Albany Convention Center Authority
Meeting Minutes
Cahill Room, Harold Joyce Office Building
September 28 , 2007

[PDF* 22 KB]

ATTENDEES:
George Leveille, Michele Vennard, John McEneny, Brad Rosenstein, Joseph Pennisi, L. Lloyd Stewart and Gavin Donohue

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL:
Meeting was called to order at 8:30 and Chairman George Leveille took a roll call.

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES:
The August 31, 2007 meeting minutes were reviewed, a motion was made by Mr. McEneny and seconded by Mr. Donohue; unanimously adopted.

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
Dominick Calsolaro – Common Counsel

BUSINESS REPORT:

• Chair Report
  Mr. Leveille received the resignation letter from Mr. Pennisi’s as the appointee of the County Executive.  Next, Mr. Pennisi presented a second letter with his appointment by Governor Spitzer to serve as a Board member of the Authority.  A motion was made by Mr. Leveille and seconded by Mr. Rosenstein, unanimously adopted to reinstate him as Treasurer. .  The Authority has two focus groups that worked very hard putting together the Construction and Design group.  In addition, the ACCA added two members to the Design Focus group, Deputy Mayor Calderone and Deputy County Executive Michael Perrin.

• Treasurer Report
  Mr. Pennisi went over the August financial statements and the 2008 budget for the ACCA.  A motion was made to accept the 2008 ACCA budget by Mr. Rosenstein and seconded by Mr. Leveille; unanimously adopted.
  
  
• Authority Report
1. Planning & Development - Duncan Stewart
   
   1. Master Planning –Steve Wilson from CHA talked about the relocation of the bus station and that it became apparent from community outreach that the bus station is a part of the community and is very much needed. The proposal for the bus terminal will be integrated into a Phase II of the center.  Several new circulation and parking scenarios are under consideration and being reviewed by OGS, DOT, CDTA, Greyhound and APA.
   2. GEIS – On Monday, September 24th the ACCA with Counsel and members of  the Master Planning team met with Hartgen Associates and NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to finalize the scope of the 1-B Archeological Field Reconnaissance, after review a proposal was made by NYS OPRHP to make minor changes. The cost of the project amounted to $228,822, which will be requisitioned against the ESDC grant currently in place.  A motion was made by Mr. McEneny and seconded by Mr. Pennisi to accept this proposal; unanimously adopted.
   3. CM selection – The ACCA Construction Manager focus group headed by Mr. Donohue, announced a decision to the ACCA board to hire Gilbane/BBL Construction Services as their Construction Management team.  A motion was made by Mr. Donohue seconded by Mr. Pennisi; Mr. L. Stewart opposed; adopted by quorum.
   4. Design Team Selection – The ACCA Design Team headed by Assemblyman McEneny along with two new members Deputy County   Executive Michael Perrin and Deputy Mayor Phil Calderone have recommended to the ACCA board to hire, HNTB for the Design Team with RTKL and Hamlin Designs.  A motion was made by Assemblyman McEneny and seconded by Mr. L. Stewart to accept the Design Team, unanimously adopted.
   5. Affirmative Action/Economic Inclusion Plan- In the past month, Deborah Williams-Muhammad has been working with the ACCA board and staff to set up a Community Benefits Economic Development program.  Looking to see what services are currently available in the local community, so the Authority can close gaps and not repeat services already in place.  Currently, the Authority is working on the database for the MWBE contacts from the Tri-City area and beyond.
      
2. Operations update - Al Sorrentino
   1. Real Estate Broker Activity – CBRE is determining the ownership of the various parcels that are necessary for the initial archaeological investigation.  The ACCA is trying to avoid the additional cost of this work that will occur should we get into winter.
   2. Operator Selection- Brad Rosenstein (chair) – Recently, three board members and staff from ACCA went to see two convention center properties located in Hartford, Conn. (SMG) and Providence, Rhode Island (Waterford Group). The RFPs for the Hotel/CC Operators went out and are due back October 8th, - the interviews will take place October 12th.   The focus group and ACCA staff will be making a recommendation to the Board at the next board meeting on October 26th.
   3. ESDC Advance – Empire State Development grant, according to the project manager handling the account for ACCA, confirmed the advance of $209,700 will be wired into the Authority’s account by Thursday of next week.  A first requisition of approximately $608,000 is being processed; the ACCA is awaiting a few clarifications on their required documents.
   4. Webcasting – The Authority in compliance with the Executive Order #3 from Governor Spitzer’s office. In the future all monthly board meetings will be webcasted. It can be accessed from the ACCA
      web-site at www.accany.com.
      
      
• Legal Report – Hal Patrick –The proposed loan from Key Bank for the line of credit has been approved, the closing was September 13th.

Other Business
No other business was conducted.

Adjourn
A motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Leveille; seconded by Mr. Donohue; unanimously adopted.

Next Meeting Date and Time:
Friday, October 26, 2007, 8:30 AM
112 State Street – Cahill Room
Harold Joyce Office Building

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