Minutes 08/12/1980 - Laserfiche WebLink

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This prediction of cash-flow deficits in the early years of the project has had, as will be seen, a continued dampcnin g effect on the project; and the Select Committee has played some additional and important roles in the life of the whole proposition. City Council Involvement, Early 1979 Faced with the Select Committee's contradictions of the Beck Appraisal Report and the prospect of an additional sizeable expense if it decided to proceed with Phase 11 of the project, City Council undertook, as individuals, study of various aspects of the proposition in February-March, 1979. Then-councilman, now-mayor Barry Greene took on the task of analyzing again the questions of financial feasibility. More exactly, he developed various approaches to handling the possibility of $3- 5,000,000 in short-term deficits. With the informal advice of investment experts, he suggested (1) the setting aside of certain Electric Department surplus funds to draw against; and (2) the possibility of some innovative financing approaches (including the llramped capitalized interest:! concept). His conclusion, again based on certain assumptions as to the four feasibility factors previously mentioned, was that the potential deficits could be handled. Other members of Council reported positively on various other aspects of the project, and it was agreed in March, 1979, to proceed with Phase II. On April 10, 1979, the Council authorized the first of two installments to the escrow fund, recommended earlier by Councilman Greene, in the amount of $900,000. The second installment, of $300,000, was then authorized September 11, 1979. With accrued interest, this account is estimated to amount to $1,343,466 at June 30, 1980. Re-Enter Beck The City had circulated a llrequest for proposals" (RFP) in August, 1978, to a number of consulting engineering firms (including R. W. Beck and Associates) to determine the costs of proceeding with the Phase II and Phase III (yet to be discussed in this report) portions of the project. Beck was then chosen by Council to continue as the chief engineering consultant for the project. Phase II was referred to originally as a single proposition aJ1d called the "Evaluation Studyll. Upon negotiation with Beck, however, it was agreed that Phase II would be divided into two parts, A and B. A contract with Beck, in the amount of $130,000, was subsequently signed to proceed with what was now titled the "Phase II-A - Interim Evaluation Report", to include the following: a. Aerial photography, mapping and survey work b. Geological and subsurface investigations c. Updating of projected construction costs d. Re-analysis of the project's economic feasibility. -4-