Findlay City finance committee backs Downtown Recreation Fund, recommends $10,000 seed

The Findlay City Finance Committee on Wednesday recommended approval of an agreement with the Community Foundation to establish a Downtown Recreation Fund and recommended appropriating $10,000 as initial seed money.

Committee members heard from a staff member who presented the Community Foundation's standard agency-type fund agreement and said the foundation would provide tax documentation for donors, online donation and recurring-donation capability, and endowment and fund management services. "It is a pretty basic agreement," the staff member said, adding that the foundation provided the draft in May and that city legal review occurred ("Feidner reviewed it").

The staff member said the proposed Downtown Recreation Fund would be structured as a drawdown account: the city would request funds when ready to spend, and the foundation would cut the city a check. The agreement would include a fallback provision that, if the downtown recreation project does not move forward, remaining funds would be used for parks and recreation in Findlay. The presenter recommended an initial $10,000 contribution to meet the foundation's minimum to establish the fund and noted an annual administrative fee of 0.75 (noted in the draft as "0.75, annual administrative fee"). The presenter also said the foundation manages endowments and typically reports investment returns that "cover their fees," language transcribed as "their annual return on their kind of conservative side is typically 3 9." The transcript did not clarify the intended numeric range or units for that phrase.

Committee members asked practical questions about donations: whether donors could give directly to the city and then have the city place the funds into the foundation fund (the staff member said yes), and whether donors could later withdraw or request their donations back (the staff member said the city would work with individual donors and the Community Foundation on those requests). The group also discussed prior downtown funds held at the foundation, citing an older downtown-improvement fund set up around the Sandusky Street park, and a prior contribution to the downtown park project from Norfolk Southern.

Committee members raised naming-rights and tax implications. A committee member summarized that naming rights and any private use of an asset could affect bond tax status, saying in generalities that "private use of the asset" can make bonds taxable and thus costlier; the staff member said naming-rights conversations would be handled separately with the auditor and legal counsel.

After discussion, a committee member moved to recommend approval of the Community Foundation agreement and appropriate the $10,000 seed amount, and the motion was seconded. The committee approved the recommendation by voice vote.

The committee chair or staff indicated the group would follow up on funding-source details and confirm whether the previously received Norfolk Southern grant could be applied toward the $10,000 appropriation. The presenter said they would confirm language and speak with relevant staff (including "Jim" and "Viator," as referenced in the meeting) before finalizing appropriation sources.

The committee adjourned after the vote.