The Ione City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to apply for a 560,000 dollar loan to complete the city’s new firehouse, using City Hall as collateral, and also approved a 5 percent raise for its city manager. Opposition to the loan cited world and U.S. financial crises as reason to pull the plug --- for now – on the new firehouse. Mayor Andrea Bonham, Vice Mayor Lee Ard and Councilman Skip Shaufel voted yes to direct City Manager Kim Kerr and City Finance Director Mark Smith to work with the loan provider to finalize the loan documents. The 3-2 vote also approved a resolution using the city hall “or a similar city property” as collateral in the loan and authorized City Manager Kerr to sign the loan and collateral documents. Ard said the financial industry is in a bad state, such that a city can get a loan and then a week later have that loan approval rescinded, as happened to the city in this case. Councilman Jim Ulm spoke against the loan before the vote. “We didn’t think we could afford this firehouse. We can’t afford it,” Ulm said. Ulm thought the city should finish the slab - or firehouse’s foundation - for now, and then call it quits on the project until a later date. “This is a recipe for disaster,” Ulm said. “We don’t have to have that. We’re not in that bad of shape.” Sherman also voted no, saying before the vote that he opposed “going out and getting more loans at the city’s expense.” Bonham said she saw the approval as a “substitution of a loan that we previously approved.” Finance director Smith told the council that they could not mortgage city-owned property and Kerr said the move was a common means of financing for municipalities.
Thursday, 21 August 2008 03:09
Ione Looks To Borrow Funds To Complete New Firehouse
The Ione City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to apply for a 560,000 dollar loan to complete the city’s new firehouse, using City Hall as collateral, and also approved a 5 percent raise for its city manager. Opposition to the loan cited world and U.S. financial crises as reason to pull the plug --- for now – on the new firehouse. Mayor Andrea Bonham, Vice Mayor Lee Ard and Councilman Skip Shaufel voted yes to direct City Manager Kim Kerr and City Finance Director Mark Smith to work with the loan provider to finalize the loan documents. The 3-2 vote also approved a resolution using the city hall “or a similar city property” as collateral in the loan and authorized City Manager Kerr to sign the loan and collateral documents. Ard said the financial industry is in a bad state, such that a city can get a loan and then a week later have that loan approval rescinded, as happened to the city in this case. Councilman Jim Ulm spoke against the loan before the vote. “We didn’t think we could afford this firehouse. We can’t afford it,” Ulm said. Ulm thought the city should finish the slab - or firehouse’s foundation - for now, and then call it quits on the project until a later date. “This is a recipe for disaster,” Ulm said. “We don’t have to have that. We’re not in that bad of shape.” Sherman also voted no, saying before the vote that he opposed “going out and getting more loans at the city’s expense.” Bonham said she saw the approval as a “substitution of a loan that we previously approved.” Finance director Smith told the council that they could not mortgage city-owned property and Kerr said the move was a common means of financing for municipalities.
