Hawk Cove City Council Meeting 4/15/2025
0:00:00 Speaker: on April 15 2025 at 630 p .m. come to
0:00:04 Speaker: order
0:00:05 Speaker: roll
0:00:06 Speaker: call thank you minority [name] is not present. [name] yet? Yeah,
0:00:13 Speaker: [name]. Here. [name].
0:00:21 Speaker: [name] in the patient.
0:00:26 Speaker: Say our prayer.
0:00:31 Speaker: They want to bow their heads.
0:00:34 Speaker: [name] in heaven,
0:00:35 Speaker: holy is your name. We come before thee and ask
0:00:38 Speaker: your Lord your blessings upon
0:00:39 Speaker: us and upon this community. Be with us and guide us during this meeting and through our lives in Jesus name.
0:00:47 Speaker: Amen. I pledge
0:00:53 Speaker: allegiance
0:00:59 Speaker: to
0:01:01 Speaker: the flag
0:01:02 Speaker: of the United States of America
0:01:04 Speaker: and to the republic
0:01:06 Speaker: for
0:01:06 Speaker: which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty
0:01:12 Speaker: and justice
0:01:13 Speaker: for all. Thank you.
0:01:26 Speaker: Mayor, we do not know
0:01:27 Speaker: of the comments today. Okay, we've been on the new business. this wastewater pump report.
0:01:36 Speaker: No action.
0:01:38 Speaker: And
0:01:38 Speaker: on the second page I'm told where it says the lift station call outs there are six, four were on [name], two were on [name] and two were pump issues.
0:01:56 Speaker: Do we have any questions about? Yeah, oral and any two or more
0:02:10 Speaker: issues.
0:02:14 Speaker: Right, for the first
0:02:15 Speaker: six.
0:02:16 Speaker: You probably can't do my
0:02:16 Speaker: right. I'm just going to show it to you.
0:02:19 Speaker: Can
0:02:30 Speaker: you make me know the item B, U .S., D .A., and special update?
0:02:42 Speaker: The main update that I have, and I don't want to fill in the gaps, Is community unlimited finished the rate study except for the outstanding balances on the loan and they got those today from the USDA so they should finish the rate study really soon. And we'll be getting that.
0:03:04 Speaker: The balances and interest rates were discussed by client paying and actual balances on debt were discussed and requested.
0:03:18 Speaker: Contact is being made with the bond office to update them.
0:03:31 Speaker: Okay. [name], would you like to
0:03:34 Speaker: fill in from that for
0:03:36 Speaker: the main subjects?
0:03:38 Speaker: This is a
0:03:39 Speaker: letter from
0:03:40 Speaker: the USDA
0:03:41 Speaker: from the
0:03:42 Speaker: 8th of January.
0:03:45 Speaker: It has
0:03:51 Speaker: listed on here the $55 ,000.
0:03:54 Speaker: Our normal
0:03:55 Speaker: payments have been two
0:03:59 Speaker: a year. One in February, one
0:04:01 Speaker: in August
0:04:01 Speaker: for $224 ,000.
0:04:05 Speaker: And in January they asked
0:04:08 Speaker: for instead
0:04:09 Speaker: of that payment being
0:04:10 Speaker: the 24
0:04:11 Speaker: ,000 they asked for it to be the $55 ,203
0:04:14 Speaker: and 12 cents. Does everybody have that
0:04:16 Speaker: paper down at the
0:04:26 Speaker: bottom? You'll see where they're talking about
0:04:29 Speaker: what the current delinquent interests do
0:04:31 Speaker: and the current
0:04:33 Speaker: delinquent principal do.
0:04:38 Speaker: I don't believe that equals
0:04:39 Speaker: the number
0:04:39 Speaker: that
0:04:40 Speaker: he gave you
0:04:41 Speaker: today. Do you have that in
0:04:42 Speaker: your notes, what
0:04:42 Speaker: that number
0:04:43 Speaker: was that
0:04:45 Speaker: he gave to
0:04:45 Speaker: [name] from Community [name]?
0:04:48 Speaker: These are not actual actionables, these are
0:04:52 Speaker: just...
0:04:53 Speaker: That was a
0:04:54 Speaker: ballpark on
0:04:55 Speaker: what he said.
0:04:55 Speaker: Yeah, ballpark numbers. And [name] today
0:04:58 Speaker: said the number of... I need to write it down before I
0:05:04 Speaker: start. one million six hundred fifty thousand five hundred and twenty eight dollars is the outstanding balance for the mom
0:05:19 Speaker: that's
0:05:20 Speaker: what he's
0:05:20 Speaker: saying that's
0:05:21 Speaker: what he's saying it is now on
0:05:23 Speaker: the principle oh that's
0:05:26 Speaker: what I'm saying
0:05:26 Speaker: down at the very bottom of
0:05:28 Speaker: the page that I gave you this four
0:05:30 Speaker: percent out of a million right
0:05:33 Speaker: yeah
0:05:34 Speaker: so I was just wanting to call to your attention
0:05:36 Speaker: as well as January
0:05:38 Speaker: 8th
0:05:40 Speaker: well I think what is
0:05:42 Speaker: going on well I'm pretty sure what is going on
0:05:44 Speaker: is that we're still under
0:05:46 Speaker: an accrual
0:05:47 Speaker: of a hundred and sixty
0:05:49 Speaker: five dollars per day
0:05:50 Speaker: he said today a hundred and fifty dollars a day but I
0:05:55 Speaker: think that is
0:05:57 Speaker: the interest that is
0:05:58 Speaker: accruing at a rate of a hundred and sixty
0:06:00 Speaker: five dollars per day
0:06:13 Speaker: the city attorney
0:06:14 Speaker: is going to go into some other
0:06:15 Speaker: stuff
0:06:17 Speaker: with you guys, so I'm not going to
0:06:18 Speaker: step on hers.
