Budget Committee - November 13, 2024   11/13/2024

Roll Call

• • 00:00:48
    St Paul, City Council, Budget Committee
  • 00:01:12
    St Paul, City Council, Budget Committee
  • 00:02:04
    St Paul, City Council, Budget Committee
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 00:02:32
    City of St Paul, City Council
• • 00:03:48
    City of St Paul, City Council
  • 00:04:11
    City of St Paul, City Council
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:04:46
    Good morning everyone.
  • 00:04:50
    Sorry that we have mood lighting in the chambers today.
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    We have some staff working to sort that out, but we're really excited to talk to our partners.
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    First at the Port Authority and then at the River Center and visit St. Paul, we have members who
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    We sit on each of these boards and as we consider our budget in the final weeks here we want to make sure that we can understand proposed budgets for these important partner organizations and partners in co-governing.
  • 00:05:14
    So with that I want to welcome up first we have our president of the Port Authority Todd Hurley to kick us off with the port section today.
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    We typically go until 1130 so for presenters today also I'm going to work on pacing us so that everyone has time for everything.
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    So if we're moving you along it's simply to make sure we can hear from everyone and
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    We know where to find you if we have more questions.
  • 00:05:34
    With that, welcome Mr. Hurley, go ahead.
• • SPEAKER_00
  • 00:05:36
    Thank You counsel presidential Ali members of the City Council, my name is Todd Hurley and I'm the president and CEO of the st. Paul Port Authority We're very pleased and happy for the invite to come here and talk about the st. Paul Port Authority this morning There's a lot of information to share And I'm really here kind of to kick off just an overview of the Port Authority and then bring in my other partners at the Port Authority so just the agenda and I think is it in the on the screen in front and
  • 00:06:04
    On our agenda an overview that that I'll do and then I'll have Catherine Sarnick II our chief development officer come up talk about our projects on the river terminals our projects throughout the city of st. Paul in our business centers and also give us a give the council a brief update on how the Heights project is going again the largest redevelopment in our history at the st. Paul Port Authority in st. Paul
  • 00:06:29
    of the City Council.
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    That being said, here's just a real quick look at our mission.
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    The mission of the St. Paul Port Authority is to expand the tax base in the city of St. Paul and serve as a conduit to quality jobs, job opportunities with a lens of advancing sustainability and equity while also being a fierce advocate for river commerce.
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    And you'll hear a little bit about that in each of the following presentations at the port.
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    again really quick summary overview again economic development with concentration on tax base and looking to create quality jobs in St. Paul and also to make flexible loan programs with our businesses in St. Paul.
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    Again we talked a lot about sustainable and equitable development and you'll hear about that especially with our Heights project today and again to be an advocate for the river.
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    our connection to the city just as a reminder that the City Council we're very pleased and proud that we are one of the City of St. Paul's economic development partners in the city we were created through state statute in 1929 and our board is consists of seven people that are mayor selected City Council approved and and two of those seats are held by City Council members that are actually
  • 00:08:06
    I'll show the board real quick and then the last bullet point I'll make is that and again part of you'll see in our budget is our operations are partially supported by the tax levy in the City of St. Paul.
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    Our Board of Commissioners, our current Board Chair is Matt Slavin,
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    We also then have Don Mullen from St. Paul Building Trades, John Marshall, Xcel Energy, Council Member Yang from Ward 6, Council Member Johnson from Ward 7, our two newest new board members Courtney Henry from the McDonald's Corporation, and then former Council President Amy Brenmohan now with Amy Brenmohan Strategies.
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    again just a very quick look at our staff we're of small we like to say a small but mighty staff we if you look at our our preliminary budget we have 22 FTEs in the in the entire Port Authority across three functional teams 20 full-time employees and four part-time employees and then just very quickly
  • 00:09:09
    our development team led by Catherine Sarnicki who I mentioned our legal team represented by Emily Lawrence and our finance and operations team led by Mike Solomon and with that if there's not any questions on the overview I'd like to move the presentation over to Catherine Sarnicki to start talking about economic development starting with our river terminals.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:09:33
    Good morning, thank you President Jalali and Council members.
  • 00:09:36
    I'm Catherine Sarnicki, as Todd said, I'm our Chief Development Officer for the St. Paul Port Authority.
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    And I just wanted to highlight a few things about our working river.
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    St. Paul does have the unique distinction of being the northernmost terminal on the Mississippi River since the Lock and Dam above us was closed in 2015.
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    We have four working terminals here in St Paul, one tiny little red one that's underneath the Lafayette Bridge and three larger terminals where there's a lot of river shipping and activity going on there.
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    our main imports excuse me coming to this mark fertilizer lots of different kinds of fertilizer I didn't know there were so many different types of ammonia and nitrogen and phosphate lots of rock aggregate cement and salt so all the products used to make our roads and buildings and sidewalks a lot of that's coming up by a river keeping that wear and tear off our roads being very sustainable along the way
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    and our top exports, corn, soybeans, grains.
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    We actually bring in potash from Canada and put it on the river here in St. Paul and send that south.
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    So we have fertilizers going both directions and lots of scrap metal going to destinations to be melted down and recycled and used.
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    This is just a picture of the lock and dam system.
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    Just a reminder, there are 26 locks and dams to get from here basically to St. Louis and then the river is free flowing.
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    it's good and it's bad.
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    There's a lot of maintenance and infrastructure to maintain but it also allows us to operate and keep an operation pool level.
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    You may have heard a couple years ago the low water levels were hurting the lower Mississippi but we were still able to operate quite well up here.
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    Overall highlights from the river, we ship about five to eight million tons annually through our port.
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    We have 21 businesses that operate in our terminals.
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    They generate about $2.3 million in tax revenue and create over 700 jobs out of those terminals.
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    wanted to focus a little bit on the Port Authority's light development work.
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    In the 1960s, the state expanded our powers into economic development and we have been very successful at utilizing federal, state, local resources to help clean up brownfields and redevelop sites and get them back to businesses.
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    We've transformed 17 brownfields into business centers.
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    Our 18th is the height and that's plus our four river terminals brings us up to 22 business centers.
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    This map shows 24 because there's a couple areas we were in there, but we didn't actually do remediation, but really wanted to highlight.
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    We're working across the city of St Paul, really working to bring in jobs, good paying jobs with low barriers to entry that pay living wages with benefits.
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    Just overall summary impact for that those 22 to 24 business centers have Over 500 businesses in them over a thousand acres of land has been redeveloped supporting over 22,000 jobs and annually generates 38 million dollars in tax revenue to help offset some of the costs throughout the city
  • 00:12:57
    So I will jump into a quick overview of the Heights.
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    It's been a very busy year at the Heights for 2024.
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    We started this project with a big vision for a thousand units of housing, a thousand living wage jobs, really significant sustainability goals and access to green space and amenities for folks.
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    the reason we chose those goals was on the greater east side there are roughly 30,000 residents but only 3,000 jobs and we heard from the community that they wanted jobs in their neighborhood that would pay a living wage that they could walk to work be part of the community that was really important
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    Another priority we heard was around housing.
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    There's a housing shortage on the greater east side as the city and the nation.
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    So we have created 24 acres of new housing split between ownership and rental to create over a thousand new units of housing.
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    It will be high quality and very sustainable but with a real big focus on affordability and making sure there's even deeply affordable units included in the development.
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    As you may have heard, the Housing Partnership is still seeking funds to make that housing dream in a thousand units a reality.
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    Sherman Associates, J.O.
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    Companies, and Twin Cities Habitat have formed a really strong partnership.
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    They have asked the St. Paul Port Authority and the City of St. Paul in our support as they go to the state to request $44.6 million.
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    So you'll see that request coming through as they start their ramping up efforts for legislating at the Capitol.
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    Exciting thing is there is construction going on at the Heights.
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    It's more than just moving dirt.
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    Although we've done a lot of that Habitat for Humanity is putting units up.
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    They have 30 units of Single-family to try and quad townhomes that they are working on They had a great kickoff the first week in October with the Carter works project their international Event bringing a lot of attention and excitement to the city of st. Paul to the housing crisis and to the Heights development
  • 00:15:10
    I want to highlight that I'm proud of the amount of community engagement we did in this process.
