Two authorities have decided to finance improvements to buildings and parking decks in Pottsville by borrowing funds via the 2016 General Obligation Bond the city is about to enter into.
“That’s the Pottsville Parking Authority and the Pottsville Housing Authority,” City Administrator Thomas A. Palamar said Friday.
The city is planning to borrow more than $1.8 million, the housing authority is considering a loan of $2 million and the parking authority is planning to borrow $500,000. So Palamar expects the bond issue will be more than $4 million.
Within the next two months, the city will hold a public hearing on the matter and approve the bond issue. The city council may offer an update on the matter at its next public meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. April 11.
This will have to be done soon, Palamar emphasized.
“I want to get this off the ground in the next 30 days. We need lead time to get our new street sweeper, to get our trucks and get our new roof on,” Palamar said as he knocked twice on the wooden table in his office. “It’s not leaking right now,” he said of the roof.
City’s plan
In late 2015, the city council appointed RBC Capital Markets LLC as the underwriter for its projected 2016 General Obligation Bond. And the city council hired Paul J. Datte, an attorney from Pottsville, as its bond counsel, Palamar said.
The list of projects Palamar had on hand Friday was still a draft:
• Fire Department: air packs, $283,000, 10-year life.
• City Hall: wall repair, $175,000, useful life, 20 years; parking area, $10,000, useful life, 10 years; roof, $100,000, useful life, 20 years; police area upgrade, $150,000, useful life, 20 years; elevator, $175,000, useful life, 20 years; security, $8,500; useful life, 10 years.
• Street Department: pole building, $110,000, useful life, 20 years; street sweeper, $180,000, useful life, 12 years; compressor/tamper, $22,275, useful life, 20 years; loader, $153,000, useful life, 15 years; two 4200 International trucks, $240,000, useful life, 15 years; three 2500 GMC trucks, $148,000, useful life, 15 years; tire balancer, $30,000, useful life, 20 years; four-point lift, $19,000, useful life, 20 years; Kubota mower, $11,000, useful life, 20 years.
The grand total of the cost of those projects is $1,814,775, Palamar said.
“What we’re doing now with our list is going through it to make sure we budgeted enough money for these projects. For example, with the pole building we want to put up, we want to make sure there are inspection fees worked in there,” Palamar said.
Shields’ plan
The Housing Authority of the City of Pottsville is looking to upgrade elevators in many of its buildings.
“We’re looking to borrow about $2 million for elevator upgrades. We need to upgrade 14 elevators in our buildings. It should cost around $2 million, but we’re still finalizing our figures. We’ll have a plan ready to submit to the city in about a week or so,” Craig S.L. Shields, the authority’s executive director, said Friday.
According to a list of “possible bond issue projects” the housing authority submitted to Palamar recently, these improvements could be made in the following properties the authority owns and manages:
• Laurel Court High Rise, a 71-unit facility at 400 Laurel Blvd. “There’s two elevators in there,” Shields said.
• Michael Close High Rise, a 50-unit facility at 510 W. Norwegian St. “There’s two elevators in there,” Shields said.
• Patterson High Rise, a 50-unit facility at 12th and West Market streets. “There’s two elevators in there,” Shields said.
• Laurel Terrace Apartments, which includes 116 units. “There’s eight elevators in there,” Shields said.
Parking plan
Since the end of 2015, the Pottsville Parking Authority has been working with its engineer, John E. Levkulic, Pottsville, to put together a list of projects to finance with the bond issue.
At its April meeting Friday morning, the authority decided it will borrow funds for repairs to two of its parking decks, the Mahantongo Parking Center, built in 1969, and the Capitol Parking Garage, built in 1995.
Palamar prompted the parking authority to finalize its list of projects.
“We are anxious to move our bond forward and I know that the projects that the parking authority is looking at are somewhat identified, but we don’t have an exact dollar amount. On the other side of this, we now have three parties involved with the bond: the housing authority, the city and the parking authority. But a lot of the city projects are very time-sensitive. We’ve got to get a new roof put on and we need a new street sweeper. It takes six months to build one. So if we don’t order it, we’re not going to have it,” Palamar said.
“We want to get moving a little bit and I was just wondering if the number you folks were comfortable with was $500,000. If that’s the case, would it be appropriate for the bond counsel to move forward with a general idea of what the bond projects are?” Palamar asked.
“It’s going to come down to prioritizing,” Levkulic said.
“You have to prioritize what you’re planning to spend and the useful life of those projects,” Palamar said.
After a brief discussion on the matter, the parking authority indicated it was comfortable with $500,000.
“As long as we know that $500,000 is the ceiling, we’ll make it work,” Palamar said.
“Do we need a vote on that?” asked the parking authority’s chairman, city Mayor James T. Muldowney.
“No,” said authority’s solicitor, Richard Thornburg.
“So I guess we’ll just run with that, Tom,” Muldowney said.
Also present at the parking authority’s meeting Friday were: the vice chairman, Joseph J. Devine Jr.; and board members Mark Atkinson, Dorothy L. “Dottie” Botto and Edmund J. Jones.