0:06:20 Speaker: But this page that I'm going
0:06:21 Speaker: to give you right now, this
0:06:23 Speaker: is what was presented to communities unlimited.
0:06:26 Speaker: This, this is
0:06:27 Speaker: your customer base.
0:06:31 Speaker: These are not
0:06:33 Speaker: exact numbers on the totals
0:06:35 Speaker: for
0:06:36 Speaker: each one of this is
0:06:37 Speaker: for your 2024 fiscal year.
0:06:40 Speaker: You can see
0:06:41 Speaker: it's going to vary between the number of customers throughout the course of that fiscal
0:06:46 Speaker: anywhere
0:06:48 Speaker: ranging from 188 when
0:06:51 Speaker: the top number was 191.
0:06:55 Speaker: Your right analysis is going to be based on that. So if you're looking at
0:06:59 Speaker: October, that's per customer.
0:07:02 Speaker: If 188 people are your customer listed all of
0:07:07 Speaker: them paid,
0:07:07 Speaker: that would
0:07:08 Speaker: have been $22 ,748.
0:07:11 Speaker: And the The reason it tells you in red at the
0:07:13 Speaker: bottom, I think it'd be the right one,
0:07:16 Speaker: that says this
0:07:17 Speaker: is a base
0:07:18 Speaker: list with totals. These do not reflect true totals.
0:07:22 Speaker: And the reason is maybe
0:07:23 Speaker: 188 people didn't pay.
0:07:26 Speaker: Maybe 188 people
0:07:27 Speaker: did pay
0:07:27 Speaker: and several of them had
0:07:28 Speaker: late fees from the previous month. Okay, so that's why this is a
0:07:32 Speaker: base, but it's
0:07:33 Speaker: a good number
0:07:33 Speaker: for you
0:07:34 Speaker: to take
0:07:35 Speaker: into consideration and that time is coming when these numbers are gonna be really important to you.
0:07:46 Speaker: Get you ready for the next meeting that's coming up.
0:07:47 Speaker: This is all to get
0:07:48 Speaker: you ready for what's coming.
0:07:51 Speaker: So as of last month's session, Ms. [name] was saying that we have 200
0:07:57 Speaker: customers.
0:07:59 Speaker: Our guesstimation right now, I believe, is 206.
0:08:02 Speaker: I don't know how to go about it.
0:08:03 Speaker: Something like
0:08:04 Speaker: that. You don't need to worry about it.
0:08:06 Speaker: And like I said,
0:08:08 Speaker: it doesn't matter now,
0:08:09 Speaker: but it will when it comes time for you to start doing the figures. Everybody will have
0:08:13 Speaker: their calculators and their pens out
0:08:15 Speaker: to come up with your rate.
0:08:17 Speaker: it's going to matter. It has increased now as of the last month showing it was a total of 191 and your rate analysis
0:08:25 Speaker: is only
0:08:26 Speaker: based on your fiscal totals for 2024.
0:08:30 Speaker: 2025 doesn't play into
0:08:31 Speaker: it but it doesn't mean at the
0:08:33 Speaker: end of the day when you start doing your
0:08:34 Speaker: figurations that it won't matter because it will. It's going to matter because you've had an increase in your customer base.
0:08:47 Speaker: Anybody have any more questions
0:08:49 Speaker: about
0:08:49 Speaker: this?
0:08:58 Speaker: I'm just going
0:08:59 Speaker: to go into
0:09:01 Speaker: detail
0:09:02 Speaker: to this
0:09:02 Speaker: page right here
0:09:03 Speaker: was presented
0:09:04 Speaker: to communities
0:09:05 Speaker: unlimited
0:09:05 Speaker: and
0:09:06 Speaker: has been included in the rate
0:09:08 Speaker: analysis is
0:09:08 Speaker: nearly complete
0:09:10 Speaker: and
0:09:11 Speaker: rate study.
0:09:15 Speaker: A
0:09:16 Speaker: lot
0:09:21 Speaker: of what they
0:09:22 Speaker: discussed today
0:09:23 Speaker: they
0:09:25 Speaker: have every intention of
0:09:26 Speaker: re -imagerizing the debt for
0:09:28 Speaker: the City of [name], which is amazing and awesome. We'll put the city back
0:09:32 Speaker: on another 40 year debt plan.
0:09:35 Speaker: And there's a little bit of tea area
0:09:36 Speaker: back and forth right now what
0:09:37 Speaker: the
0:09:38 Speaker: what the
0:09:39 Speaker: interest rate is going to be.
0:09:42 Speaker: But whatever,
0:09:44 Speaker: what was that 3
0:09:44 Speaker: .75
0:09:46 Speaker: or
0:09:47 Speaker: 3 .75?
0:09:49 Speaker: Yeah, I
0:09:51 Speaker: don't
0:09:52 Speaker: have mine. That's why I was up in danger.
0:09:58 City Attorney: 3 .375.