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    Through the master plan and beyond we created a lot of work groups, support groups, listening sessions, lots of ways for people to be heard.
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    of the city of
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    and we have heard great feedback that you did change the plan based on our comments.
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    Really proud we had that
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    This is the plan, the light purple is our new light industrial parcels.
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    The XL Energy site I will highlight in just a moment.
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    The southern two habitat blocks are the ones under construction and the orange are the ones that are pending some funding at the state.
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    There has been a lot of work to date at the site.
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    Boltlander has done a lot of grading work, wetland creation, designing earth contracting, is working on installing all the utilities on the Heights.
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    We had Heights community energy groundbreaking for the distribution system.
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    of our HES geothermal system.
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    Habitat's got their units under construction and Excel's new service center, they have started their own grading and foundations work on the site here in 2024.
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    Budget wise, we have secured over $16 million in grants for the project and being reimbursed, I can update that now to $7.8 million.
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    We got a check in yesterday.
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    But as you may know, projects do increase in costs.
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    We've had additional design costs, additional construction costs.
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    So we're monitoring the budget.
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    We are looking for additional funding sources.
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    and the city of St Paul.
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    One of our next bid packages that we're excited about is the amenities, the landscape, the art, the trees for the site and that's one of the things we're still actively searching for funding to help pay for.
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    some of these numbers just show the work that's been done over seven hundred and forty thousand yards of cubic soil has been excavated lots four thousand linear feet of sanitary sewer seven thousand feet water utilities and over two thousand feet of storm sewer again since I put these numbers in those numbers have only grown
  • 00:18:10
    I wanted to give you a sense of as I talk about our funding and some of our funding shortages.
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    This is the funding sources that we've been using.
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    Many of them are remediation funds, but a couple of big infrastructure funding sources that we're using.
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    is an $11 million bonding allocation from the state of Minnesota and the Port Authority is using $7 million of excess TIF, job bill TIF toward the infrastructure at the Heights as well.
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    Here's just an overview of what the site looks like.
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    If you haven't seen our construction videos, the drone videos are fun to watch and to look six months back and today you can see big changes going on out there.
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    Very exciting.
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    our schedule amazingly we are still on time our timeline for the heights that we created a couple years ago we did get our first groundbreaking on the industrial building in 2024 I guess it was q3 not q2 for Excel and we did break ground on the first habitat units in q3 of 2024 as well
  • 00:19:23
    So we hope to complete the infrastructure, the sewer utilities work in 2025.
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    Depending on our funding, that amenity work may roll into 2026 and how we get funding, but really hope the whole site will be mostly developed by 2030 and be a thriving community for folks to live, work, and play.
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    and I know I mentioned it briefly but just want to celebrate one key partnership that really came from the leadership of council, community, everyone working together to get a district geothermal energy system.
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    It was big news here and it was big news across the country and I continue to get phone calls of people asking, how are you doing this?
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    How did you do this?
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    and the Green Bank, the tax credits but really allowed us to be a leader in sustainability and how we're doing things out at the Heights.
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    So if there's not any questions I will turn it over to Holly Houston to tell you about our loan programs.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:20:34
    Good morning council members, good to see you.
  • 00:20:36
    Thanks for the opportunity to be here today.
  • 00:20:39
    So as Todd mentioned in the beginning that just a portion of the St. Paul Port Authority's budget is supported by levy.
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    One of the other key funding sources is our loan programs and our administrative fiscal services.
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    So that's really loan programs and conduit revenue.
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    So I'm going to talk briefly about those programs and this just gives you
  • 00:21:03
    of the state of minnesota
  • 00:21:21
    and that comprises over $312 million of energy savings and investments across the state.
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    That's an annual savings of $83 million.
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    So that allows business owners to put that money into other things in their business instead of wasting it on energy bills.
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    Then we also have our trillion.
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    So within the MnPACE program, just to give you a little more details,
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    We are the program administrators for the state of Minnesota, so we work with the counties to place the assessment.
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    We collect the funds and send them back to the lender.
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    So the lender can be external, they could be credit unions, national banks, or we have a trillion BTU loan fund that we also can be a lender.
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    So that gets into the next category of our trillion BTU loan program.
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    We've completed 99 loans that are not paid through the PACE assessment.
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    that's just a monthly payment for energy improvements and that has been 33 million in investments and saved 8.8 million annually.
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    Just to give some perspective on the trillion BTU loan fund, that funding originally came from the American Recovery Act and from the Department of Commerce in 2010 and it's a 15 million dollar fund.
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    So if you look at our PACE loans and our trillion BTU loans,
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    We also have a business development fund supporting business growth in St Paul and the East Metro.
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    That has completed 29 loans for $3.3 million.
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    and then the Energy Savings Partnership Program.
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    That's really a partnership with the U.S. Bank.
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    So they're the lender there, but that's something St. Paul Port Authority, we have a relationship with and have a reserve fund so that U.S. Bank can offer these loans at a lower interest rate for municipal governments, for government finance leasing, for clean energy lending improvements.
  • 00:23:37
    Any questions?
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:23:40
    So I see a question from Councilmember Johnson.
  • 00:23:43
    Go ahead, Ms. Johnson.
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 00:23:44
    It's not necessarily a question.
  • 00:23:46
    It is a question, but it's not for me.
  • 00:23:47
    It's for folks that are also watching through.
  • 00:23:50
    I know with Menpace, we have a pretty wide reach.
  • 00:23:53
    Because you didn't mention the county part, which I enjoy, of how present we are and to what level of counties we actually have presence in.
  • 00:24:01
    Oh, yes.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:24:03
    Council President Jolly, Councilmember Johnson.
  • 00:24:06
    We have over, we have, I believe,
  • 00:24:09
    it's almost 70 joint powers agreements so we have there's 87 counties in the state of Minnesota and we have 68 joint powers agreements so we work all across and have a broad reach there is a collaborative in the rural southwest of Minnesota region of Minnesota and so we also partner with them so if they they have agreements with those counties and if they their loan program doesn't work with the
  • 00:24:38
    of the state.
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    As a property owner we have the ability to work in those counties to partner with them.
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    That brings me to some of our highlights and successes.
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    The min pays program has surpassed over $3 million in green energy loans so last year we ended the year just shy of $300 million I' m proud of that and we' re really
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    and we are often sought after.
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    That's something that people ask, how have you done it?
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    And the answer is really that trillion BTU loan program and our partnerships with local banks and credit unions and the ability to cater and offer loans to smaller properties to the local businesses that don't have improvement or can't finance a million dollar improvement.
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    So we can come in and do a $150,000 solar project
  • 00:25:34
    I've been active in my leadership with
  • 00:25:54
    the Department of Commerce, the Excel Energy Partnership Program and even working with the city's PED department just to make sure that they're aware of PACE and the different services and availability so as we get developers they can be making new buildings that are cleaner and energy efficient right from the beginning.
  • 00:26:16
    This year we revamped our loan management system to fully be able to service these loans and then I am working on revitalizing our business development fund and our energy partnership program.
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    Just getting the word out.
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    So I want to make sure people know about it and get the lending out to help job growth and sustainable energy improvements.
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    and then so as I mentioned it's really this next year is just about future growth and increased marketing.
  • 00:26:48
    Just switching gears another key part of the revenue portfolio at the St Paul Port Authority is our revenue conduit bond issuance so as you know this is a financing mechanism for private companies, non-profits and public entities to fund projects through
  • 00:27:05
    of the Port of St Paul.
  • 00:27:07
    This is the issue of tax exempt municipal bonds there' s no risk at the port for this issuance and this really spurs it' s a way for people to gain capital that they can afford to spur private development within the St Paul which supports our mission again of jobs tax-based and sustainability.
  • 00:27:27
    We' re very mission driven and
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    as you know also organizations can seek out who they use as their conduit issuer and we have the desire to keep funding in St Paul so we've really partnered with the city in cases when either one of us could be the issuer and we split those fees so the issuance of the district energy conduit bonds we partnered with the city on that and so we split those fees.
