Tony Capaci

From: Tony Capaci

Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 9:19 AM
To: Barbara Witt
Subject: FW: Springfield Veterans Park Amphitheater Project/ loan use prior to approval

Tracking:
Tracking Recipient Delivery Read
Barbara Witt Delivered: 11/3/2008 9:20 AM Read: 11/3/2008 11:57 AM

Barbara, 
Spring field Arts Council wants to build a restroom/concession stand facility for the existing Amphitheater.  They have 
approx. $300K from HUD, $100K from us and $150K from private donors.  The approx cost is $550K for the facility so 
they are technically fully funded or close to it.  However, they want to have the restroom completed for next year’s 
programming season.  The earliest Commission meeting they can make is May which would mean they could not have 
the restroom facility open in time for the season.  Therefore, they are proposing to take out a loan for approximately our 
appropriation ($100K) and get going on construction.  They would come to the May meeting with a completed project 
which has approximately a $100K loan.  This is a similar scenario to NURFC or Cincinnati Ballet.  I do not see any real 
problem with their proposal assuming of course the project meets our criteria in all aspects.  They would obviously be 
taking on the risk of the project not getting approved and I would make that point clear to them.  I would recommend 
we allow SAC to take out the loan for the value of our appropriation and simply view it as a bridge loan.  We could 
require in the resolution requirements they provide us with the cancelled note after we reimburse them the $100K.  Do 
we need Kathy’s approval for this?  They are anxious to get going so please let me know ASAP. 
Thanks, 
Tony 
 
From: William C. Schwartz [mailto:development@springfieldartscouncil.org]
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 4:52 PM
To: tcapaci@Culture. ohio.gov
Cc: Chris Moore
Subject: Springfield Veterans Park Amphitheater Project

Tony, thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. As you requested here is a summary of the key points of our
conversation as they pertain to the project.

The springfield Arts Council was awarded $100,000.00 from the state legislature 2007 capital appropriations bill.
The original request for funding was submitted for phase III of the overall project named in the subject line and was
estimated to be a 1.3 million dollar project. Due to a slow fundraising drive it has been determined that a portion of the
project will be split out for immediate construction. This revised project has been titled the veteran park west comfort
station at an estimated cost of 500 to 550,000 dollars.Our committed sources of funding consist of the following:
hud-edi grant #B-08-sp-oh-0370---$294,000.00, State of Ohio 100,000.00, local donors 156,000.00.
The amphitheater facility has been constructed in a public park (Veteran Park) which is owned by the Springfield
Conservancey District and is operated by the National Trail Parks and Recreation District. For the last 42 years The
Springfield Arts Council has been given use of the facility for 4 to 6 weeks every summer to produce a summer arts
festival which is free to the community. To that end the SAC has undertaken the responsability of raising the funding
neccessary for the NTPRD to renovate the Amphitheater facility. The total project estimate for all 3 phases is 3.9 million
dollars and with the proposed project included we will have completed 3.1 million.
the one issue we need an interpretation on is that in order to complete construction in time for this years festival we would
need to go out to bid before your may commission meeting and the full amount of the project estimate would have to be
encumbered. This would require us to obtain some bridge loan financing to cover the 100,000 dollars until your timeline is
accomplished. Your concern was whether your commission would consider such a loan as a bridge gap arrangement or
an existing debt since it would be initiated prior to your commissions final approval.Please advise me as soon as possible
as to your commissions interpretation of our situation and also a detailed written explanation of the documents you would
require and from whom to satisfy the 15 year use requirement and the proof of no financial burden creation.
Thanks again for your help and I am anxiously awaiting your reply.----Bill
990
William C. Schwartz
Director of Development
Springfield Arts Council
PO Box 745
Springfield, OH 45501
937-324-2712
Online at springfieldartscouncil.org

991