School Bonds a big step, but just a start

The school bonds being sold and the funds distributed are just the start of needed growth in our area. These bonds will be initially paid for by the BOE's $11 plus million portion of the Jefferson County's school construction fund the BOE has on hand.

Make no mistake that the BOE's $11 plus million will run out long before the bonds are paid in full. Some will question whether or not we spent the bond money wisely with how the school buildings are being built, as opposed to a renovation of some of the schools. Some will question the locations, others whether we needed new schools or not. But one thing is certain now, the bonds have to be paid for in the near future with funds other than those in the current war chest.

Now stands the Grand River project shining its light at our city. Some will question climbing into another bond scenario, and others will just question for the sake of questioning. That is fine and good, as we should always strive to get our monies worth, but there are some, myself included that are questioning why the city is not plowing onward to answer whatever questions are needed and get the project moving forward before it blows right past us.

Let's stop and think about what has come recently to Leeds. Barber MotorSports, and Bass Pro are great catches to be sure, but they have the luxury of attracting a distant crowd. What I mean by that is most of their generated income will not come from citizens of Leeds, but rather a crowd more than willing to travel from afar to visit their facilities.

Leeds needs rooftops to attract future business as that sustains retail business in a community that is without the luxury of a long travelling clientele. Many residents of Leeds are yelling for a grocery store on the Western side of town and that requires a base of homes that will sustain it.

The GrandRiver project will have the luxury of a retail structure that attracts a travelling crowd, but it also has rooftops and not just cookie cutter homes like many developments. The Daniel Corporation and USX are willing to invest in Leeds beyond what they did at Ross Bridge and we think it is time they are met with open arms and all due speed. Let's also not forget the integrity of these two names throughout the country as they are major players in development and their reputation is on the line investing in any community.

The hesitancy and problems may come from not having a real understanding of what Ross Bridge really is so we can envision Grand River. Leeds Magazine will be visiting Ross Bridge during the upcoming golf tournament not as a golf fan which we are not, but to give you a first hand look at this community.

This is an oppportunity to pay for school debt and much more while growing our tax base at the same time. A community needs young, middle class and old to be a true community that you can really call home for the rest of your life. The homes in Leeds must run the gambit of all needs from those starting out to those in middle ages, to those ready to retire, to have a truly stable base for long term growth.

Like it or not those starting out in the home market usually do not have the added income of the middle and elderly generation to sustain retail growth. We have many starter homes in Leeds and I'm glad they are here, but we need homes that provide a range of diversity beyond starter homes. The housing crisis will run its course and it will get worse in our opinion before it gets better, but this had no effect on those that spent the night in their cars just weeks ago to get lots at Ross Bridge.

One of the items on the April 29 Council meeting is the Financial Advisor the council has said they want to use for this Grand River project. Let's hope they make their decision and move forward so this project does not go elsewhere before we've even had time to give it the consideration it deserves.

David Hogan

Great news

The recent announcement of the PEBA school bonds moving forward is great news for Leeds.

Leeds needs new schools for many reason, but lets not forget why students are there in the first place. The entire community can get behind education and truly make a difference.

Volunteer your time toward making education a top priority in Leeds. There are plenty of things you can do from tutoring, to calling the principal of each school and just ask what you can do to help.

David

BONDS - Bitter with the Sweet

Bonds do wonderful things for local communities. They are a complicated beast however, with fees that boggle the mind.

Below was taken from the closing statement we requested of City Hall for the Bass Pro Bond closing fees in 2007. They were on our web site for months. This shows the fees related to the 3 bonds of that project.

SERIES 2006-A

Bond Counsel - Haskell Slaughter Young and Rediker $101,400
Underwriter's Counsel - Maynard Cooper and Gale $20,000
Trustee Counsel - Balch & Bingham $4,000
LOC Counsel - Bradley Arant Rose & White $32,000
Trustee Acceptance and Annual - Regions Bank $10,000
Rating Fees - S&P $5,000
Alabama Title $29,959.81
Total Letter of Credit Fee Paid at Closing $345,939.68
Bank LOC $35,000
TOTAL - $583,290.49

SERIES 2006-B

Special Counsel - Weathington & Moore $250,000
Bond Counsel - Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker $101,400
Underwriter's Counsel - Maynard Cooper & Gale $20,000
Issuer's Counsel - Waldrep Stewark & Kendrick $180,000
Validation Counsel - Greg Morris $150,000
CDA Counsel - Barnes Tucker & Barnes $100,000
Trustee Counsel - Balch & Bingham $4000
LOC Counsel - Bradley Arant Rose & White $70,000
Issuer's Consultant - Redmont Consulting $31,000
Trustee Acceptance and Annual - Regions Bank $10,000
Rating Fees - S&P $5,000
Alabama Title $49,317.19
Total Letter of Credit Fee Paid at Closing $29,369.83
BANK LOC $25,000
TOTAL $1,025,087.02

SERIES 2006-C

Bond Counsel - Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker $101,400
Underwriter's Counsel - Maynard Cooper & Gale $20,000
CDA Counsel - Barnes Tucker & Barnes $65,000
Trustee Counsel - Balch & Bingham $4000
LOC Counsel - Bradley Arant Rose & White $70,000
Issuer's Consultant - Redmont Consulting $14,000
Trustee Acceptance and Annual - Regions Bank $10,000
Rating Fees - S&P $5,000
Total Letter of Credit Fee Paid at Closing $91,773.01
BANK LOC $25,000
TOTAL $406,173.01

All deserve pay, but the amount charged is what is continuing to be questioned by many.