  • 00:28:02
    so you get a portion and we get a portion and then just to build on that we have learned that we have the ability to issue affordable housing conduit revenue and so again instead of going to Maplewood or Oakdale or Mounds View let's keep it here so we are ramping up for our first affordable housing conduit issuance.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:28:24
    Thank you, Ms. Houston.
  • 00:28:25
    Just a time check.
  • 00:28:26
    You all have about 15 minutes left in your presentation, including member questions.
  • 00:28:30
    So not rushing you, just want to let you know where we're at on pace.
  • 00:28:32
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_10
  • 00:28:33
    Thank you, Council President.
  • 00:28:35
    I am wrapped up, so you can just see our impact on the bottom, but I've covered that.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:28:40
    Wonderful.
  • 00:28:40
    Thank you, Ms. Houston.
• • SPEAKER_05
  • 00:28:45
    of the City of St. Paul.
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    and the first one is the General Obligation Bond Levy which funds the repayment of our GO debt and these are issued to finance capital projects and land acquisition.
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    This tax levy is authorized at the time of bond issuance.
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    The second and third items are the mandatory and discretionary levies and these support operations and also repay some other debts.
  • 00:29:25
    You can see on the far right in the change column the $125,000 increase from 2024 included in both the City Imports 2025 proposed budget.
  • 00:29:35
    This is our
  • 00:29:54
    of the City of St. Paul.
  • 00:30:15
    As you can see that second item the geo debt service line is right around 5.5 million dollars.
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    We try to keep that kind of targeted amount so as old bonds are paying off we're looking for our next opportunity to issue bonds and keep another project moving.
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    The next slide shows our mandatory levy history because of course once we sell these bonds and start a project we need the operational capacity to execute on it.
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    So property tax dollars from the mandatory levy support these staff and overhead costs.
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    The graph shows a 15 year history of the actual levy in gray and the maximum levy authorized in state law in blue.
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    It shows that there is capacity to increase this levy if policy makers desired and this capacity really has grown a bit over time.
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    So including the $125,000 levy increase proposed for 2025
  • 00:31:03
    which is about 4.5%.
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    You can see the actual levy line in gray is at about 43% of the maximum amount, which is a decrease from the 55% we utilized in 2011.
  • 00:31:13
    And I will just highlight the last bullet point here that we really feel the port does have a strong track record, return on this investment as measured by growth in our industrial tax base here in St. Paul, as well as other project specific successes.
  • 00:31:28
    So one reason that ROI is so strong is that we do leverage other revenues in our budget and so you can see here in 2025 only 30% of our operating budget for the proposed budget is funded by property taxes.
  • 00:31:41
    Just over $5 million or 70% is coming from other Port Authority revenues.
  • 00:31:47
    and just to show the 2025 budget in more detail.
  • 00:31:51
    Pretty straightforward, but again, I'll point to that top line increase of $125,000 in the property tax levy, bringing our total revenues to just over $7.1 million.
  • 00:32:02
    And on the expense side, you can see just under $125,000 of growth and bringing our total expenses to just over $7.1 million as well.
  • 00:32:15
    So what does that $125,000 of property tax levy pay for?
  • 00:32:19
    Well, as those of you on our board know, we are quite busy at the Port Authority.
  • 00:32:22
    The $125,000 will fund an additional FTE on our development team, really with the goal of supporting our existing work, but also building capacity for our next opportunity.
  • 00:32:33
    As we look past kind of the successful outcomes at the Heights, we're looking at this levy to help our effort to further our mission and support the city's economic development goals.
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    So we have a question slide in here as well as all of our contact info.
  • 00:32:47
    I want to thank you all for the support.
  • 00:32:49
    I've heard a lot about the structure of the Port Authority, the good stuff going on at the Heights and on the river, specifically on the Heights, some of the early wins with the grants we've gotten.
  • 00:32:58
    Committee, maybe some of the potential cost pressures.
  • 00:33:01
    Holly covered an overview of our growing loan programs and I just gave a preview of our operating budget that has just that limited levy support.
  • 00:33:09
    So I really want to end with the message that more levy dollars will support our work and that results in more positive economic development outcomes in the City of St. Paul.
  • 00:33:17
    I think we're all happy to take questions if you have any.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:33:21
    All right, so I see Ms. Naker and Ms. Bui, so I'll start the line that way.
  • 00:33:25
    Go ahead.
  • 00:33:26
    I'll yield to Ms. Bui.
  • 00:33:27
    I think her hand was up first.
  • 00:33:27
    All right, we'll go to Bui and then Naker and then anyone else.
• • Anika Bowie
  • 00:33:30
    Thank you, Council President.
  • 00:33:31
    Thank you for the presentation.
  • 00:33:32
    I know you zoomed through it really quickly.
  • 00:33:34
    I just had a question particularly around the slide on the operating budget sources for revenue, saying that 30% is coming from property taxes.
  • 00:33:44
    Can you explain or can you break down the revenue for the other 70%?
  • 00:33:48
    I see the other slide.
  • 00:33:50
    talks about if you can describe what is the CCP grant support authority and then development fees and then fiscal administrative fees.
• • SPEAKER_05
  • 00:34:00
    Great, thank you.
  • 00:34:00
    Council President Djalali, Council Member Bui.
  • 00:34:03
    Yes, so the CCP grant is Capital Cities Properties.
  • 00:34:07
    This is the Port Authority's non-profit subsidiary that we use to enter into joint ventures and again further the economic development mission of the port.
  • 00:34:15
    So the CCP has historically granted funds to the Port Authority to reduce the need for levy dollars, but just looking at some of the realities on the CCP budget, you can see that that was reduced slightly for 2025, given some of the financial performance there.
  • 00:34:30
    On the development fee side, that's really a project reimbursement for labor and expenses related to our projects.
  • 00:34:37
    For example, our business centers in the Heights and fund some of the work on the development team to keep those projects moving.
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    And the last major category is the fiscal and administrative fees.
  • 00:34:46
    That comprises of the loan servicing fees, administrative fees, as well as interest income on our loan programs, in addition to the issuance fees that we get on the conduit revenue bonds that Holly Houston mentioned.
• • Anika Bowie
  • 00:34:59
    I just have a quick follow-up for that.
  • 00:35:02
    So when you talk about the fees, are these fees from the from like the loan holders like people who are getting loans and there's fees on top of that because there's a other line that says interest on loans so I'm just wondering how do you you know I guess issue these fees?
• • SPEAKER_05
  • 00:35:19
    committee.
  • 00:35:22
    Thank you.
  • 00:35:38
    and then on conduit bonds we earn both an issuance fee as well as an ongoing annual fee and in some cases we split that fee with the City of St Paul.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:35:52
    All right, Ms. Naker.
• • Rebecca Noecker
  • 00:35:53
    Thanks, Council President.
  • 00:35:54
    Mr. Solomon, thanks so much for the presentation.
  • 00:35:56
    Thanks to the entire team.
  • 00:35:57
    I've had the pleasure of being an on-again-off-again board member of the Port Authority, and I really value not only the economic development work that you do in growing our tax base, which is so critical, but also I think you are a shining example of how we don't have to choose between sustainability goals and thriving wages for workers and economic development.
  • 00:36:16
    You combine all three of those in
  • 00:36:18
    in all the work you do, so I'm grateful for that.
  • 00:36:21
    I have two questions, one's more micro, one's a little more macro.
  • 00:36:24
    In terms of the, also back to the slide, Council Member Bui was asking about the detailed operating budget.
  • 00:36:30
    I noticed a $50,000 increase for city attorney, and I'm curious what that is.
  • 00:36:35
    And then at the macro level, I know that many of our tonnage and freight that we're moving on the river is domestic, but I assume that that also might be impacted by
  • 00:36:46
    International policies related to tariffs and things like that and I'm just wondering to the extent that anyone can know anything about that right now.
  • 00:36:52
    Are we forecasting any sort of change in that business in the years ahead?
• • SPEAKER_05
  • 00:36:57
    Yeah, Council President Jolley, Council Member Naker, thank you for the question.
  • 00:37:00
    I'll take the first one and maybe I saw Catherine Sarnicki getting ready to take the second.
  • 00:37:04
    So the Port Authority by statute requires the advice of the City Attorney's Office and so we pay for a half an FTE in the City Attorney's Office and due to collective bargaining and other inflationary increases the amount of that cost has gone up pretty significantly as you saw there but something we build into our operating budget and can deal with.
