Despite all the talk about a new courthouse in Shawano County, until supervisors actually vote to borrow funds, there are no guarantees the project will happen.
That day is coming soon.
Carol Wirth, president and owner of Wisconsin Public Finance Professionals LLC, outlined the steps to take over the next months that will kick off the estimated $121 million building project.
She reminded supervisors the borrowing will take place in three phases over three years, the first phase being $29 million.
Each borrowing requires an inquiry with Moody Investor Service for a bond rating.
“You currently have a bond rating from Moody’s of a(n) AA2, a very high quality rating,” she said.
At the Aug. 26 meeting, she will provide a report that shows current market interest rates, based on other Wisconsin municipal bond sales.
“I will be able to give you those type of results and apply them to your $29 million issue,” she said.
Supervisors will be asked to approve a resolution that offers a heads up to lenders that the county intends enter the bond market.
Bids for foundation work will be let in August and be due in September.
“The bids will come in on Sept. 23,” Wirth said. “That’s also the date of the board meeting.”
That is the meeting at which the board will be asked to award a bid. They will also be advised on how the lending information compares to estimates given in the spring.
“After that, we have the closing, which is Oct. 14,” Wirth said. “At that time, all $29 million is wired into the county.”
The funds must go into a segregated account and can never be moved into the county’s general operating account.
“That money can be invested, and the investment earnings stays in the project account,” she said.
All money must be spent within two years of it being borrowed, and there are spending benchmarks at each six-month interval.
She said recent bond sales have been around 4% for 20 years. They had been down to 3.75% around the beginning of the year.
On the front side of the project, Kurt Berner, of The Samuels Group, said local officials continue to work with Venture Architects on the interior plans of the courthouse, jail housing pod and jail auxiliary services.
“The floor plan, development of the project is progressing on track,” he said. “We’re still shooting to have a bid pack 1 that will go out sometime in August. Our goal is to do that bid pack 1, which will be an early bid pack, putting foundations in, then with the balance in November.”
Venture Architects has renderings of the courthouse interior, including furnishings and color schemes.
There will be an officer station at the front door for screening of visitors. The new county board room will be adjacent to that area.
Behind the screening station will be a hallway with government offices branching out from it.
“The way that those departments are configured is that there will be the name for the department; you’ll be able to come into that waiting room, and then for security purposes, if they want to speak with that individual from that department, they can go into an adjacent conference room,” Berner said.
Office staff can still take visitors back to their offices, if they choose to do so.
The lobby will also feature elevators and a public stairway to the second floor courtrooms and court-related offices.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
