|
|
|
The City of Hope will find private investors for its proposed $900,000 bond issue to fund capital costs and improvements at the Hope Sanitary Landfill.
The Hope City Board of Directors voted unanimously among members present Tuesday night not to go to the bond market for the placement in a period when bond issues are not faring well in open sales. Rather, the board voted to enter into a financial services agreement with Stephens, Inc., for private placement of the bonds.
“This is not the first time we have done this,” Hope Mayor Dennis Ramsey, a banker, said.
Ramsey said the City has sought private placement bond sales for street projects, a state-backed placement for Southern Bakeries, and other projects.
The private placement will mean that the City will also forego the expense of an open market sale because no sales commissions will be involved, Hope City Manager Catherine Cook said. Cook said the City will pay a one-time $8,500 private placement fee to Stephens, plus legal fees for services provided by the Rose Law Firm of Little Rock.
“There have been some bonds out there that brokers haven’t been able to sell because of the current market,” Ramsey noted. He said the City had good reason to expect “private investors” would subscribe the entire $900,000 issue.
The bonds will finance the construction of a new sanitary landfill cell, part of the master plan for the landfill, and will allow the City to replace equipment at the landfill site. The board adopted a 15 percent sanitation rate increase in November, 2008, to underwrite repayment of the proposed bond issue.
Getting itself organized for the new year after the November, 2008, elections, the board re-elected Ramsey as mayor and Director David Johnson as vice mayor.
There were a few light-hearted moments among City staffers as the board adjourned into a 15-minute executive session to discuss the election of its officers. Watching the clock in the city board room, staffers and observers wondered what was taking the board so long to discuss what was expected to be the outcome, only to have Ramsey return first joking that, “There was a lot of blood-letting in there.”
Ramsey has served as mayor of the city since first having been elected to the board in 1979. He is the most tenured mayor of the city.
“This has been a good board to work with,” Ramsey said. “It has worked well together.”
The City of Hope will find private investors for its proposed $900,000 bond issue to fund capital costs and improvements at the Hope Sanitary Landfill.
The Hope City Board of Directors voted unanimously among members present Tuesday night not to go to the bond market for the placement in a period when bond issues are not faring well in open sales. Rather, the board voted to enter into a financial services agreement with Stephens, Inc., for private placement of the bonds.
“This is not the first time we have done this,” Hope Mayor Dennis Ramsey, a banker, said.
Ramsey said the City has sought private placement bond sales for street projects, a state-backed placement for Southern Bakeries, and other projects.
The private placement will mean that the City will also forego the expense of an open market sale because no sales commissions will be involved, Hope City Manager Catherine Cook said. Cook said the City will pay a one-time $8,500 private placement fee to Stephens, plus legal fees for services provided by the Rose Law Firm of Little Rock.
“There have been some bonds out there that brokers haven’t been able to sell because of the current market,” Ramsey noted. He said the City had good reason to expect “private investors” would subscribe the entire $900,000 issue.
The bonds will finance the construction of a new sanitary landfill cell, part of the master plan for the landfill, and will allow the City to replace equipment at the landfill site. The board adopted a 15 percent sanitation rate increase in November, 2008, to underwrite repayment of the proposed bond issue.
Getting itself organized for the new year after the November, 2008, elections, the board re-elected Ramsey as mayor and Director David Johnson as vice mayor.
There were a few light-hearted moments among City staffers as the board adjourned into a 15-minute executive session to discuss the election of its officers. Watching the clock in the city board room, staffers and observers wondered what was taking the board so long to discuss what was expected to be the outcome, only to have Ramsey return first joking that, “There was a lot of blood-letting in there.”
Ramsey has served as mayor of the city since first having been elected to the board in 1979. He is the most tenured mayor of the city.
“This has been a good board to work with,” Ramsey said. “It has worked well together.”
Johnson has served as vice mayor since his election to the board in 1984, and is one of the most tenured directors to have served on the board.
“Do I have to make a speech?,” Johnson joked as his nomination was confirmed.
Also Tuesday, the board heard a report from Director Willie Walker concerning a Dec. 26 dance at the Northside Community Park Recreation Center, which the board agreed Dec. 16 to allow after Walker appealed to the board to change the policy it had instituted to eliminate youth dances at the facility.
“It was quite successful in what we learned,” Walker said.
He said the Northside Park Association would like to conduct a Feb. 14 Valentine’s dance as the second of the two the board agreed to allow under the change.
“As far as dances go, it never was the association’s intent to have dances on a continuing basis; we just wanted to get the community involved,” Walker said.
He said the NPA made no money from the Dec. 26 dance, and its only current funding is from a $1,000 donation by State Representative David “Bubba” Powers, D-Hope.
“Money is not what we need; what we need is participation in the park,” Walker said. “The only time the association looks to any money is when there is a project; we get the project and then the money to support it.”
Walker invited city board members to the recreation center as a show of support.
“If the mayor would come play pool, that’d go a long way,” he said.
“Only if they let me win,” Ramsey quipped.
The board took no action on the report or the Feb. 14 dance request Tuesday, and Walker excused himself immediately to attend a meeting of the Yerger High School Reunion Committee which was in progress at the Northside Park center.
