Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Bonds topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
New Prague City Council approves $10.0 million police-station bond amid hearing dispute
Summary
The New Prague City Council approved a $10.0 million general obligation bond sale for a new police station despite a public commenter’s claim that the city failed to hold a statutory public hearing required for the capital improvement plan and bond issuance; the sale passed 3–1 after council debate and attempts to contact counsel.
The New Prague City Council voted to approve resolution 25050501 authorizing the sale of Series 2025A general obligation capital improvement plan bonds to fund a new police station, after a 3–1 voice vote.
A member of the public, Brian Paulson, told the council he reviewed the city packet, meeting minutes and video and concluded the city did not hold a required public hearing before approving the capital improvement plan and related bonds tied to a March 17, 2025 council resolution. "They were sold under false pretense," Paulson said during public comment, urging the council to address the statutory issue before finalizing bond actions.
Rebecca Kurtz of Eller’s, the city's bond advisor, briefed the council on the sale results, saying Standard & Poor’s assigned a double-A long-term rating to both the Series A and B issues and that bids were received this morning. Kurtz said the low bid came from Baird of Milwaukee and that a premium allowed staff to reduce the Series A issue to $10,000,002.25; she also explained staff applied $380,000 in building-fund cash (about $320,000 toward a February 2026 interest payment and $60,000 to reduce the bond principal).
Council members discussed Paulson’s allegation and whether to delay action to contact the city attorney (Scott). Staff reported counsel could not immediately verify whether a hearing had occurred and recommended proceeding with approval while preserving the option to re-open or redo a hearing and delay closing if that proved necessary. One council member urged caution and suggested a recess to get legal confirmation; others said bids typically are held for a day and delaying could jeopardize the offered interest rate.
After the discussion, a council member moved and another seconded to approve resolution 25050501. The motion carried 3–1. The council did not detail roll-call votes in the transcript; the minutes note the outcome and the vote tally.
What happens next: staff said the bond-closing timeline includes a scheduled May closing and that, if legal concerns require further action, the council could delay closing or conduct a supplemental hearing. The council did not take additional remedial steps at the meeting beyond approving the resolution.
(Reporters: quotes and procedural details come from the public-comment and bond-presentation portions of the meeting.)