0:10:06 Speaker: 3 .375
0:10:07 Speaker: percent.
0:10:08 Speaker: What we're
0:10:10 Speaker: currently paying
0:10:10 Speaker: on that
0:10:11 Speaker: when
0:10:13 Speaker: we originally signed everything it was going to be 4 .25 percent was your
0:10:17 Speaker: interest
0:10:17 Speaker: rate. What we actually
0:10:19 Speaker: paid was 4
0:10:20 Speaker: .125
0:10:21 Speaker: percent.
0:10:24 Speaker: So that's a lower amount on the 3 .375
0:10:27 Speaker: but
0:10:30 Speaker: what they didn't take into consideration
0:10:32 Speaker: there was the median household income, all that stuff
0:10:34 Speaker: is going to come into play before
0:10:35 Speaker: y
0:10:36 Speaker: 'all have to make that decision. You're going
0:10:38 Speaker: to be getting a bunch of numbers and you're going to have to crunch
0:10:40 Speaker: it to
0:10:43 Speaker: make it work.
0:10:46 Speaker: There's something else that I forgot.
0:10:50 Speaker: I think you already told everybody that
0:10:51 Speaker: it was going to
0:10:52 Speaker: be the next thing
0:10:54 Speaker: is
0:10:55 Speaker: the
0:10:56 Speaker: bond council. I asked at the last
0:10:58 Speaker: special
0:11:00 Speaker: assets unit meeting
0:11:01 Speaker: if
0:11:02 Speaker: the
0:11:03 Speaker: Special Assets Unit could
0:11:05 Speaker: provide us with a draft proposal
0:11:08 Speaker: because
0:11:09 Speaker: we were talked by the bond council attorney
0:11:10 Speaker: that there's nothing they
0:11:12 Speaker: can do. We're in wait mode
0:11:13 Speaker: until
0:11:14 Speaker: we have
0:11:15 Speaker: a proposal
0:11:16 Speaker: and
0:11:17 Speaker: probably [name] told me
0:11:18 Speaker: at that meeting and told the mayor and told the city
0:11:21 Speaker: attorney that
0:11:22 Speaker: he would be able to have me a draft by this meeting which was today at 11
0:11:25 Speaker: 30 a
0:11:26 Speaker: .m.
0:11:27 Speaker: he did not have a draft prepared.
0:11:30 Speaker: I asked him several times to make sure that I was asking the right
0:11:33 Speaker: questions and getting appropriate answers.
0:11:36 Speaker: He then told us that he was not going to give us a proposal in writing.
0:11:42 Speaker: He gave us the numbers, we took the notes, and we're going to have to
0:11:45 Speaker: put a proposal
0:11:46 Speaker: together
0:11:46 Speaker: for
0:11:48 Speaker: ourselves.
0:11:50 Speaker: What we're going to do is
0:11:51 Speaker: take it to the bottom council.
0:11:55 Speaker: That's his We've got all the criteria that they're
0:11:57 Speaker: going to ask for.
0:11:59 Speaker: I don't know a timeframe yet,
0:12:03 Speaker: but as soon as that meeting is had, I feel
0:12:05 Speaker: pretty confident that the bond counsel
0:12:07 Speaker: is turning when he gets to a position
0:12:08 Speaker: he's going to come
0:12:09 Speaker: meet with the counsel.
0:12:10 Speaker: What I don't know is if that is going to be executive session or if it's
0:12:13 Speaker: going to be in
0:12:14 Speaker: the public
0:12:15 Speaker: because
0:12:16 Speaker: this is
0:12:16 Speaker: still considered negotiations with the federal government. This is a legal process. Now obviously the main crux of
0:12:25 Speaker: everything
0:12:26 Speaker: will
0:12:27 Speaker: be
0:12:27 Speaker: for public
0:12:28 Speaker: and I cannot tell you I'm not the attorney so
0:12:31 Speaker: I can't tell you which
0:12:33 Speaker: portions of that he's going to want to go into executive
0:12:35 Speaker: session that
0:12:37 Speaker: I would suspect that that's exactly what he would
0:12:39 Speaker: do
0:12:41 Speaker: on that.
0:12:59 Speaker: Is
0:13:01 Speaker: that all you have this time? I think so.
0:13:05 Speaker: I have these that I'm going to pass out when I'm
0:13:07 Speaker: just ready. Okay,
0:13:08 Speaker: all right.
0:13:09 Speaker: I'm going to move on to item C, USDA report
0:13:13 Speaker: from
0:13:13 Speaker: the city attorney.
0:13:16 Speaker: Good evening everybody. If you can't hear me speak up because I can't tell whether I'm loud enough for anybody.
0:13:29 City Attorney: We're going to backtrack for just a minute. Part of the rate study includes the portions of a city attorney's fees that are attributable to,
0:13:49 City Attorney: that are attributable to the sewer infrastructure, the negotiations, anything to do with the city's sewer system that the city attorney participates in or acts on.
