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City staff outline first loan step for water-project response to health department consent order
Summary
City staff told the Helena-West Helena City Council that a first loan would fund preliminary engineering and grant administration to address a consent order from the health department; no objections were reported at the public hearing and an ordinance authorizing bond closing is the next step.
At a regular meeting of the Helena-West Helena City Council, city staff summarized a public hearing on a proposed loan package intended to begin work on water and wastewater system repairs required by a health department consent order.
City engineer Mister Weiler told the council the public hearing was the required first step before the council adopts an ordinance to allow bond counsel to close on an initial loan. "This first loan ... allows us to get started with preliminary engineering planning, investigation surveys, and some of the grant administration," Weiler said, adding that later loans would fund construction work.
The nut graf: The loan package is intended to fund immediate engineering and grant-administration work so the city can address treatment-plant repairs, distribution-line breakage, tank storage rehabilitation and new production capacity identified in the consent-order long-range plan. Staff emphasized the loan is the first tranche; additional actions will be required to borrow for construction.
Weiler told the council the package includes a loan portion and a larger portion described in staff remarks as "forgiven" funds that become available after the loan portion is used. "You've got a certain amount of money over at ARRC. 11,000,000 of it is loan, and the rest is ... it's called forgiven," Weiler said in the meeting transcript. He said the first loan must be used before the forgiveness portion can be accessed.
Council members and staff discussed timing. Weiler said he hoped the city could get to construction-level borrowing within about six months, contingent on identifying priorities and completing planning: "I'm hoping within about 6 months ... because, like I said, we got a lot to try to pull together," he said. Staff also said the city will pursue a separate DRA grant already approved and that state-level funds announced by the governor may be available for the area.
The council did not take a bond-authorizing ordinance vote during the portion of the meeting devoted to the public hearing; staff described the public hearing as concluded with no recorded objections and said the next formal step will be an ordinance to permit bond closing.
Ending: Staff said they will return with specific project scopes and requests for additional loans as projects are developed and prioritized; council members asked for continued public reporting on how water and wastewater funds are spent.
