GEDC, City Council hold joint meeting today at 4:30 p.m.; council meeting follows at 6 p.m.
The Gonzales City Council and the Gonzales Economic Development Corporation will hold a joint meeting to discuss the EDC’s potential help in covering the city’s $1.825 settlement with the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary over a suit it filed over the estate of J.B. Wells.
The meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday, July 8 at the Gonzales Municipal Building, 820 St. Joseph St. The joint meeting is being held ahead of a city council meeting at 6 p.m. that night.
The GEDC is not being asked to pay all or part of the settlement directly. Instead, the meeting agenda calls for “discussion and possible action to approve the GEDC funding certain improvements, amenities and/or purchase of real property interests associated with J.B. Wells Park.”
The idea was pitched by the city to the GEDC at its June 28 meeting and spurred the creation of the joint meeting.
While the GEDC agreed to the joint meeting, it doesn’t mean it is on board with writing a big check.
The GEDC voiced concerned over what their investments would actually gain and how it would adversely affect funding of projects already in the pipeline and in the future.
Atthe June 28 meting, GEDC board member Ken Morrow wondered if the city council would consider a bond fund of $4 to $5 million to do improvements at the park, including horse stables and stalls.
“At least you have a palatable way to package this purchase with improvements and let the voters vote on it because they are paying for it either way,” Morrow said. “We might as well put it out there for what it is.”
Bonds
At its June 24 meeting, the city council received a presentation from the firm of McCall, Parkhurst & Horton LLP about the issuance of a bond to make the $1.825 million settlement payment due in October.
Of the four bond options available to the city – General Obligation Bond, General of Obligation Refunding Bond, Certificate of Obligations, and Tax Notes – three do not require a ballot measure to be decided by voters.
However, with the city facing an October deadline to pay the settlement, the firm recommended the city pursue the General Obligation Refunding Bond because there is no requirement for a public notice being posted 45 days ahead of the council voting on the bond. The bond could be spread out 10 to 20 years.
The Certificate of Obligation Bond could also move quickly, but mature in seven years.
The settlement avoids more legal fees and the city’s possible loss of the land that now houses the J.B. Wells Park, Expo and Arena. It also leaves the city to find a way to come with the money.
The decision came on a 5-0 vote by council members Sherry Tumlinson-Koepp, Rob Brown, Bobby O’Neal, Joseph “Poochy” Kridler, and Mayor Connie Kacir.
The settlement averts a trail – or trails – and the related litigation costs. The city, as of June 4, had spent more than $429,000 on the litigation.
The seminary filed suit claiming that the conditions of J.B. Wells’s estate were not met by the city, “violating the terms of the gift,” where the land was to be made a public park
The seminary sought ownership of the park. The provisions of the will state that if the city did not meet the conditions of Wells’s last will and testament, the land shall be sold, and all proceeds given to the seminary.
The J.B. Wells Park, Expo and Arena was appraised at $7.349 million by the Gonzales Central Appraisal District, and $11.3 million by Bolton Real Estate according to case filings.
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