Durant council and utilities authority approve financing for Main Street, drainage and waterline; accept audit, OK Albertsons deal; table emergency server buy

The Durant City Council and the Durant City Utilities Authority approved a package of borrowings and related agreements on Tuesday to fund a Main Street reconstruction project, related drainage work and a new water transmission line, accepted the city’s FY2023–24 audited financial statements and approved several professional services contracts and an economic development agreement with Albertsons LLC. Council members also tabled action on an emergency purchase of replacement servers after several members raised questions about the ordinance process for emergency purchases.

A funding package for three infrastructure projects led the meeting. The Durant City Utilities Authority authorized issuance of a system-and-sales-tax revenue note in an amount not to exceed $16,000,000 to support the Main Street reconstruction. The authority separately approved a loan application to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) for up to $16,450,000 to finance drainage tied to the Main Street work, and a second OWRB loan application not to exceed $35,270,000 to fund a 24-inch transmission waterline extension. All three financings were then approved by the City Council in companion resolutions.

Those transactions would be secured by a pledge of utility revenues (water, sewer, garbage) and 3 cents of sales tax; the presentations noted the half-cent sales tax extended by voters would be a principal source for the street/drainage repayment. Allen Brooks of Public Finance Law Group said the transactions would include contingencies (engineers’ estimates include 10% contingency) and that bank placement and OWRB financing timelines point to closings near year‑end: “We would probably close the transaction in 30 days or so,” Brooks said of the bank placement for the Main Street note. Financial adviser Chris Gander (BOK Securities) and staff emphasized that, under conservative projections, the authority meets required debt-coverage metrics and that the OWRB loans offer longer amortizations than a…