The Jefferson City Council approved a resolution Monday directing the city's financial advisor and bond counsel to pursue issuing bonds to help implement improvements in the parks.
The resolution authorizes Piper Jaffray, the city's financial advisor, and Gilmore & Bell, the city's bond counsel, to prepare the preliminary official statement, notice of bond sale and other legal proceedings required to offer the city's Special Obligation Improvement Bonds "at a competitive public sale," according to the resolution.
Jefferson City Counselor Ryan Moehlman said he hopes to present an ordinance in September or October to the City Council that would authorize the issuance of bonds.
The city plans to issue $7 million-$8 million in Special Obligation Bonds, which would primarily be payable out of the half-cent parks sales tax, according to the resolution.
The Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department would have to pay about $500,000 annually from the parks fund budget to go toward the debt service, Moehlman said.
The parks fund collects approximately $5 million a year, Jefferson City Finance Director Margie Mueller said.
This is not a risk-free bond for the city, Moehlman said. If the parks fund was insufficient, the city would have to appropriate separate city funds to cover the debt service, the resolution states.
Last month, the Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Commission directed parks staff to move forward with issuing the bonds.
The Special Obligation Improvement Bonds would help implement components from the parks master plan, which is a 20-year plan that outlines improvements in the Jefferson City parks system.
Currently, the Parks department is working on improvements at Community, Ellis-Porter Riverside and McClung parks.
In other business Monday, the council approved a resolution showing it intends to issue approximately $5 million in Chapter 100 Industrial Development Revenue Bonds to Modern Litho-Print Company.
The bonds would provide personal property tax abatement to the printing press and related equipment purchases, according to the resolution.
The company plans to expand the manufacturing and production capacity of its facility "through the acquisition of a printing press and related equipment," the resolution states.
The project would create new job opportunities, increase operating efficiencies and possibly allow the company to expand its facility, the resolution notes.
Also on Monday, the City Council approved vacationing Lewis and Clark Drive so the Jefferson City Public Schools can take ownership of the street. The city would retain an easement for utilities.
The vacation is part of the January development agreement between the city and JCPS. Under that agreement, the city will use funds from itself and Cole County to reimburse JCPS up to $1.5 million to build a street adjacent to Capital City High School to connect Creek Trail and Mission drives.
If the project is less than $1.5 million, the district will use the remaining funds to improve Lewis and Clark Drive or Union Street, or construct enhanced crosswalks on Linden Drive at South Elementary School or Jackson Street at Thorpe Gordon Elementary School.
The council also approved a $79,115 contract with HDR, Inc. to help stabilize a portion of the Missouri River bank during Monday's meeting.
The city has a sanitary sewer between the Union Pacific Railway and the Missouri River, east of the confluence with Wears Creek. The riverbank is severely eroded and "the vital sewer main could be compromised by continued erosion," according to the bill.