Johnson County PBC reviews notice to issue up to $6.365 million in revenue bonds for county buildings

The Johnson County Public Building Commission at an agenda review on Feb. 6 considered Resolution PBC-125, which would authorize publishing notice of the commission’s intent to issue up to $6,365,000 in revenue bonds plus issuance costs to fund improvements to the Northeast Office Building, the Administration Building and the New Century Adult Detention Center.

The item matters because publishing the legal notice starts a statutorily required 30-day protest period; if no valid protest is filed the commission can later proceed with debt issuance. Leslie Friedel, budget and financial planning, told commissioners the notice must be published twice in the legal record and the commission would wait 30 days to see if a protest is filed before moving forward with the project and, later in the year, issuing debt.

“Every time we do a PBC project the first step is to put notice in the paper, two times in the legal record, and then we wait 30 days to see if a protest is filed,” said Leslie Friedel, Budget and Financial Planning. “And then, at that point we can move forward with the project. And, later on this year we would come back most likely and issue debt for these, this project.”

Commissioners present included Chairman Kelly and Commissioners Fast, Myers, Brewer, Hanslick, Ashcraft and Allenbrand; the clerk called the roll at the start of the Feb. 6 meeting and recorded all members as present. The commission also briefly addressed approval of the Feb. 6 building session minutes; Commissioner Allenbrand indicated a motion would be made next week and that item was not resolved during the agenda review.

Commissioner Brewer asked whether statute has changed to allow publishing notices in electronic outlets rather than print. “Has statute ever changed to make it permissible?” Brewer asked. Friedel replied that the commission is required to publish in a paper publication and that the legal record is the official newspaper for Johnson County.

“We could possibly do that, but we’re required to publish it in a paper publication. The legal record is the official, newspaper for Johnson,” Friedel said.

A county staff member who has previously addressed the topic added that many smaller local newspapers rely on that publication revenue and cautioned about potential repercussions for those communities if the practice changed. No vote on Resolution PBC-125 took place at the Feb. 6 agenda review; Friedel said the next steps are publication of the notice, a 30-day protest period, and later return to the commission for any required debt issuance.

Votes at this meeting: none taken on Resolution PBC-125. The resolution was presented for consideration and to trigger the publication/protest timeline; the commission did not adopt or reject the resolution during the Feb. 6 agenda review.

The commission paused the meeting for a five-minute break and directed members of the auditor/appraiser search committee to remain for a subsequent convening downstairs in Room 201.