City Council - Special Meeting

Good morning everybody. Hello ladies. I hope I don't have to read something because I cannot see. kind of thinking.

Did you watch them? It happens at least at least that's true. That's all. Thank you. [clears throat]

Oh, she just Hey, John.

Uh, did you send it this morning? I have not. Yes. Oh, I saw that. Well, I saw the one you posted last night. No, I said it today. Okay.

I stayed all night. I No, I stayed part of it and then rest I didn't think about it. too late.

Yeah, I was kind of surprised but I don't know how many people actually showed up because you know their biggest thing was kind of bus It is what it looks

I say three wolves or three bunnies or three somethings but they have all three figures. Yeah, that's what I see.

Well, Yeah, I saw Hey John, have you you done any research or seen any other research that are up and running? Well, yeah.

And it's a low frequency. I get it. Well, I know that I was listening to the paper.

It's just one of those things like or if you have a oil and gas well, you're okay with

Tom's here. We can start now. Outstanding.

When I get up, when I get up at 4:30 and I'll call you, then you know what? He can bring it. That's all. [clears throat] Hello.

Happy Thursday. Happy Thursday. I know. It's going to be another [laughter] She's so petty. How you doing? I'm good.

What's up, Mr.

[laughter] Are you

Morning, Mayor. How are you? I'm well Grayson doing all right. [laughter]

And you know we will Let me know. I think he would be a good person. He does.

Good morning. How are you doing? It's good to see you. I'm doing very well. Well, hello there. How you doing? How are you? How you do, sir? Good. I'm

not turning that on. Had seen you in a long time. Oh, Jim. Oh, I don't believe we met. Okay. I had water. You did. That's good. I'm delighted. Not near as much

I do know Michelle very well.

Ready? You ready? Okay. The special meeting of the Shreport City Council is now called to order. Um, Councilman Green, will you give the invocation? And Councilman Teller, will you lead the pledge? Thank you, Lord, for this day and thank you for another opportunity, Lord. We give you praise. We give you glory and we give you honor. We ask that you'd come in our midst and we ask that this meeting would be a meeting uh that is done decently and in order and that we would be able to uh agree and to make this city better. And uh Lord, we thank you for everything that you've done and we're going to praise in advance for what you're going to do. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.

All face the flag of the greatest country on earth. And as we say our pledge, let us never forget the sacrifices of our PS and MIA. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madame clerk, will you call the role, please? Councilwoman Taylor, Councilman Brooks, Councilman Taylor, here ma'am. Councilman Butcher here. Councilman Jackson here. Councilman Green, I'm here. And Councilwoman Bowman,

present. Do we have any requests to speak today? None. Okay. Seeing none, we'll move to the next part of the agenda. She's she going to go check cuz more people came in.

Thank you. U madam clerk, would you proceed with introduction of resolution not to be adopted prior to December 18th, 2025? Motion and second is sufficient to intro in introduce the resolution. So move resolution 147, a resolution authorizing a mayor to execute a water and sewer service agreement between the city of Shreport and TX L A R LLC and to otherwise provide with respect there too. Okay. Is there a motion to introduce? So move. Second. It's been moved by Councilman Butcher, second by uh Councilman Green.

Okay. Madame clerk, would you proceed with ordinance on second reading and final passage? Numbers are assigned. Ordinance numbers. Ordinance 151, a series ordinance pursuant to the general bond ordinance authorizing the issuance of not to exceed $190 million of water and soil revenue refunding bonds and one or more series of the city of Shreport, state of Louisiana, establishing certain details of such bonds as required by the general bond ordinance. Approving and confirming the sales of bonds of such bonds. Pledging a net revenues to secure such bonds. Prescribing the forms certain terms and conditions of said bonds. Authorizing the use of preliminary official statement. And the preparation and distribution of official statement. Authorizing the purchase of subscription for certain escrow securities. Authorizing escrow verification and engagement of escrow agents. and authorizing execution of delivery of paying agent register agreement and providing for other matters in connection there with

Is there a motion to adopt? So move second. It's been moved by Councilman Green, second by Councilman Jackson. Um discussion Councilman Butcher. Uh Mr. Pada. [clears throat] Morning. Good morning. How are you? Good. How are you? So, refinancing these bonds, how much do you anticipate this will sell save the city?