0:14:07 City Attorney: One of the components of the rate study is going to is it's not he is going to be but it is from back in August of 2024 of the council meeting of August 20th in which your city attorney informed you that the file file requests that were being sent to the USDA from a council member had accumulated, mind you this is for almost 700 pages of review and then doing having to do that three additional times which cost the city quite a chunk of money and that is going to be a portion of what is included in the rate rate study because it is attributable to the USDA loan and thereby the sewer system. So that's going to cause that rate study to hit a certain level. If that had not been so, that level would have been smaller. And I'm anticipating that it's going to go up. I just don't see a way around it at this point. We don't have all of the numbers crunched yet. We were informed today during the special assets unit meeting with USDA that the numbers that they gave us are subject to change. They said they will be changing. One of the things that concerns me though about the FOIA request from starting back, I think it was April because it involved the March when the special assets unit came out in March of 2024, one of the things that concerns this council that you should be aware of is y 'all never got any of the copies from that FOIA request and you each should have been given a full set of those records by the person who ultimately requested and received them from the USDA because that person was acting as a council member at the time and has to my knowledge and I've come to every one of the council meetings to my knowledge that council member still has not supplied each of the council members and city administration with a full set of those documents again I reiterate that that's almost 700 pages for each of you but because that council person was acting as a council person in asking for them it is that council person's responsibility and obligation to supply those documents to every member of the council as well as city administration so that has not happened it needs to be brought to your attention that it has not happened and y 'all need to do whatever you need to do about it but that person is still responsible for getting those documents to everyone the next portion we all have been waiting there has been excuse me I'm sorry we all have been waiting for the financial program transition to be producing things and we have something that we believe is accurate at least that's that's what everybody on the finance team has been has been saying is that this looks like it has been properly coded to provide the individual accounting sections and so for this meeting we presently have what looks like a final on the profit and loss for the city between October 2023 and September 20, 2024. Administrator [name] is, what? Did I do something wrong? Okay, Administrator [name] either has or is going to provide you with a packet of those items.
0:18:37 City Attorney: And it says, panel, P -A -N -D -L, but it's really profit and loss, P -N -L. and so those those documents that information is now before the council to review and analyze again we're going to caution y 'all please do not discuss these documents among yourselves outside of a council meeting we do not want our council members to fall prey to the legal processes that attend a toma violation so that is important for y 'all to to take a look at consider the next item is going to today's
0:19:31 Speaker: go
0:19:31 Speaker: okay
0:19:33 Speaker: documents that you just received that's what she's talking about
0:19:37 Speaker: and I haven't looked it over thoroughly either
0:19:39 Speaker: financial
0:19:40 Speaker: team has assured us that
0:19:41 Speaker: and this is great too.
0:19:43 Speaker: This is the
0:19:44 Speaker: first set
0:19:45 Speaker: of documents that
0:19:46 Speaker: that
0:19:47 Speaker: we believe
0:19:47 Speaker: are coded correctly
0:19:50 Speaker: like they're supposed to be because the whole chart of accounts
0:19:53 Speaker: had to be completely revamped recoded.
0:19:56 Speaker: This was put together for communities unlimited for the right analysis for rate analysis for
0:20:02 Speaker: 2024.
0:20:03 Speaker: So she's these should
0:20:04 Speaker: be the truest numbers that we have that you
0:20:06 Speaker: now have that we have available to us.
0:20:09 Speaker: Based on that what we're hoping is that it's going to follow suit and the rest
0:20:12 Speaker: will start,
0:20:13 Speaker: you know, coming coming down.
0:20:16 Speaker: That's what this is.
0:20:18 Speaker: Where did this come from?
0:20:20 Speaker: This was our financial team. Yes, these are what this is, is this is
0:20:25 Speaker: your first one is going to be the entirety of the fiscal
0:20:28 Speaker: year from October 23 to September 24.
0:20:32 Speaker: Because that's what the rate analysis encompasses. And then the
0:20:35 Speaker: documents
0:20:36 Speaker: that follow
0:20:37 Speaker: are those numbers
0:20:39 Speaker: broken down?
0:20:41 Speaker: I guess my actual question was who put that
0:20:46 Speaker: together?
0:20:47 Speaker: The financial team for the City of [name].
0:20:50 Speaker: That would
0:20:51 Speaker: be your
0:20:52 Speaker: CFO and the
0:20:54 Speaker: city secretary.
0:20:58 Speaker: Yeah,
0:21:00 Speaker: they have gone in and like I said, we have tons and
0:21:02 Speaker: tons of
0:21:03 Speaker: coding issues, but I I think this was a
0:21:07 Speaker: good
0:21:09 Speaker: turnout on that. So this is what has already been provided for Communities Unlimited. These should be the truest numbers that we have today.
0:21:19 City Attorney: And by way of not really a parenthetical, but I've seen this teamwork and I've seen what they've run into. And I've heard the complaints and the problems and the issues and the repeated attempts to analyze to make sure this got coded correctly. There have been a lot of issues with the program. There have been a lot of issues with the program deciding to do whatever it thinks it's supposed to do without following the information that is input. So on my behalf, if not for everybody in this room, I extend to the finance team a tremendous vote of thank you because they have and they've got it done it within five years which is another astonishing situation but they they have really worked their butts off they have really applied themselves there have been a lot of arguments about it should be this way it should be that way and resolving that with the way it should be.
0:22:33 City Attorney: I cannot express enough how much I appreciate every member on that team putting their efforts into finally, finally being able to produce something to this city council that they have been vilified over having not produced it sooner, they've been and vilified, suggesting that there was something nefarious about changing the program. And they still courageously kept working, kept their heads down, kept doing the job, despite the fact that there are some people who would far rather pull the rug out from under them.
