The Greene County supervisors at their Jan. 12 meeting agreed to enter into an agreement with The Baker Group LP for municipal advisor services. The group will help develop a 5-year capital project plan, provide advice on future bonding, and work with county treasurer Katlynn Mechaelsen on county investments.
Mechaelsen in recent months has questioned the supervisors about the amount of money they planned to borrow for the construction of the new jail and other projects, noting there were county funds available to cover some of the costs, saving interest costs.
If the supervisors hadn’t listened to Mechaelsen, they at least listened to The Baker Group’s presentation Jan. 8 about the services they could offer.
Heidi Kuhl, financial advisor with Northland Securities, reviewed bids placed for $1.5 million in general obligation capital loan notes for the HVAC project at the courthouse. Kuhl recommended accepting a bid from United Bank of Iowa at an interest rate of 4.25 percent to 2032, and then 4.75 percent until the full amount was paid. She called it “a fair bid.”
Total cost, with fees and interest, would have been $1.7 million.
Following precedent, the supervisors would have accepted the bid and directed Kuhl to proceed.
That didn’t happen. Instead board chair Dawn Rudolph said the board has been educating themselves recently, trying to understand the duties of different people involved. “We’ve struggled with decisions on where we should go, how much… as far as fund balances, what we should pay cash for…. There are some hesitations now on where we go from here.”
Supervisor John Muir said the board was questioning “if we have the ability, should we use more cash… If we ask ourselves and we’re not comfortable with the answer, we need to find an advisor on whether that’s the best course of action.”
“We’re looking at the whole package,” Rudolph said.
“I don’t have enough information to say what’s the best route… I want to be a little more comfortable this is the right route to go,” Muir said.
Supervisor Pete Bardole made a motion to move ahead with the capital loan notes for $1.5 million. There was no second to the motion.
Approving a municipal advisor services agreement with The Baker Group was later on the agenda. The vote on that was unanimous in favor of the agreement. A capital loan note for the HVAC project will be on a future agenda, perhaps for a different amount.
The supervisors took the first step toward purchasing $10,000 in capital loan notes for roads projects. The debt would be paid with TIF revenue, as intended when tax increment financing was initiated. The projects would be in the northeast portion of the county, with the TIF derived from the wind turbines there.
The supervisors heard a request from Jeff Lamoureux, a member of the veterans affairs commission, and Billie Johson-Daves, veterans affairs coordinator, to increase the number of commissioners from three to five. Lamoureux said it would broaden the representation of the various branches of service and generations of veterans on the commission; decrease the workload on the individual commissioners; make it easier to have a quorum at meetings; and provide better leadership continuity. The supervisors gave their support to the increase.
Greene County Public Health director Shelby Cooklin made her annual budget request. She asked for the same funding as the current fiscal year, $300,000.
Sheriff Jack Williams told the board he planned to apply for a grant to Grow Greene County to replace 15-year-old body cameras and in-car cameras for himself and all deputies. He planned to ask for the entire $76,000 cost. Rudolph, who represents the county on the Grow Greene County board, reminded him the board prefers not to fully fund any project. Auditor Billie Jo Hoskins suggested LOSST funds could be used toward part of the project, as the sheriff’s office serves rural residents. Gannon suggested opioid funds could be used.
