Poplar Bluff City Council members voted 4-3 Monday on an early step in the process to secure up to $8 million in financing for a new city hall building.
The city will be allowed to reimburse itself for related capital expenses, according the measure, and secures the services of financial advisor WM Financial Strategies.
The purchase of a facility for city hall, the police department and city court will eventually be financed through the sale of certificates of participation.
The maximum annual payment for this amount of debt was not discussed by the council.
The current vote was the first step in a long process to secure financing, said city manager Mark Massingham.
The final amount that will be borrowed has not been set, he said.
"This is just the first part of it. There's several more steps that have to come before the council before we finalize any numbers," Massingham said.
The debt will be paid for with money from the city's capital improvement sales tax, a heavily leveraged fund used to pay for building improvements and equipment.
Some money will be freed up for the fund after 2018. A final payment of $1.2 million will be made next year for construction of the Black River Coliseum and other projects combined when debt was restructured in 2009.
The current financing vote was not site specific, but the council voted in August to pursue the purchase of Northwest Medical Center on Barron Road.
No contract has been signed yet with Northwest.
Mayor Ed DeGaris and council members Robert Smith and Barbara Horton voted against the location in favor of remaining downtown.
DeGaris, Smith and Horton also voted against Monday's motion.
Horton would like to see the location of the new building put to a city-wide vote. She told other council members she will work with a group of citizens on a petition effort to force a vote.
"We've been asked several times by the citizens of Poplar Bluff not to go ahead and buy Northwest," Horton said, later adding, "Whether you are for or against Northwest, I think it's time we listened to the citizens and let them have an opportunity."
Mayor pro tem Susan McVey and council member-at-large Ron Black defended the vote for Northwest by saying it was the most cost effective option.
They answered questions from residents Angela White and Jim Chrisman prior to taking up the action agenda for the meeting.
Nearly everyone who has spoken with her about the site was in favor of Northwest, said McVey.
The council has made an offer of $3.45 million for the building, she said.
Council members have estimated it could cost about $5.6 million to renovate about 50,000 square feet of the 80,000-square-foot building.
Chrisman asked if any costs related to improvements of Katy Lane have been included in the estimates.
The figures have not been finalized, McVey said.
Council member declined to answer his questions regarding other sites that were considered, saying those were a closed session matter.
Chrisman argued the other locations should be made public, since a decision has been made.
Both Chrisman and White criticized the city for the maintenance of the Second Street complex, which still holds city court and the city council chambers, as well as two now shuttered parking garages in the downtown area.
"The city of Poplar Bluff has not been a good steward of our resources and maintaining the facilities that we have," White said.
The actions of past council members have nothing to do with the current decision, several council members said.
"We can scrutinize the past until the cows come home," said council member-at-large Steve Davis. "I've been here five, six months as an elected new official. I haven't seen anything but earnestness from every council member here."
Every member of the council has put a lot of thought and prayer into this decision, said McVey, who represents Ward 1.
"Every person on this council has labored over this decision," McVey said. "This is a very difficult decision, that we are doing to the best of our ability. What is it that you're asking of us beyond that?"
White asked that finances be scrutinized, asking how the city can afford the new building when it said recently an internet sales tax was needed to maintain police and fire stations.
"My point is we don't have the money to pay for a building like this," White said. "If we can't keep our fire department and police department in good repair without that sales tax, how can you in good conscience put the citizens of Poplar Bluff in even more debt?"
The council has not spent $8 million, McVey said, and hopes the final cost will be much less than that.
"We do not want to spend that kind of money. We do not have that kind of money," McVey said later when the financing matter was brought forward for a vote.