October 19, 2021 at 7:00 PM - CITY OF SEWARD

Discussion:  Mayor Eickmeier announced that a copy of the Agenda for this meeting is posted on the north wall of the Municipal Building and copies are available on the north wall where a copy of the Open Meetings Act is also posted for public inspection. He also noted that any citizen wishing to address the Council should come to the podium, state their name and address and limit their comments to five minutes. All remarks should be directed to the Mayor/Chairperson, who will then determine who will make any appropriate response. The City of Seward reserves the right to adjust the order of items on this agenda if necessary and may elect to take action on any of the items listed.

Discussion:  The Seward Wellness Committee has made numerous advancements on the potential Seward Wellness Center since they last spoke with the City Council in spring of 2021. The Committee continues to meet regularly and is actively working on planning and preliminary design of the building utilizing the CCCFF Grant funds they received. They have also met with a landowner for a potential final location of the facility. During the summer of 2021 the Committee under the previously established non-profit organization Seward Changing the Game, Inc., applied for a $5,000,000 matching grant from the State of Nebraska Shovel-Ready Capital Recovery and Investment Act Grant.  The project was one of $350,000,000 total in applications which the State of Nebraska is now working through. All grant matching funds must be from private fundraising,  and the matching funds cannot come from a government entity (like the City). The Wellness Center Committee needs to finalize private funding by the end of 2021 under the current grant application guidelines. The Nebraska State Legislature has signaled that they would like to substantially increase the funds in this grant to help cover more projects. Further,DED has not made any determination on the applications or their qualifications (see attached letter).

The Seward Wellness Committee has formed a private fundraising branch to undertake this effort and will begin that process in the coming months to meet with numerous donor contacts. The Seward Wellness Committee/ Seward Changing the Game, Inc. is seeking a letter of intent from the City of Seward to inform potential donors that the City is looking to run the facility and that a sales tax initiative is likely to be placed on the May 2022 Primary ballot for consideration by the citizens of Seward.  This letter of intent is not binding on the City and does not limit what the ultimate sales tax vote language would read, it is just a initial commitment to give donors a full understanding of the potential scope of funding.  In recent memory there has not been such large state level grant available for facilities like this, thus this may be our best opportunity to limit costs by the City should this project be undertaken.

Jana Hughes and Dr. Matt Dominy will be on hand to present an update on the project, provide more context on the grant and private fundraising, and to further explain the need for the letter of intent.

Discussion:  Following review and discussion, a motion to accept the City Administrator's report would be in order.