City outlines $28.9 million City Hall and justice center plan; foundation term sheet would cover $500,000 a year

Jason Dodson, a project advisor with law firm Russell and Andrus, presented updated schematics and a proposed financing plan for a combined City Hall and justice center, saying the total project budget is about $28.9 million and that the city currently has about $12.425 million secured.

Dodson said the secured funds include roughly $7.675 million from state and federal sources, court fee commitments totaling $3.25 million from the court system, and small amounts already spent from the general fund for design and abatement work. “Out of the $28,900,000, 12.4 of that has been either secured or awarded,” Dodson said.

The draft term sheet submitted to the Barberton Community Foundation would commit the foundation to $500,000 per year for 19 years (a $9.5 million present value under the term sheet). Dodson described the foundation’s payment as structured so the city could build a 19-year debt series that assumes the foundation payment in the debt service schedule: “Through our discussions with the foundation, 1 of the things that we've kind of run into is their current spending policy limits them to spending 10% of their corpus on any 1 grant. And so that's kind of pegged us at the $9,500,000 you see here and that you saw in the term sheet,” he said.

Dodson and other speakers walked council through related project moves: the city purchased the adjacent Masonic Temple for an addition; demolition is underway with state funds committed to pay about 75% of demolition costs; abatement has been completed; and the city is planning to auction salvaged materials. The term sheet also contemplates selling the YGAM building “as is” for $150,000 and a temporary nominal lease-back to the city while relocation occurs.

Finance director Jeremy Flaker and other city staff described how the remaining roughly $16.5 million would be financed with bonds. Flaker said the city has capacity to issue the bonds and that the administration prefers city-issued bonds rather than using the development finance authority because issuing directly is typically less costly. “The city doesn't have a lot of debt. So we do have the bond capacity to take on this project,” Flaker told council.

Dodson laid out the project’s three concurrent tracks if council proceeds: (1) construction (hire a construction manager at risk to develop guaranteed maximum price and manage subcontractors), (2) design (complete schematics and move to design development and construction documents), and (3) finance and legal (draft cooperative and grant agreements and prepare bond documents and ratings). He described a possible phasing strategy and the option to issue two bond series to reduce capitalized interest.

Council members asked about funding contingencies and timelines. Dodson said that if the foundation reduced the level of support materially (for example, far below the $500,000/year expectation), the project could be infeasible: “If they came back and said, you know, we'll give you $250,000 a year for 20 years... I tell you guys right now that's not gonna work. I don't have another funding source that I can tell you, 'we can plug that gap.'”

Council discussed a $100,000 schematic-design payment the foundation has offered and whether to accept the money and start schematic design before the foundation’s March 20 board meeting. Some council members favored taking the $100,000 so the city would have drawings to present, while others urged caution because the larger foundation award had not yet been finalized.

Other details raised during the session: the existing municipal building has security shortcomings and is not ADA-compliant; the police station experiences periodic flooding; there was reference to an approximately $30,000 immediate elevator repair; and state historic-preservation review is underway for demolition funding.

Next steps described by city staff: continue negotiations with the foundation and present the updated term sheet to council and to the foundation in March; consider hiring a construction manager at risk at about 30% schematic design; finalize grant and cooperative agreements if the foundation term sheet is approved; and move toward bond pricing and issuance when construction pricing is near final.

Council did not take a final vote on the project or the term sheet at this meeting. Dodson said the plan is to return to council in March after the foundation meets and to bring subsequent agreements and appointments through council review and Board of Control approval.

Ending: City officials emphasized that the project depends on multiple funding sources and that the foundation’s decision will be a key determinant of whether to proceed. Staff asked council to consider a council representative attending weekly project meetings with judiciary and administration as the design and funding work continues.