City Councilor Tim Waters wants Longmont to use $500,000 of proceeds from the recent sale of the Denver Broncos and $1.5 million from oil and gas revenue for improvements to the Longmont Museum.
Waters made his request in the form of a resolution he introduced Tuesday night during a regular session of the city council.
The funds would go for the expansion of the museum’s Children’s Gallery as well as other museum upgrades, according to the resolution. The city council did not vote on the proposal Tuesday night but will consider the idea — as well as other proposed uses of the Broncos funding — in January.
In all, Longmont received $980,481.19 from the Broncos as part of the profits to be shared with cities and counties when the Broncos were sold in June for $4.65 billion.
The money has to be spent on youth activity programs designated by the city. The Metropolitan Football Stadium District is disbursing the funds and will check back in a year to see how Longmont’s youth programs have benefitted from the money, according to a letter from the MFSD to the city.
Councilor Shiquita Yarbrough and Susie Hidalgo-Fahring say they want the city to construct a multipurpose athletic dome for kids. They could play basketball, soccer and other sports in the facility which could cost as much as $4 million to build. "We (Shiquita) thought how could we best serve the kids in Longmont, to give them something to do," said Hidalgo-Fahring, who also conducted an online poll about the best use of he Bronco money.
"So far, we've had least 60 responses and they are still coming in," Hidalgo-Fahring said.
The city’s one-time contribution to the museum is to acknowledge the support given to the Longmont Museum by the Stewart Family Foundation, Waters told the council Tuesday night.
The resolution outlines several financial contributions made by the Stewart Family Foundation, including $4 million required to matcah a $1 million grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities if the museum’s grant application is successful, the resolution states.
The foundation has also committed $1 million to cover costs of construction documents when funding is available to expand the museum, states the resolution.
