Public to get say next month on Bills community investments
Nearly two years after a community benefits agreement tied to the building of a new Buffalo Bills stadium was signed, the public will get a chance to chime in how the team should be investing the money.
The Community Benefits Oversight Committee set a Dec. 10 date for a hearing where residents can speak about what the community priorities should be for the more than $3 million the Bills have committed to spending annually on local initiatives over the 33 years of the stadium construction and lease.
The hearing will begin at 5:30 p.m. at a location to be determined.
Steel girders reflect the sun as it rises over Highmark Stadium construction site in Orchard Park.
This comes about a year after the formation of the Community Benefits Oversight Committee and late into the second year of the Bills’ annual spend on new and recurring initiatives and programs in the community.
During the first year of the deal, the oversight committee had little to no say over how the Bills spent that money because the group first met when there was only a few months left in the team’s fiscal year for the CBA, which ends March 28.
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There also was some initial confusion about whether the deal would kick in right after the signing of the CBA, which occurred in March 2023, or if it would kick in at the start of the team’s 30-year new stadium lease in 2026.
It was determined that it was actually a 33-year CBA, and the Bills later reported spending $3.7 million on community commitments. With that amount rising with inflation – capped at 2.2% annually – the Bills community investment is expected to total more than $120 million over the 33 years.
Members committed to having more of a say in the process during this latest spending year, but the hearing still falls less than four months before the end of the second fiscal year for the CBA, which means again there’s little time to change the team’s spending priorities for this annual period.
“We need to make sure that our outreach is robust to the community to get a good representation of the community, and we need to also be clear about the purpose of this annual meeting and what we’re trying to get out of it from folks,” said member Mo Sumbundu, director of community relations for Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“We don’t want to get in a situation where we don’t get enough information from the public to form a sense of what our recommendations would be moving forward for the funding,” Sumbundu said.
Penny Semaia, vice president of stadium relations for the Bills, presents to the Community Benefits Oversight Committee at a Tuesday meeting.
Penny Semaia, vice president of stadium relations for the Bills, will be at the meeting and provide an update on the construction project, workforce numbers and the team’s community spending initiatives.
Members asked if other entities involved in the project’s compliance efforts could speak and provide updates, before the public will have their time to chime in.
The oversight committee can only make recommendations to the Bills, and the team has the final say in determining where the funds are allocated each year.
Semaia also said that community coordinator consulting company Developments by Jem has helped the Bills identify how they can spend some of the money through workforce development efforts about getting youngsters in high school and college interested in future opportunities in construction and other industries.
“We definitely need to hear from the community as part of our planning of how we’re going to accomplish our community investments, as well as hearing from our Community Benefits Oversight Committee,” Semaia said.
Additionally, the Bills are working on setting up a new portal, specific to the CBA, where community members and organizations can make their case for funding and apply for grants. But that portal will not be ready by the public hearing as the team continues to work on the criteria for it, Semaia said.
Right now, the Bills use an online portal to take requests from organizations in need through buffalobills.com, where there’s a community link for donation requests, Semaia said. It is something that was established before the CBA was put into place.
“People are already inquiring about how they access that, how do they apply for that and what is the criteria,” said the Rev. Mark Blue, committee chair. “Having something more defined, that you guys are working on now, provides as much information as possible that we can provide to the public.”
Stadium work broken down into smaller bid packages
Sixty-two regional contractors that qualify as Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) or Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) have been brought in so far to work on smaller new stadium projects with contracts worth under $100,000.
And of the 322 commitments made to MWBE and SDVOB contractors for the project, 144 of them fall below the $1 million threshold.
Efforts have been made by the project management team to rightsize new stadium bid packages, helping involve additional smaller and disadvantaged contractors and businesses.
The Bills released those stats Tuesday in response to committee members requesting additional information on project sizes and scopes. While the approximately three-year project is not even half done, much of who will do the work has already been determined.
Committee members would like to see even more information provided to help quantify the economic impact of the project and they’re looking to make the presentation of this information a regular part of the reporting process.
Member Sean Mulligan, deputy chief of staff for the Erie County Legislature, said that would help set a precedent for the future years of the CBA when some or most of these members are no longer on the committee.
“It’s good practice to have a document and have directives, and not just rely on the team’s good faith to provide it,” he said.
Member Maria Whyte, chief of staff at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, said committee members would still like to know the minimum dollar amount for a new stadium construction contract and recommendations for how to maximize participation of all contractors, big and small, for future regional projects. What’s been learned can also be applied for the stadium’s operations phase over the next 30 years once it opens, she said.
Semaia said the team believes it is meeting the requests of committee members and there is no need for a resolution requiring it.
As for business participation in the project, Minority-owned Business Enterprises (MBE) working on the new stadium is at 17.5%, over the 15% goal but a drop from the last time the numbers were released.
Women-owned Business Enterprises (WBE) are at 14.1%, just off the 15% goal but an improvement from the last report, and Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) remain at 4.8%, shy of the 6% goal. Previous numbers were 19.5% for MBEs, 13.4% for WBEs, and 4.8% for SDVOBs.
Semaia said the team will provide updated numbers next month that will include bid four packages.
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