0:23:14 Speaker: Even community is
0:23:15 Speaker: unlimited, complimented today.
0:23:18 City Attorney: With admiration, it wasn't just a compliment. It was admiration. And the Special Assets Unit has commented to us now, on two different occasions, that they are anticipating with Communities Unlimited making Hot Cove a template example for other cities who are having the same structural issues. and that puts hot coke kind of in the spotlight so
0:23:53 Speaker: yeah they're wanting us to be a success story
0:23:56 City Attorney: yep they're working pretty hard at it from their side so I wanted to address that for the council because y 'all don't attend those meetings they're an internal integral portion of the administration of the city of hot coke that these people have really impressed me and I don't impress easy
0:24:21 City Attorney: now to turn back are you done
0:24:24 Speaker: yes ma 'am okay
0:24:25 City Attorney: to turn back to the USDA special assets unit meeting today back when we got started on this and for the first year special assets unit was pretty laid back about the whole situation we'll get this done next summer next year and there was no push there was no nothing nothing that suggested there was any kind of a crisis or frenetic need starting in March this year all of a sudden the special assets unit was we have to have this done in the next two months. Community is unlimited. You have to have your part done in the next six weeks. City of Hot Cove, you need to be ready to vote this through one way or another within the next two months and one thing and another being as it is community that unlimited is not the city of hot cove is not the only client working with communities unlimited at the behest and direction and instruction of a special assets unit there are a lot of cities out there that are going through similar if not the same things.
0:26:01 City Attorney: So communities unlimited has been a little bit overwhelmed that now the Special Assets Unit and the USDA are instead of saying well we'll get that done this is the next step we'll work through this and then we'll go on to the step after this instead of that it's all been jumped up and it's been jumped up for many cities. Communities unlimited is just about avalanche with this stuff and the special assets unit isn't particularly forgiving of that problem that's communities unlimited problems
0:26:44 City Attorney: so these these being the situation we have been told over the last six weeks, certain figures that we were to expect to apply to either the loan or the reamortization. Today we got significantly different figures and we were told that they are not cut in stone, they are going to change. The figures that we got today were significantly better, more optimistic for the city of [name].
0:27:28 City Attorney: Yet this is the first time and we've been continually asking about the figures that they were giving us. And then we were pretty much being told adamantly that that's the way it was and that's going to be business as usual and we're basically going to have to absorb whatever they give us. Well whatever they give us is not going to come from the special assets unit. Whatever they give us is actually going to come from a rung or two higher on the ladder above them, which is something called the national program. Again, a federal department related to these loans. And the national program is the entity that is going to Basically provide to the city what the take it or leave it requirements are going to be So when we got these figures today, which are significantly more optimistic We were we were kind of nonplussed and now for myself as the city's attorney I'm questioning whether it's going to change back to the other It's going to stay like this, or is there the potential of being able to succeed in participating at a different level or in another program? There's basically two that I'm aware of for certain. One is the standard program. The next one down is called the intermediate program, and it has more favorable provisions. loans. Back when this loan originated, there also was a further step down that was called poverty level for the city as a whole on averaging their income and ages and values of what it was considered a poverty level program. I'm not seeing or hearing about that. I have asked about it twice in the special assets unit meetings and I'm being told we are being told the city's being told no that program is not available. I don't know if that's going to be the end result. I think that [name] is certainly playing a significant part in pushing the special assets unit to get their ducks lined up and become efficient.
0:30:12 City Attorney: And the result of that is that's being handed down to the cities that the special assets unit is working with. Hot coke being one of those cities. I'm not going to add, what is saying, I have work? Yeah, I'm about to get there. Oh, OK. Yes, sir. [name] we don't know about these figures. We, you know, I heard Administrator [name] mention and Mayor [name] offer 3 .375%. I've also seen and heard a rate that we Started out at at four point one two five percent the documents. I have seen Appear to assess the city at four point two five percent So we've got some we've got some additional documents that I have asked for and they haven't arrived yet So I can't confirm to this council meeting What the results of those documents will be but as we go forward? one of, there have been basically two main players in the special assets unit. The one that seems to be doing the moving and shaking is [name] and the one that has consistently appeared to be a in a supervisory role over Mr. [name] and to whom Mr. [name] has been showing significant deference is [name]. Mr. [name] informed us today that today is his last conversation with us. He will no longer be involved with the special assets unit. I think that Mr. [name] may have been one of the people who is so significantly involved in supporting the City of [name] Cove that he has been able to guide Mr. [name] toward concepts and considerations that Mr. [name] otherwise would not have entertained. I'm not saying that Mr. [name] doesn't have [name] Cove's best interest at heart. Obviously Special assets unit must be a successful department or [name] is going to move them. So there are those concepts to consider. At the same time, we deeply regret the loss of Mr. kept Mr. [name] on track involved and moving in a direction that would be beneficial to the city so that's a loss to the city and we very deeply regret
0:33:17 Speaker: it.
0:33:18 Speaker: Yeah that's what I
0:33:19 Speaker: remember when you
0:33:21 Speaker: had the Q &A.
0:33:32 City Attorney: Now y 'all have just received some of the information that is being applied to determining or sending out to the national program for determination what is going to be the rate for the City of [name] Cove going forward from the date the reamortization is accepted.
