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Randy responded that the need for Juvenile facilities and the Courts were rated the highest by the public. <br />But the focus should be more on what you call it. It is more than an administration building, it is a service <br />center, and we need focus attention on that. <br />~ Randy Curtis added that to some degree the County has been campaigning for months and has been out <br />talking to other communities about this kind of partnership, particularly after bond measures have failed. <br />He, RG, and Gary Heer did a program on CCTV. They have gotten good coverage by the newspaper and <br />may be able to utilize the County Fair in July. Hopefully by then the developer will be identified and can <br />put strength to the proposal. The hurdle right now is to make sure the project is viable, and to continue to <br />sell and educate the public whenever we can. If the County goes out for any bond measure this fall, we will <br />have to make sure we separate this project from the tax base, in much the same way that Transit did. If <br />there is any feeling at all that they are funding this building downtown, that could be a major liability. <br />Ed Martin added that we can deal with architects of great vision. Randy Franke reinforced that we are not <br />looking for an embarrassment (meaning extravagant). Ed questioned the process, of who are we selecting, <br />the contractor or who will be doing the project? <br />Randy Curtis explained that this is the approach. It is a unique. Very traditionally, in public projects, you <br />do select the architectural team in one of the first stages. You then do the design and get the specifications <br />of cost and then go to the voters for the funding. This is unique in that we are asking for a partnership of <br />financing, development and design. There are still a number of issues to be resolved, even after we select <br />this team. It is critical that we get this party identified up front and proceed in a partnership with them. <br />What is lacking here, in terms of traditional projects is, while transit has the funding identified, Marion <br />County has zero dollars set aside for this project. The County has the assets on the Senator block. The <br />success of the project is based on the partner identifying the retail possibilities. We are not selecting a <br />~ design. No firm design for the project has been identified. It will be designed once all the parties have been <br />identified. Finance has not been determined. He has been getting a lot of phone calls of interest, but he <br />doesn't know who they represent. <br />RG stated that there are really four partnerships. The fourth being the Federal Government. They have <br />informed him that this kind of a project, taking federal dollars and leveraging that into a public and private <br />partnership, has never been done. The Transit District's approach is the same as the County's, but on the <br />opposite side of the coin. Their task into get the bus depot off of High Street. They will bring seven million <br />dollars to the table. They could have taken that money elsewhere and built a transit facility. It became <br />apparent that the County needed some assistance and this was identified as a way to benefit the entire <br />community by using that seven million dollars of federal money to leverage a project that could produce <br />what the County needs over the next twenty years without having to go back out to the voters. This is truly <br />a mutual project that has to work for all parties. If this option doesn't work, then the Transit District is right <br />back where they started, and no more the worse for it. <br />Ann questioned if RG is on a time line. He responded that they have to have their application filed by <br />September, 1996. They have already filed everything, short of the final plan. The developer has to provide <br />that. If this were to fall apart in July, they would be scrambling. One million dollars is at stake. The <br />following September, the second would be at stake. The other five million are earmarked. Transit is under <br />a time crunch. <br />Randy added to the information on the structure of the partnership. The seven million dollars that Transit <br />~, brings is firm. The only thing the County has to offer is the assets of the property, roughly five million <br />dollars in building and land. In order to make this project a reality, we have to bring private money in. The <br />seven million and the five million on the property simply does not make this project viable. In addition we <br />