2014.08.18 CC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Hugo City Council Meeting Minutes for August 18, 2014 Page 4 of 7 Public Hearing on Charter School Lease Revenue Bonds Earlier this year the City Council authorized the issuance and sale of Charter School Lease Revenue Bonds, in an amount of no more than $20 million, on behalf of CS Property Noble, LLC (CSPN). CSPN is a Minnesota nonprofit liability company. CSPN will use the bond proceeds to finance the acquisition, construction, and equipping of an approximately 95,000 square foot school facility in Brooklyn Park to be leased to Noble Academy. Noble Academy is approved as a K-8 charter school by the Minnesota Department of Education. The City is only serving as the bond issuer and will have no obligations for repaying investors. CSPN has now requested that the aggregate amount of the bond issue be increased to no more than $22.5 million. Staff had reviewed this request and found it be a proper use of the City's bonding authority. Mayor Weidt opened the public hearing. There were no comments, and he closed the public hearing. Bronk made motion, Petryk seconded, to approve RESOLUTION NO -2014-28 AFFIRMING THE ISSUANCE OF CHARTER SCHOOL LEASE REVENUE BONDS TO FINANCE A PUBLIC (CHARTER) SCHOOL PROJECT PURSUANT TO MINNESOTA LAW (NOBLE ACADEMY PROJECT). All Ayes. Motion carried Update on Bald Eagle Outlet City Administrator Bryan Bear provided background on the deteriorating outlet at the north end of Bald Eagle Lake. Staff has been working with the Rice Creek Watershed District and the MN DNR on the repair and ownership of the outlet. Over the past several months, meetings have been held with Council, staff, RCWD, DNR, county commissioners, and Representatives Matt Dean and Linda Runbeck. Discussions have been about project funding and ownership. Bear explained that the RCWD is willing to contribute funds for the replacement of the structure contingent on them not owning it. The DNR supports funding the replacement but it was not successful in the 2014 legislative session, though there may still be funding available. Washington, Ramsey, and Anoka County Commissioners have expressed their opinion that the RCWD is in the best position to take the lead. The DNR is investigating whether it is an abandoned dam and they have statutory authority, though it is doubtful they will accept ownership. At a recent meeting with the RCWD, the RCWD encouraged the City to accept ownership of the dam with the thought that the other agencies would be willing to pay a larger share of funding for its replacement. Bear also talked about the St. Paul Water Authority having water appropriations over the lake and what their interest in the dam may be. Bear provided four possible options: accept ownership and ask others to finance the replacement cost, defer ownership and split the cost among all parties, or make a case that someone else owns it, though there would be risk that nothing would happen soon. Bear provided the pros and cons of those options. The final option would be to let it go into litigation, which would be adversarial and costly.