to introduce yourself? Hi, Allison. I'm on the friends board. You can see that in the back. Okay, good. And then I'm going to go over on the director of services. And perfect timing. Casey Bradley, city administrators. If we would all stand for the pleasure of leaving. Okay. Please. And I don't really believe in this to be required. And I don't want to be in the middle of it. And two, three, four, which stands one nation. I don't know if you can be involved. Everyone on the commission should have gotten the copy of the July 19 meeting minutes. Any. Moving on discussion, senior services, friends of terms, social operating. So I'll come in here. Mainly when our new city administrators started a month ago, oh, hi, Laura. Right here. Oh, there is one. Okay, good. I was explaining how the relationship between the city and the friends has functioned, especially regarding the financial operations. You maybe you don't know, but maybe you do. For the past however many years, almost all of the financial operations of this organization have funneled through the friends. So membership fees, program fees, the cafe expenses and revenue, trip revenue, as well as charitable. And as we've grown and gotten bigger with consulting with city attorney Adams, that's probably not the best way for us to be functioning. And so mainly I know I had conversations with a lot of you separately, but mainly this group together today is to talk about why we need to make this change and how we can make this change. So Chuck, I don't know if you want to chime in. Yeah. Just to make it simple, the issue here comes down to the IRS. So when funds from the city are, it's improper to cash fare from the city. Basically for the government. That's the problem. We've seen that. We put it on the way. Those who are friends are old friends that stay down on the street. You want to add anything? Yeah, kind of off of that, another issue we ran into and we lucked out. Fortunately, but basically the IRS works out. You're either government or there's no nonprofit. There's nothing in terms of taxes and funds. So we ran into just lucked out in this particular case, but the amount of revenue that's being generated is not in this. I mean, you're looking at $160,000 a year that's being generated with city tax dollars that's going to the friends right now. That amount of money would actually make our loss taxable, which would put the city in a whole other bad situation. So, fortunately, this is not the CDBG and CDBG with this particular program. So essentially where we're looking at going from here is kind of finishing out 2023. As we have been as normal, but there's an agenda item that'll be on the personnel and finance committee next week for the city and then, you know, following council, essentially for a significant budget amendment that would be all of the earned revenues that this entity has been bringing in reflected on the city's books. And of course, the expenses that go along with it. So we've talked about the revenues that have been going to the friends. It would be unreasonable not to recognize that almost all of the, not almost all, but a lot of the operating expenses of this organization have also been paid by the friends. So it's not like this pile of money has been going into the friends' conference to gain every year. It's just that it really should be under the oversight of the city council. So we'll have a budget amendment next week. And I believe I had sent out in the packet what that proposal would look like. The one thing that's still missing is currently Vicki, who is the cafe coordinator, is a contracted employee of the friends. So all of the cafe operations would move into the city too, which would mean Vicki would become an employee of the city. So those expenses are not reflected on the draft yet because we're waiting to have that position evaluated. Oh, we just got it yesterday. Okay, so I haven't seen it yet, but so those numbers will change to reflect how her position is graded. And then of course, all the other expenses that go along with paying someone beyond their hourly rate. So what we're proposing to finance and ultimate city council is that we create a special revenue fund. So the revenues that are generated here stay here. So while they'll be under this control of city council, they'll be your mark specifically for our funds. It's not as if, well, the revenues will go back to the general fund or anything like that. So it's specifically your mark. They'll come in uptown social, it'll be used for either capital or operating expenses for uptown social. We're just going to do the fund balance that. I think that's probably kind of staffing. So I think overall there shouldn't be a whole lot of change operationally. And we're also, we have to reallocate some of our public on news. So we proposed that the city would pay 450,000 out of our funds. If the friends came up with 400,000. You guys are pretty healthy situation is still in the group by council. We can get the gem done. Again. That's kind of our proposal. If you got more activity and more amenities of the facility and still get one of the other things. So from, you know, I'm looking at some, some of like Sue and Marilyn are really connected. So I don't think