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respective projects associated with the ordinances. He explained that they have introduced a substitute for Ordinance 46-2023, which will raise the borrowing amount from $1,020,000 to $3,240,000 due to unforeseen project expenses as well as advice from outside legal Counsel that one of the originally planned funding sources is not viable. He also explained that Ordinance 47- 2023 converts $37.7 million of notes into bonds. n response to a question from Councilmember Bullock, Director Rancatore confirmed that all of I the ordinances involving notes are new borrowings except Ordinance 47-2023 which is converting old notes to bonds. Councilmember Bullock had additional questions regarding the sidewalk program and the planned HVAC improvements for Fire Station 1. It was decided that he would work with Council staff to submit these questions in writing to Public Works. Jeff Rink then gave a presentation on the City’s debt profile, 2024 Plan of Finance, and Credit Rating. He began by emphasizing that the City is very fortunate in terms of the source of funds available to pay debt so that we do not need to pull from the general fund for debt service. He then briefly reviewed the City’s debt profile. He explained that they are recommending that the City open a bond and notes in order to take the existing notes for projects that are all completed and convert those to long-term bonds since the blended rate of the bonds is very comparable to the rate of the notes at this time. In response to a question from Councilmember Baker, Jeff Rink and Catherine Swartz clarified that the City’s current outstanding bond debt is $61.5 million dollars, and they are proposing to add $41.5 million in bonds to that number. Mr. Rink then went into more detail about the proposed 2024 Financing Plan and reviewed the relevant slides. He said that they do not project going to market until they are done with the credit rating. He said that the City’s credit rating for Moody’s is Aa2 and has been since 2010. He explained that this is a very strong credit rating, and that there are few Aaa rated municipalities in Ohio, with Westlake being one of the closest examples due to the nature of the business entities in the city. A conversation followed about ways that the City could lobby Moody’s to disincentivize sprawl and better value the characteristics of older municipalities (such as Lakewood) in terms of their infrastructure. He then went into further detail about the City’s credit rating, and the highlights they plan to share with Moody’s to further their case for an upgrade. He stated his opinion is that we are close to getting Moody’s to upgrade our rating, but that we are not quite there yet. He believes we will have more leverage next year after the property re-evaluations come in from the County because they expect Lakewood to maintain a very strong showing. In response to a question from Councilmember Baker, Mr. Rink clarified that the benefit of an upgrade in the credit score would be lower interest rates for borrowing. In response to another question from Councilmember Baker, Mr. Rink and Director Rancatore went into detail about pension liability and how it impacts Ohio municipalities when it comes to 3