Yeah, look, always a dangerous thing to to try and anticipate. Um, but right now, the number that we've put out there is around $8 million. Obviously, it depends on what the market looks like the day that we go out for sale. So, something crazy happens in the world that that affects markets, um, you know, it can impact it either way. But, um, that's that's really kind of the area that we're looking. So um what is the cost to do this because I know there's cost involved. Yeah. So essentially the the the cost of it is um just the issuance itself and I don't have those those actual numbers but I mean that's all built into the bonds and so the savings that I'm quoting to you are after the costs are taken out.

Okay. Okay. So, we're not we're not going to have 8 million and then another no 800,000 in fees and attorney no offense attorney fees and all this other stuff in there because that's that's the question that I asked the Perkins administration when they asked to refinance this. So, I've got to ask the the arsenal administration the same question. So,

no. And look, it's it's it's a it's a really really good question. Just some background so you know. I mean, these bonds, we we started receiving this city started receiving proposals to refinance these bonds, refund these bonds months and months and months ago. Um, just because bonds are ready to be refinanced doesn't mean it's the best time to do it. Um, I've got with us two of our our our lead underwriters from Stifel & Company, Charlie Sides and Josh Hollands. Um, and you know, they will be the ones that'll purchase and help sell the bonds. And you know, we leaned on them and our municipal adviser, uh, Nami Thompson, to really say, look, we, you know, we don't want to sell bonds just to sell bonds. I mean, you know, yes, we all get paid to do that stuff, but it's let's do it when it's the best time for the city. And so, we waited for these bonds to be in a position to where we could get the maximum advantage. When we first started looking, when we first got proposals that quite honestly the administration said, "No, we're not going to pursue." The savings were like 2 million. So you can see the benefit of waiting and and picking the right time.

So with this, does the bond amount go up with the fees in it? So if if we're I guess what I'm saying is are you rolling in the fees into an additional Does that make sense? I I guess I guess what I'm asking is how does this imp So if we had $190 million worth of bonds, is it gone up any because of fees or anything like that or is the savings just taken out? Yeah, the savings just taken out. So, I mean, we're there will be no additional debt issued, okay? There will be no additional time on the debt. It will just be replacing one for the other. And so, that will not with the news of last week that I'm not going to speak of, that's not going to impact that in any way.

No, I mean, this just just this is just a a one other step that you're taking to help address those concerns, you know, by saving money, by being prudent, by making sure that we're getting all the cost savings that we can. Well, I'm for it. Uh, but I I I needed to ask those questions. Absolutely. Great question. Now, I've got a question for Mr. Dark and Mr. Arseno. Uh, Mayor Arseno. Um, what are we going to do with this money?

Because you're going to be saving it over a fairly long period of time. It's not it it will lower the debt service requirement in the water and sewer budget, but understand that requirement is 50 50 plus million dollars a year. If we save, you know, half a million a year or, you know, some number like that or a million a year even, it's it's not going to appreciably change anything. It mean it means a tiny a tiny bit less need for revenues. So, at some point when we ask you for rate increases, it might be a little smaller than it would be if you hadn't done this. So, could any of the any of the savings be passed along to other capital improvements that were passed?

So, it probably could. But I'd have to, you know, we're going to have to see what the deal looks like when it's all over to see how much the year-to-year savings is, but from what I remember, it's not a huge number, but but yes, it could be. Okay. Which could in turn free up some, not by much, but if you're talking about half a million, it could free up money out of the water and sewer uh budget to do capital improvements that we would have to have paid for out of the general fund. Yes, sir. What? I don't know. Actually, [clears throat] I think I I think it would be it would be water and sewer improvements that we would make out of the enterprise.

Got the general fund. I'm sorry. He's correct. [clears throat] Yes, sir. I'm sorry. Yeah, it wouldn't go anywhere. Sorry. No, go ahead. Yeah, it wouldn't go anywhere else. It would be pretty much designated to since that is what we're all voting on. It's going to stay in the waterfront. Yes, sir. I guess what my, you know, if we need some type of improvement, instead of having to go and and take it out of the enterprise fund, we could use this $500,000 or 300, whatever it ends up being that year, and that frees up Brandon's uh budget to do other things. So, I I guess what I'm trying to say is for me, it looks like it's a win-win to do this, but I had to ask those questions. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Let's vote. And that passes with five. If there is nothing else, this meeting is adjourning. Thank you, Madam Chair. Nice meeting. Think you broke the record. [laughter]