  • 00:37:26
    just quick follow-up so it went up by almost it almost doubled and is that typical for the city attorney's office?
  • 00:37:33
    So council president July, council member naker so my understanding is that's not typical it is an increase that was related to a one-time contract issue with the city attorneys and their salary and fringe benefits.
  • 00:37:46
    Okay thanks.
  • 00:37:48
    I'm sorry, there was a second.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:37:51
    Oh, yeah, we'll do the second question then Miss Yang is next So let's go to the part two.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:37:54
    Thank you.
  • 00:37:55
    Sure Thank You council president Jalali and councilmember maker for your question.
  • 00:37:58
    I Love the last time President Trump was in office.
  • 00:38:04
    There were some serious tariffs that were put in place and it did change the the shipping especially for grains soybeans and corn Leaving the u.s. A lot of that export does go to Asia and
  • 00:38:18
    committee.
  • 00:38:21
    It does have a local impact and it' s something we' re being very mindful of and tracking.
• • Nelsie Yang
  • 00:38:37
    I want to say thank you all for the presentation.
  • 00:38:42
    I feel it's really thorough and Kat, I really appreciate you just hearing that insight too that you just shared earlier.
  • 00:38:48
    If there are, moving forward, if there are more insights that you all think would be important for us to know about, please continue sharing that.
  • 00:38:56
    I just have a couple of things to share.
  • 00:38:58
    I really love the layout that you have here on the visual on slide 20 where
  • 00:39:02
    It explicitly shows like here are the lots over at the Heights and here are the ones that are available.
  • 00:39:09
    I'll definitely be sharing that out to my residents.
  • 00:39:12
    And I did have a question about the additional FTE position.
  • 00:39:18
    I was wondering if you, I'm very supportive of it.
  • 00:39:20
    I do see the need for us to have more development team members.
  • 00:39:24
    I was wondering if you could share a bit about what sort of projects or work that you see this team member carrying.
• • SPEAKER_06
  • 00:39:31
    Thank you Council President Djalali, Council Member Yang for the question.
  • 00:39:34
    One of the things that I didn't get into on the river is that we actually own a lot of river infrastructure at those four river shipping terminals.
  • 00:39:43
    We have two big projects that will be about 30 million dollars worth of investment again using federal funding and state funding and port authority dollars as well as private investment to make those investments on the river infrastructure happen.
  • 00:39:58
    but managing the river and the harbor.
  • 00:40:03
    takes time and energy and we don't have enough staff to do it properly I would say right now.
  • 00:40:11
    We also are looking for our next opportunity beyond the heights so we are managing things well with the heights but we know that we want there to be something after the heights as well and have staff available to do that as well as partner with other folks when they come in to help with remediation grants like we've done for the soccer stadium.
  • 00:40:31
    or other developments in St Paul.
• • Nelsie Yang
  • 00:40:34
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:40:37
    Alright, checking on time.
  • 00:40:38
    We're doing okay and looking to see if we have any other questions right now.
  • 00:40:42
    Alright, I'm not seeing any.
  • 00:40:44
    I appreciate the chance to understand your 2025 budget and work we've all seen at this table right in different forms throughout the last few years.
  • 00:40:52
    Really proud to continue partnering with you for the city that we're building together.
  • 00:40:56
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_05
  • 00:40:56
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:40:58
    All right, so we're going to turn now to the second half of our presentation this morning with River Center and Visitors Authority and Visit St. Paul.
  • 00:41:06
    I want to welcome up, let's see, who wants to be starting off?
  • 00:41:12
    Ms. Lucky Hendrickson, our President and CEO, and then her partners who help lead Visit St. Paul.
  • 00:41:18
    Welcome and good morning.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 00:41:20
    Good morning.
  • 00:41:21
    Thank you.
  • 00:41:21
    I'm just going to get our presentation up here.
  • 00:41:42
    All right, good morning.
  • 00:41:44
    Council President Djalali and council members, thank you so much for the opportunity to present today.
  • 00:41:49
    Great to follow the Port Authority and we're really proud to be a piece of the economic development puzzle in the city along with them.
  • 00:41:56
    My name is Jamie Luckey Hendrickson and I'm President and CEO of Visit St. Paul.
  • 00:42:02
    Here with me is Kate Setley, Vice President and General Manager of St. Paul River Center, Susan Hubbard,
  • 00:42:10
    Director of Booking Administration for St. Paul River Center
  • 00:42:13
    and Bill Hubenbacher, Senior Director of Planning and Public Affairs.
  • 00:42:17
    And I know we have several other of our team members should be walking through the door at any moment.
  • 00:42:22
    So you will see them coming in as well.
  • 00:42:24
    Also, our Finance Committee Chair and Treasurer Mike Solomon is here.
  • 00:42:31
    I'm not sure of any other board members beyond.
  • 00:42:35
    We are very fortunate to have Council President Jalali, Council Member Naker and Council Member Bui as part of our board as well.
  • 00:42:43
    We're going to start out by giving an overview of our work here today.
  • 00:42:48
    So St. Paul River Center Convention and Visitors Authority has a contract with the city and it is to cover two specific services.
  • 00:42:57
    Number one is to market and promote St. Paul as a convention and tourism destination that generates hotel room stays, restaurant, entertainment and retail business and accompanying revenues that benefit the city residents and businesses in St. Paul.
  • 00:43:12
    And number two, to equip, maintain, manage and operate the river center.
  • 00:43:17
    To do this, our work is centered around getting people to St Paul, because we know they're going to love it, and operating an event venue that is ready to wow attendees as the perfect place to spark creativity, captivate audiences, and cultivate profound connections.
  • 00:43:33
    Collectively, the work we do is to drive vitality and economic impact to the city, so attracting visitors, creating jobs, and driving economic growth.
  • 00:43:41
    And the reason we do this is to benefit the community.
  • 00:43:46
    Through trust, transparency, inclusiveness, and incredible partners like the City of St. Paul, the St. Paul River Center, other venues, our hotels, and all the things that make St. Paul a great place to be, we collaborate to create a positive experience for visitors in welcoming them into the city.
  • 00:44:04
    Yay, visit St. Paul!
  • 00:44:05
    Give a little wave.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 00:44:06
    Welcome to our visit St. Paul colleagues joining us.
  • 00:44:08
    Thanks for being here.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 00:44:09
    Visit St. Paul's efforts are often focused outside of our community.
  • 00:44:13
    So bringing in meeting planners, events, attendees and visitors that don't live here.
  • 00:44:17
    And we're charged with delivering our story to those outside of St. Paul.
  • 00:44:21
    But ultimately all that work is for the people that are here in our community.
  • 00:44:26
    The reason for promoting our city as an attractive destination and enhancing its public image is a great place to live, work and play.
  • 00:44:32
    is because if we didn't, St. Paul would be left behind.
  • 00:44:36
    Every community needs to compete with every other, and if we don't, we'll lose our share of visibility, attention, respect, visitors, consumers, talent, businesses, capital, and investments.
  • 00:44:47
    So marketing and selling St. Paul is the way that we can compete to be sure that people are aware of our city, have a positive impression, and want to visit.
  • 00:44:57
    So, in addition to serving as the city's official Convention and Visitors Bureau,
  • 00:45:02
    Visit St Paul is also charged with overseeing River Center, Roy Wilkins Auditorium, and the River Center parking ramp.
  • 00:45:08
    The City owns these facilities, and that's where St Paul Arena Company comes in.
  • 00:45:13
    They hold the contract to manage the daily operation of the facilities.
  • 00:45:17
    and they are experts at it.
  • 00:45:19
    That means that we have ultimate confidence that when events come to St. Paul and are held at the River Center that planners and attendees are going to have a great experience.
  • 00:45:28
    A common theme we hear from event organizers is that they know that when they're at these facilities for their event they're going to be treated well.
  • 00:45:35
    One of them recently even told me that they feel like family.
  • 00:45:39
    The team at St. Paul Arena Company are pros and they provide a top level of service.
  • 00:45:45
    Moving on to our budget, in the packet, you'll find the signed resolution for the adopted budget by the RCBA board, as well as the budget memo and financials.
