War Memorial Stadium Advisory Board

Peninsula Stadium Authority Special Meeting Minutes Saturday, September 25, 2021, 9 a.m. - 10:15 a.m., North First Street, Hampton VA Present: Wayne Gomes, Brenda Stokes, Jim Wilson, Randy Price, Frank Feagan, Sallie Marchello, and Lola Perkins. The only topic of discussion was the City of Hampton Fiscal Agent Partnership, which was presented at the September 13 meeting. Discussion centered around the following elements: - History of the Peninsula Stadium Authority's (PSA) ownership of War Memorial Stadium (WMS) - this is a vestige of the original founding of the PSA as a multi-jurisdictional entity. In 2007, when the City of Hampton became the "last man standing," rather than WMS becoming City of Hampton property, it remained in the "ownership" of the PSA, even though the PSA was fully a Hampton entity, with members appointed by Hampton City Council. The members discussed whether it might be wise to revisit this arrangement at some point in the future. One key consideration in this discussion was the extensive amount of work (and personal responsibility / liability) that the PSA president has personally had to take on - both in negotiating for City services and in negotiating with outside entities such as the property/liability insurance company and the elevator company (in addition to many others). PSA members expressed concern that this may not be an appropriate expectation for a volunteer, amateur member of the community, no matter how exceptional his abilities, knowledge, and dedication might be. - Procurement policy for the PSA will be addressed separately from the Hampton fiscal agency discussion. - "City of Hampton Fiscal Agent Partnership" proposal as distributed on 9/13 listed a number of services that are not germane to the PSA; of all those listed, several are already handled quite effectively by the PSA's volunteer treasurer and chair (budgeting, cash management, bookkeeping, and financial reporting). Several (federal/state grants, payroll, 1099 reporting, W-2 reporting, 1095C reporting, tax and sales tax, unclaimed property reporting) are not applicable to the PSA. The items on the list that are both applicable and a challenge for the volunteer treasurer and chair are Capital Assets (ownership of WMS), procurement/contracting (though PSA has done this and needs to codify its procurement policy), and External Audit. - Lola Perkins agreed to explore whether PSA really must have a formal External Audit or if a less formal review of how PSA spends its City allocation (currently $99,000 / year) would suffice. Former treasurer (Sallie) shared her proposal that a committee of people without signing authority on the checkbook (possibly including a City representative or other non-PSA member) could review all expenditures at the end of each fiscal year to be sure that all is in order. City staff had previously advised that no tax filing (e.g., 990) is required of the PSA. - Members agree that there are Additional City Services (beyond financial) that are needed if the current PSA/WMS ownership model persists. These include professional guidance on capital improvements, infrastructure work (drainage issue on concourse, ADA modifications), facility maintenance (e.g., aging water lines, HVAC), annual property assessment, property/liability insurance negotiation and provision, risk management, and public works engineering. - Members wish to explore a Hybrid Partnership with the CIty of Hampton that could include the underlined items in the Fiscal Agent paragraph above, as well as the underlined items in the Additional City Services paragraph above. Those are: Capital Assets (ownership of WMS) procurement/contracting (though PSA has done this and needs to codify its procurement policy) External Audit professional guidance on capital improvements infrastructure work (e.g., drainage issue on concourse and ADA modifications) facility maintenance (e.g., aging water lines, HVAC) annual property assessment property/liability insurance negotiation and provision, risk management public works engineering