ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Liberal City Commission had an easy time with its most recent regular meeting Tuesday evening.
Before the commission took on the agenda’s new business, a proclamation for Constitution Week was read.
“WHEREAS: Sept. 17, 2024, marks the 237th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention; and WHEREAS: It is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary; and to the patriotic celebrations which will commemorate the occasion; and WHEREAS: Public Law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating Sept. 17 through 23 as Constitution Week in Liberal, and ask our citizens to reaffirm the ideals of the Framers of the constitution had in 1787 by vigilantly protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties, remembering that lost rights may never be regained,” Liberal Mayor Jose Lara read.
Daughters of the American Revolution member Ginny McNitt then spoke in praise of the proclamation.
“We are the Cimarron Valley chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and we gratefully accept the City of Liberal’s proclamation for Constitution Week,” McNitt said. “This is in honor of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution by the U.S. Congress of the confederation Sept. 17, 1787, making the Constitution the foundation of the current form of government of the United States. In 1955, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) petitioned Congress with a resolution to observe Sept. 17 through 23 every year as Constitution Week to honor the adoption of the U.S. Constitution by the U.S. Congress. The resolution was signed into law by Dwight D. Eisenhower Aug. 2, 1956. The Cimarron Valley chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was organized in October 1966 in Liberal, joining the NSDAR, which was established in October 1890 with the motto of ‘God, Home and Country’ and a commitment to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution and the patriotic history of the U.S. Thank you all for your time and attention to Constitution Week every year.”
Up first under new business was discussion of Resolution No. 2420 concerning the solar project and authorizing issuance of temporary notes.
“As the commission might remember, at the Aug. 13 meeting, Larry Kleeman with Ranson Financial Group, LLC was in attendance to review with the Liberal City Commission the financial progression of the solar energy project,” City of Liberal Chief Financial Officer Scarlette Diseker said. “We are now ready to move forward with the bids and a resolution authorizing and directing the issuance, sale, and delivery of General Obligation Temporary Notes, Series 2024. According to our financing schedule, bids were taken through Sept. 10. Resolution No. 2420 would authorize the issuance, sale, and delivery of General Obligation Temporary Notes, Series 2024.”
Ranson Financial Group, LLC representative Henry Schmidt then spoke to the commission.
“Recently, we had the sale of the temporary notes for the city’s solar project, and we received five very nice bids,” Schmidt said. “Country Club Bank ended up being the winner, as you can see in your information. They came in at an average interest cost of around 3.244 percent, which was a lot better than the 4.5 percent we had estimated last month when Larry was here talking to the commission. Their underwriting fee was only $13,940, which is about 0.5 percent versus the roughly 1.5 to 2 percent we’d been estimating before, so we’re really pleased with that. With that reduced interest and low underwriting fee, we were able to reduce the temporary note from $3.4 million to $3.28 million because we were able to reduce the capitalized interest necessary for this one. It will close Oct. 3, which is when the funds will become available, and it is cullable Oct. 1, 2025 if you’re ready to proceed with bonds at that point.”
After that discussion, the commission then heard a presentation regarding the terms sheet for a proposed Dairy Queen project.
“As the commission is aware, a few weeks ago, Mayor Lara and I were authorized to continue negotiating with the LLC over the incentives package and offer, and Mayor Lara, Vice Mayor Jeff Parsons, and Eli Svaty and some of his staff at the Seward County Development Corporation have been working on this for about the past 10 days,” Liberal City Manager Rusty Varnado said. “It’s been a long go-round, and there’s been about four or five iterations of this. They will be granted the NRB, which takes the existing property and puts a tax abatement on any of the improvements – they’ll still take tax on the ground that’s there now, but the actual site where they’re building will be abated 95 percent for 10 years. That’s our citywide NRB that was passed some time ago, and it’s been updated a few times. We would grant the issuance of Industrial Revenue Bonds, which grants them a sales tax exemption on construction materials. That also comes with a property tax abatement, but the NRB abatement is more attractive and not necessarily something we would want to offer for this type of project.”
Varnado then continued going into detail about the agreement.
“We also agree to allow them to establish a Community Improvement District with a sales tax increase of 1.25 percent, and it would be up to the developer to pay all their legal fees and any other fees associated. We will also grant them a grant of up to $20,000, and the Seward County Development Corporation will provide a $3,000 new business loan,” Varnado said. “The City of Liberal will waive building fees up to $10,000 and right now, based on the value of the project, it’s about $6,000 to $7,000 for the inspection fees. Then, getting into the infrastructure, we’ll provide them $10,000 toward the water and sewer work and some of that other work. We have 60 days, once they tell us they’re ready for us to begin, to complete our work on the infrastructure.”
After some more discussion, Lara then gave some of his thoughts.
“I want to emphasize, this is just the terms sheet, meaning it doesn’t commit us to the project or them to the project,” Lara said. “This just allows this to be presented so they can begin the process. It’s not entirely unlike the Apex project, they needed a signed water lease to be able to do any other work, and this company wants an approved terms sheet to be able to start their process.”