  • 00:45:54
    So we want to walk through and summarize the budget and give you some context.
  • 00:45:59
    So before I turn it over to Susan Hubbard with River Center, we'd like to show you a video to give you a taste of what River Center is all about.
  • 00:46:06
    It can be easy to see it just as a building, but there's so much more that happens there.
• • SPEAKER_07
  • 00:47:11
    Thank you Jamie, Council President Jilali and Council Members.
  • 00:47:14
    We appreciate the time to share our story with you.
  • 00:47:17
    St Paul River Center is a dynamic hub where ideas collide and connections thrive.
  • 00:47:23
    It's a catalyst for economic growth, attracting businesses, conventions, events and visitors from every corner of the map.
  • 00:47:32
    This benefits the broader local community by boosting hotel occupancy, increasing visitor spending, and driving sales tax revenue.
  • 00:47:42
    Unlike many of the other convention centers around the nation that draw in event planners with comprehensive financial incentive, River Center takes a distinct approach by focusing on a unique value proposition.
  • 00:47:57
    While we may not have the budget to cover event expenses as others might,
  • 00:48:01
    We differentiate ourselves by delivering an exceptional service experience rooted in high-quality customer care and top-notch facilities.
  • 00:48:10
    The commitment to quality, including an elevated food and beverage experience and an overall sense of genuine hospitality, creates a compelling choice for planners who might otherwise find a better deal somewhere else.
  • 00:48:24
    Given the ages of St Paul River Center and Roy Wilkins Auditorium, maintaining premium standards is crucial to this strategy.
  • 00:48:33
    River Center also benefits from an efficient operational model due to its close proximity to the Xcel Energy Center and shared management by St Paul Arena Company, enabling streamlined labor and asset use across all of the venues.
  • 00:48:49
    A strong commitment to sustainability further enhances River Center's appeal.
  • 00:48:53
    As a first facility globally to simultaneously hold League Green Globes and Event Industry Council certifications, we prioritize environmentally responsible operations.
  • 00:49:06
    A draw for event planners who value sustainable practices in their operations and event choices.
  • 00:49:17
    Our dedication to sustainability, efficiency,
  • 00:49:22
    and Premium Service positions River Center as a unique and desirable venue for a variety of events.
  • 00:49:28
    Building the River Center budget is a unique process because we are event based.
  • 00:49:33
    Our operating budget is focused on River Center, Roy Wilkins Auditorium and the River Center ramp.
  • 00:49:41
    The budget is built around what we anticipate to book and how we expect each event to perform.
  • 00:49:49
    We consider factors such as rental revenue, service income, which includes labor and equipment rental, parking revenue and food and beverage revenue.
  • 00:49:58
    On the expense end of things, we must look at both the event side of the business as well as the expenses associated with operating a large facility.
  • 00:50:07
    Our expenses include labor, cost of goods, utilities, maintenance and repair, administrative costs and parking expenses.
  • 00:50:16
    For the 2025 budget,
  • 00:50:18
    We're proposing a $12.6 million in revenues and $12.5 million in expenses with a net profit of over $123,000.
  • 00:50:28
    As you can see on the chart, our largest revenue lie-down is the River Center parking ramp at over $5 million, service income is nearly $4 million, and rent is at almost $2 million.
  • 00:50:43
    River Center endeavors to cover its operating expenses each year and this is done primarily with net revenues from the River Center parking ramp.
  • 00:50:51
    When you think of the expenses for the facility, many of them correlate with the level of business in the building.
  • 00:50:57
    As we increase the number of events, we incur more event and operations labor.
  • 00:51:01
    We require more overhead supplies such as hand soap, paper towels, and cleaning supplies.
  • 00:51:06
    We have increased labor and maintenance in the parking ramp.
  • 00:51:09
    and our consumption of electricity, water, heating and cooling is higher.
  • 00:51:15
    On the non-operating side of our budget, you'll see that we depend on funds outside our daily operation to offset debt, capital improvements and any operating losses that we may incur in a particular year.
  • 00:51:29
    For 2025, we'll be applying $3.8 million of sales tax and TIF funds from the City to our non-operating budget.
  • 00:51:37
    as well as a one-time use of $2.5 million of River Center Reserve dollars to apply to some critical infrastructure needs.
  • 00:51:47
    Now I'd like to turn it over to Kate Setley.
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 00:51:52
    Thank you, Susan, Council President Jilali, Council members.
  • 00:51:56
    It has been an interesting few years in the event industry, but we are finally emerging and back to some strides of normalcy.
  • 00:52:05
    I am so proud to stand here before you today and present a positive operating budget we have finally recovered.
  • 00:52:13
    The 2025 budget cycle was an interesting one.
  • 00:52:16
    In 2024, many event organizers were contracting for events so they were back, but they didn't look quite the same as in previous years.
  • 00:52:24
    They were perhaps shorter amount of days, a little bit less space.
  • 00:52:28
    But as the year went on, the demand rebounded impressively.
  • 00:52:32
    and our phones started ringing and people were saying can we add more space can we get another day which was really exciting to see so really it just transformed over our eyes over the course of the year so the story today really is one of stabilization and as we prepared for the 2025 budget we of course used our 2024 forecast and all the things that we learned in this past year but what was really fun was being able to
  • 00:53:01
    go back to pre-pandemic times 2019 and compare data.
  • 00:53:06
    And what we saw was booking trends that were just meeting right up with 2019.
  • 00:53:11
    And so that stabilization story rang true again and made our 2025 budget cycle that much easier to move forward with a bit more predictability.
  • 00:53:23
    It is more evident than ever the importance of events on downtowns.
  • 00:53:28
    and when an event is here in St. Paul, our city thrives.
  • 00:53:32
    We understand the critical roles that these venues play in the success of St. Paul.
  • 00:53:38
    River Center and Roy Wilkins Auditorium host 243 events each year, attract nearly $500,000 and collectively with Xcel Energy Center, our campus has an annual spending impact of $383 million.
  • 00:53:56
    I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the talented people that work so hard to make these venues operate efficiently and successfully.
  • 00:54:04
    They truly are the heartbeat of our organization.
  • 00:54:08
    So with the stabilization of events comes the ever important job stabilization and housing to follow, these venues are not just spaces for
  • 00:54:17
    So as you review this budget I want to share some context that our team comes together each year as we start building the budget and talk about hey, what are our challenges and how are we going to approach them and
  • 00:54:42
    So the first one has to do with having a finite amount of space and dates.
  • 00:54:47
    How do we optimize revenue?
  • 00:54:49
    The great news is that our calendars are filling up again.
  • 00:54:52
    But the real key is to book events in a manner that allows us to fill all dates and maximize the events that can be coming in and not just the most attractive dates.
  • 00:55:04
    It pushes us to innovate and seek ways to also ensure that the events that are booked
  • 00:55:09
    that we are how are we able to get those events to over perform when they are with us but we do this all while staying focused on delivering that premium experience because we know and we see that when event organizers perceive a high value they are much more likely to choose us as their venue.
  • 00:55:29
    Another key challenge that we face is meeting the rising expectations of event organizers.
  • 00:55:34
    Expectations are rising all over the place
  • 00:55:36
    and we have a whole new set of event organizers that have come into the market since COVID.
  • 00:55:43
    Now our team is not afraid of high expectations and I think anyone in the event industry actually kind of thrives on them.
  • 00:55:49
    But they do challenge us to make sure that we are understanding today's event organizers and what is important to them.
  • 00:55:56
    And so industry research highlights that today's organizers are prioritizing venues with up-to-date technology,
  • 00:56:03
    a modern and welcoming space, reliable food and beverage, and a safe and secure environment.
  • 00:56:10
    So keeping up with these evolving expectations can be demanding, but the perspectives are invaluable and of course guide our focus as we move forward through the budget process.
  • 00:56:21
    Of course it may not surprise you that employee attraction and retention is always a challenge, particularly post-COVID.
  • 00:56:30
    our success as I mentioned relies heavily on our people both part-time and full-time so as career expectation shifts our approach centers on one key element and that is culture we are constantly finding new ways to engage and invest in our employees we want them to find a place that they are experiencing job satisfaction and we also know that it is
  • 00:56:56
    is far more cost effective to hold on to our existing employees than trying to find new ones as well.
