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Board to form ad hoc committee to recommend site for voter-approved indoor youth sports facility
Summary
Following a hotelier referendum approving a dedicated funding mechanism, county staff recommended forming an ad hoc committee to review potential sites and nominate initial authority members; commissioners signaled support and noted desired representation from hoteliers, sports and development experts.
Kalamazoo County staff recommended on May 7 that the Board of Commissioners form an ad hoc committee to review candidate sites for an indoor youth sports facility and to recommend a municipal partner to form an authority under the Municipal Partnership Act.
Jane Ghosh, presenting for administration, said the recent hotelier referendum had met quorum and approval thresholds: county staff reported a 75% quorum of eligible rooms and 82% of ballots cast were in favor of the referendum. The referendum language contemplates the facility will be owned and operated by an authority created under state law, typically formed by the county together with a municipality where the site is located.
Ghosh told commissioners that the ad hoc committee would perform site review and then recommend the site municipality to the board; once the municipality and county agreed, the authority would be formally formed and would name the full authority board following the criteria in the referendum. Staff asked the board to consider representation on the ad hoc committee — including at least two hoteliers (the referendum requires hotel representation on the authority), people with tourism and sports-experience, development and finance expertise, geographic diversity across the county, and racial and age diversity. The plan calls for staggered initial terms, with 1-, 2- and 3-year terms and an early replacement of one short term seat with a youth board member as the project transitions from development to operations.
Commissioners thanked staff and discussed possible nominees; one commissioner indicated an intent to nominate a staffer who had worked on the referendum effort. The county will return nominations for the ad hoc committee to the board for approval at a future meeting.
Why it matters: the referendum result gives the county authorization to move forward with a funding and governance plan for an indoor youth sports facility. Formation of an authority and site selection will guide construction, operations and eventual impacts on tourism, recreation and local economic activity.
What's next: administration will return with proposed nominations for the ad hoc committee and a timeline for site review and authority formation. The board will consider those nominations at a subsequent meeting.
