County Commission hears World Masters update, moves forward on divesting from corporate notes and bonds

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the June 11 Alachua County Commission meeting, the board heard an update on the 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships and voted to advertise an ordinance to divest from corporate notes and bonds as permitted investments in the County’s investment portfolio.

World Masters update

Stephen Rodriguez from RADD Sports, representing the Alachua County Local Organizing Committee, said the committee is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was created to organize the 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships event, which has been awarded to Alachua County. He said representatives of the committee went to the European Masters Indoor Championships in Poland to sign the agreement to host the event, and while they were there, they spoke to a large number of athletes and team managers. He said, “I would say that the feedback was overwhelming in terms of the amount of people that want to come to Florida and to come to Alachua County.” He said the committee has launched its website and its social media campaigns.

Rodriguez said he’d also attended the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships in Chicago to promote the Alachua County event, and he will go to the World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships in Sweden in August; he said the event in Sweden has over 8,000 athletes registered, representing over 100 countries, but outdoor competitions are larger than indoor competitions.

Chair Mary Alford asked whether Rodriguez and the committee had discussed carbon offsets for the event. When Rodriguez said they’d had a conversation but it really wasn’t his expertise, she said, “We do have some companies here that offer that locally.”

Commissioner Ken Cornell thanked Rodriguez for the update and said, “From my perspective, the real benefit of what’s happening now is an increase in hopefully bed tax revenues, obviously. But for me, actually, the bigger item is the infrastructure improvements that will be made, which will then be available to the citizens of Alachua County, and really the entire region, after the event.”

Cornell asked about the improvements the Local Organizing Committee would make to the West End Golf Course property under the proposed licensing agreement, and Rodriguez said they plan to create an outdoor cross country course and outdoor throwing areas for the javelin, hammer, and discus events. County Manager Michele Lieberman said all the improvements would belong to the County after the event. 

Cornell brought up the state appropriation request for $2.75 million for the event (Governor Ron DeSantis’ office announced the next day that the appropriation was vetoed); Cornell said he had read that $1.75 million of that was earmarked for the construction of the outdoor venue, and he wanted to know if that was true. Rodriguez said he would not know how the funds would be appropriated until the budget was signed. Cornell said it was important to him that the funds go to long-term improvements to the park’s infrastructure.

Cornell asked  Rodriguez whether the organization’s budget and financial statements were available, and Rodriguez said they would be available “once the state funding is secured.”

Setting aside Tourist Development Tax funds

The Commission had previously discussed setting aside up to $1 million in Tourist Development Tax reserves for the event, and they voted in a previous board meeting to set aside $355,000 of that for operational support for the event. Lieberman asked them to set aside the other $645,000 for any expenditures for the West End property that are not covered by the state appropriation (again, that appropriation was vetoed after this meeting). Lieberman added, “The bottom line is making this a successful event. There’s already been some indication that we may see return events if we can show that we can host an international event and that it’s successful.” She noted that the County will also be hosting the National Masters before the World Masters event (the National event will use only the indoor facilities).

Motion

Cornell made a motion to hear the update (that they’d already heard), authorize the County Manager to execute a licensing agreement with the Local Organizing Committee for the use of the West End property, set aside $645,000 from Tourist Development Tax reserves, approve a budget amendment for the $645,000, and ask staff to come back to the board as soon as possible with another update and a detailed plan for the improvements at West End. 

Commissioner Anna Prizzia asked whether residents would continue to have access to the property for walking and other recreation; Chief of Staff Gina Peebles said it would become a construction zone, so “there will be a period of time where they will be excluded from the property.”

Cornell added another part to his motion to direct staff to continue to work with the Friends of West End in conjunction with the community engagement plan. The second to the motion was inaudible.

The motion passed unanimously. 

County investment policy

As soon as the agenda item was announced, Prizzia made a motion to authorize staff to advertise the change to the board’s Investment Policy Ordinance and bring the revised ordinance back at a future meeting; the second was inaudible.

Todd Hutchison, Finance Director for the Alachua County Clerk of Court, reminded the Commission that they passed a motion on May 14, asking staff to bring back an ordinance change and a policy change that would remove corporate notes and bonds as an authorized or permitted investment in the County’s investment portfolio. 

Hutchison said the policy covers surplus funds that have been appropriated by the County Commission but have not been spent, and the Clerk has the responsibility to invest those funds on the County’s behalf. He said the state permits investments in U.S. Treasuries, certain federal agencies, certificates of deposit at a qualified public depository or bank, and a local government investment pool that is run by the State Board of Administration. Local governments can pass an ordinance to add additional authorized investments, and the Alachua County Commission added corporate notes and bonds in 2017; Hutchison said that typically, AAA-to-A-rated corporate indexes are “going to have a slightly higher yield than a U.S. Treasury index or a federal agency index.”

Hutchison said the board had expressed concern about “some corporate individual names” (Cornell mentioned Lockheed Martin at the May 14 meeting), but state law does not permit local governments to consider political, social, or ideological interests when selecting investments for County surplus funds, so “your only other alternative is just to remove corporates altogether from your investment policy.”

County Attorney Sylvia Torres said her office had suggested making the ordinance effective upon adoption as it relates to taking on any new corporate investments, but they could give the Clerk until the end of the calendar year to divest of current corporate investments to avoid losses.

Hutchison said the County currently has about $34 million in corporate notes, about 7.5% of their overall investment portfolio, and he supported having more time to divest because he didn’t want the County’s investment advisor to be forced to sell at a loss. Hutchison added, “I think one of the corporates that began this discussion, just through the normal course of business, has already been traded out of the portfolio.”

Cornell said, “I have talked to the advisor about adding Bitcoin and Bitcoin ETFs, but they’re not there yet, but maybe one day.”

The motion passed unanimously. Hutchison said staff would bring back the ordinance for a public hearing on July 9.