0:33:59 City Attorney: Very strongly of the opinion that it's going to have to be accepted, it's going to be take it or leave it situation and if the city leaves it I think those are questions that are best reserved for the workshop that we will have with communities unlimited so the communities unlimited can't explain that to all of us to our understanding and satisfaction because we're gonna need to know that before y 'all say yay or nay.
0:34:30 City Attorney: So there's going to be more numbers. You're going to be getting more numbers tossed at you, thrown at you, expecting you to be able to look at them and analyze them. Again, cautioning you. Don't make a toma violation out of it. Do your homework. Bring them in here. We'll talk about it we'll try to make sure that everybody's on the same page because this is the forum in which that is supposed to happen and it is the best forum by which all council members get the same information so
0:35:10 City Attorney: that all said I'm looking forward to the workshop I don't know when that's going to be it likely will come as a special meeting because it's a workshop. And as a workshop you still have to be careful of your trauma violations.
0:35:32 City Attorney: [name] it's a good opportunity for us to learn just how this works, what are the steps, what's going forward, and remember that SAU Special Assets Unit is right behind us pushing us as hard as they can to move this on and get it done. And I think one of the reasons they want to get it done is because the interest rates look like they are starting to trend down which would be helpful to the city as
0:36:00 Speaker: well.
0:36:01 Speaker: I think
0:36:02 Speaker: they said they were going to look at the interest rate again 7 -1.
0:36:06 Speaker: June 1st.
0:36:07 Speaker: It can also be looked at and I've done that research. It also can be looked at before then. Right. That's not cut in stone. That's just what they're. It's kind of like a scheduled council meeting or regular council meeting. That's up to
0:36:21 Speaker: our president.
0:36:22 Speaker: That is.
0:36:23 Speaker: So
0:36:23 Speaker: whenever we know when that
0:36:26 Speaker: is going to be scheduled, these
0:36:28 Speaker: two things, you want to make sure each
0:36:31 Speaker: council member,
0:36:32 Speaker: yes, bring them with you.
0:36:33 Speaker: As a
0:36:34 Speaker: reminder, this is strictly sewer money. This is not
0:36:37 Speaker: the entire everything. This is just sewer.
0:36:43 Speaker: That is what
0:36:44 Speaker: they
0:36:45 Speaker: asked
0:36:46 Speaker: for because
0:36:48 Speaker: that's how they did the determination
0:36:49 Speaker: on the right analysis and right study.
0:36:53 Speaker: Yeah, they can't formulate the rate for the sewer if they compile other things into the rate study. It all has to be segregated for sewer.
0:37:04 Speaker: Did you have a question, Mr. [name]? Yeah,
0:37:05 Speaker: she can't see you.
0:37:06 Speaker: That's all it is.
0:37:07 Speaker: Yeah,
0:37:08 Speaker: she can't see you.
0:37:08 Speaker: I not only can't see you, but I can't hear you very well. I'm sorry.
0:37:14 Speaker: Am I able to speak?
0:37:18 Speaker: Okay, so yeah. So this packet is the you gave us. Yes, you're telling me that this is the updated coding. This is what was turned into the special assets unit.
0:37:34 Speaker: No, this was not turned into the special
0:37:37 Speaker: communities unlimited
0:37:38 Speaker: which does especially I should obviously I guess they have copies of this information as well.
0:37:45 Speaker: No, no, they're not doing the right to not understand.
0:37:48 Speaker: Okay. It's now a favorite question. Obviously they
0:37:51 Speaker: can have it.
0:37:52 Speaker: They have not requested.
0:37:54 Speaker: But it was requested
0:37:56 Speaker: by
0:37:56 Speaker: communities unlimited
0:37:57 Speaker: and has been provided to them.
0:38:01 Speaker: And because communities unlimited is a private organization and it's not governmental, it is not subject to freedom of information or public information requests.
0:38:13 Speaker: I understand,
0:38:13 Speaker: but they're a contracted provider for them.
0:38:18 Speaker: So this was turned in for the rates day. This is correct?
0:38:24 Speaker: Yes. That is
0:38:24 Speaker: correct. Okay,
0:38:25 Speaker: so this is a fiscal year from October 2023 to September 2024. Is that correct? Yes. And we're looking at a death set of $113 ,641 and 61 cents.
0:38:40 Speaker: We're not looking at any
0:38:41 Speaker: deficit. There are no deficit
0:38:42 Speaker: that's a death set. We have a negative
0:38:44 Speaker: because
0:38:44 Speaker: there's a negative on the bottom of the
0:38:46 Speaker: 100 and 13 ,641 dollars and 61 That is a deficit, that is a
0:38:53 Speaker: negative. Does that
0:38:54 Speaker: answer that question, please?
0:38:56 Speaker: Yes, council person minority. The P &[name] are just a snapshot. They do not know what was previously in the account or anything. So just keep that in mind with the deficit number, because each month, the number, of course, is going
0:39:12 City Attorney: to change.
0:39:13 Speaker: All
0:39:13 Speaker: right. This is a one -year fiscal year. And we're looking at what the income is and what the expenses are and therefore that gives you a bottom line. So we're saying for the year we were in a deficit and negative of $113 ,641 .61.
0:39:37 Speaker: Those
0:39:38 Speaker: are your
0:39:39 Speaker: words.
0:39:39 Speaker: That's what it says
0:39:40 Speaker: on the paper.
0:39:41 Speaker: Okay, I understand.
0:39:42 Speaker: It doesn't say that on the paper. Your words were saying that.
