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City hears investment pitch from Ehlers and department updates on generators, grants and radios
Summary
Ehlers Financial advised the City of New Germany on callable agency bonds and discretionary management; Advanced Power described generator maintenance; the fire chief reported grants, testing, and recommended radios with prices and will proceed with order.
At its Oct. 15 meeting the New Germany City Council received a presentation from Matt Tourville of Ehlers Financial about investment options and from Lucas Braun of Advanced Power about generator maintenance, and it heard departmental updates from the fire chief and public works.
Tourville described callable agency bonds, explaining that an issuer may refund principal early and that callable bonds can offer higher returns while carrying call risk. He presented a five-year callable example maturing in 2029 with six months of call protection and described an expected return around 5 percent, recommending an additional city investment of $250,000 and offering a discretionary management program with a 0.25 percent asset-based fee.
Lucas Braun described work his company provided on the city’s mobile generator and the city hall generator and said he will send a maintenance agreement that includes load banking for the portable generator. The council received no contract at the meeting; Braun said the agreement would be provided for review.
Fire Chief Ryan Goede reported that the new fire department roof replacement has been paid, that interior loft sheetrocking is underway, and that the department received a $4,000 Compeer grant with potential DNR grant funding expected in November. Chief Goede recommended purchasing radios funded by earmarked grants and identified costs in the meeting record: three '6000' radios for $17,876.35 and one '4000' radio for $4,113.99; he said he will move forward with ordering. He also said the department expects invoices from Alex Air for cascade system work and from McQueen for hydro testing, and that a fire truck refund of roughly $5,000–$7,000 is under review.
The council did not take immediate formal action on investment recommendations or the generator maintenance agreement during the meeting; the Banyon utility software purchase and several other routine items were addressed elsewhere on the agenda.
