Council sells bonds, helps Oak Hills, gets bids

Bonds fund capital improvements, Oak Hills gets improved rate

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The New Ulm City Council sold $3,520,000 in general obligation bonds to fund its 2004 capital improvement program, helped Oak Hills Living Center by floating a $5,800,000 refunding revenue note and got the Mueller Park Restroom/Concession facility project out for bids at its meeting Tuesday.

Once again, the city received an A1 rating from Moody's Investor Services for its general obligation bond issue which Wells Fargo Brokerage Services of Minneapolis snapped up with a true interest bid of 3.1616 percent, the city's bonding consultant, Jon Burmeister of Public Financial Management, Des Moines, Iowa, reported.

The bond sale not only will fund the city's 2004 street, utility and alley improvements project but several other capital improvement projects as well.

While the city's name will be on the refunding revenue bonds for Oak Hills Living Center, the city is not obligated in any way, Burmeister said. The center's administrator, Carli Lindemann, said the proceeds would be used to call the original bond issue used to build the center.

Lindemann said the center wanted to take advantage of the low interest rates now available with the hope of reinvesting "the interest savings to benefit the staff and residents."

City Manager Brian Gramentz reported seven proposals were received for conservation treatment of the Hermann sculpture. Arnie Lillo of Good Thunder and David Hyduke of Kasota, the two artisans who conducted Hermann's inspection, submitted one of the proposals.

Gramentz said the proposals are being evaluated now by the Hermann Monument Restoration and Perpetual Maintenance Society and the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul.

Plans are for two MHS staff persons to meet with the local proposal review committee in New Ulm on May 26. It's hoped a recommendation will come out of that meeting so it can be presented to the council at its June 1 meeting, Gramentz said.

"There's about $1 million difference between the low and the high," Gramentz said, in response to a question from the council.

The council approved a Job Opportunity Building Zone sub-zone modification affecting New Ulm Precision Tool, Inc. At a meeting preceding the council meeting, the impact of the JOBZ zones in New Ulm was discussed.

Economic Development Coordinator Brian Tohal, who also serves as local JOBZ guru, said he is talking with "five, potentially six" firms that have shown interest in the JOBZ subsidy program. He allayed councilors' fears that New Ulm's designated 215 acres wouldn't be enough.

"I feel if we manage acres well, we'll never run out. The state has gone through the same thought process that we're going through here and their conclusion is if you manage the acres well, you'll never run out," Tohal said.

By managing the acres well, Tohal said he meant moving sub-zones around so they more closely fit the situation so no land goes to waste. The proposal approved by the council allows the city to do just that.

In other action, the council:

* Launched another annexation, acting on a request by William Koeckeritz of Sunset Properties to bring two parcels totaling 28.35 acres along either side of North Highland Avenue north of Karl Drive and west of North Garden Street.

* Authorized a lump-sum $58,815 allowing the city's consultant to begin work on the airport's proposed pavement repair/rehabilitation project. The city will get a refund of 95 percent of the cost from federal funding.

* Approved a development agreement for plat of Oak Bluffs Fourth Addition which is being developed by the Catholic Diocese of New Ulm.