0:39:47 Speaker: It's a year
0:39:49 Speaker: -end negative number, that's what it is. October 23 to September 24, that is a fiscal year and that is the debt operating income is a negative $113 ,641 .81. Anybody on this council not seeing the same number I've seen?
0:40:13 Speaker: Are y 'all seeing that?
0:40:14 Speaker: Yes, but I do have a question. I do have a question for everyone on the council. Okay, if you do your stuff on [name], if you do your yearly stuff, it'll show a deficit. It doesn't show what was previously in the account. It does not show the funds that were already there. It just shows what was brought in for that time period And what was spent so mr. [name], will you please stop twisting this word?
0:40:52 Speaker: And I understand
0:40:54 Speaker: what you're saying and I understand what you're saying as well
0:41:06 Speaker: that is disrespectful.
0:41:09 Speaker: Well, we can all read and we can all see where it says it's a thing. All right.
0:41:15 Speaker: May I speak?
0:41:19 Speaker: We would
0:41:20 Speaker: help if there was actual an
0:41:22 Speaker: actual balance here. Yeah,
0:41:27 Speaker: we need a balance sheet to go with
0:41:29 Speaker: this to help
0:41:30 Speaker: make it a little more. Because it does. I mean, just look at it. It does look like we win
0:41:37 Speaker: $113 ,000 in the hole on the surface only.
0:41:40 Speaker: Yes.
0:41:42 Speaker: And that is that time that would
0:41:43 Speaker: make you think that you took that much money out of from somewhere else to finish
0:41:49 Speaker: paying. Okay, what
0:41:50 Speaker: about if you just wanted 2023 when we had another income of $6 ,000? See the October one.
0:41:58 Speaker: This is just
0:42:25 City Attorney: What this does is it says that on the last day of September in 2024 that appeared to be the result of the previous months it does not take into consideration or account for the potential that on September October 1 of 2024 that entire amount may have gone to positive it is a snapshot over a period of time that changes virtually every month
0:42:55 Speaker: but this is a year in
0:42:57 Speaker: it's
0:42:59 Speaker: a profit and loss report which we also had to explain this to the USDA
0:43:03 Speaker: can
0:43:05 Speaker: I
0:43:05 Speaker: give an example
0:43:06 Speaker: that
0:43:07 Speaker: might
0:43:08 Speaker: be helpful if
0:43:08 Speaker: you don't want to go in respectful
0:43:10 Speaker: okay
0:43:11 Speaker: we have
0:43:11 Speaker: we
0:43:13 Speaker: had
0:43:14 Speaker: in the
0:43:14 Speaker: range of customers
0:43:16 Speaker: that you
0:43:16 Speaker: had
0:43:17 Speaker: we had a hundred and
0:43:19 Speaker: eighty eight
0:43:20 Speaker: customers okay
0:43:22 Speaker: during during the
0:43:23 Speaker: twenty twenty
0:43:23 Speaker: four we
0:43:24 Speaker: have
0:43:25 Speaker: that forty five thousand
0:43:26 Speaker: dollar expenditure okay
0:43:29 Speaker: if you if we do the math and
0:43:32 Speaker: look at the twenty
0:43:32 Speaker: two thousand seven hundred forty eight dollars that was generated in October 23 which was the first month of the fiscal year
0:43:39 Speaker: where
0:43:41 Speaker: we had 188
0:43:42 Speaker: customers that $45 ,000 debt
0:43:45 Speaker: could not have been paid out of that month
0:43:48 Speaker: okay
0:43:49 Speaker: that's why when you see in those negatives that it is a rolling number that number is rolling so
0:43:57 Speaker: it
0:43:57 Speaker: doesn't mean that
0:43:59 Speaker: you're
0:44:00 Speaker: right it's really you're in.
0:44:03 Speaker: Yeah, it's still a year in. I get that. But what I'm saying is when you have
0:44:08 Speaker: a debt like that,
0:44:10 Speaker: and you only have
0:44:11 Speaker: 188 customers, there's no way you're gonna pay $45 ,000 in a month.
0:44:16 Speaker: So that didn't mean that
0:44:18 Speaker: money
0:44:18 Speaker: came from elsewhere
0:44:19 Speaker: that just suddenly fell into the
0:44:21 Speaker: city's hands to pay
0:44:23 Speaker: that it meant that we had to wait until it had generated, you know, to cover it. We had
0:44:28 Speaker: another one that was a $20 ,000 expenditure. You know around the same time frame in 2024. Those are some of the bigger costs that you got hit with in 2024 specifically year So I don't know if that helps it helps me to understand. I look at it like
0:44:45 Speaker: Sewer customers did it take to pay that debt?
0:44:49 Speaker: Well, it took at least two months
0:44:52 Speaker: At those numbers to come up with forty five thousand dollars
0:44:56 City Attorney: And it also does not reflect the same way that, for example, your checking account register would reflect, which you're going to have, you're going to have whatever balance and it's going to keep rolling. That running total, that running balance is going to keep rolling. You don't know how much money was in, perhaps, the account before October of 2023, and you don't know how much money was in the account at the end of September 2024. This is just a it's not just but it this is an analysis of how that money comes in and goes out but it doesn't it doesn't show you the ongoing balances. We
0:45:52 Speaker: can discuss this in much
0:45:54 Speaker: more detail in the workshop. Because it's going to be
0:46:01 Speaker: I'm trying to get you ready. I'll give you a preview of that
0:46:05 Speaker: way. You've got a chance to look at
0:46:06 Speaker: the whole thing.
