02-27-2006 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • • MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, February 27, 2006 7:00 o'clock p.m. (10. 1331 NORTHARMDRIVE — RET1It W CONDITIONS OF RESOL UTION NO. 4026, Continued) I Murphy moved, Sansevere seconded, accepting and authorizing an Amendment of Resolution No. 4026 to remove the language requiring the removal of the plumbing and heating facilities from the accessory building with the caveat that the tub /shower be allowed to remain encased by a shelving unit. VOTE: Ayes 5, Nays 0 12A. PRESENTATION BY GREG NYSTAD OF HILL SCHOOL Moorse indicated he had advised representatives of the Hill School that the City was not supportive of approving tax - exempt bond financing for the Hill School constriction project, because of the potential appearance of a conflict of interest; since the City was currently considering a variance application for the construction project. Nystad explained that the Hill School would Ilike to bond to finance additions and improvements to the school subject to the City approvals of their variance application. He stated that they hoped the City would approve a bonding resolution so that they could begin a privately placed public offering sometime in March. J Although the Attorney had indicated that there was no legal conflict of interest to approve the bonding issue prior to the variances, Murphy stated that he was uncomfortable that the funding for the bond issue might have the appearance of a conflict of interest. Brokl reiterated that there was not a legal conflict of interest, though it was up to the City Council's discretion whether they felt there was an appearance of a conflict to the public. Sansevere stated that the mere appearance of a conflict of interest was of utmost concern to him and stated that he could not endorse it until the variance process was completed. Nystad stated that it was very common for ml ney to be approved in advance of the variance process for schools in order to lock in a lower 501C3 rate for schools. Sansevere reiterated that he would be more comfortable to get the bonding approval done after the variance process was complete. Having familiarity with funding for public purposes, White stated that he did not have a problem with approving the fimding for a 5010 project. Murphy stated that he simply felt inadequate to make a judgment here and questioned whether it might appear to the public schools that the City is funding the comp n. etitio. Gaffron stated that the variance process is a two phase application and would not be completed at least until after the March Planning Conmiisslon Meeting. Mayor Peterson stated that the City Council would prefer the Hill School complete its variance process before the Council would consider the bondingrequest. PAGE 7 of 9