Centre Region COG approves parks loan modifications

The Centre Region Council of Governments general forum approved modifying the terms of the regional parks loan Monday, extending the draw date by one and a half years.

Centre Region Parks and Recreation entered into a $7.6 million loan with Fulton Bank to fund improvements at Oak Hall Regional Park and Whitehall Road Regional Park in 2011, according to Finance Director Joe Viglione. Construction of phase one at Oak Hall was completed and opened to the public in May, while the Whitehall project has been delayed.

It was assumed that construction on Whitehall would have been completed by 2013-2014, Viglione said.

The final draw date was scheduled for Dec. 1, according to COG documents, and there is an open balance on the loan of about $5.06 million. A previous amendment in 2014 required $2 million to be drawn and held in a certificate of deposit or money market account at Fulton.

In renegotiating the the final draw date and terms, Fulton requested terms of its own, Viglione said — the $2 million money market funds can be spent prior to taking additional draws on the loan, the date of the final draw will be extended to June 1, 2017, and the loan amendment fee would be $1,000 with additional legal fees of $4,000 to $5,000.

Viglione said the terms were approved by COG financial consultant Chris Gibbons and COG bond counsel Jens Damgaard, who both helped secure the original loan.

In order to modify the loan documents, the forum gave unanimous approval of the modification. Halfmoon Township abstained, as it does not participate in the regional parks program. Forum recessed, allowing the Parks and Recreation Authority, which was in attendance, to convene and give its unanimous approval.

In other business, the forum approved entering into a lease agreement with Ferguson Township for fire equipment and code authority storage.

An attempt to reach a similar agreement failed in August when it was proposed to rent 2,400 square feet of space in a tarp building for fire equipment storage.

According to COG Executive Director Jim Steff, COG staff contacted all the participating municipalities to see if they had space available to store equipment on a long-term basis, saying none could offer this space. Other options were more expensive than the $4 per square feet initially requested with Ferguson Township.

“Ferguson Township would have space to erect a building provided they could recover their costs over a 10-year period,” he said.

A Morton commercial building could be more cost effective than other buildings, he said. The public safety committee recommended that COG enter into the lease agreement with Ferguson Township over a 10-year period for 2,400 square feet of storage space at a cost not to exceed $10,000 per year.

Each party is required to give the other party six months notice if the agreement will not be extended, he said.

This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Centre Region COG approves parks loan modifications."