the general membership participants at that point, I don't think that we're going to have this difference and I don't think it'll be mad to them whatsoever. It's just going to be these two governing organizations overseeing things. And then basically like all the bills get paid and yeah. So I don't think the general membership would really even care to know. Because right now city council is on our side. And they will have a final vote on us. That's the question. Finishing Jim, but in the future, how is the city going to make improvements? Since you own it, is this going to be the budget process area is a capital? Yes and no. So you guys would have by having a special revenue fund building their own fund balance as well. So it wouldn't necessarily be just through the general fund and the allocation for capital, but it would also be, you guys have done that. It's a tribute that maybe we have to ask the general fund for supplementing part of that efficiency. What I'm saying, part of what I'm getting at is okay, is the commission have to go every year to the budget process and say, we're thinking about going back in the year. It will be based on the project. Oh, right now that phase three, we're trying to figure out the portions of the phase two. But ultimately, we can also look at that fund balances that grows to getting those projects done as well. And you guys still have the fund raise. Maybe having counsel for their process. John's on the commission, not the friends. So he's yeah, yeah, that's okay. Yeah, I agree. I think it'll be like as projects come up. It's as it has been in the past. It's always there's always sort of been a conversation between the city and the friends of like, okay, here's what the city can do. Here's what the friends can do when we find a way to like make work together to make it happen. And I think that'll continue to be the expectation. I don't know how this works. That's why we like coming here. So that's the question. So right now I think 60 ish revenue wise. I think about 60,000 so close to that. Wow. It's going to be here. Right. I don't know when the same of this, you know, I'm not familiar with all the other departments function, but I think we're pretty unique and then our revenue is quite a bit. And so when I put a button together, I just try to be pretty conservative, you know, estimate high on expenses and estimate low on revenues. So hopefully you can do better than that. But so my question was, okay, so if we really blow it out of the water and our membership fees are higher, our trips do better, what does all of that money just fall into the black hole that is the city's general fund. And so with this special revenue fund that would be a no. Let's say the budget comes out ahead and extra $50,000 next year, that money would build up. And then if that happens every year, then maybe a few years from now we say, okay, now we can put I'm thinking this up. So we're not actually going to do that. But you know what I mean, like we've got there's money there that that can be tapped into for for projects like this. Um, how are the employees of uptown social, how will they be able to be out of the revenue fund or is that out of the separate? So we wouldn't have to worry about it. There needed to be budget cuts that all of a sudden we need Vicki or Josh or anybody. We wanted to add a staff member. As you do now, that staffing with the exception of the one time employee is 100%. So City Council dictates those staffing levels. So ultimately that would be a ask of city council. And for for one important some of the New York City members, there's been a history of some employees being city employees and some employees being rent employees. I'm not a fan of that for any reasons. I don't think it's fair to the friends employees not getting benefits. They're not accessing. They're not able to access some of the benefits that come with being part of a bigger employer and I wasn't here at the time. But my experience is that it created some animosity between employees that some got this and others didn't. So I've been a pretty loud cheerleader since I started about the friends not having employment also from an operational standpoint. It's a lot of extra work to do the same thing. So it's been really nice not having unemployment insurance for the friends and, you know, not while we have so big he has to get paid but running to payrolls. It's a lot of extra work or not great. I was wondering what you really looked for was fundraising. And that was part of the jobs which was funding. So what role can I think Emily can deal with having fundraising right now? But it does not change. The jobs don't change. This is just strictly bringing the money back to the city dollar. She's always looking for a break. Yeah, I think we just wanted to make sure. Yeah, I know we talked about it in our tour only next year. Yeah, and I think Chuck can explain it a little better than I can why it's okay. In essence, what's happening is, you know, they may be concerned as well. Emily raised a point for a private organization. Pay your dollars and make money for a private organization. I don't see that necessarily being an issue. It's a lot like the bond issue. This is an issue where we can make this