0:46:07 Speaker: All of
0:46:08 Speaker: you experience the whole thing and have your questions ready with a workshop.
0:46:13 Speaker: Okay, so long. I'm sorry.
0:46:16 Speaker: Very simple. This is how much you took in.
0:46:18 Speaker: I do
0:46:18 Speaker: have
0:46:19 Speaker: when we have this workshop. Our numbers
0:46:23 Speaker: will be
0:46:24 Speaker: the numbers are
0:46:26 Speaker: going to change
0:46:27 Speaker: from the
0:46:28 Speaker: we have the
0:46:28 Speaker: workshop.
0:46:29 Speaker: Do you mean these numbers here? Whatever numbers
0:46:32 Speaker: we're going
0:46:32 Speaker: to be looking at.
0:46:33 Speaker: Are
0:46:33 Speaker: they the final numbers?
0:46:37 Speaker: In the workshop what
0:46:39 Speaker: you're going to be doing is you're going to be looking at the documentation that you were given. This is an explanation.
0:46:44 Speaker: Now [name] is the guru
0:46:46 Speaker: that's going to be doing the right analysis.
0:46:49 Speaker: He's going to be doing, it's also a training
0:46:52 Speaker: for the council
0:46:52 Speaker: so there are some of those questions that I cannot answer. He will
0:46:56 Speaker: be able answer them
0:46:57 Speaker: for you. I
0:46:58 Speaker: apologize because
0:46:59 Speaker: I
0:46:59 Speaker: don't
0:47:00 Speaker: know
0:47:01 Speaker: how
0:47:02 Speaker: to do a rate analysis but I do not
0:47:04 Speaker: know right here.
0:47:05 Speaker: I was trying to
0:47:05 Speaker: figure out if the
0:47:06 Speaker: numbers that we're going to be dealing with at that workshop are going to be the numbers.
0:47:13 Speaker: These are the numbers. The only thing that you have that is not. Yeah, the only thing that you have that is not the numbers is
0:47:20 Speaker: the sheet
0:47:21 Speaker: that I gave you
0:47:21 Speaker: at the bottom. It tells you this is a base list and
0:47:24 Speaker: totals.
0:47:25 Speaker: And these
0:47:26 Speaker: do not reflect true totals
0:47:28 Speaker: and the reason I say that is because in October we had a hundred in October
0:47:31 Speaker: of point
0:47:32 Speaker: three We
0:47:33 Speaker: don't
0:47:37 Speaker: know That's just your base
0:47:39 Speaker: Right. We don't
0:47:41 Speaker: know we
0:47:41 Speaker: do know
0:47:42 Speaker: but I mean we don't we're not reflecting
0:47:44 Speaker: it here
0:47:44 Speaker: Right how
0:47:45 Speaker: many of these people paid how many did not pay how many paid? how
0:47:49 Speaker: many
0:47:51 Speaker: were paying three
0:47:52 Speaker: months or two months or
0:47:53 Speaker: whatever this is
0:47:55 Speaker: just to give you a base which
0:47:56 Speaker: is what is needed for the right analysis and that's what you're looking at because you're determining
0:48:02 Speaker: what is going to be the rate of your okay
0:48:11 Speaker: which ones these are supposed to be our actual
0:48:14 Speaker: they're not
0:48:14 Speaker: supposed to be they
0:48:15 Speaker: are
0:48:15 Speaker: okay then so those are our numbers and that's how much income we took in and this is how much we spend and that's how much we have left a negative hundred thirteen dollars. That's about as plain and simple.
0:48:30 Speaker: All right I think the workshop will be able to explain it better for you so that you are in have a better understanding of it. Now the last thing that I had to come in on is bond Council is now in it we are now in a position for the city to communicate directly with bond counsel and I will be doing that bond counsel has strongly recommended that the city have a financial consultant work on these items with us to be sure that their expertise is going to keep the city from going off in a wrong direction because of misunderstanding or erroneous thought or misconstruing the information that is given. So I will be working with bond counsel to find the appropriate, somebody that does this with municipalities, financial consultant, and the financial consultant will participate in bringing this information to the bond council and me and may potentially participate in front of council. I don't know that right now because I haven't talked to them but it has the potential of preventing some of the sliding sideways for lack of adequate information or understanding that may have contributed to some past factors that got the city to this point.
0:50:15 City Attorney: Anybody have any questions about a financial consultant? Yes, the city will have to pay for it. I expect, unless they pro bono. They're not as nice as I am, I'm sure. The other part of that is, does anyone have questions about bond counsel, what bond Council does.
0:50:42 City Attorney: And then thank you all for your attention.
0:50:49 Speaker: Session we're not going to do executive executive session down to announcements. Do we have any announcements?
0:50:58 Speaker: Anybody? Nobody? I'm aware of.
0:51:02 Speaker: I get a motion to adjourn.
0:51:05 Speaker: Happy to give you a motion to
0:51:06 Speaker: adjourn.
0:51:07 Speaker: Motion may I get a second? I have a second and all those in favor, please say aye. This hot code City
0:51:18 Speaker: Council meeting
0:51:19 Speaker: of April 15, 2025 is
0:51:23 Speaker: adjourned
0:51:24 Speaker: at 722 PM.