  • 00:57:04
    Of course we continue to face the reality of aging facilities and are increasingly experiencing end of life issues with certain key pieces of equipment.
• • Nelsie Yang
  • 00:57:13
    This year the story was escalators and elevators.
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 00:57:17
    When these go down it greatly impacts the guest experience as well as compliance with ADA and safety standards
  • 00:57:24
    and increases our overhead expenses due to these costly repairs.
  • 00:57:29
    So to address these urgent needs, we are planning to utilize reserve funds that we typically rely on for emergency repairs.
  • 00:57:36
    This is not a sustainable long-term approach to our regular maintenance needs.
  • 00:57:42
    And then last but not least, when we build our budget, we focus on maintaining our sustainability standards.
  • 00:57:49
    Our facility is LEED Gold.
  • 00:57:51
    And we are so proud of that, especially considering Roy Wilkins Auditorium was built in 1932.
  • 00:57:58
    But we've tasted LEED Platinum and we want it back.
  • 00:58:01
    And so achieving this requires substantial investments in capital projects and alongside dedicated time and labor to make progress.
  • 00:58:10
    So with that, it brings me to our capital spending out of our non-operating budget.
  • 00:58:16
    The capital needs for our facility are significant, and we work diligently to prioritize the projects that are going to drive our success, meet future demands, and help these venues soar.
  • 00:58:27
    The funding we receive from the City is essential, not only to keep us operational, but competitive, so we thank you for that.
  • 00:58:36
    Our approach is to use these funds wisely, focusing on the specific areas, first the debt obligations for the tunnel, capital improvements,
  • 00:58:45
    and the maintenance of the River Center parking ramp.
  • 00:58:48
    So as you review this list, I'd like to highlight just a few key items.
  • 00:58:52
    First, of course, the River Center parking ramp is the largest line item in our capital spending plan, and we prioritize investing in it for a couple of reasons.
  • 00:59:03
    One, it's the largest revenue source in our operating budget, and two, without it, we simply could not attract events.
  • 00:59:11
    Second, elevators, escalators and doors.
  • 00:59:15
    These are all line items that are nearing end of life.
  • 00:59:19
    These items may not sound glamorous, but they are critical to our operation and when they aren't functioning it significantly impacts our ability to offer that premium experience for our guests.
  • 00:59:31
    And finally, I'd like to highlight the facility lighting upgrades that are proposed.
  • 00:59:36
    As part of our sustainability efforts, we've already replaced over 12,000 lights on our campus with energy-efficient LEDs, yet there is still more work to be done.
  • 00:59:46
    For context, when we converted 300 lights in our exhibition halls to LED, we achieved an impressive 81% reduction in energy use.
  • 00:59:55
    So this capital investment not only supports our sustainability goals, but also leads to substantial energy savings, making it a smart choice for our future.
  • 01:00:05
    So with that, I'd like to turn it back over to Jamie Lockheed Hendricks.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 01:00:11
    Thanks, Kate, Council President Djalali and Council Members.
  • 01:00:15
    I'm going to share more about our tourism marketing budget.
  • 01:00:19
    The majority of Visit St Paul's budget comes from a portion of the hotel lodging tax, which is collected by the city and designated by statute for tourism marketing.
  • 01:00:28
    Other funding sources include partnership revenue, grant opportunities to explore Minnesota tourism, and interest income.
  • 01:00:36
    Based on lodging tax performance projections, the organization's 2025 budget is just over $3.5 million.
  • 01:00:43
    Revenue and expenses are balanced with the transfer of $300,000 from reserves to be used for the Convention Promotion Fund.
  • 01:00:52
    Our budget funds sales and marketing efforts to attract people and events to St. Paul.
  • 01:00:57
    Visit St. Paul is made up of a passionate and spirited group of advocates, wave, marketers and promoters of the city of St. Paul and I'm so proud of this team.
  • 01:01:09
    They are creators of economic growth who connect travelers to resources and fun, businesses to audiences, meeting and event planners to the perfect venue and our members to one another.
  • 01:01:18
    We currently have 11 full-time employees and we'll be hiring two full-time positions.
  • 01:01:24
    This team is dedicated to telling St Paul's story and introducing the world to its culture and diversity, beauty and history, energy, openness, and opportunities.
  • 01:01:33
    So before getting into some of the key sales and marketing efforts that this team will be moving forward as part of the budget, I'd like to share with you work we've been doing on a three-year strategic plan, which you have copies of.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 01:01:43
    You're the first ones to see it, so we're excited about that.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 01:01:47
    It's been a transformative year for our organization with new leadership in all of our departments.
  • 01:01:53
    As a team, one of the first things we did was to collectively define guiding principles and core values to align our daily work and bring our mission to life.
  • 01:02:00
    The next step, in partnership with the Board of Directors, was to launch a strategic planning process for the first time in over a decade.
  • 01:02:07
    A task force was formed to gather insights from a wide range of voices, including our board, clients, staff and community partners.
  • 01:02:15
    Thank you to Council President Djalali and Council Member Bui for being part of this task force.
  • 01:02:20
    Through this process of examining our strengths and opportunities and analyzing data and trends, we've crafted a plan that reflects the collective spirit of our city.
  • 01:02:28
    We've identified five strategic goals that are bold and dynamic, and we're committed to being a collaborative force in marketing the city to attract visitors and top-tier events to showcase our people and places and celebrate the offerings that make St. Paul special.
  • 01:02:42
    Our goals for the next three years include boldly sharing St Paul's story, amplifying our tourism brand, showcasing our city's assets through multiple channels, targeted seasonal campaigns, and enhancing our PR and media outreach.
  • 01:03:00
    Driving tourism and events to St Paul so attracting conventions and events to the River Center Including drawing new types of events that align with our venues and assets as well as serving as a resource to visitors and event Producers to ensure maximum impact positive experience and repeat visits Connecting the industry to deliver on our brand promise This is our work in engaging with businesses and organizations through a partnership program to help them align with and promote the city's brand promise
  • 01:03:30
    for the City of St. Paul.
  • 01:03:31
    Strengthening Visit St. Paul to maximize the positive impacts for the city.
  • 01:03:36
    So focus on keeping Visit St. Paul a thriving competitive sustainable organization so we can deliver the best value to the community and doing work to improve awareness of our role structure and impact.
  • 01:03:47
    And finally collaborating with key
  • 01:03:53
    In partnership with St Paul Arena Company, we collaborate with entities such as the City, County, Chamber, Port Authority, Downtown Alliance and others to align our missions and leadership roles and support collective efforts as we advocate for local and regional investments in destination development.
  • 01:04:10
    Inspired by these strategic goals, I'm going to share some of the key sales and marketing efforts that are part of our 2025 budget.
  • 01:04:17
    First, our sales team.
  • 01:04:21
    is targeting 14 trade shows and client events across the country where they will be selling St. Paul to bring new events to the city.
  • 01:04:28
    Recognizing that big events are the draw to bring people downtown and especially following the success of Minnesota Yacht Club Music Festival, in 2025 we're adding a new trade show to tap into a new market, one that will connect us with event promoters in an effort to draw events like these to the city.
  • 01:04:45
    We'll also be continuing two sales incentive programs, the Convention Promotional Fund which dedicates money towards bringing events to the city
  • 01:04:51
    and the Sales Incentive Program, which is targeted towards smaller meetings and events and is a great way to support our hotels and other venues.
  • 01:04:59
    Additionally, for a new lead generation, we'll be launching a digital marketing effort targeted to meeting and event planners.
  • 01:05:07
    Some of the big events you'll be seeing in St Paul in 2025 include the NCHC Frozen Face-Off, which is in March, and two new city-wide events,
  • 01:05:16
    The American Association of Woodturners will be here in June and the American Society of Ichthyologists, which is a branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, will be here in July.
  • 01:05:28
    In December, we cannot wait for the IIHF World Junior Championship, and this is a big one.
  • 01:05:34
    Hopefully you've already heard about this, but it's a 10-nation tournament featuring the best men's ice hockey players in the world under 20 years of age.