One example is to take Weathington and Moore fees which spanned 3+ years of work and contrast that to other fees that spanned less than a month.

An argument can be made of all fees of the complexity of the work being done to justify the costs.

How does one justify the amount of ANY of the fees without having something to compare them to? You can look at other similar fees across the country and you will find like numbers. Am I outraged at some of the costs? Of course, but is this the nature of the beast?

That is the extent of my Geraldo investigating. To dig into the real amount of hours spent on any of these bonds would require one to be a "fly on the wall" with a video camera 24/7 through the process.

Making even an attempt to get the fees under control is worthy in my humble opinion. But the nature of the beast simply may not allow it.

SO, do we simply have to take the bitter with the sweet?

Just food for thought.

David

March 17 City Council Meeting

Please note for those that received the council audio from our email, that the audio links in your email program may not allow you to save the file to your pc from within your email program, but you may do so from the links at our web site. In addition as always displayed in our privacy policy we do track aggregate information and clicking a link within an email will track your click in our email program for total amount of links clicked. Our privacy policy at our web site clearly explains these procedures and the insurance of your privacy in the process.

The March 17 City Council meeting was highlighted by the discussion of Resolution 2008-02-07 presented by councilmember Phillips for bidding out bond fees.

While the motion failed after lengthy discussion it was not without merit and substance. It became clear in the discussion that Leeds was moving in a new direction of growth and a need exists to get control over bonds and future debt to support growth. The council moved to hire a financial advisor to advise on fees of the upcoming Grand River Project to see how an FA can help.

The very fact that council members are concerned that fees associated with growth may be too high is commendable of all members. Phillips should be given particular credit for looking into this in the first place. Her initiation of the resolution does not minimize the discussion of all members as they discussed better guarding taxpayer money.

This is a refreshing side to politics in Leeds. There are many lessons to be learned from the bonds of Bass Pro Shops, but we should remember that while Leeds has dealt with bonds before, they are new to bonds of the size we have pursued from the point of Bass Pro Shops forward.

This is encouraging to all and while the end results may not be what many desired it is a positive step in the right direction.

David Hogan
Leeds Magazine

Local online forums

Things as usual are heated at the Leeds al.com forum, but if you can learn to wade through it you may find some interesting discussion.

As with any forum where things are said with an anonymous post you'll find plenty of items to disgust you as you see adults acting like whining little children, engaging in down right gossip and many other less than honorable things. To the credit of al.com they have an inappropriate post link to notify the board moderators when things go way over the edge.

IF you can WADE through the childish antics of some you will find some very interesting debate about local issues, events and other things.

You'll find myself there posting with dth as my user name and generally signing my name to all posts. I try to keep things in perspective and balanced without flaming people in the process and being called preachy and many other things I laugh off in the process.

We would remind everyone that we have had our own forums at our web site for many years that is not used as much as we would like to see. We do invite you to join and participate in our forum where we can assure you that we invite a healthy and even heated discussion of issues, but we will promptly delete attacks at other users and ban those that continue to do so.

If you would like to visit our forum it is at:

http://www.bulletinboards.com/message.cfm?comcode=leedsal

or just click the Forum link on any page at www.leedsalabama.com

David

Prepare for severe weather

It was just a week ago when we all experienced the tragic storm that ripped through Leeds. NOW the NWS says we may see another set of severe storms tonight and Tuesday.

Make sure you are prepared.

The only thing that woke us up during the Tuesday Morning storm were my wife's very large WIND CHIMES right outside our window. You can always take them down if you know beforehand it is going to be a windy night without bad weather IF you desire.
Our weather radio did not go off, and we heard no sirens for the hail hitting our house, but we could hear the wind chimes loud and clear.

WARNING-Don't get into a false sense of safety with any kind of weather warning device and having backups is always a good idea.

We also spent a large amount of money that made me cringe to have trees that were OVER the roof of our house removed two years ago. We love trees and our yard is a certified wildlife habitat, BUT do take the time to look at the trees around your home and where they may fall.

Be prepared. The Boys Scouts got this one right a long time ago!

Go Greenwave

The Leeds High Boys basketball team advanced to the State Semi-finals with a win over Aliceville Friday night!

We are always so proud of ALL of our youth! With all the big decision, controversy, funding and other things going on it's good to see youth working together in common goals. This helps remind us of the real reason we try to make our community a better place in the future.

Thanks to all of them and those that support our youth!

GO GREENWAVE