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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_GTEC_04.02.2007Minutes of the Meeting of Georgetown Transportation Enhancement Corporation and the Governing Body of the City of Georgetown, Texas Special Meeting Monday, April 2, 2007 The Georgetown Transportation Enhancement Corporation Special Meeting of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met on Monday, April 2, 2007. Board Members Present: Gabe Sansing - President, Pat Berryman - Vice-President, Ray Armour - Secretary, Paul Brandenburg - General Manager, Micki Rundell - Finance Director, Farley Snell, Henry Boecker, Ricki Salazar Board Members Absent: Henry Carr Staff Present: Jim Briggs, Jana Kern, John Aldridge, Tom Benz, Mark Miller, Terri Calhoun OTHERS PRESENT: Carol Polumbo - McCall, Parkhurst & Horton L.L.P. Minutes Regular Meeting Special GTEC Meeting Called to order by Mr. Gabe Sansing on Monday, April 2, 2007 at 2:04 p.m. Board may, at any time, recess the Regular Session to convene in Executive Session at the request of the President, a Board Member, the City Manager in his capacity as General Manager of the GTEC Corporation , the Assistant City Manager, or legal counsel for any purpose authorized by the Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551, and are subject to action in the Regular Session that follows. A. Update and possible action on the status of the Southeast Arterial 1 (SE1) Road Project. John Aldrid ge - Transportation Engineer Discussion: Micki Rundell informed the Board that part of the reason that we are going over SE1 is that the City will be issuing debt for this project. Staff felt that it was important that the Board be aware of all of the final decisions. Aldridge gave an up date, to the Board, on what was presented/discussed at the Council Workshop that was held on March 26, 2007. Staff was looking at the Southwest Bypass which starts at W SH 29 and goes around to SH 130 and sometime in the future it will tie back into E SH 29. The county has offered to participate in the section from Austin Ave. to just past FM 1460 (Southeast Inner Loop) in the amount of $3.0 M. Also on SE 1 from SH 130 to CR 110/Southwestern Blvd. GTEC funds of about $10.5 M. Through one of the studies with TxDOT we discovered that a better location would be to tie SE 1 and Southeast Inner Loop together for about $2.5 M. We were looking at 200' of ROW and TxDOT came back and offered that they would participate on environmental issues and clearing the environmental impact statement, all the way across from SH29 to SH29; but the City would need to look at a possibility of a feasibility study of going with 400' of ROW with a two lane roadway. If we went with the two lane roadway, from our work shop, we found that we could cut the cost adequately enough to build two 12' lanes and that would serve as a truck bypass. This truck bypass from SH 29 and from Austin Ave. to SH 130 with a two lane facility on the north side of the ROW. Snell asked, on 400' ultimately you could have a divided four lanes plus the two lanes that you would build first. Yes, that is correct. Snell continued by asking if there would be room for another frontage road. Aldridge stated that there possibly could be another frontage road on the other side. When finished out there would be a total of eight lanes. Sansing asked at the ultimate build out will this be divided. Yes, it will be divided. This will be similar to interstate section where you have a frontage road two lanes and ditches and separation sort of like a crash barrier. Boecker asked if ultimately is going to be two lane frontage roads, two main lanes in each direction, divided, do you really need 400'. It was stated that the 400 ' is a TxDOT requirement. Northwest Blvd. Bridge: We have participation with County. Total cost for the project will be about $6.8 M. This will be a connection from Northwest Blvd. and tie into FM 971. This will help relieve the congestion on Williams Dr./Austin Ave. corridor. Boecker also stated that this will also open up the Williams Drive Gateway project for Economic Development. IH 35 Frontage Road: The north bound frontage road from Austin Ave. through Leander Road and up to SH 29. This is the project that the County and the State are designing to get this frontage road built. Council gave staff direction to continue with the projects, as funds become available, when TxDOT clears the environmental impact that we could start building the roadway - 2 lanes with 400' ROW and also continue with Northwest Blvd to connect with 971. Action: None B. Consideration and possible action regarding a Debt Administration Contract between GTEC and the City of Georgetown. Micki Rundell -Director of Finance and Administration Discussion: Rundell this new debt administration contract is more specific because the type of debt we are issuing, in this case, is sales tax revenue bonds. Unlike the issues, we have done in the past that were issued by the City of Georgetown, Certificates of Obligation In this case GTEC will be borrowing on their own. Because this is the first time that GTEC will be borrowing on their own, we have asked Ms. Polumbo here to go over the contract with the Board. The one thing that this contract does is document what GTEC and City are doing. GTEC will make payments back to the City for your share of the debt that the City has already issued. But one of the important things that this does from a market p erspective is make it clear that those payments back to the City for there debt are subordinate to the payment of GTEC’s own debt; this is necessary to be able to market your bonds and get the best interest rate for your bonds. We need to get the bondholders assurances that they have a senior lien on the 4B Sales Tax structure. City staff will continue to administer the construction project contracts, and the funds will come from the bond funds that GTEC will issue. There is an existing sales tax remittence agreement between the City and GTEC basically speaks to - when the sales tax money comes in and how it is transferred over, now that GTEC is issuing debt the bond holders have a legal lien on all of the 4B sales tax. What this mean is there is a revenu e stream that comes in, it comes to a revenue fund that pays the debt service and any thing left is available for any lawful purpose. Bond holders would know, if anything were to go wrong, that is their revenue stream that they have a lien on. It was asked if there were any projects getting ready to come off the books. Rundell stated that other than the cash funded projects that GTEC has done that relate to economic development in the downtown area, no, all of our bond projects are not off yet they wo n't be for about another 12 years. Action: Motion by Snell, seconded by Berryman to approve the Debt Administration Contract between GTEC and the City of Georgetown. Approved 6-0 (Carr absent) Discussion: Rundell stated that a special meeting will need to be set for April 10, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. at the Council Chambers. Motion by Berryman, seconded by Boecker to Adjourn meeting Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 02:40 PM. Approved : Attest: _______________________ ________________________ Gabe Sansing - President Ray Armour - Secretary