  • 01:05:43
    There will be 29 games taking place over 10 days, and we're thrilled to be working with Minnesota Sports and Events in the lead-up to this event.
  • 01:05:50
    Already there are seven committees at work putting plans into place, and you'll be hearing lots more about this.
  • 01:05:57
    The St. Paul Insider's Guide is one of our favorite projects each year and work has already begun on a new issue for 2025.
  • 01:06:03
    Hopefully you've seen it and if not we have copies here today to leave with you.
  • 01:06:06
    But is there a key storytelling piece to inspire visitation to St. Paul?
  • 01:06:11
    It's what we give to those who request more information about the city and we mail on average 600 per month to national and international addresses of people who have requested a copy of the guide.
  • 01:06:22
    We've also increased our funds to continue digital marketing.
  • 01:06:25
    Our 2024 campaign introduced St. Paul as the fun side to create a category of one brand.
  • 01:06:30
    So among all Minnesota destinations, look to St. Paul for your fun.
  • 01:06:35
    An exciting aspect of this year's effort was that for the first time we targeted new markets, which means reaching people in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Des Moines, among others, and directing digital ads to new audiences most likely to pick St. Paul for a visit.
  • 01:06:50
    This included billboards and paid placements on social media.
  • 01:06:54
    And this campaign resulted in over 17 million ad impressions, over 53,000 new visitors to visit St Paul, and 3,000 new email signups so people we can continue to be in touch with.
  • 01:07:07
    Also new with this campaign, we were able to track something called campaign attributed visits.
  • 01:07:12
    This means people that saw our ads and then were tracked in the city, so in St Paul.
  • 01:07:19
    And there were over 5,498 campaign attributed visits from these ads.
  • 01:07:30
    We also brought the fun side to the Minnesota State Fair with a booth during MPR Day and we gave out 1,500 fans and 500 visitor guides.
  • 01:07:37
    We had promoted our booth ahead of time on social media and these two lower pictures are just a selection of some of the first guests that came to the booth saying they'd seen this on social media and had to come get their St. Paul fan.
  • 01:07:50
    And this guy on the right, he even wore his Visit St. Paul local lover shirt to the fair just to come to the booth.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 01:07:58
    We told him we'd send him another one.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 01:08:02
    Another key focus for 2025 will be investments in increased PR efforts.
  • 01:08:07
    An impactful example of earned media in 2024 was with Chef Reactions, if you haven't heard of him.
  • 01:08:13
    He's an influencer with an incredible following across TikTok X and YouTube.
  • 01:08:17
    So he had sent out a message asking his followers which state fair he should attend, and you probably won't be surprised that the overwhelming response was Minnesota.
  • 01:08:25
    then he had reached out to the Minnesota Twins asking to throw the first pitch and they didn't respond but the St. Paul Saints did and at that point our marketing team contacted him to welcome him to St. Paul and assist with his visit they lined up a stay for him at the St. Paul Hotel and suggested some spots he should be sure to see during his visit
  • 01:08:47
    As a result, his Twin Cities video is full of love for St. Paul and you can see on this list the places that he highlighted.
  • 01:08:54
    That video already has 140,000 views on it and we're really excited about the impact that increased investment in a coordinated public relations and influencer strategy will have in carrying St. Paul's good news and this will be a focus in 2025.
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 01:09:08
    can we get Keith Lee next?
  • 01:09:09
    No, just kidding.
  • 01:09:10
    Can we what?
  • 01:09:11
    I was just making an influencer list, I was joking.
  • 01:09:14
    Oh, yes, please.
  • 01:09:16
    Honestly though, if you are taking influencer suggestions, we will pass that on.
  • 01:09:20
    Please, we would love that.
  • 01:09:21
    This is maybe a comment along the way, but I also
  • 01:09:26
    I love the other markets like the nearby markets data here and it makes me think about how also this year we saw that the regional rail that was put in has been wildly successful and the Borealis train has brought and so I think also opportunity to market around like new transit and rail and access to our community and those investments that we've also supported and really like packaging the experience to markets of like you know take
  • 01:09:54
    Thank you.
  • 01:09:55
    Really appreciate that, Council President.
  • 01:10:20
    Thank you.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 01:10:21
    also this year was the second year of our investments in festival marketing support so through this program we've allocated funds to support community festivals and events through marketing assets we all know that sustaining these beloved events is expensive for organizers and in 2023 we evaluated how Visit St Paul could best support their success we've been receiving increased requests to sponsor events and thought considerably about how our resources could best elevate the work of festival organizers
  • 01:10:49
    Visit St Paul's strength is in telling the story and getting the word out.
  • 01:10:52
    And so we created a program to sponsor events through marketing efforts.
  • 01:10:56
    We identified festivals and events on the city's calendar and allocated marketing and promotional assets to raise awareness about these celebrations.
  • 01:11:03
    And you can see a list here of in 2024 some of those key assets.
  • 01:11:09
    This is an example of some of the digital billboards that focused on larger and multi-day events in the city.
  • 01:11:16
    New this year we were able to add on mobile retargeting so that, this is kind of crazy, but people that drove by these billboards also saw mobile ads redirecting them to this information as well.
  • 01:11:30
    We also contracted photographers to capture photos on event days.
  • 01:11:34
    These photos are not only for Visit St Paul to promote the city, but we also provide them to each of the organizers so that they have new photography assets for their events.
• • SPEAKER_01
  • 01:11:42
    These are just a few from events across the city.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 01:11:45
    We love doing this program.
  • 01:11:49
    It's been really exciting to hear the appreciation from event organizers.
  • 01:11:53
    In the first year we did this program, one of them when we shared, we have a billboard, we have these ads and things, and she said, well, I'm going to have to do my event again next year, which is our hope that these events keep going and going.
  • 01:12:07
    And so we're excited to be able to continue the program again within our 2025 budget.
  • 01:12:12
    And then finally, in support of small businesses, we partnered with a new program called Destination Uplift.
  • 01:12:18
    It allows organizations like ours to empower our local partners by providing them with ongoing digital marketing education.
  • 01:12:26
    The teams behind small businesses wear so many hats, and keeping up with marketing trends and tactics, let alone having the time to invest in deploying them, can often feel impossible.
  • 01:12:35
    Through this program, we are enabling them to bring more traffic through their doors and realize their full potential as leaders in bringing visitors to St Paul.
  • 01:12:43
    The program we've invested in is now available to all small businesses in the city to access 24-7.
  • 01:12:49
    It's a series of webinars, and we strongly consider this, you know, small business owners, do they have the interest and time
  • 01:12:56
    to spend on webinars.
  • 01:12:59
    And I will tell you, we're really interested in this because they're led by Brian Mattson of TwoSix Digital.
  • 01:13:06
    And if you haven't watched one of them yet, he's energetic, delivers engaging presentations.
  • 01:13:12
    And you know that when you participate in one, you're going to walk away with tips that can be put into action immediately.
  • 01:13:18
    So we look forward to getting this tool into more businesses hands in 2025.
  • 01:13:23
    And with that, it wraps up our presentation.
  • 01:13:26
    So thank you again for this opportunity to share the 2025 budget and what we're looking ahead to for visiting St Paul and St Paul River Center.
  • 01:13:33
    We're enthusiastic about collaboration and ways to deliver the highest value with the finances that we are stewards of.
  • 01:13:39
    We're going to wrap up with a short video that we created to showcase the city and then we welcome any comments or questions you have about our presentation.
  • 01:13:50
    Thank you so much
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 01:14:58
    Thank you so much for that and for all of your work and just love for our city.
  • 01:15:03
    It really comes through in the public facing and internal facing thought and work that you've been putting in and so we appreciate you and the whole team.
  • 01:15:10
    Are there any questions from Council members based on our presentation today?
  • 01:15:15
    I see again Ms. Naker and then Ms. Pui.
  • 01:15:17
    Go ahead.
  • 01:15:17
    Thanks, Council President.
• • Rebecca Noecker
  • 01:15:18
    Ms. Hendrickson, thank you so much for your presentation and thanks to your whole team for being here.
  • 01:15:25
    It's the one budget presentation where I feel like the budget presentation could take about 30 seconds.