a complex complex. It's for the sense that we talk about social issues in the end. She is meeting other people and other community friends. To do that, we're going to work simply on raising funds to help support social. That's perfect to find. Some little friends started going into other things, which can't be faced by their charter. But that could be a problem, but that isn't going to be the case. It's a special, special fund with our revenue. And, you know, we generally have a budget in that the friends don't have to come for every expense to say, coming to this and to that. Do you know what I mean? Correctly, the other part of the budget. So we still have the flexibility that they have on this. Special projects and ultimately we'll have that part of a capital plan. So that's also part of the budget process. Yeah. My question. Yeah. Rich, you're going to go ahead. You had a question. I do know what, um, and this is at another organization. There's someone going into the physical, let's say a pool. Because I never see this going into the physical. That's what I hear. But it's a city where we're going into, or to work. If you get the grant, the grant is getting the full amount. So you can, you can handle that two different ways. You want to come here, you're right. I mean, so you wish, I've got something that they wanted to ask right now. But you can. They could donate it to the problems and get back to right now. And frankly, one of the things they can. Loan it to the city. And that's a question that I'm sure is coming up. That question has come up a lot. We've also started, that's, that's a problem in and of itself. So now we've started where when folks make it, I know, I know, but it was quite a problem that caused me a lot of headaches. So now when folks make it in kind donation to the friends, we have a form that they sign that says, I recognize that I'm donating this to you. It's more property guys ask for it back because if they're getting the tax donation as a, as a, if they're getting the tax right off, they can't come back and pass this three years later. And we're still using it and requested back. Back to the gym. Since we're starting in 2024 and your budget's already set. Are we just going to have to go through the council process to get the money? So that's on the agenda for Tuesday night. Monday. Or is it Tuesday? It's Tuesday. I already went from first reading the city council last month. So then following Monday, it'll be on the council for the final two. So in that, we've allocated. We're reallocating. Substantial amount of our performance with other projects. And our proposal is that we allocate $50,000 to this project. In anticipation of $400,000 coming to the front. So in that way, the construction team yesterday, we're going to look at if this is all approved, hopefully get them out and change. Hopefully have construction underway. What type of funds that housing is that original grant we refer to? Is that what the answer? No, it's our fund the city. It was part of the public funds that went out. We had a couple of projects that are related. And ultimately I have one of those. So it's all together. So we basically went down the capital list of projects that were available. And this is one of them. A great opportunity with this process. And what the fund balance is. It's a good way to partner with you. I'm also not going to have the full weight of the project. I think it's a good idea. Originally there was a lot of support for giving much money. I'm going to talk about getting this done also helps generate more revenue. So kind of two-fold. And so we spent a lot of money. We spent a lot of money on the benefit of council so specifically. Yeah. So one thing we actually already used some of our funding for the first phase construction. So we have the community development block grant funding for the majority of it. And then when that was capped, I think it was about $700,000 for the part of funding was used. There's an audio and with anytime there's a funding resort, there's stipulations around it. And so one of the. And then the way that we were able to say that we can use this funding is by as a response to COVID relief efforts specifically by having vaccine. So when we did the vaccine clinics earlier this year, not only was that, you know, a good thing to do for the community and a good thing for us, but also satisfy that requirement. We hope to continue doing that. Moving forward. For those on the commission who weren't quite as familiar with what's been going on with the friends, you know, initially the discussion even before I was hired was that the city would want the first phase of construction. The friends would fund the gym. I was hired. We've been fundraising fundraising has been challenging. For a few reasons, one, a lot of the local population is not super familiar with the friends. So it takes anyone who knows fundraising knows it takes a few years to build relationships. And so I share that because I just I don't want anyone to think that we can go from zero to 100 overnight. And because I like numbers sometimes they can be fun. I did add things up in the time that I've been here. I was the friends, including the vaccine grant have raised over $400,000 in