Merced City Council to consider bond refinancing, traffic lights
The Merced City Council will consider refinancing North Merced bonds and rebidding a park renovation project at the Monday, Sept. 21, meeting.
The Council study session will begin at 5:30 p.m.in the Council Chambers on the second floor of the Merced Civic Center, 678 W. 18th St. The regular Council meeting will begin at 7 p.m.
The study session will consist of a tour of the UC Merced Venture Labs Small Business Development Center in the building adjacent to the Merced Civic Center. The City is a partner with UC in the business incubator project.
The Council will be asked to refinance the Bellevue Ranch East and West Community Facility District Special Revenue bonds because market interest rates and redemption prices have decreased.
In the Bellevue Ranch East district $12,745,000 of community facility district bonds were purchased in 2005 for infrastructure improvements. Refinancing will yield a savings of about $45,000 a year or approximately $808,000 total savings for the property owners in the district.
In the Bellevue Ranch West district $7,410,000 of community facility district bonds were purchased in July 2006 for infrastructure improvements. Refinancing will result in savings of approximately $37,000 a year, or about $734,000 total savings for the property owners in the district.
A traffic light synchronization project for G Street from 16th Street to Yosemite Avenue, and 16th Street between R and G streets will go before the Council. The $226,717.50 project's goal is to make traffic flow smoother along the City streets.
Also on the agenda is an item to reject the one bid received for the Stephen Leonard Park Renovation Project and a request to rebid the project. The engineer's estimate for the project was $650,000, but the bid received for the project was $946,120. The City received a state Department of Housing and Community Development grant for $828,775 for design and construction of the project. According to the terms of the grant, the project must be completed by June 2016.
A closed session will follow the study session to confer with counsel regarding significant exposure to litigation.
City Council meetings are streamed live on the Internet. A link to the live meeting is on the City's home page at www.cityofmerced.org The City will also add the Council video to YouTube for people that were unable to watch it live. These services are in addition to the live broadcast of the regular meeting on Comcast's Government Channel 96.
The Council agenda is posted online at www.cityofmerced.org and is available outside the chambers prior to the meeting. Request to Speak forms are available at the meeting or can be downloaded from the City's website. Cards must be turned in to the City Clerk in order for a person to be recognized by the Council.