  • 01:15:30
    We give sales tax and lodging tax to St. Paul and I'm so glad that we have the rest of the presentation because that really is so important and tells the story.
  • 01:15:38
    And given all the challenges we have, especially in downtown right now, the fact that you're doing such good work just means so much.
  • 01:15:45
    So thank you.
  • 01:15:45
    Especially, I know that the last few years coming out of COVID have been rough and your team has just persevered with such grace and determination.
  • 01:15:52
    So it's really,
  • 01:15:54
    Really wonderful to see that we're on the other side of that.
  • 01:15:56
    I'm curious about the vision for the new convention center, the Wild's really exciting plans.
  • 01:16:05
    I'm wondering how Visit St Paul and how the arena, how all of that will come together in terms of supporting those plans or advocating for those at the legislature.
  • 01:16:15
    We haven't talked a lot about those here at this table, but I'm really excited about them and I'm interested to know what kind of role Visit St Paul will have.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 01:16:23
    committee.
  • 01:16:42
    we're excited about looking at it as the entertainment complex as a whole and some work we've already started is working with some consulting groups to really evaluate the Convention Center and Roy Wilkins as it is now and what opportunities there could be to potentially expand the exhibit hall or look at other entertainment options and so in addition to looking at space wise and what could happen we're also looking at what is the current market
  • 01:17:12
    and what types of events and activities will be most draw or potential for St Paul and so that we look at those spaces in the right way.
  • 01:17:24
    So those studies are in the works.
  • 01:17:27
    I believe in like late December we should have more definitive results from that and then with that our huge advocates for
  • 01:17:39
    and the potential that those updates will
• • Anika Bowie
  • 01:17:52
    Ms. Bowie, go ahead.
  • 01:17:54
    Thank you so much for your presentation.
  • 01:17:56
    I really enjoyed music being played.
  • 01:17:59
    I didn't realize how much we don't have that in our presentation.
  • 01:18:06
    So it was just really great.
  • 01:18:07
    And also how you host our meetings, you really shine through the mission and the goals of Visit St. Paul to make sure that
  • 01:18:15
    everyone's welcome in St. Paul and even the leaders within St. Paul trying to grow this plan feels welcomed and taken care of.
  • 01:18:23
    I have a question particularly around just like ownership of assets because we talked about just the budget and operating expenses, right?
  • 01:18:32
    And I know this authority was brought in place to have ownership of or existing ownership of River Center and in the parking lot.
  • 01:18:41
    is there any visions, big bold visions particularly around like furthering that ownership because I know we've talked about challenges with not having like a four-star five-star hotels right and we're now in this new era
  • 01:18:56
    of people like those luxury hotels, amenities.
  • 01:19:00
    And also some of the services you mentioned that you lent to event organizers are billboards and examining, you know, possibly owning property that can feature those billboards and generating that revenue.
  • 01:19:15
    So can you speak to, you know, not to have like the big vision idea but just where Visit St. Paul is at in terms of,
  • 01:19:23
    you know, furthering or advancing our opportunities with ownership.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 01:19:28
    Yeah, great question.
  • 01:19:30
    Thank you Council Member Bluey, Council President Djalali.
  • 01:19:34
    Those are great questions and in terms of, you know, the ownership remains with the city and we are here to be stewards of that and manage those.
  • 01:19:45
    I think, you know, key this year has been in development of the strategic plan and within one of those key goals is really looking at how we are funded
  • 01:19:56
    I appreciate your question and I can't wait to get coffee with you and talk more about these ideas as we look to enact on that strategic plan and really focus on you know what are our growth opportunities and yes in terms of you know looking at what the potential is in St Paul and what are our current assets and where would some updates to those assets or
  • 01:20:26
    new hotel facilities really just kind of explode the types of things that we could bring into the city.
• • Nelsie Yang
  • 01:20:38
    Looking around, I see Ms. Yang.
  • 01:20:39
    Go ahead.
  • 01:20:39
    Thanks, Council President.
  • 01:20:41
    Thank you all for your presentation.
  • 01:20:42
    I always remember every year you have the most exciting, vibrant, and lively presentations in front of the Council.
  • 01:20:49
    So it really speaks volumes about how great your marketing team is.
  • 01:20:53
    So kudos to all of you and to your entire team over at Visit St. Paul.
  • 01:20:56
    I was wondering if you could share a bit more about the River Center capital projects.
  • 01:21:02
    These seem like very important projects just so that
  • 01:21:05
    you can continue moving forward, continue having a very sustainable system where revenue is coming in and you continue having
  • 01:21:14
    I was just wondering if you could share a bit more about how do you find funding to basically
  • 01:21:43
    to pay for the capital projects too.
  • 01:21:45
    I see a slide here about the non-operating budget, but I wasn't sure if that's basically money you're generating to pay back the loans, maybe.
• • SPEAKER_08
  • 01:21:56
    I'll turn it over to Kate for that, yeah.
• • SPEAKER_09
  • 01:21:58
    thank you for that we spend a lot of time talking about capital projects especially as our facility ages in regards to the funding of that our operating budget is completely separate from capital so we endeavor to cover all of our own operating expenses we reserve the dollars that are allocated through sales tax and TIF
  • 01:22:22
    to fund our non-operating budget and so you know we use that those dollars first to make sure that we're covering off on the the tunnel debt and then really the remainder goes to all of the capital projects so your question about which ones I just had it pulled up here about which ones were completed so this list that's before us today is all proposals for 2025 so we will not start moving on those until
  • 01:22:52
    Chair and members of the committee.
  • 01:22:56
    We are finished with the budget
  • 01:23:09
    that it is safe and operable and so you've continued to see that as the top line item there.
  • 01:23:16
    Another one I'd point out that you saw last year that still is on here is Atmos Air and we're in phase two of that so last year was phase one and that is right in line with sustainability and efficiency.
  • 01:23:28
    I think there's two things I'm most passionate about in operating our facility and that is the ability to operate sustainably and service.
  • 01:23:37
    And those two things I think just when done well make such an impact on the facility and the efficiency but they also make an impact on working together and the guest experience.
  • 01:23:49
    So for Atmos Air what we learned during COVID
  • 01:23:52
    we all thought everything was at touch right at the beginning and if we learned anything we know that the air we breathe is incredibly important so when we're bringing thousands of people into a space not just during the time of a pandemic but forever we'd like to have really clean air in our facility it creates a healthier communities and experience and so we were able to install this technology really to create more of a hospital grade air so it's it's healthier
  • 01:24:21
    and the City Council.
  • 01:24:36
    so that is
  • 01:24:57
    Chair and members of the committee.
  • 01:24:58
    We try to keep ourselves running each year you' ll see on their that have to do with the equipment food and beverage equipment general event equipment these are all things that are the basics to make sure to keep ourselves running and we try to sprinkle in other things we think can
• • Nelsie Yang
  • 01:25:13
    great yeah thank you that's really helpful so thanks for clarifying that I know you all come every year so it'd be helpful like I would say in the next presentation just to see like what's the status and of the projects here what are the ones that are not being worked on now but you're hoping would be completed in the future great absolutely thanks for that
• • SPEAKER_03
  • 01:25:31
    Thanks Councilmember and thanks to our partners at Visit St Paul.
  • 01:25:34
    Any other questions or comments for our presenters today?
  • 01:25:39
    I think we're just a few minutes out from time.
  • 01:25:42
    So I'm not seeing any.
  • 01:25:44
    I am, however, just feeling the love and appreciation for all of you and really telling the story of our city and our work together.
  • 01:25:51
    Thank you also for, just on a personal note, the ability for our city leadership through our board members to really engage with you on the strategic plan.
  • 01:25:59
    I'm encouraged by those conversations.
  • 01:26:02
    I think that having been a decade and then being able to revisit that really helped create what feels now like that generational shift in how Visit St. Paul is kind of looking at the next 10 years and that strategic plan that fundamentally involves working with us.
  • 01:26:18
    Thank you so much.
  • 01:26:36
    All righty, so that brings us to the end of our notice business for today.
  • 01:26:42
    We have pre-council at 1130 and we're getting towards the end of our budget presentations just one more week next week and also working to wrap up the budget so much ahead and much work ahead of us but appreciate members being along for the journey and until we convene again we are adjourned.