School Board talks bond refinancing

 

 

CRESCO -  Crestwood High School hosted the monthly Howard-Winneshiek Community School District Board of Education meeting on Nov. 13 with bond refinancing one of the new business items discussed.

Duane Bodermann opened the meeting by welcoming everyone in attendance. Roll call was taken by Clint Farlinger. Board members present included: Bodermann, Todd Hill, Casey Vobr, Allison Holten and Toni Johnson. Superintendent Ted Ihns also observed. The Boy Scout Trout 261 witnessed the meeting. They included: Josh Jensen, Sam Brace, Ethin Matt and Robby Ollendieck.

After roll was called, everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

• Following the Pledge, Farlinger noted  Travis Squires of PiperJaffray, an investment firm, would be joining the meeting in a few minutes to discuss bond refinancing with the group.

• Bodermann asked if anyone would like to discuss anything during open forum, but no one came forward.

• A motion to adopt the agenda was presented by Bodermann. Hill made the motion and Vobr seconded the motion. Bodermann asked if everyone was in favor of adopting the agenda and all the board members voted aye.

• Superintended Ted Ihns gave a brief report.

“I had the opportunity on Oct. 31 to meet two legislators representing our school district: Jane Bloomingdale and Waylon Brown,” he said. “We talked about legislative priorities in terms of education. The legislators wanted to make sure the agendas are moving forward to make sure there is enough money to keep the schools going.

“At the end of October, we had two students who completed their requirements for graduation from the alternative education center: Autumn Nelson and Shania Ellison. They will also walk through the graduation ceremony. They did a great job. They will be going to college, and they are taking things into their own hands for their future,” Ihns said.

The Superintendent added parent-teacher conferences were successful during the week of Nov. 6.

“We had a good turnout for conferences,” he noted. “We had 84 percent of families show up for conferences at the secondary level. We will continue to reach out to the families that didn’t have the chance to come to school for conferences. I was able to walk around the school during conferences and had a lot of good conversations with families.

“I am currently working with Heather Klenke in terms of revising our web page. We want to make the page more ADA compliant. We are looking at possible vendors who can update the webpage to showcase our school and community,” he added.

• Ihns noted that this meeting would be Clint Farlinger’s last board meeting.

“I would like to thank Mr. Farlinger for his five years of service (to the district),” Ihns said. “I’ve only been here five  months, but I’m going to miss him. Clint, thank you for all you’ve done for the school district and good luck in your next venture.”

• Bodermann noted there was no old business so new business was discussed, including the SBRC application.

Farlinger noted this application was an opportunity to ask the DE for more spending authority. He said the money has been spent, but the board is asking for the authority to report the funds that are spent.

“The other item is a calculation by the Department of Education which is just short of $86,000 that we can ask for spending authority,” Farlinger said. “Even though our net open enrollment has shrunk, there are still calculations we can do, and we can ask for authority. There is no extra money, but we have the authority.

“The ELL money came from the general fund. This is money that we passed along to other school districts that we hadn’t received the funding for yet. We are asking for the maximum amount of spending authority that the SBRC will allow,” Farlinger said.

Holten made the motion to ask for the  amount of funds for the SBRC will allow, and Johnson seconded the motion. Bodermann called for a vote and everyone voted aye. The motion was approved.

• Bodermann next brought up the bond refinancing issue.

Farlinger said there are two entities the board is working with in terms of bond refinancing. Ahlers & Cooney P.C. are the attorneys and PiperJaffrey is working on the bond placement. Engagement letters have been received from both firms.

“All the work has been done in the last couple meetings,” Farlinger said. “This is the formal agreement in terms of how things will work. It can be passed as one motion or separate motions.”

Bodermann asked if there is a motion to accept the two entities. Hill made the motion and Holten seconded it. Bodermann called for a vote, and everyone said aye, which carried the motion.

Travis Squires then talked about bond refinancing.

“To give you an update since October, we have worked with your administration team in terms of getting the bond ready to go,” Squires said. “The bond was reviewed,  and it went to 50 banks and investment firms around the country. We have had conversations with your area banks, and they are interested. We had three different firms submit proposals: BB&T Governmental Finance, CUSB Bank and  JPMorgan Chase.

“Overall, BB&T’s bid rate was 2.04 percent. BB&T and JPMorgan Chase had an additional cost to go with their financing. CUSB’s interest was 2.17 and JPMorgan Chase’s rate was 2.22. There is almost an $800 difference in estimated savings between BB&T and CUSB. The local bank will allow you to pay off (the loan) at any time, which has value.

“When you have a loan with a local bank, you can remove fees, which saves about $1,000 per year. Going with the local bank, the district would save almost $150,000 over the next six to seven years. This would be real savings going to the district, which could be invested back into the school.

“I want to give kudos to your local bank for stepping up with a proposal because not all banks do that. Not every bank in Iowa steps up with the capital to do a loan,” Squires said.

Farlinger noted the board was given a list of resolutions that Ahlers & Cooney wanted the board to consider. Squires said the board can make a motion to consider the bids received on the refinance.

Hill made the motion to consider the bids received, and Vobr seconded motion.

Farlinger called for a roll call to consider the bids. All five board members voted aye, which passed the motion.

Squires said the next motion would be for a resolution for awarding the sale of $1,435,000 in school infrastructure sales, services and use tax revenue refunding bonds, series 2017 to CUSB Bank at 2.17 percent interest.

Johnson made the motion to introduce the resolution to use CUSB Bank, and Holten seconded the motion. Farlinger called the roll and everyone voted aye to pass the motion.

Squires noted the school will receive funds for the new loan on Dec. 22. The bond will be paid off on Jan. 1 along with the regular payment.

• Bodermann said this was the end of the new business. No one had anything for general discussion.

• Ihns stated there will be a holiday concert at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 11, which is the date of the next board meeting. Bodermann said the meeting could start at 5 p.m. The board agreed that 5 p.m. on Dec. 11 would work well.

• Before closing the meeting, Bodermann recognized Boy Scout Troup 261, which attended the school board meeting.