Albany Convention Center Authority
Meeting Minutes
Empire State Plaza – Room 5
March 24, 2006 – 9:00 am

[PDF* 128KB]

Attendees:
Gavin Donohue, John Harris, George Leveille, Hon. John McEneny, Brad Rosenstein, Lloyd Stewart, Michele Vennard. (Suzanne Morris and Joseph Pennisi Absent)

Call to order:
Meeting was called to order at 9:04 am and a roll call was taken by Chairman Leveille.

Approval of previous meeting minutes:
Minutes from the February 24, 2006 meeting were approved on a motion by Mr. Donohue and seconded by Mr. Harris. All agreed.

ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES:

Bylaws

Mr. Donohue thanked everyone on the board for their input regarding the bylaws and he feels they are ready to be adopted. A copy of the bylaws was distributed to the authority at the last meeting. Mr. Donohue introduced Mr. Don Ross of The Empire State Development Corporation to discuss a few changes that were made to the original bylaws after discussion with Mr. Stewart and Mr. Penissi. Mr. Ross discussed two major changes that were addressed:

1.) Article 3, Section 3 states: “The chair is CEO of the authority “. This sentence was stricken from the bylaws as it is a direct conflict with a statement listed in the Public Authority Accountability Act which reads: “The CEO can not serve on a Board of authority that he is CEO of.”

2.) Article 4, Section 2 states: “The Executive Director shall report to and be subject to the direction of the Chair.” This line has been stricken from the bylaws and now reads: “ The Executive Director shall report to and be subject to the direction of the authority under the day to day supervision of the Chair.”

A motion to approve the bylaws was put forward by Mr. Harris and seconded by Mr. Donohue. All agreed. A final version will be prepared and distributed to the Board.

Staffing and financial support

Chairman Leveille proposed the establishment of a Staff Search Committee on which he, Mr. McEneny and Mr. Donohue will serve. The purpose of this committee will be to establish processes and policies regarding the interviewing of applicants, reviewing job descriptions and developing a plan for advertising. The motion to approve this committee was put forth by Mr. Donohue and seconded by Mr. Harris. All agreed.

Mr. Rosenstein stated that he would also like to be a part of that process and Mr. McEneny suggested that all board members should be allowed to attend if they so chose. This was motioned on by John Harris and seconded by Brad Rosenstein.

All agreed.

Mr. Leveille advised that the authority has received offers of financial assistance from the ALDC, Albany County , and potentially, the Downtown Albany BID.

It was discussed that the job description for the Executive Director position should circulate within the month and be approved at the next meeting. A motion was put forth by Mr. McEneny and seconded by Mr. Rosenstein that the Chairman has the ultimate approval of the job description once the entire board has reviewed it. All agreed.

Website assistance

Ms. Vennard advised that Albany County has offered to assist in the creation of a website for the authority and that she has received 4 templates for review. She would like to see some changes in the photos used and proposed adding a few more categories to the menu such as Contact Us and RFP's or Reports. These would be more serving to the public who might want to send comments or suggestions or just keep track of what is going on with the Authority. Bio's of the board members will be sent to Kerri Battle with Albany County .

Public participation

1.) There was discussion to establish policies and protocol for public participation. One thought was to host a public workshop to gather comments, suggestions, and information from the public. We are looking at possibly mid May or mid June to hold this meeting. If all goes well we will host another meeting later on in the summer.

2.) Mr. McEneny suggested that all public comments be provided to the authority 24 hours in advance so that they may be reviewed. It was also suggested that the ACCA meetings begin ½ hour earlier to allow for public comments and also to read the comments of those who can not attend the meeting but have submitted input via email or hard copy.

Formation of audit committee

The Albany Convention Center Authority is required by the Public Authority Accountability Act to have an Audit Committee. The Chairman has asked Mr. Pennisi to Chair the Audit Committee and if anyone would like to serve on this committee please advise Mr. Pennisi. This committee is responsible for procuring audit services internally and externally. The committee will put out an RFP for audit services shortly. The motion to establish an Audit Committee was put forth by Mr. Leveille and seconded by Mr. Harris. All Agreed.

April 28, 2006 training workshop

A Public Authority Board Training Program will be held at the NYS Nurses Association on April 28 from 8:30 - 5:00 .The address is 11 Cornell Rd. Latham , NY 12110-1403 . Phone number is 782-9400. Each authority member must attend at least one training meeting per year as required by Public Law 15. In the event that a member has satisfied this requirement as a result of other Board involvement, they are not required to repeat the training. Other sessions are being held throughout the state.

