11/06/1996 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 11/6/96 concerned organized labor and that is a subject not taken lightly by either of them. He does not want anyone to think it was an anti-organized labor report, especially the possibility of the filing of an unfair labor practice. This issue has been painstakingly discussed and is a major decision. However, we cannot jeopardize the people of this city nor can the city favor one employee over another. If other employees are paying for their hospitalization and have bargained that issue through fair negotiations, it is unfair to allow another group to bypass the issue through other measures. Finance Director Burns: 1) From the financial side of the presentation that was made to the rating agencies and the insurance underwriters, one of our strongest selling points was the fact that even though we had added $60 million in debt since 1990, we have provided dedicated revenue sources to pay the debt service. Two-thirds of the debt will be paid through dedicated revenue sources. It is interesting to note that in 1990 the debt service paid out of the General Fund was $1,137,000. The debt service that will be paid out of the General Fund in 1997 will be $1,957,000, which is not a significant increase in comparison to the amount of debt. 2) The rating agencies are expected to release the ratings at the end of this week. After that is done, the insurance agencies will then notify the city of the premiums for the insurance policies covering the bonds. With the current market, the bonds will probably sell for an interest rate of between 5.4% and 5.7%, which is considerably less than what was projected. 3) The Auditor of State's office has held the post-audit conference for the 1995 audit, which is a clean opinion with no significant findings. At that meeting, we signed a waiver of the five-day response period. This allowed the auditor's office in Cleveland to forward the report to Columbus. We expect the report to be released on Thursday and to receive it on Monday so that it can be included in the final official statement that will be mailed to investors. Also, at that meeting, the Auditor of State's office signed an authorization that allowed the city to mail to the insurance companies and rating agencies a draft copy of the 1995 audit report for their review before the official statement is mailed. 5) Added to this evening's agenda is Resolution 96-177, an annual piece of legislation which establishes the property tax rates for the city. This is based on the tax budget passed earlier this year. The resolution must be enacted and in the hands of the county by December 4. Mr. McKay asked Finance Director Burns if he recalled the percentage rate at which the last group of bonds was sold. Mr. Burns replied the last group was sold in 1992 at a rate of 6.35%. Mr. Musial: Chairperson of the Building, Zoning and Development Committee: 1) The BZD committee met on October 28. In attendance were Council members Nashar, McKay, Musial; Assistant Engineer McDermott; Assistant Building Commissioner Tom Rymarczyk; Gary Johnson, attorney for Studio Plus; Bob Cornett, architect for Studio Plus. The following proposals were discussed: 4