the three years. Looking at the friends history, all the way of QuickBooks records. It was 14 years prior to my hiring. The charitable giving was $274,000. So I just I share that as context to say, like, no, the friends have not raised all the money needed for the gym, but the growth in charitable giving has been substantial. So in talking with the friends, where we were finding a lot of success over the past year, much more so than anticipated was on the revenue side, where the memberships were exploding. The trip income was exploding. The program revenue, all of these things were significantly higher than anticipated. And so in a pivot of how to get the gym done, the plan at that time was to finance to pay some upfront for the gym, but then finance the construction, relying on the intended earned revenue coming in over future years to pay down a loan balance. And then obviously now with all of the revenue going over the city, that's not an option for the friends. And if the friends moving forward are going to focus solely on charitable giving that then that, you know, anticipated revenue isn't there to pay back a loan. So that's why kind of this pivot and strategy of how to make it happen. Any further discussions? And we didn't have a number before. We're moving on. Moving on to gymnasium financing, which is kind of running we're touching on. I think we need to add anything else there unless anyone has any additional questions about the gym financing. Yeah, so just really quickly, I have a couple extra copies of anyone wants to see it, but basically, for the first time, we've seen our membership dip a little bit which our staff kind of expected because we're one year out and so we know we expected to see a little bit of attrition now as folks who signed up right when we opened, maybe aren't renewing, maybe they moved out of the area, maybe they passed on. So that's, you know, we're still hovering right around 1400 peppers unique visitors continues to be at about 60 plus a month. So we're still getting an influx of new people coming in to check us out. Average daily attendance. I mean, for those who are here on a daily basis, you can feel the difference with the weather cooling down. So as we're learning, we know we're very weather dependent. If it's nice outside, people will go outside and we love that for them. And if it's not outside, which is fine too. Any questions about participation? I do have a question. I noticed the furniture outside the room that seating areas of the town paid for. Is that furniture? Is that you're wrong with me out there or we will store again somewhere? We'll pull it. Okay. So it'll be stored on top of you. Yeah. And the liners are out of the winter weather for the first year. Any further discussion about the participation trend? Do we, when people's memberships are coming up, are we addressing that with individuals? So Jane, once a month, looks at the upcoming month and will send a reminder to everyone to say like, hey, your membership is up for renewal on such and such date. And then she'll say, you can either come in and renew at the desk, you can mail in a check, or there's a link to do it online. So those who are active, you hopefully already noticed this, if you haven't 100 big kids who've been working on the last couple months was getting for you active and silver sneakers up and running. So that is those are medical reimbursement programs for folks who have policies that qualify. So how they're working is people who have the ability to give us their reimbursement number. So when we waive the membership fee and we waive their fitness class fees, and then once a month, we send in a report a company times they check in and then we get a reimbursement from either renew active or silver sneakers for those times. So we just got our first monthly check from renew active. I told it was the first month we had about 400 plus dollars. But we think we'll continue to see new folks coming in to utilize silver sneakers and renew active. So you get more reimbursement. If you have more attendance. Yeah, so we don't, if you sign up as a member and never show up, we get nothing. But every time you check in. No, so actually they my interpretation of how they call the benefits work and they know that whether you're showing up here to socialize or to go to a class, it's good for you and it's good for your health. So, like we do have, I won't use names, but one pool player becomes five days week every week to shoot pool. And that's a completely reactivity. So prior to this program, apart from his annual membership, we have $30. That's all he was spending and now he's spending nothing. But we're getting the cap that we do that per person is $20 per month. So we're getting $20 per month. So it's, you know, but there, there are certainly some super users of fitness classes that are maxing out for reimbursement, but it's it equals out. I think in the end it'll be more advantageous for us to be part of the program. Any further discussion. All right. Our next meeting is January 17, 2024. Again, here in the creative studio. If there's nothing more, I'll take a motion to adjourn. Any second. All in favor. All right. This meeting December 6 of the senior services commission meeting.