FINANCE AND OPERATIONS SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT:

Update to market analysis rfp

The SAG report was last updated in 2004 but was not meant to be a comprehensive study. We must have this report updated. The Finance and Operations sub-committee feels that we would be better served if ann independent market analysis was completed. A list of potential vendors has been provided to the committee for review.

Outside counsel rfp

The draft RFP for Legal Counsel has been sent to all board members but no comments have been received yet. A motion was put forth by Mr. Harris and seconded by Mr. Donohue to authorize the Chairman to make changes to or approve the final RFP for Legal Counsel in the interest of timeliness in getting this out. All agreed.

The finance and operations committee will also issue an RFP for Bond Counsel Services. This will be drafted shortly. Firms and individuals will be considered or even teams of firms who may have expertise in Environmental Law, Labor Law etc. Mr. Stewart commented that the board needs to be cautioned that there are no policies or procedures in place yet and we should not be reaching out to anyone for a contract until those are in place. Mr. Leveille advised that RFP's are not contracts, just procurements, and that neither the Authority nor the applicant is under any obligation. Mr. Stewart offered that perhaps the Metroplex project in Schenectady could be a model we could work from. Mr. Harris reiterated that we need to get the Legal Counsel RFP out right away so we will have someone on board to aid us with these policies and procedures.

The RFP's will state that the applicant must adhere to all authority policies and laws if they are selected. We will also state that in the final contracts. Mr. Stewart again cautioned that we should not send out RFP's until policies and procedures have been procured. Mr. Leveille indicated that the two processes could track in parallel and that the RFP could indicate that the successful applicant would be subject to the policies and procedures developed by the Authority, and that the Authority would not enter into any agreements until such time that the appropriate policies and procedures were in place. Ms. Vennard made a motion to move forward on the development of an RFP and to use the services of Empire State Development Corporation (if possible) for the procurement of policies and procedures until outside counsel has been obtained. This motion was seconded by ___________. 6 agreed, 1 opposed (Mr. Stewart).

Senior managing underwriter rfp

Mr. Harris advised that we need to obtain information on bankers as soon as possible. A draft RFP has been sent to board members for their review and comments. Perhaps it is better to wait until actual policies are in place before sending this RFP out. This RFP is not quite as urgent as the Counsel RFP but please get any comments or suggestions to Mr. Harris as soon as possible.

A Marketing analysis and Economic Development RFP is being drafted now and will be sent to board members upon

SITE SELECTION SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT:

Initial recommendations on approach

Ms. Vennard advised that the site-selection sub committee had met on 3/22/06 and distributed the minutes from that meeting to the board. Michele displayed a map of Albany with the tier 1 area highlighted. This is the area that an Economic Impact Survey will be done on. Adoption of the site-selection criteria was motioned on by Ms. Vennard and seconded by Mr. McEneny. A motion to amend Ms. Vennard's motion which includes language that the demolition of significant structures will be avoided was put forth by Mr. Donohue and seconded by Mr. McEneny. This amendment stated that the EIS RFP could be requested as soon as possible without an actual contract. 6 agreed, 1 opposed, (Mr. Stewart)

BUDGET AND LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:

New york state budget

Mr. McEneny discussed the budget and legislation. It is hopeful that the budget will be passed on time and the authority will have cash at hand to get moving on RFP's etc.

Albany county hot tax

An additional 1% occupancy tax to go to the authority to fund the mandated work of producing a plan. This has been approved by the county legislature and will be forwarded to the state legislature for home rule approval. The county legislature must then ratify the increase. This may happen within the next 30 days

OTHER BUSINESS:

Meeting with dormitory authority

Mr. Harris and Mr. Pennisi will attend a meeting at the Dormitory Authority on April 3, 2006 . The authority has the ability to solicit outside expertise.

Meeting professionals luncheon

MPI (Meeting Professionals International) will hold a luncheon at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Lodge and State Sts. On Tuesday April 18, 2006 and will be conducting a survey. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Gina Mintzer at the ACCVB. 434-1217 x301 or gmintzer@albany.org

Meeting notifications

Meeting notifications will be sent to Mayor Jennings, Michael Breslin, Governor Pataki, Sheldon Silver and Joseph Bruno.

MEETING ADJOURNED:

Meeting adjourned at 10:26 on a motion by Mr. McEneny and seconded by Mr. Harris

Next Meeting
Thursday April 27, 2006 - 8:30 a.m.
Albany County Office Building, Caucus Room
112 State Street

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