Parks & Recreation Committee

FINANCE COMMITTEE AND PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE MINUTES PUBLIC MEETING CALL TO ORDER A joint meeting of the City of Clarksville Finance Committee and Parks & Recreation Committees was called to order by Finance Chair Stacey Streetman on Monday, April 19, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 106 Public Square, Clarksville, Tennessee. This meeting was conducted in person and via Google Meets. ATTENDANCE IN PERSON: Ashlee Evans, Travis Holleman, Karen Reynolds, Stacey Streetman VIA GOOGLE MEETS: Richard Garrett, Jason Knight, DaJuan Little, Wallace Redd ABSENT: Vondell Richmond APPROVAL OF ELECTRONIC MEETING In order to comply with the technical aspects of the Governor’s Executive Order regarding holding open meetings in a forum other than in the open and in public, the Finance Committee determines that meeting electronically is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Councilperson Evans made a motion to approve the electronic meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilperson Redd. The following vote was recorded: AYE: Evans, Garrett, Holleman, Knight, Little, Redd, Reynolds, Streetman The motion to approve the electronic meeting passed. CDE SOLAR PROJECT PRESENTATION Mayor Joe Pitts said Silicon Ranch Corporation had expressed interest in purchasing 140 acres at I-24/Exit 8, the site of the City’s athletic complex property. He said the property in question had been determined undevelopable. Mayor Pitts summarized the City’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 plans for the athletic complex and noted adjacent land to the north would be developed by Exit 8 Properties for commercial use. Clarksville Department of Electricity planned to build a substation on the north edge of the complex property and Mayor Pitts said the City would retain access to the Red River on city-owned property. He said the City’s offer to sell the property to the solar energy company would be a three-year purchase option, $10,000 the first year, $20,000 the second year, and $30,000 the third year. He said the company’s option payments to the City would be non-refundable and they would pay property taxes upon ownership. Brian Taylor, CDE General Manager, stated CDE is the 44th largest public power provider among more than 2,000 in the U.S., providing power and services to 72,000 electric customers and 24,000 video/internet/phone customers. He noted CDE pays $6 million annually to the City of Clarksville in lieu of property taxes. Mr. Taylor said CDE purchases power from Tennessee Valley Authority who is the department’s only power provider and rate regulator. He said a recent agreement with TVA allows CDE to purchase up to 5% of renewable energy from outside sources. He stated the proposed agreement with Silicon Ranch Corporation, a Tennessee corporation, would allow sale of renewable energy to TVA and to CDE. Mayor Pitts said this proposal would allow the City of Clarksville to continue its plan to develop the athletic complex on the remaining 207 acres and said sale of the hard-to-develop land would generate $3.36 million that could be used for the recreational project. Mayor Pitts offered the following responses from committee members’ questions: proceeds from the sale of the property would go to the General Fund; Silicon Ranch would be responsible for all site preparation upon ownership. Mr. Taylor offered the following responses from committee members’s questions: CDE would retain all Renewable Energy Credits to be used to improve the existing system and to meet its sustainability goals; the rate CDE would pay for solar energy would be approximately half the rate for TVA electric power; the savings would not result in an immediate reduction in customer energy bills, but could delay rate increases; the solar power generated from the facility would be transferred to the CDE substations and not stored. City Attorney Lance Baker said the sale of this property would recover 82% of the total cost of the athletic complex property. APPROVAL OF SALE OF PROPERTY ORDINANCE 83-2020-21 Authorizing sale of a portion of city-owned property located near Exit 8 off Interstate 24 (Clarksville Athletic Complex) to Silicon Ranch Corporation for the purpose of development, construction, installing, operating, maintaining, and managing a solar power generation facility Councilperson Holleman made a motion to forward this ordinance to the City Council with a recommendation of approval. The motion was seconded by Councilperson Evans. The following vote was recorded: AYE: Evans, Holleman, Knight, Little, Redd, Reynolds, Streetman NOTE: Councilperson Garrett did not respond. The motion to forward this ordinance to the City Council with a recommendation of approval passed. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 5:34 p.m. MINUTES ADOPTED: May 10, 2021.