Discussion regarding the future of sports tourism in Franklin County went on for almost an hour during the Franklin County Fiscal Court regular meeting on Wednesday morning.
The courts dialogue was centered on a request for proposal (RFP) for a feasibility study for Lakeview Park that included options to fund the development and management of a sports complex and convention center as proposed in the park’s master plan.
During the April fiscal court meeting, it was established that the feasibility study would be a necessary step towards establishing a sports commission. The commission would then help determine how to fund the proposed facility. One method proposed is to levy a 3% transient tax on hotel rooms.
The county's park committee advertised the RFPs at the end of April. Four proposals were submitted. Three were from consulting firms and one was from a company that runs convention and sports facilities.
The committee, which consists of Judge-Executive Huston Wells, 3rd District Magistrate Michael Mueller and 4th District Magistrate Scotty Tracy, voted 2-1 to reject all four proposals. Wells voted against rejection.
Mueller said during Wednesday’s meeting that the proposals submitted did not go into enough detail about how it planned to identify revenue streams that will fund the project.
Tracy said that in order for sports tourism to be successful in Franklin County, a sports commission would need to be implemented as it was proposed in the park master plan. That plan is modeled in a similar fashion to one used by a successful facility in McCracken County.
“We don’t have a facility to manage,” Tracy said in reference to the RFP. “So why would we be hiring one right now? It is all about the revenue stream.”
He also then noted that the proposals called for studies that were already conducted while putting together the Lakeview Park Master Plan.
Wells said that the feasibility study was vital to learning how to set up a sports commission.
“We don’t know how to form that,” Wells said of the commission. “To give $300,000 to an organization, to be honest with you, nobody on this court knows, maybe you do, Scotty or Michael, but we don’t know what that is. To raise our hotel taxes, to give that to a group and let them run it, is kind of scary to us.”
There was some disagreement among the members of the committee on the wording of the RFP and whether it was detailed enough for firms to submit satisfactory proposals.
Wells noted that he was perplexed by that notion given that court passed the RFP unanimously in April.
After getting input from Frankfort/Franklin County Tourism Board's Executive Director Robin Antenucci as well as Franklin County Attorney Rick Sparks, Wells and company decided that the RFP needed to be rewritten using input from several different sources.
"We have no other alternative then to sit down and brainstorm with the city, they are part of this. With tourism, they are part of this. With the fiscal court, which will be the park committee. They are a part of this. All of us together, need to write the correct RFP to get what we need."
The date and time for that proposed meeting is still to be determined.
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Scotty Tracy is right, you don't hire a group now. Also stop with the studies. Between the City and the County more money is wasted on studies.
Bill , they certainly do a lot of “studies “. That’s apparently “ big biz “ for these firms to contract with cities and towns . All that these “ paid”study firms do is “ compare” our community with other counties and cities , way off somewhere - it seems to threaten the joy out of living ,in our community sometimes , when these paid “consultant” ( they call them) “ studies “ , perceive us as less that what they judge we could be .Also these governments never mention environmental studies or sustainability studies about our environment. Well.. it’s not our environment, it’s our children’s environment. Politicians are influenced by rich developers, bankers , industries and realtors in the “here and now” $$$ profiteering. Don’t get me wrong about a convention center for entertainment, graduations or athletic events, even a swimming pool or anything that our leaders plan for the well-being of community. I’m for those projects that benefit our children . I’m not for making profiteering individuals , consultants, developers and the others wealthy at the taxpayers expense. That’s one reason Michael Mueller was elected in the voting primary as CJE . He wants what’s good for the well-being of “all “citizens - not wealthy special interest lobbyist groups that hire expensive attorneys to change our laws , like Buffalo Trace is doing for corporate profits.
Magistrates Tracy and Michael will have the common sense to see this thru.
We have several excellent Magistrates who can see this through, if the voters are smart enough to reject recent Trumper convert, Kenny Carroll, for County Judge Executive. If he isn’t good enough for his own father, how can he be good enough for our community?
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